Stories by Firefly! : 13 Reasons Why || Story Behind the Story

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

13 Reasons Why || Story Behind the Story

Happy Day Two, faithful followers!

Wow, the tour is already off to such an incredible start. I've been so blessed and encouraged by everyone's outpouring of love and display of enthusiasm! <3

Kaitlyn and I are each sharing the inspiration and origination of our books as today's theme. Make sure you check out her post of the day—link below. :D

Kaitlyn Krispense, Author

|| Story Behind the Story

I've been asked many times how on earth I ended up writing a book about suicide. The answer? It just kinda happened.

In August 2015, I stumbled across a story about a veteran. After returning to the states after serving a combat tour in Vietnam, he called home, told his parents he was coming home, and asked if they'd mind if he brought a friend along. He explained that the friend had been hurt and was an amputee, and added that he wanted the friend to come to live with his family. The parents expressed sympathy for the friend's plight, but declined the son's request. A few days later, they received a phone call. Their son had committed suicide, and they learned of his secret. Turns out...there was no friend. Their son was the injured soldier.

Quite the story, huh? Around the same time, I came across a video, created by a teenager, which vividly depicts a modern-day retelling of the story I'd read. I've poked around on the internet for more information about this story, but little is known. If it's a true story, that hasn't been verified, but the basic twist of the story has been used in books and movies for years.

Regardless, the creativity wheels were spinning. The story wouldn't get out of my head. And one question plagued me the most: What if...what if he didn't die?

So I went with it. Started writing a story about a suicidal Marine. The scraps of a story I had at that time grew and broadened, morphed and twisted, and became a different story entirely, but one that's still closely connected to the passionate topic I began with—suicide.

After many days and months of writing and rewriting, crying and moaning, whining and groveling, the Freedom that's releasing in seven days came to be. And I'm SO excited to share it with all of you. <3

|| R2L

Today's reason to live is: stories. I don't know about you, but I absolutely adore stories. Happy, sad, funny. Stories of heartbreak or journeys or everyday life. Love stories, children's stories, adventure stories, sob stories. Point is—I.love.stories. That's the cool thing about life—every single soul that's been placed on this earth is living out their own story. And even better than that, all of our stories are intertwined with the story of every person you've ever crossed paths with. And without every single strand, the master story would be incomplete, lacking, unfinished.

Ponder on that next time you feel like your life has no purpose. <3

|| Preorder Freedom

In honor of September being Suicide Prevention Awareness Month as well as release month for Freedom, I'm hosting a special preorder/order option for paperback copies of this new novel.

All profits from Freedom (both Kindle and paperback) for the month of September will be donated to Cover Me Veteran, a non-profit organization fighting for prevention of veteran suicide. If you're hesitant about the validity of the cause, I'd encourage you to read the testimonials listed on their site. Gives me chills. <3

Because I want to amp-up sales of Freedom this month in order to be able to make a sizable donation, I'm offering a discounted total for of $17 for book + shipping. Details are on the form!