Author Brittany Weekley – The Secret Life of Thomas Commons
I never thought I would be writer. I wrote poems and attempted a novel at the age of 14, but it quickly ended when I entered high school. I wouldn’t write again until I was in my mid-20s.
I viewed a writing career as many others did, unpractical. I worked low paying jobs, quit college, and focused on a future that seemed so bleak. Then, something in me changed. I broke the chains that society had me trapped in, and I started my first novel, The Secret Life of Thomas Commons.
From the moment I began writing Thomas, I have found it difficult to explain his story. I can never do his story justice through a simple five minute explanation. The themes and the issues that my characters go through in this book simply have to be read from Thomas’s perspective to be fully appreciated. Although I am the creator, it felt like I was falling away from that position. My characters seemed to take on a life of their own; they became their own person with my help.
The idea for this book came to me after seeing the changes taking place within our society. The hardships endured today made me curious about the hardships people would have faced centuries ago. The more research I did, the more horrified I became. There were days I would weep for the innocent lives lost because of a lack of understanding and compassion.
How the ending of this book is interpreted depends on the reader. It’s not the traditional happily ever after. I chose to do this because it’s crucial to highlight the importance of the reality of their situation as well as those who lived through it centuries ago. To put it plainly, life is cruel. We don’t always get what we want, and in the end, that can shatter the human spirit. However, not all is lost. As we have all heard more than once, with the bad comes the good. Things may not turn out exactly how we wish them to, but those hardships can lead us down a path of learning, acceptance, and necessary change.
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