The Taboo

Anyone who has read one of my novels will know I tend to include topics and themes that might be considered ‘taboo’ and distressing to some readers. Things like sexual abuse, extreme bullying, drug use, male and female depression and suicidal thoughts or behaviours.

Topics that most fiction writers will shy away from because they are too ‘ugly’ or ‘damaging’ for society to digest. Yet, in real life, these feelings and events are still happening every day to people all around the world, you might have experienced something like this yourself or maybe know someone who has, and yet we are unable to talk about it.

Why? because, as a society, we are uneducated or simply don’t know what the hell to say that will ever be able to make it better because we are all too busy dealing with our own shit to think about anyone else. So instead, we avoid saying anything at all.

But locking down our feelings and pretending these things don’t hurt us is not a solution either. Instead, if we learn to understand and share the burden of our experiences with one another, we can only grow to become better people and maybe prevent the same thing from happening to someone else.

I write this ‘explicit content’ not to shock or trigger people but because it’s real, and if doing so I bring awareness to even just one person, then, in my eyes, I have succeeded.

Why? because, as a society, we are uneducated or simply don’t know what the hell to say that will ever be able to make it better because we are all too busy dealing with our own shit to think about anyone else. So instead, we avoid saying anything at all.

But locking down our feelings and pretending these things don’t hurt us is not a solution either. Instead, if we learn to understand and share the burden of our experiences with one another, we can only grow to become better people and maybe prevent the same thing from happening to someone else.

I write this ‘explicit content’ not to shock or trigger people but because it’s real, and if doing so I bring awareness to even just one person, then, in my eyes, I have succeeded.