The Torn Trilogy By Sara Niles

Quote from Torn From the Inside Out

Torn From the inside Out

“For the next half decade, I lived on the ‘flower bed of Eden’, as Cousin Andrew called it.  The days were never long enough; perhaps that is why I hated to sleep.  Seasons came and went in a panorama of delight.  The record ice storm of the early 1960’s was a great memory to me as a small child, as I watched the storm through steam fogged windows, warm and snug, as the loud popping of snapping pine trees screamed with the howling winds. Nothing caused me to fear those years, because I felt perfectly safe, as I expected I always would”

The Torn Trilogy by Sara Niles

From: The Journey

The Journey

“When the dark night ended, a new day dawned for us when my children were still small, and the new day was a long as the long night had been, and in some ways, just as frightening”

“Love is one of the greatest human emotions and a powerful force in its own right, but even love cannot prevent some things from happening”

“Sometimes when you become so accustomed to loss, a new loss is only part of your usual ‘normal’”

“Our flight to freedom and safety was filled with a calm suppressed terror in the children and I, the type terror you have when you are used to living with danger

Quotes and Excerpts

From: Out of the Maelstrom

Out of the Maelstrom

“He was dead, alright. The sight of death is an ugly and fearsome thing, I thought, as I absorbed the tragic sight in front of me. It was a man, ‘The man’ , was lying in the road with blackish- red blood pooled around his head, and as he lay face down with his feet in his own yard, while his head and shoulders were planted in the street, he gave the appearance of  a killed animal felled in its tracks by a hunter. 

"Love is one of the greatest human emotions and a powerful force in its own right, but even love cannot prevent some things from happening”

“Sometimes when you become so accustomed to loss, a new loss is only part of your usual ‘normal’”

“Our flight to freedom and safety was filled with a calm suppressed terror in the children and I, the type terror you have when you are used to living with danger”

“Emotional breakings are delicate to repair and even harder to decipher. I was not smart enough, nor did I have the wisdom needed for such a job at that time”

“Ariel was the perfect emotional adapter when things went wrong, but she was not amenable to life when things went right. It seemed her coping mechanism was geared towards trouble”

The Journey by Sara Niles

Torn From the Inside Out Sara Niles

“In every life there is a timeless and unforgettable minute or day that will be forever etched into our mind’s memory. I have unforgettable memories that are so vivid that I see them in Technicolor, and I hear them in surround sound”

Writing The Book: The Long Journey By Sara Niles

A dream sometimes comes at a very high cost, and it may began as a passion laden idea, grow to a fire in your soul until it is a mission. Maybe only you know the value of the dream, but if you are fortunate, others may join you in your devotion to your cause and support you in your resolute determination. A dream is not a passive thing, that is if it is really worthwhile-it takes work; sometimes many years of work.

My dream began in 1995, after formulating as a vague impression for a few years, before blooming as a full-fledged idea. The book: Torn From the Inside Out breathed its first breath of life in 2004 as the concrete vestige of my dream to make a difference. My dream has grown bigger, and it continues today.

http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Book-Passion-Behind-Inside-ebook/dp/B00EODO35C/

Interview with Sara Niles, Memoir Author

Question:

Sara Niles primarily writes nonfiction memoirs-Why is that?

I am on a mission to make a difference through The Torn Trilogy memoirs, which addresses family dysfunction, domestic violence, child abuse, mental illness and drug addiction issues, and the destructive effect it has upon human lives.

Most people read books for two reasons: to be entertained and to be informed.

 Many readers have been conditioned to view nonfiction writing as a medium that is purely informational and fiction writing as purely entertaining. The fact is, nonfiction can be both entertaining and it can pack a powerful informational message as well; as an example, the movie Titanic was filled with information about a historical event, but it was also highly entertaining; a fact that also holds true to literature, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote was hailed as a masterpiece in nonfiction literature simply because Capote wrote a true story as though it was fiction.

I have lived an extraordinary life in which the odds were heavily stacked against both me and my children, placing our mere survival at risk countless times. The element of rising suspense that captivates audiences was an actual part of our lives, and the unusual twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat, was a normal part of our survival.  When the saying ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ was coined, it aptly applied to our lives and the multitudes of people who have lived similar lives.

 Torn From the Inside Out, The Journey and Out of the Maelstrom, each tells a story that is filled with both entertainment value and informational content. Each of the memoirs can provide whatever a reader is seeking: a good read, insight and information, and entertainment. Regardless of the reason for reading The Torn Trilogy, the reader will come away entertained and enlightened and in the process, the dark veil of family dysfunction will have been lifted a little higher with each reading.

What is the greatest joy of writing for you?

The empowerment of writing life-changing memoirs that offer enlightenment and insight is the greatest joy and is most rewarding for me.

