Half medical student, half author: Tyler Beauchamp brings a unique perspective to new YA novel

Medical students are the last people you'd expect to have time to write a novel.

The curriculum is understandably rigorous — no one wants a poorly-educated physician managing their health — and most waking hours are spent in class, studying or in practicals. Some students struggle to have a life outside of coursework, and for most, sitting down to write an entire book isn't even a passing thought.

For Tyler Beauchamp, however, writing his first novel, "Freeze Frame," was a relief. In fact, he’s done more writing while enrolled in medical school than at any other point in his life.

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"I needed more release than I had in the past," he explains. “When school’s really hectic, and you’ve got stressful hospital shifts and everything, you need a release more.”

'The darkest time of my life' leads to first novel

After graduating from the University of North Carolina with a degree in Chemistry, Beauchamp started at the Medical College of Georgia in 2019 — just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once quarantine began, he found himself not only balancing the typical hefty load of coursework, but also the heavy emotional toll of isolation. Classes were moved online; clinical rotations were made fully virtual. His only consistent social interaction became the people he lived with.

"Freeze Frame" was born in a "prison cell"—a windowless, lonely bedroom "basically illegal to have."

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"I was so physically alone," Beauchamp recalls, describing it as "the darkest time of his life." Life was a blend of study-dominated monotony, and he found himself often struggling to tell whether it was even day or night. He began to have vivid, imaginative daydreams to make up for the lack of stimulation, and among those was a scene that stuck with him — the initial vision that inspired "Freeze Frame."

He imagined a kid in an auditorium full of people, frozen “almost like they were mannequins.” At the front, the kid’s vulnerable moments played out before them.

That kid became Will, the main character of "Freeze Frame." The short snapshot sparked thoughts about what would be most life-changing for a kid nowadays — most traumatic to be displayed for everyone to see. And why was that being shown in an auditorium?

From the beginning, Beauchamp knew he wanted the main character to be a high schooler troubled by a traumatic event in his past that he didn’t want others to see. He also knew that he wanted to do the idea justice.

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As the story began to form in his mind, he wrote it down, starting with heavy outlining. From the beginning, Beauchamp knew he wanted the main character to be a high schooler troubled by a traumatic event in his past that he didn’t want others to see. He also knew that he wanted to do the idea justice.

He noted down any random, late night thoughts; he dictated ideas while studying. He created chapter-by-chapter synopses that he went through and refined, and it was only after six or seven months that he wrote a full sentence.

The planning was especially important for the content he wanted to include in the book, which includes darker topics such as depression, loss, and trauma. He knew he was walking a sensitive line between raising awareness and dramatizing mental illness, and he was determined to create a story that resonated with kids in Will’s position rather than alienated them.

“How am I going to tell this story that’s aimed at kids,” he asked himself, “that’s pretty dark in tone, and mark it as ‘hey, this is really important to talk about in kids today’ that doesn’t also get me barred as someone who’s exploiting this part of youth culture when I’m trying to bring awareness to it?”

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The main way he approached this issue was through using an unreliable narrator. As Will navigates through his trauma, the book becomes almost a mystery, events unfolding and becoming clearer as the plot progresses.

This not only allowed Beauchamp to create an intriguing narrative, but also skirt certain specifics, which prevented the novel from becoming too heavy-handed or sensationalized.

Beauchamp also made sure to include a group of supportive friends who bring the main character “into the fold literally and emotionally.” Even when Will’s family can’t be there for him, his friends are a lifeline, something that was especially important to Beauchamp after his experience with isolation. He wanted someone there for him during quarantine, and he knew that Will — and the kids reading the book — would need that just as much.

“It’s hard for people in medicine to understand why I need to write, and it’s hard for artists to understand why I have to do medicine,” Beauchamp states, describing his struggle to balance the work for two vastly different fields.

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For him, though, his career path and storytelling are not mutually exclusive. In fact, he feels a “calling” for both and aims to bring the two together in a way that elevates an important message.

“Hopefully, the story can help both children and those older who feel isolated and burdened by trauma to navigate their trauma,” he concludes. “I also hope it will encourage people to lend a helping hand to those in need and to take pause to consider everyone’s unique past.”

He's excited to share this message with his intended audience, kids in high school, at an assembly at Savannah Country Day School, his own high school. He'll also have a public book signing at the Wyld at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Interview: Freeze Frame novel by Tyler Beauchamp