When I first decided that I would have an amputee hero in my upcoming release, EMBRACE THE NIGHT, it was because I wanted to explore how someone handles such a life-changing situation and how they restore balance to their lives. To do this I watched a number of videos about below-the-knee amputees like Zack, my hero, and read a lot about heroes with such wounds and what their lives were like now.
It’s been uplifting in so many ways and scary. I find myself wondering if I can truly do justice to the character in my story. In reality, although physically wounded, Zack is actually the more together of the two protagonists. The heroine, Samantha Whittaker, has still not dealt with the emotional wounds from her time in the Navy.
Sigh. My fear of not doing these characters justice has me stumbling, but as Samantha just realized in the latest scene I wrote, you can’t let fear stop you from taking a chance on something important.
I hope I can remember that as I continue their story. I hope to finish it in the next few weeks and have it for you in early May. For now, here is an inspiring moment with Noah Galloway and Sharna Burgess on Dancing with the Stars.
Hard to understand, let alone write, a story of an amputee unless you’ve “walked in his shoes”. That’s what my grandfather said. But I will add, he was very bitter, very angry and also turned to drinking by the time he lost his second leg. It was sad to see for his children; for me, I was scared of him most of the time which upset him even more; but I was young and didn’t understand…now, well, I wish I had.