Knowledge and insight is like a light in a dark tunnel, especially if that 'tunnel' is years of denial. I delight in providing insight through my writings that empowers and enables people to change their lives for the better. Most people do not realize that knowledge can help a person forty or fifty years after a traumatic event but shedding light on hidden secrets and enabling people to reexamine the way they saw themselves.

A large percentage of drug addicts and a disproportionate number of the mentally ill are troubled by a past that involved domestic violence or some form of abuse during their childhoods. Light needs to be shed of those faulty perceptions and attitudes.

My writing enables me to become a light bearer in a dark place.

War: A Costly Endeavor

By Sara Niles Author of Torn From the Inside Out

War is the most costly government operation of all time, because the currency of the interchange is human life and everyone loses in war. As the modernity of the times produced superpowers, the wars have become potential super wars: World Wars I and II were the first concrete examples of wars out of control. In World War One, over 37,000,000 lives were lost, with the greatest numbers of casualties suffered by the superpowers: over 65,000,000 were mobilized worldwide, with the greatest losses suffered by Russia, France and Germany (http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html ). When you examine the numbers from the Second World War, the numbers appear to come from a science fiction horror movie; because WWII was the biggest and deadliest war in all of human history. You would think the world leaders would have learned from the first war.

The dangers of declaring war versus the danger of not declaring war-now that is the question facing the world leaders yet again. Syria has committed the unthinkable and used chemicals to kill over 1400 people (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23906913), a mere harbinger of what they may do in the near future, if not stopped.

Now we are faced with a fearful decision that involves a two pronged danger: the danger of war from action and the danger of war from inaction- a critical dilemma of the worst kind. Will there be a need to fight to protect the good in the world? And what will be the end after all is said and done?

In the Lord of the Rings (Movie), Sam said to Frodo that

“… there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for”

Memoirs: A New Trend

Twenty-five memoirs made the New York Times bestseller list the week  ending August 17, of this year (2013), (http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/list.html , with many of these memoirs having led the market as bestsellers for many weeks in a row. This count does not include the many self-published memoirists who have had success with child abuse memoirs such as Why Me by Sarah Burleton and Empty Chairs by Stacey Danson. The reading public is discovering that the stories of ordinary people who have lived extraordinary lives, or who have survived unusual experiences, provide the material for memorable memoirs, that is, when they are well written. The big publishing houses are beginning to see the light as they accept more memoirs into their elite collection of promoted authors, such as Brain On Fire by Susannah Cahalan, a story of a woman whose diagnoses of a rare brain disease mesmerized the medical profession. The landscape of the publishing industry has really changed, and so has the image of the simple memoir, since the early days of book publishing.

When I was young (never mind my age), only memoirs about mega stars like Elizabeth Taylor would gain enough interest to win a place on the New York Times bestseller list; and then many celebrities began to write memoirs about the mundane aspects of their daily lives, bringing their huge following of admirers into the book market. The publishing houses could get a two for one deal when they signed a big name star who came prepackaged for instant success, and the unknown memoirist did not stand a chance at that time…then the technological advances of our new cyber age, catapulted us into a raging eBook revolution in which many indie authors became overnight successes, and being an ‘unknown’ author no longer mattered. What did this mean for the memoir author?

Perhaps it was about that time,  the idea began to grow in the minds of those less well known, or even totally unknown, that their own lives of tragedy and chaos, disaster and suspense, might actually hold some value in the trained eye of the reading public. There are countless stories in life that are truly stranger than fiction, and some of these stories began to be told by talented authors, many of whom were unknowns, that is, until their lives were plastered all over the world in multiple languages.

So what is it that makes a memoir an appealing read?

The age old literary advice given by most writing instructors, is to “write what you know”, and the second piece of advice is to write it well. When the elements of a good story occur naturally in life, and the conflict, plot and timing is just right, you have more than a personal narrative, you have a ‘memoir’.  A well written memoir concentrates an entire life, with all of its obstacles, secret heartaches and successes into a literary capsule, gift-wrapped in a neat cover, and ready to open and read.

Sara Niles Author of Torn From the Inside Out (A Memoir)

Writing and Authors: We Bring Life into our Books

Sara Niles

Into every book written by an author, there is a little bit of the author’s life and personality, whether the author writes fiction of nonfiction. Within each story there is some nuance of the voice behind the page, the man or woman who tirelessly toiled to create a story.

In the case of Stephen King the mega-author

(see King’s Mega-list:  

http://bookshopblog.com/2011/03/10/stephen-king-books-chronological-order/ ),

who wrote thousands upon thousands of pages of books that became best sellers, including many that were made into movies, King admits that his own life experience colored his writings:

“1988: “I have a sense of injustice that came; I think … My mother was a single parent. Her husband deserted her when I was 2, and she went through a lot of menial jobs. We were the little people. We were dragged from pillar to post…” Quoted from:http://www.horrorking.com/biography.html

King goes on to add:

“A lot of that sense of injustice stayed. It stuck with me, and it’s still in the books today.”

