Interview: Freeze Frame novel by Tyler Beauchamp - Savannah Morning News

Medical students are the past radical you'd expect to person clip to constitute a novel.

The program is understandably rigorous — nary 1 wants a poorly-educated doc managing their wellness — and astir waking hours are spent successful class, studying or successful practicals. Some students conflict to person a beingness extracurricular of coursework, and for most, sitting down to constitute an full publication isn't adjacent a passing thought.

For Tyler Beauchamp, however, penning his archetypal novel, "Freeze Frame," was a relief. In fact, he’s done much penning portion enrolled successful aesculapian schoolhouse than astatine immoderate different constituent successful his life.

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"I needed much merchandise than I had successful the past," helium explains. “When school’s truly hectic, and you’ve got stressful infirmary shifts and everything, you request a merchandise more.”

'The darkest clip of my life' leads to archetypal novel

After graduating from the University of North Carolina with a grade successful Chemistry, Beauchamp started astatine the Medical College of Georgia successful 2019 — conscionable earlier the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once quarantine began, helium recovered himself not lone balancing the emblematic hefty load of coursework, but besides the dense affectional toll of isolation. Classes were moved online; objective rotations were made afloat virtual. His lone accordant societal enactment became the radical helium lived with. 

"Freeze Frame" was calved successful a "prison cell"—a windowless, lonely chamber "basically amerciable to have." 

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"I was truthful physically alone," Beauchamp recalls, describing it arsenic "the darkest clip of his life." Life was a blend of study-dominated monotony, and helium recovered himself often struggling to archer whether it was adjacent time oregon night. He began to person vivid, imaginative daydreams to marque up for the deficiency of stimulation, and among those was a country that stuck with him — the archetypal imaginativeness that inspired "Freeze Frame."

He imagined a kid successful an auditorium afloat of people, frozen “almost similar they were mannequins.” At the front, the kid’s susceptible moments played retired earlier them.

That kid became Will, the main quality of "Freeze Frame." The abbreviated snapshot sparked thoughts astir what would beryllium astir life-changing for a kid nowadays — astir traumatic to beryllium displayed for everyone to see. And wherefore was that being shown successful an auditorium?

From the beginning, Beauchamp knew helium wanted the main quality to beryllium a precocious schooler troubled by a traumatic lawsuit successful his past that helium didn’t privation others to see. He besides knew that helium wanted to bash the thought justice.

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As the communicative began to signifier successful his mind, helium wrote it down, starting with dense outlining. From the beginning, Beauchamp knew helium wanted the main quality to beryllium a precocious schooler troubled by a traumatic lawsuit successful his past that helium didn’t privation others to see. He besides knew that helium wanted to bash the thought justice.

He noted down immoderate random, precocious nighttime thoughts; helium dictated ideas portion studying. He created chapter-by-chapter synopses that helium went done and refined, and it was lone aft six oregon 7 months that helium wrote a afloat sentence.

The readying was particularly important for the contented helium wanted to see successful the book, which includes darker topics specified arsenic depression, loss, and trauma. He knew helium was walking a delicate enactment betwixt raising consciousness and dramatizing intelligence illness, and helium was determined to make a communicative that resonated with kids successful Will’s presumption alternatively than alienated them.

“How americium I going to archer this communicative that’s aimed astatine kids,” helium asked himself, “that’s beauteous acheronian successful tone, and people it arsenic ‘hey, this is truly important to speech astir successful kids today’ that doesn’t besides get maine barred arsenic idiosyncratic who’s exploiting this portion of younker civilization erstwhile I’m trying to bring consciousness to it?”

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The main mode helium approached this contented was done utilizing an unreliable narrator. As Will navigates done his trauma, the publication becomes astir a mystery, events unfolding and becoming clearer arsenic the crippled progresses.

This not lone allowed Beauchamp to make an intriguing narrative, but besides skirt definite specifics, which prevented the caller from becoming excessively heavy-handed oregon sensationalized.

Beauchamp besides made definite to see a radical of supportive friends who bring the main quality “into the fold virtually and emotionally.” Even erstwhile Will’s household can’t beryllium determination for him, his friends are a lifeline, thing that was particularly important to Beauchamp aft his acquisition with isolation. He wanted idiosyncratic determination for him during quarantine, and helium knew that Will — and the kids speechmaking the publication — would request that conscionable arsenic much.

“It’s hard for radical successful medicine to recognize wherefore I request to write, and it’s hard for artists to recognize wherefore I person to bash medicine,” Beauchamp states, describing his conflict to equilibrium the enactment for 2 vastly antithetic fields.

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For him, though, his vocation way and storytelling are not mutually exclusive. In fact, helium feels a “calling” for some and aims to bring the 2 unneurotic successful a mode that elevates an important message.

“Hopefully, the communicative tin assistance some children and those older who consciousness isolated and burdened by trauma to navigate their trauma,” helium concludes. “I besides anticipation it volition promote radical to lend a helping manus to those successful request and to instrumentality intermission to see everyone’s unsocial past.”

He's excited to stock this connection with his intended audience, kids successful precocious school, astatine an assembly astatine Savannah Country Day School, his ain precocious school. He'll besides person a nationalist publication signing astatine the Wyld astatine 4 p.m. on Sunday.