Death is Everywhere

I'm an optimist! The title and first sentence may seem incongruous--they're not. I'm an optimist even though I know death is everywhere. I'm also a Christian, which shapes my world view and perspective toward death.

As writers, if we don't acknowledge the ubiquity of death, we avoid a significant aspect of life. People die around us daily; we read about shootings, or car accidents, or floods in the paper or on Facebook; we see stories on the news of tragic deaths both here and abroad. Sometimes the deaths are closer to home--a parent, spouse, child, or friend. These deaths affect us deeply, changing us, shaping us.

The death of a loved one is like an amputation. Gerald Sittser writes in A Grace Disguised that "catastrophic loss is like undergoing an amputation of our identity. It is not like the literal amputation of a limb. Rather it is more like the amputation of the self from the self" (Sittser 70). These losses affect us deeply and profoundly and our lives are not the same. Death amputates a part of us; it alters our gait. We need to learn to live with the amputation; we learn to walk with a new gait--one that absorbs the loss.

Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their 9 children

My point here is that as write stories, or novels, or poems, if we don't write about how our characters' losses through death have shaped their lives, we may be missing a crucial component of their character.

In the two novels I've written (am writing), each contains a woman dying in childbirth. Don't analyze me! Scores of women die in childbirth, even today--even in America. Centuries ago it was common for women to die in childbirth. Queen Victoria had 9 children, and during her first pregnancy her closest advisors put a plan for succession in place... in case she died in childbirth. She didn't die in childbirth, and in fact her husband Prince Albert predeceased her by 40 years. After Prince Albert's death, Queen Victoria went into mourning, and she wore black for the rest of her life. Her husband's death shaped the rest of her own life.


As you create characters, or write historical fiction, include in their personal histories and backstories the deaths that shaped them. This will add depth, complexity, and veracity to your writing.

Stories Are Everywhere

Walking to work today I greeted or interacted with six people. My walk is only three blocks long! I like living in the neighborhood where I work and attend church. Once I got to the office I'm working in today, I realized how each person I greeted or talked to has a story. Some I know; some I don't. But every person has a story; and every story is potential for a short story, a poem, a character, or a novel.

First, I greeted an Egyptian man who is always out and about in the neighborhood. His sons attended our after-school program and his older son hung out with one of my sons. Then I saw an older woman from our church. Her son recently died of throat cancer and she is still grieving. She has a story to tell. In the next block I came across a former student. She took my speech class over a year ago and is still pursuing her Associate's Degree.

Before I reached Dunkin Donuts I came upon a homeless man whom I've talked to a bit. I gave him some change and wondered how he ended up homeless on the streets of Jersey City. I'm sure there is a long, fascinating, somewhat tragic story there. While waiting for my bagel, I saw another former student. This young Pakistani woman told me about her struggles in this country. She is now finishing her degree at NJIT. I know a few of her stories, but I'm sure her life is worthy of a book!

As I left Dunkin Donuts to walk the remaining block, another homeless man asked me for money, which I gave him. When he said he needed a hug, I told him "I don't hug strangers," which isn't 100% true, but I shook his hand instead. Again, I can only imagine the stories he could tell--about his own life, and others' lives.

If you're an aspiring writer, just look around you every day. Talk to people. Engage. There are stories all around us!