Battle Scars

Rachel Whelan got the idea for Battle Scars around 2013, when several cases of online bullying came to light. There was a website which was linked to a number of teenage girl's suicides in Ireland and abroad. Upon learning of these stories, Rachel wanted to, in a sense, re-write the endings of these girl's stories. Girls who would have been able to see that the bullies weren't worth a pinch of salt in the long run. They were merely people who weren't even going to matter in a few years. Rachel based her characters on the common reactions she had noticed when the subject of suicide was raised with family and friends; the Father who wants to carry on as normal, the Mother who feels she hadn't done enough before the suicide attempt and is trying to make amends and the Brother who considers his sister to be selfish for what she did.