Danielle Turchiano
"pseudonym: a novel" was loosely based on my own experiences, although I fictionalized in many places and also combined events to make them take place at the same time for my protagonist.
In the novel, Megyn is in middle school when she witnesses the 9/11 attacks firsthand. Already an introspective kid who feels like an outsider among the group of friends she has had since elementary school, she retreats further into her own world out of a sense of PTSD that she isn't fully aware of, let alone comfortable letting others in on.
Logging onto AOL chatrooms (hey, it's a period piece!) after school every afternoon, she pretends to be someone she is not to befriend strangers. Only things go a little too far when she pretends to be someone real.
Like Megyn, I was using AOL chatrooms to befriend strangers when I was in middle school (though I was in middle school in the late 90s, not 2001). Like Megyn, I thought the fact that no one called me out for not sounding like I actually was who I said I was meant I was wise beyond my years. And like Megyn, I later witnessed the events of 9/11 firsthand. Writing this story was a bit of therapy for me to work out the issues of my adolescence.
In the novel, Megyn is in middle school when she witnesses the 9/11 attacks firsthand. Already an introspective kid who feels like an outsider among the group of friends she has had since elementary school, she retreats further into her own world out of a sense of PTSD that she isn't fully aware of, let alone comfortable letting others in on.
Logging onto AOL chatrooms (hey, it's a period piece!) after school every afternoon, she pretends to be someone she is not to befriend strangers. Only things go a little too far when she pretends to be someone real.
Like Megyn, I was using AOL chatrooms to befriend strangers when I was in middle school (though I was in middle school in the late 90s, not 2001). Like Megyn, I thought the fact that no one called me out for not sounding like I actually was who I said I was meant I was wise beyond my years. And like Megyn, I later witnessed the events of 9/11 firsthand. Writing this story was a bit of therapy for me to work out the issues of my adolescence.
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