Something More

Abstract

I wrote the fictional short story “Something More” to engage the topics of domestic violence and childhood abuse within a Hawaiʻi setting. I use a third-person limited narrator to convey the possible life-altering effects a person may endure throughout his or her life as a result of traumatic experiences. I also want to highlight the ways in which individuals or communities can either ignore or interact with people and families in need of outside support. This piece transformed over several drafts during the semester. I gained new ways to create and evaluate my work through the tools taught in class. Through our workshops, Dr. Shankar and my peers provided tremendous insight that I employed to strengthen my story. Studying and applying the form and theory of fiction demystified many of the aspects of the process of writing literary fiction. In addition, my short story is a “distant cousin” of my work for my Honors thesis, which is a memoir that focuses on both my personal experiences of childhood abuse growing up in Hawaiʻi and the complicated struggle of coping with trauma.