The Rag Princess takes an intimate look at child abuse-Both sexual and emotional. Writing about the emotional was much easier. Deciding if or how to approach the sexual was far more difficult.
I thought it would be simple...I worked with those kids day in and day out. Was I in for a surprise? YES- I spent three years writing the scenes over and over. One editor suggested I skip it. Another person said..."But, it probably does happen." In fact, she said, "It does happen." She was right.
If I was going to write about the perpetrator and the victim, I wasn't going to gloss over it- as thought it wasn't painful and messy and heinous and frightening...
I wrote about sexual abuse the way it happens, telling what it's like for a young victim. One goal of my story was ... to expose the perpetrator- to paint a picture of how smootly they work. They use gifts, they threaten, they find vulnerable victims and scare them witless. Perpetrators know what they are doing-They know their craft so well that they can be abusing a child... with the parent... in the next room. They threaten... telling the child that he or she will die or lose a loved one if they tell the secret-
I chose to be straight and to the point about this topic in The Rag Princess. I interviewed a therapist who has worked with the perpetrator treatment program for over ten years.
...Regardless of the manner used to groom a child-the outcome is ugly-I chose to write it realistically, hoping to make a dent-a big dent...
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