Whether to tell the true story or to write fiction is an issue many writers grapple with for a raft of different reasons. For me there were two major issues, the biggest of which was my family.
I’d ended up in the homes because of a very difficult time following my parent’s divorce, our move from Greece to Australia, my mum’s struggle to raise two daughters on her own and the breakdown of our already fraught relationship.
But I love my mum.
We have put our issues behind us and she’s an important part of my life today. The problems that broke our family are private and I didn’t wish to tell others about them.
The second issue with writing a non-fiction account of this difficult time was… myself. It was hard to look there.
I tried.
I let my mind turn back the years, remember events and people but each time what I felt about it blinded me.
I became so stressed. My hair started falling out.
These two obstacles, family and emotional impact, forced me to close the 80,000 words I’d written and start again with a fresh page.
This time, it would be Sophie’s story.