Sexual Assault Survivor Finds Therapy In Writing Novels
Maddie O’Shine was about 9 years old when she was first sexually assaulted and 11 when it finally ended. Her post traumatic stress syndrome continues to this day. Now 19 and a freshman at Western Carolina University, O’Shine, a pseudonym, has written a modern fantasy, “Reverie,” that looks at sexual assault through the eyes of a teenage boy – O’Shine is female – set in 2047 in a fictional country. She started the book when she was 16 and finished it last fall. “I’ve been writing since I was 11. This was actually the coping mechanism I developed from my childhood sexual assault. It turned from coping mechanism, where I was jumping into worlds that had nothing to do with our world, into a form of art I’m passionate about and I want to pursue as a career,” she said.