This is the backstory on Internal Lockdown, my first novel. (This appeared on lfbooks)
I began writing a short story about a normal day interrupted by an announcement to lockdown and it quickly becomes obvious that this is not a drill. Now what? I did not go outside the “known”. The point of view was strictly from the classroom. The characters did not know where the shooter was; cell phones did more to create hysteria than help the situation; every noise outside the classroom sounded threatening and heightened tension; the teacher was faced with some of the scenarios I presented earlier.
I kept writing over the course of several years, taking plot elements from real shootings, and the short story grew into a novel. For example, a key element of the novel is chained doors, a scenario that occurred in the Virginia Tech shootings. No situations occurring as a result of the shooters’ actions in the novel are my original creation. Unfortunately, chapters and scenes mirror actual events.
I saw the novel as something of a wake-up call for anyone in the educational community who might read it, because media coverage of school shootings was almost invisible, even though they were still happening.
Then the tragedy at Parkland came along and put the issue of school shootings and how to prevent them back on the front burner, where they belong. Hopefully, the activism of some of the Parkland students and parents will continue to be a catalyst for continuing discussions about all of the components of school and other soft target shootings and how to prevent them.
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