I've written about covert stuttering in numerous stories. Covert stuttering is the term for people like me who often stutter silently by changing words around, not speaking up, living "shams" of lives they would ordinarily live if they weren't such chicken shits. Okay, that's obviously a bit over the top but you get the point.
Now, many "non-covert" stutterers exhibit some of the symptoms of covert stutterers but some/many don't have the "luxury" of hiding their stutter b/c even changing words around will result in obvious stuttering/facial twitching, etc.
So, my idea for a novel is written in the "form" of a memoir of a covert serial stutterer who blocks at a critical time as passenger in a car, resulting in the deaths of his wife and kids. This essentially results in a catastrophic change in his personality where he blames all the speech therapists (who couldn't help him and even some who got annoyed with him) as well as bullies who "tortured" him in school by making fun of his stutter, inability to say his name, etc. He sets out to punish some/all of them by kidnapping them one at a time and torturing them by doing things like "teaching" them to stutter and then making them tell jokes without stuttering while under severe stress (while a gun is held to their heads, etc.). Of course it starts off with him doing this to make them feel what he has felt his whole life but soon he realizes that the angrier he gets and more bullying the better his speech is. This propels him to more violence, etc.
Now, some of this "memoir" would be based on my life experiences (no, i've never kidnapped anyone and thankfully i've never caused anyone's death due to a block) but i've done some research where other stutterers have said that getting really angry often, oddly enough, results in enhanced fluency. Also, at least one serial killer profiler has stated the first "tell" of a serial killer is that he has a stutter (since such stutter often involves feelings of powerlessness and an isolated childhood where fantasies of power are often experienced).
So, does this sound like a possibility of an interesting novel? Does the form of "memoir" sound like a possibility. I have found that stutterers like myself become very good writers to make up for their poor speaking and many therapists have opined that covert stuttering is far more psychologically damaging than regular stuttering because the covert stutterer is constantly living in fear of being "outed" and living in fear is far worse than stuttering outright.
In any event, ANY thoughts whatsoever would be appreciated. This may not be the proper way of asking the question but in way or the other I've been thinking about a novel about stuttering for oh about the last 8 years. Sometimes I think I should take advantage of my journalistic roots and write some non-fiction freelance articles (or maybe a book) about stuttering. I feel like the idea of covert stuttering greatly lends itself to the first-person story b/c the reader knows how much is going on inside the head of the person but then sees via dialogue, action, etc. how limited such a life can be.
Thank you. And my wife and mother in law are yelling up at me to get my son under control so they can cook. Otherwise I'd shred this post down to a much more readable size...
Now, many "non-covert" stutterers exhibit some of the symptoms of covert stutterers but some/many don't have the "luxury" of hiding their stutter b/c even changing words around will result in obvious stuttering/facial twitching, etc.
So, my idea for a novel is written in the "form" of a memoir of a covert serial stutterer who blocks at a critical time as passenger in a car, resulting in the deaths of his wife and kids. This essentially results in a catastrophic change in his personality where he blames all the speech therapists (who couldn't help him and even some who got annoyed with him) as well as bullies who "tortured" him in school by making fun of his stutter, inability to say his name, etc. He sets out to punish some/all of them by kidnapping them one at a time and torturing them by doing things like "teaching" them to stutter and then making them tell jokes without stuttering while under severe stress (while a gun is held to their heads, etc.). Of course it starts off with him doing this to make them feel what he has felt his whole life but soon he realizes that the angrier he gets and more bullying the better his speech is. This propels him to more violence, etc.
Now, some of this "memoir" would be based on my life experiences (no, i've never kidnapped anyone and thankfully i've never caused anyone's death due to a block) but i've done some research where other stutterers have said that getting really angry often, oddly enough, results in enhanced fluency. Also, at least one serial killer profiler has stated the first "tell" of a serial killer is that he has a stutter (since such stutter often involves feelings of powerlessness and an isolated childhood where fantasies of power are often experienced).
So, does this sound like a possibility of an interesting novel? Does the form of "memoir" sound like a possibility. I have found that stutterers like myself become very good writers to make up for their poor speaking and many therapists have opined that covert stuttering is far more psychologically damaging than regular stuttering because the covert stutterer is constantly living in fear of being "outed" and living in fear is far worse than stuttering outright.
In any event, ANY thoughts whatsoever would be appreciated. This may not be the proper way of asking the question but in way or the other I've been thinking about a novel about stuttering for oh about the last 8 years. Sometimes I think I should take advantage of my journalistic roots and write some non-fiction freelance articles (or maybe a book) about stuttering. I feel like the idea of covert stuttering greatly lends itself to the first-person story b/c the reader knows how much is going on inside the head of the person but then sees via dialogue, action, etc. how limited such a life can be.
Thank you. And my wife and mother in law are yelling up at me to get my son under control so they can cook. Otherwise I'd shred this post down to a much more readable size...
I have that too but not too badly. Speech therapy as a kid helped me a lot actually. *shrug*
