Goodreads asked Shannon Symonds:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Shannon Symonds Good writers write about what they know. I work as an advocate for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. But because the work I do is so sensitive and confidential, I can never write about individual stories or even what I do.

Safe House is a fiction. Because it is fiction, it allows me to share with the reader what an advocate is, how they work and some of the important issues facing survivors of domestic abuse.

As an advocate I have witness some consistent issues survivors face. Survivors often feel the abuse is their fault, or feel responsible in some way. Survivors will also stay in extremely dangerous situations because they fear losing their children to the abuser, or in the court system. Abusers often work very hard to make family, police and others believe their victim is mentally ill and not to be believed. Observing these patterns gave me my idea for the story, "Safe House."

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