Personal Experiences that Inspired a Story with Carolyn Chambers Clark
What was it that inspired you to create your newest novel, Whispers?
I have a master’s degree in mental health/psychiatric nursing, but before I obtained my masters’ degree, my first job was in a VA hospital in the psychiatric unit. At first, I worked days, but the head nurse, who graduated a year before me at UW-Madison, assigned me to assist the psychiatrist with ECT or electroconvulsive therapy. Those were the days before muscle relaxants and patients convulsed on the table and we had to put a padded tongue depressor in their mouths so they didn’t bite their tongues. It was a gruesome and horrible “treatment” and spooky, too, because the psychiatrist had Parkinson’s and shook while he held his finger on the ECT machine.
What parts of your past personal experiences, as a 16-year-old nurses’ aide, did you attempt to incorporate into Whispers?
I worked on weekends only and the one nurse and I took care of the entire unit. On my first day on the unit, the nurse told me to mortuary care for a woman who had died overnight. I had to bathe, dry, and wrap the woman in a sheet so she could be taken to the morgue. As I looked into her face, I kept expecting her to sit up and say something. I also had to feed a woman who had been left in a fetal position for years and couldn’t sit up to feed herself. She also had no teeth, so her food was all mush. I told her what I thought was on the spoon and wiped her mouth with a napkin. She couldn’t speak, but I could see in her eyes that she appreciated how I treated her.
I told the head nurse I would not assist with such a “treatment” again. For that, she put me on evenings and nights. I was the only nurse on two huge psychiatric units and spent most of my time pouring medications, passing them out, and chartings that I had given them. I had only a few minutes to talk with patients and try to convey to them that I was interested in helping them. On nights, we had a few tumultuous admissions where I had to give the new patients injections to calm them down. Again, I was the only nurse but had two huge Black nurse aides; one on each side of me. They were very protective of me.
I told the head nurse I would not assist with such a “treatment” again. For that, she put me on evenings and nights. I was the only nurse on two huge psychiatric units and spent most of my time pouring medications, passing them out, and chartings that I had given them. I had only a few minutes to talk with patients and try to convey to them that I was interested in helping them. On nights, we had a few tumultuous admissions where I had to give the new patients injections to calm them down. Again, I was the only nurse but had two huge Black nurse aides; one on each side of me. They were very protective of me.
Have your experiences as a current registered nurse also influenced your latest novel, Whispers? If so, in what way?
I drew on all my nursing experience, including working in spooky hospitals, with only one other person on the unit, and the strange noises in the hallways.
Was there a specific event or experience that you found yourself referencing a lot during the writing process?
I wrote about the experiences that influenced me the most: ECT, working late at night as the only nurse on the unit and feeding the poor woman who was left lying in a fetal position for so long her legs wouldn’t move.
Do you feel your past experiences have improved your craft as an author?
Yes, because I can use the hospital descriptions that remain vivid in my mind although they happened decades ago.
Was the process of writing based on personal experience different from your writing process in previous works?
I always use some of my personal experiences when I write. It’s what I know best and can talk about in an authentic way.
Was there anything that surprised you about the process of writing Whispers?
My characters always whisper in my ear and show me things I never thought about.
Carolyn Chambers Clark
Carolyn Chambers Clark is a nurse practitioner with a research doctorate from Columbia University. She received three Book of the Year Awards from the American Journal of Nursing for three of her wellness books and has also had 17 other nonfiction books published by major publishers. Clark has published a total of twenty novels, with eight or nine yet to be revised and published. Her latest novel, WHISPERS, available on now Amazon.
