Writing through trauma, for author Jack Davenport, means giving hard memories to fictional characters who can say what he cannot. Jack, a USA Today bestselling author and former professional rock drummer, tells Jeremy Van Wert how a chaotic childhood fed his motorcycle club romance series, why honesty makes characters believable, and why he believes everybody has a book in them.
ᛉKey takeaways
- Jack says writing lets him work out childhood pain through characters, saying things he cannot say or do himself.
- He believes complex characters feel real because nobody is just one thing, a lesson he learned early from the people around him.
- Jack's advice to would-be writers is to make your story about somebody else, let that character be your puppet and work out what you need through them.
- He sees writing as a way to quiet the 3 a.m. replays of old conversations, sometimes by writing them differently and sometimes by reaching out.
- Jack says he missed some of his early music goals, but he now believes he reached what he wanted with a different brush.
- He and his wife Piper credit honesty, even brutal honesty, as the base of their 30-year marriage and creative partnership.
ᛃ Moments in this one
ᚠHow did a rock drummer become a bestselling author?
Jack Davenport spent 25 years as a professional musician, playing drums in rock bands and writing and recording songs. Jack says his wife, Piper, supported him through all of it. When she began writing novels, the couple chose to self-publish, which Jack says came naturally from the DIY habits of rock and roll: fund the album, haul your own gear and don't wait for permission.
Piper's books took off, and Jack grew unhappy in his tech career, where he had spent a long stretch. She told him he should quit and write with her. Jack began writing about seven years ago under a pen name, Jack Davenport. His birth name, he says, is Jackson Jackson, and he keeps that name for his life in music.
He believes the jump from songs to books was smaller than it looks. If you can write a song, he says, you can write a book, because both are about hooks and about the emotion you want to convey.
ᚢWhy Jack says writing through trauma works for him
Jack grew up in the East Bay area of California around musicians, bikers and an outlaw stepfather. His mother loved him but struggled to care for a child, so Jack says he learned to look after himself early. He also describes a father he did not meet until his late teens. Those years left him with a lot to process.
In his view, fiction is where he can do that. His characters can do what he cannot, such as confronting injustice in ways he never could. A reader may have a quiet office job, he says, and he wants to put that person into a world she can lose herself in.
He says that meeting some unsavory people as a kid helped him build characters and work out some of the trauma he experienced. Jeremy points out that stories can give an ending to something that never got a proper one, and Jack agrees. He adds that sometimes he is the one who did the damage, and writing lets him revisit what he would do differently.
ᚦDoes writing about trauma help? Jack on the 3 a.m. replays
Jack describes a kind of chatter that hits at three in the morning, when a conversation from 20 years ago replays and he is sure he sounded like a jerk. Writing helps cut that chatter down, he says. He has also called people to ask whether they were okay, only to find they had not thought about it at all.
He tries to release those old worries, which he calls taking stones out of his pockets. When someone is no longer safe to talk to, he says, he looks for other ways to let go. Jack is describing his own experience, and this post is not a claim that writing treats trauma.
Jeremy's memoir, There Is More, tells his own story, and anyone moved to write theirs will recognize the pull Jack describes.
ᚨComplex characters and the duality of people
A reader once told Jack his books were like Grey's Anatomy, if it took place in a motorcycle club. He took that to mean the characters have emotional complexity. He is not interested in a one-note tough guy.
Jack says he learned young that people have sides. He saw musicians and bikers who could be kind and dangerous, and churchgoers who could be the best or the worst. His motorcycle club series, Burning Saints, is set around a club based in Portland, and its sixth book features Spike, a character named for Jeremy's old nickname.
ᚱGoals that change, and a creative partnership
Jack is open about the music goals he did not reach, such as touring nationally. His goals changed, he says, because he also wanted to be a husband, a father and a friend. Later he realized that everything he learned chasing the musician dream applies to books, from touring and signings to producing and design. In his words, he has accomplished every goal he wanted, just with a different brush.
He also lives with ADHD and mild dyslexia, and says sitting down to work can be hard until he gets lost in the thing, the way he used to in a drum groove.
He and Piper have been married about 30 years, and Jack calls their honesty with each other brutal. Anyone who wants an ongoing place to talk about creativity, relationships and growth can join Thriving Spirits, the Mindful Mutiny community, for real conversation, live Fireside Chats and a course library.
ᚲHonest feelings, ADHD and questioning old beliefs
Jack describes how he used to follow a rule-based faith and spent decades trying to fit within it. He says he later found he had more questions than answers and now prefers truth over labels. He presents these as his own views and says he is not bitter.
He says cannabis, which is legal where he lives, became a way to ask himself honest questions and to regulate emotion, and he links it to his ADHD. He is clear that it does not always bring peace and sometimes brings anger. Jack shares this as his own experience, and nothing here is a recommendation.
Jeremy notes that many people with ADHD spend years forcing themselves into rigid workplaces. Jeremy offers individual therapy and ADHD coaching.
ᚷEverybody has a book in them: advice for writers
Jack believes everyone has a book in them. His advice is to exaggerate your life a little, make it about somebody else and let that character be your puppet, because a character can say things you can't. He adds that the story is the part everyone has, while the craft is what you work at.
Looking ahead, Jack and Piper plan more writing and less traveling, including a new paranormal romance series. The conversation ends with the Guitar Center days, when Jack and Jeremy worked in the drum shop together.
If you are weighing what to do with your own story, you can book a private consultation with Jeremy.
Writing is described as one person's experience and is not a substitute for therapy or medical care. This conversation touches on a difficult childhood and loss. Cannabis and other substances may be illegal where you live and aren't right for everyone. Nothing here is a recommendation to use any substance. If you are struggling, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional or your local emergency services.
ᚨ Questions people ask
What does writing through trauma mean?
For Jack Davenport, it means using fiction to work through painful experiences by giving them to characters. He says it lets him say things he could not say as himself. He describes his own experience and does not present it as treatment.
Does writing about trauma help?
Jack says it helps him, in part by quieting the old conversations that replay at night. Jeremy agrees that stories can give closure to something that never got a proper ending. Others may find different tools useful, and a licensed professional can help when things feel heavy.
How do you write complex, believable characters?
Jack believes nobody is just one thing, so characters need more than one side, such as kindness and danger. He says honesty is what readers can sense, and that real details come from lived experience.
How can a musician become an author?
Jack says songwriting taught him to write hooks and to focus on the emotion he wants to convey, and rock and roll taught him to self-publish and do the work himself. He credits his wife Piper for inviting him in.
What is Jack Davenport's advice to people who want to write?
He believes everybody has a book in them. His suggestion is to make your story about somebody else, exaggerate it a little and let the character say what you can't.