Aroha, the novel
Aroha embodies (or doesn’t!) a lot of ideas. First and foremost, she’s lost her mind but crazy people are as unique as everyone. How she’s gone mad is rooted in a number of inspirations. Firstly, early in life she struggled to break free of a family background that was violent, unloving and underprivileged. Her life’s…
Tristian is slightly narcissistic. This means he has made to feel such shame for the person he was, for a long period during his early years that he has been left with a great lack of certainty about his own goodness and ‘lovableness’. Tristian needs, more than most people, to feel liked by people he…
Joanna was traumatised as a child. She has mild PTSD which has made her an anxious person. Her anxiety in turn has prevented her from becoming a rounded emotionally mature person even if she is highly talented. Her tendency to retreat from human company has probably also helped fuel her talent since painting is known…
To the right is pictured a place I recently visited in Guangdong province. It’s a great example of the kinds of places I like to think through writing ideas. Most of the characters in Aroha are troubled souls. Their strengths and weaknesses are all rooted in a combination of the inner anguish that has lead…