Ask the Author: J.S. Puller
Answered Questions (2)
J.S. Puller
Hi Stephanie! Thank you for your question! Not nosy at all. Although the answer isn't fully "yes" or "no." THE LOST THINGS CLUB was sort of inspired by a confluence of events. Specifically:
1. I was afforded the chance to serve as researcher and co-author on a study titled " Arts Education and Social-Emotional Learning Outcomes Among K-12 Students." As part of the study, we interviewed teaching artists and one powerful story was given to us by a theatre teacher who helped a young student with elective mutism find his voice. You can find the story on page 21 of the report: https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publi...
2. The Parkland school shooting was a bit of a personal upset for my family. My cousin attended high school there. And while he's older than I am, and therefore wasn't at the school when it happened, that definitely set off some "what if" scenarios in my mind.
3. As I worked on the story, I read and listened to a lot of interviews from school shooting survivors and their families. I also read all kinds of scholarly articles on helping students to recover from trauma.
All of this sort of combined in my head to help me write THE LOST THINGS CLUB!
1. I was afforded the chance to serve as researcher and co-author on a study titled " Arts Education and Social-Emotional Learning Outcomes Among K-12 Students." As part of the study, we interviewed teaching artists and one powerful story was given to us by a theatre teacher who helped a young student with elective mutism find his voice. You can find the story on page 21 of the report: https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publi...
2. The Parkland school shooting was a bit of a personal upset for my family. My cousin attended high school there. And while he's older than I am, and therefore wasn't at the school when it happened, that definitely set off some "what if" scenarios in my mind.
3. As I worked on the story, I read and listened to a lot of interviews from school shooting survivors and their families. I also read all kinds of scholarly articles on helping students to recover from trauma.
All of this sort of combined in my head to help me write THE LOST THINGS CLUB!
J.S. Puller
Do your best to write every day. It doesn't have to be on a novel or a play or anything that will eventually be polished into a publication. Something as simple as writing in a journal or playing a role-play game is a good exercise. You can also do something silly, like start a blog written from the point of view of a fictional character. That can really help you get into a character's mindset. Even fanfiction is a perfectly good writing exercise. Just try to stretch those muscles every day!
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Dec 17, 2021 09:48AM · flag
Dec 17, 2021 11:39AM · flag