Short story collection boosts mental health charity funds
Oban author Stuart Simms tells us how his struggles with mental health during the pandemic inspired his first book of short stories, Elementals.
Mental health and our struggle to talk about it isn’t a problem exclusive to the past two years, but many of us have seen a worsening of our mental health as a direct result of Covid-19.
There are few situations more anxiety-inducing than a global pandemic and Covid regulations have separated us from people we might have turned to for help.
Personally, I can’t imagine many scenarios worse for someone with OCD than the risk of catching a deadly virus from any surface or person you come into contact with. I felt fortunate that I lived in Oban throughout the pandemic and enjoyed its relative remoteness, but being located here meant that I, like a lot of people, was faced with the added anxiety of low job security.
Finding ways to express how I was feeling during the past two years was challenging so l returned to an old hobby and started writing again. I began with an idea for a short story about a young man struggling with his identity. After that the ideas kept coming and I had three more stories. The end result of a year-and-a-half of writing was Elementals, a collection of all four stories. Each story was inspired by a different aspect of mental health and each of the four characters faces their own unique physical and mental challenges. Their struggles are tied to the four elements and the elemental creatures associated with them:
‘A young warrior must capture a dangerous earth elemental to prove himself. A reluctant hero endures a haunted forest to hunt an undead beast. A group of travellers face a deadly climb for the promise of a wish. A novice recovers from a difficult trial and finds new meaning from her life.’
My earliest motivation for writing these stories was to benefit my own mental health, but with the encouragement of my partner, family and friends I decided to self-publish the stories, with the goal of raising money for a mental health charity.
My chosen charity is Shout 85258, a free text helpline available day and night UK-wide. The helpline is anonymous and confidential, making it ideal for anyone that feels more comfortable starting a conversation about their mental health through a text. I believe a service like this is especially important in places like Oban where it can sometimes feel like we’re far removed from outside support. Until December 31, all royalties from the sale of paperback and eBook editions in the UK will be donated to Shout 85258. To contact the helpline text ‘Shout’ to 85258 or visit giveusashout.org.
The experience of writing these stories has only encouraged me to continue writing and next year I aim to self-publish a full-length novel featuring a character from Elementals. I hope to support charities through writing for years to come, as long as the ideas don’t stop.
Elementals: Stories of the Four Elements by Stuart Simms is available through Amazon.