The writer John Aubrey once said, “Writing is, among things, the place where we can help ourselves cope with the dark parts of our living.”
North Charleston-based author Todd Ziegert explores the dark parts of his psyche and collective concepts of right versus wrong in his debut, self-published novel, ROMAN DAWCIO.
Inspiration comes to Ziegert cinematically in his mind’s eye, he told the Charleston City Paper, which explains the opening lines of his novel: “I have a magnificent movie scene in my head.”
The story follows a vigilante character named Roman Dawcio, an anagram for “I am no coward.” Ziegert said the character is “based on me, just with the crazy level cranked way up.”
The story poses questions about justice, violence and relative morality.
“Any philosophy can be taken too far and can become dangerous,” Ziegert said. “What happens when your personal philosophy somehow goes awry? What if seeking retribution and revenge are foremost in your mind because of your guiding doctrines?”
The vigilante story begins when Roman is in high school and stands up to a bully. “The story takes you through his early years, when his dad kind of teaches him not to be afraid to take action, not to be a coward. Not to be a hypocrite.”
In his adult life, when Roman finds a mechanic at an auto repair business who is taking advantage of ignorant clients, he takes “justice” into his own hands and burns the place to the ground. The falling action of the story follows Roman as he flees the state — that is, until he finds himself caught committing another act of retribution.
“He finds another situation where he sees red again, and gets himself into more trouble.” But Roman is, at the same time, seeking to stand up to injustices. Ziegert’s prose crafts complicated situations that leave room for his reader to draw their own conclusions to the questions raised: Is Roman Dawico a villain or a hero? A vigilante or a freedom fighter?
“Any philosophy can be taken too far,” he said. “The need for common sense and staying within societal norms are integral and important, but where do you put that proverbial line in the sand? The story is that there’s two sides to every story. The Founding Fathers, the folks involved in the American Revolution, they’re patriots and heroes to us. But at the time, they were treasonous and traitors in England.”
Ziegert’s hope is that the novel promotes introspection, as well as empathy for people you don’t necessarily agree with.
“I think we all need to talk a little bit more with people that we don’t agree with. Algorithms feed us whatever news we want to see instead of being able to look at the other side. … We live in an increasingly divided time. And I think it’s really important to be able to see where the other side is coming from.”
Purchase ROMAN DAWCIO on Amazon. $8.99 paperback, $0.99 for kindle.
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