Category: Lara

The Personal Denial System of Sex Abuse Victims

Published on by Elizabeth Hein1 Comment

When I read this heartfelt blog post on Evil Sits at the Dinner Table, I immediately thought of Lara, the main character in How To Climb The Eiffel Tower. Denial is a powerful defense mechanism. So many survivors of abuse deny their memories in order to continue living their lives. I wish I could write a happy ending for every little girl or boy that has been abused.

EVIL SITS AT THE DINNER TABLE

For my new readers, this is a re-post from 2012, with one small addition at the end:

“It is understandable that some would choose to deny their memories, preferring to endure the anguish of symptoms rather than the anguish of the remembering process”~Anne Hart

Stacey Lannert’s father sexually abused her for years, and her mother ignored it. Stacey ended up protecting herself by killing her father. After she was incarcerated, (Stacey has since been released from prison) Stacey spoke of needing to remember the good side of her father.

redemption-stacey-lannert1

Stacey said, instead of remembering that her father had raped her, she remembers when he would, “just be my daddy and he’d hold me, talk to me, or just call me his tiger in a loving voice.”

Truddi Chase suffered sadistic abuse and rapes by her father. Her mother also physically abused and threatened her.

In her book, When Rabbit…

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Exposure to Violence as a Child

Published on by Elizabeth Hein1 Comment

I learned about this excellent video from Zoe over at Behind The Mask of Abuse. It is a bit long at 15 minutes, but it is time well spent.

The main character of one of my works-in-progress is the victim of child abuse and I wanted to get her coping strategies right in the novel. I studied psychology and philosophy in school, so I tend to go at research from that direction. As they discuss in this video, a child’s brain is physically changed by their early experiences. They will see the world through the lens of their early life. Change and recovery are not impossible but they are difficult.

Watch the video and think about the children you know. Do any of them show signs of early childhood trauma?

WIP IT GOOD Blog Hop

Published on by Elizabeth Hein13 Comments

The wip it good blogfest

D.L. Hammons is running a fun bloghop today to spread the word about the great works in progress out there. Please follow the link at the bottom of this post to learn about the books coming up over the horizon. Here is the information about my next book –

WIP Title: Lara (working title)

Word Count : 91,000, as of today.

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction

How long have you been working on it?: That’s hard to say. Lara was a main character in a project I started six years ago. That novel had four main characters. In year two, one character got cut entirely. In year three, another character got pulled out and became the main character of Overlook. Lara spent two years in a drawer while I worked on that book. When she emerged, she took over and the fourth character of Jane became a secondary character. I have been concentrating on the reworked manuscript for about 18 months now.

Elevator Pitch : Cancer treatment transforms a traumatized woman’s life for the better.

Brief Synopsis :  Lara Blaine thought she could escape her past by controlling every detail of her daily life, but she couldn’t control the cancer growing in her body. Through the process of treatment, Lara is forced to connect to the people around her and learn to accept love.

Are you looking for a Critique Partner?: Perhaps – I am already an active member of two critique groups but I am always looking for someone to swap chapters with.

Are you looking for a Beta Reader?: Yes, I feel the manuscript could use some fresh eyes. My critique partners liked it but I am worried that they may have missed some holes because they have seen previous drafts.

Check out these other Works In Progress at the WIP IT GOOD linky list