“Write what you know” is oft-quoted advice for aspiring writers. For Brandy Dobson, that meant recalling a tormented childhood of physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather.

The recent University of Hawaii graduate detailed her experiences in her English honors thesis, which she hopes to develop into a memoir.

On the strength of her writing, Dobson, 39, became one of four students chosen nationally as a 2017 Portz Scholar by the National Collegiate Honors Council. She will present her story, “A Murmur in the Weeds: A Memoir,” at the council’s conference in Atlanta in November.

She said that as a 10-year-old child, she was accustomed to having containers of rotten food from the refrigerator dumped onto her head by her now-dead stepfather, trying not to vomit since that meant additional punishment.

“I am relieved for a brief moment that it wasn’t made my breakfast,” she wrote in her thesis. “Then the rotting grease slides into my eyes, down my cheeks, slipping into the corners of my lips. I taste the disgusting smell and press my lips together harder. It takes all my energy not to throw up. I have made that mistake before. The old food supply runs out before his fury, so he adds fresh yogurt, dressings and a new carton of orange juice.”

Dobson said she endured punches, kicks and other forms of violence from the ages of 9 to 15, and her siblings weren’t spared, either. Her stepfather was charged with abuse when she was 18 years old.

“It was emotionally numbing over the years and became normal,” she said.

Dobson, who lives in Pearl City, said she’s still working through the “complicated nature of shame and trauma from years of abuse as a child.” Putting pen to paper has helped her release some of those trapped memories and emotions, she said.

It’s a story she’s wanted to write since high school but found it too painful to get started. Only with the help of her university professors was she able to put her experiences into words, Dobson said.

Growing up in Hilo, she ran away from home 10 times before moving to Honolulu to live in safety with her biological father. “I came to Honolulu with the clothes on my back. It was the beginning of life for me,” Dobson said.

“We had a relationship with our dad, but we never told him. We told no one; we kept it secret. There’s so much silence around these things. … People can do subtle things to make children feel powerless. We were terrified.”

Dobson’s grateful she’s been able to push away some of those demons, allowing her to create a loving family with her husband, Clifton, and her children, Dylan, 24, Malik, 20, Layla, 14, Alexandra, 12, and Payton-Jordan, 10.

She’s also found comfort at her church. “Faith has been the key to the undoing of the past. It took me a long time to trust people,” she said. “My church family really helped me.”

In addition to publishing her memoir, Dobson would like to start a writing group for women to express their own stories of hardship and trauma. She also plans to publish books for children and young adults.

“My sister will do the illustrations,” she said. “We can re-create our childhood through storybooks, a happier version.”