Agatha Christi, one of the world’s most prolific authors, traveled the world and spent 

many years in the orient, accompanying her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan. From Christie’s life experience came the book:  ’Murder on the Orient Express’ , written in 1934, and still a best seller today: 

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Express-Hercule-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B000FC12Z0/

The much repeated advice to write what you know, is a best practice for good authors, because what we know best, comes from life.

 Sara Niles

Author of Torn From the Inside Out

http://www.amazon.com/Torn-From-Inside-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00DLY9TW2/

A Most Unusual Life Wish: A Bucket List to Remember

A Most Unusual Life Wish:

A Bucket List to Remember

July 12, 2013

By Sara Niles (A.K.A. Josephine Thompson)

The term ‘bucket list’ is a term that was made more popular by the 2007 movie by the same title: The Bucket List and it means to list things that you want to do before you die. Most people list things that they never got around to, or special achievements that may have been lifetime dreams.

I have one primary thing in my life that has achieved a ‘do or die’, sacred mission status to me:  it is the one thing I want to do, no matter what happens in my life.  It is the thing that is of greatest importance to me, besides the most obvious and universal goal  that most of us who are human share, that of putting family and loved ones first; but in order to clearly articulate why this one thing is so important to me, I have to tell a short version of my long life.  The life altering, and consuming mission that I have been propelled into, was aroused by my own personal life experiences and cultivated by unfortunate circumstances along my journey.  

In order to tell the story of my mission, I have to tell a snippet version of my life:

I was born to a country prostitute during a time when race relations in the southern United States were less than ideal and as a result, as a child of mixed race in the 1950’s, I was given away to my great-great uncle and aunt to raise, both of whom were in their eighties when I was barely past my toddling years. My relatives died while I was still a child and I married a man who was both abusive and mentally unstable, and about fifteen years and five children later, I found myself on a run for my life with five small children. After a traumatic upheaval, my children and I found an oasis of sorts in a small community in another state and life appeared to be grand.

To make a long story short and without telling the details, life was far from grand, as I discovered over the years. My five children had been damaged psychologically in ways that were not readily apparent, and it would take years before I fully understood the triple impact of domestic violence and abuse upon impressionable young children, or how childhood abuse affects them as adults. The impact of prolonged and extreme dysfunction is often triple and generational, successive generations are affected. I call this triple effect that predisposes victims toward drug addiction, trauma reactions and mental health issues, the ‘Three Headed Monster’.

My mission is to keep the Three Headed Monster at bay and my tools are my words: I wrote The Torn Trilogy, a monumental 1200 page work that is a testament of the power of the human spirit under fire, and as a long mission statement against family dysfunction and extreme domestic violence.

 http://www.amazon.com/Torn-From-Inside-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00DLY9TW2/

When my mission is completed, I want to visit one of the greatest mountains in the world:

Mount Kilimanjaro

What do authors love to read?

Sara Niles

Author of The Torn Trilogy

There many types of books, science fiction, crime drama, philosophy, fiction and nonfiction, but the one thing they all hold in common with best sellers is the writing. Good writing spans all genres of books, from the terse and concentrated style of writers like Ernest Hemingway to the elaborate long winded style of Thomas Wolf or the florid style of Danielle Steele. 

Some writers capitalize on the brilliance of their own intricate storytelling with twists and turns in every chapter, a rising crescendo of suspense and a satisfying conclusion that makes the reader happy to be where they are in real life, that is safe and alive, after an escape in to thrilling fantasy rife with danger.

Agatha Christie is one of, if not the most prolific author with over one hundred books and short stories published, not counting the plays and many other works. The best-selling book And Then There Were None (formerly Ten Little Indians), is one of the best-selling books of all time. So what is appealing about Christie as an author? The answer is simple; she was able to marry the skill of great storytelling with good writing.

Stephen King, John Grisham as well as a long list of other best-selling authors hold the talent to write well and tell a good story in common, which of course, explains their continuous ability to create best- selling books. If you have ever searched high and low for a good book to read, you may have come to appreciate the skill required to write one. 

Although taste in books is an individual thing, I love to read almost any style of writing if the writing is good and the story is believable and compelling and I delight in finding a new treasure. While doing my usual Saturday morning garage sale foraging, I discovered one such treasure in the form of Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent, a book written in the late 1980’s when it first became a runaway bestselling book which was made into a movie in 1990.

So what was my reaction after reading Presumed Innocent?

“I just completed Presumed Innocent (1987) by Scott Turow (Hardcopy edition) and was impressed significantly-not simply by the skillfully written story but by the skill of his writing. The entire book flows with literary gems, even normal reflection is laden with deep insight, literary metaphors and beautifully worded phraseology” (Excerpt from my book review of Presumed Innocent)

Now I feel compelled to read Turow’s latest works in the hopes that the author consistently produced in the style of his first masterpiece.