Alma,

Thanks for stopping by and for your comment. I sincerely hope my characters do just that. One of the greatest things about the path I’m currently on is meeting all of the amazing people who’ve stepped up to fight human trafficking, knowing that they are simply everyday people who refused to wring their hands and wait for someone else to fix the problem. They are an inspiration to me! ~Heather

In a very real sense, this is also a lesson that writers of fiction could learn when it comes to writing strong, real, vivid characters for their readers to identify with – people who ACT rather than react, and whose actions have measurable consequences.

I will have to keep an eye out for your work.

Hi Ellen! What an interesting journey you’ve been on. Often, meeting the real-life people who inspire my characters is the most rewarding part of my own journey, too. Helping people open their eyes and hearts to others is a noble cause. Good luck on your path!

Heather

Hi Saleena! I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment sooner. I agree completely – when we write fiction, often our heart and soul is in it, and that is a cause in and of itself. Thanks for the comment!

I, too, have aligned my writing with a cause. My book, “We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust,” began with a personal journey into the land of my Jewish forebears — just to see that ancestral spot, to fill a hole in my heart left by my mother’s death.

Soon, however, I found myself in unexpected terrain — meeting brave people who, in a place scarred by conflict, are reaching across cultural barriers, challenging age-old prejudices, exhuming a difficult past in order to build a better future.

The “cause” of encouraging people to honor their heritage without perpetuating the fears and hatreds of the past — even in so fraught a territory as the Holocaust — became all-consuming to me. As a writer, I came to feel that my mission was not only to tell my family story, but to help people open their eyes and their hearts to others.

As you describe, it’s been a fulfilling path — more than I ever dreamed.

You asked: Have you aligned your writing with a cause?

Short answer: yes. 🙂 I have said to some people that my first two books (non-fiction) contains my mind, my thought. My third (and first work of fiction) contains my heart and soul. All three are inspired – directly or indirectly – by the same real-life events, which is India’s partition. It was a calamitous period, but at the same time many of the people involved and who were there had some seriously bold ideas and visions for the future. I was moved by their belief (which is alive and kicking to this day)that anything is possible.

That idealistic and noble emotional content found its way into my fiction. Much of what you have said resonates with me – though I can’t claim to be nearly as proactive as you. I take my hat off to you.