Therapeutic Literature October 17, 2011

Therapists have long prescribed writing as a means of understanding and eventually overcoming personal crises. Roman a clef novels, those novelographies that mask real life events through fictional characters and settings, sometimes arise from an author’s need to understand the feelings that events provoke. Some therapeutic writing in journals, have evolved into published memoirs of great respect. This week in #litchat we’re going to discuss the value, methods and benefits of reading and writing through difficult times.

Friday’s guest host, Deanna Roy, understands the value of therapeutic literature, both as a reader and a writer. After suffering her first miscarriage, Roy began a website, www.pregnancyloss.info, to connect with other women who share this bewildering experience. Miscarriage and other types of fetal death are topics most people are uncomfortable talking about, often because of the misunderstood value of the unborn. Women who experience miscarriages often return to work only days afterwards with barely a nod or note of concern for their loss. Drawing from the stories of thousands of women, Roy set out to write a novel that would lift the cloaking taboo from miscarriage. Her novel, Baby Dust, throws five women in different stages of life, culture, and economic conditions, into a pregnancy loss support group where they share, uplift and counsel one another through more than just the loss of a baby. While her characters may seem melodramatic in their reactions to their losses, many women who have endured a failed pregnancy—and the men who stood beside them—will see something of their own experience in Baby Dust.

Watch the Baby Dust trailer here.

Deanna Roy’s stories have appeared in several literary magazines, including 34th Parallel,Farfelu, and The First Line. Her writing credits are lengthy due to her background in journalism and freelance, but one of her favorite articles is a humorous piece about skydiving, published by The Writer in March 2009. She’s been a waitress, a free-sample girl, backstage security for a concert venue (please don’t ask about the time she threw R.E.M. off the elevator and made them late to their own concert) , a high school teacher, an editor for a publishing company, and now, a professional photographer and instructor at the University of Texas.

Follow Deanna Roy on Twitter: @DeannaRoy