Week 1 Great Writer Presentation WRIT 201
Karen, we've been talking about some of the primary skill sets, a, B and a
great writer. We're so thankful that you're here with us to try and inform our
students what those skill sets might be. Students who are taking this class.
They may be nurses, they may be engineers and they, they may be
attorneys. They may work in corporate America. They may be people who
are interested in running their own firstname, just like you did the number of
years ago. What, what do you think are the major skills that great riders
need to have in order to function in that all. I mean, there's a number of
them and I guess I might start by saying, and a practical no organization is
really important. Having a and I failed. I think as we know anyone, his art, we
struggle with that the organization part is very difficult, but that's kind of the
difference between you actually being a writer or wishing you are a writer.
And I think that's the ability to take an idea, write it down for me. It's
outlining, making sure I love that outline before I start writing page one. So
that's important. I think we talked about being an emotional detective is
really important. Like we, we need to know the who, your characterization,
obviously the what, what's your story, what's the plot about the where my
setting, I need to understand the setting, when, what time period didn't
happen. But the thing that I think is easier to leave out that makes the
difference between a sort of average writer and an extraordinary writer is the
why. Because that's the part that you look deep into someone's soul. Why
are you doing that? Why did you fail that way? Why did you go down that
path? And why did you succeed and become this certain person, what drove
you? So it's that why I think that's the defense that applies almost any kind
of writing designate coming out and upset a blank stare at instructions to put
together new barbecue grill, wondering why am I putting together this? What
would that apply, I guess for any variety? It really, I mean, you could say to
yourself, well, what does the felt needed this person who's going to be any, if
you're looking at your audience, it's one thing when you're looking at your
story. So as a writer, you need to be aware of your story and the why of your
characters. But also sometimes it's the why of the reader that the felt need
that they have. So it out and put together a barbecue. They had a family.
Yeah. I have plenty of those felt care and I mean, you do so much. You have
so many different projects going on at once. I can understand why do you
think organization? So what do you do? Anything to exercise your writing,
you warm up to riding. Is there some sort of rotting calisthenics or workout
that you you conduct on a regular basis that you'd like to share with it?
Absolutely. That's To great question. So I'll often tell people if you're having a
writer's block and I really don't get a lot of writer's block, but sometimes it's
like you said, it's calisthenics. It's the warm up that Okay. I come to the page
and been busy working with the kids, are doing an interview, marketing,
social media, some left-brain things that I'm not quite in my story. And I will
sit down and I will just expository, right? I will just write no boundaries. No
one's going to read it. I'm not trying to I'm sorry. I might even be writing
about my how I'm feeling on that day, how what my condition is spiritually or
Week 1 Great Writer Presentation WRIT 201
emotionally. As I come to the page, this has been the most difficult day. I
can't believe I haven't been back to my writing and so on. I'm just like I can
fly on the keyboard. And I think that, you know, the better you type, the
better you can connect these sort of calisthenics with your actual writing
piece that you're trying to produce. But I will sometimes write about a
character and how they're feeling. And Cody wonders why he's even second
California. And sometimes it may be like quickly I say, okay, I need to say
this is, it actually should be in the book. But it started off as an exercise. If I
think that, that writing, free-form writing expressively writing is really
important, but also reading obviously is, I mean, I don't, I don't I go days
without writing at times, but I never go a day without reading route. And
what kinds of things are you ready? Well, I'm very picky. So as I'll read, if I'm
reading an author or sometimes pick up a novel that I have to be a study
here at to be a student of coverage side because I'm always weighing in on
my own cover design. So I could look at the bestsellers list and say what's
going to catch my eye and why and think, Okay, that one's emotive, That's
sort of my genre and I'll take it, take a look and read it. Now if I'm as they
begin to read it, if I find that there's too many for me, one of my things I'm
looking for is the word said, is afterwards said or the word asked is too often,
if I'm seeing that in a text, I'm not going to read it. I want you to buy that
book. I'm not looking to get it because that's so redundant, right? If you have
quotes, that is said so I love reading, I like junk. I'm just on a pure popular
fiction, John Grisham. It's funny, I'll pick up with John Grisham novel in a way
to study it, kinda see how he feels with voice and syntax and flow and
rhythm. And in the first few pages I forget I'm doing that, which is a sign of a
great writer, but you're, so in the story. So a nurse who is having to write a
manual for a health care system and doesn't know where to start is suffering
from writer's block. They firstly to get organized. Yes. Especially a mineral.
And is there is there some other tip maybe that they can they can, you can
share with them to move forward. I like this idea of reading. So if they're
going to write a health care manager, definitely. Maybe we ought to read
healthcare me. They really need to. I man, and that may seem like a boring
idea, but at the same time somebody has to write that manual. Someone has
to put together the book, The Handbook for an organization that they're in
charge it with our law firm and they need a hand, but the rules and
operations and
look at other ones to kind of compare, see what you want to sort of include
and what you would do differently. That's an important aspect. Yeah, the
more, the more left-brain the writing, the more kind of nuts and bolts the
writing, the more you desperately need an outline here and I'm just curious,
do you ever, when you're reading something to you, do you sit down with a
pen and mark it up or do you write anything in the margins or do you make
little notes of SAP and Azure? I will sometimes print out a document and do
that for me. My first editing, the first editing round that I'll do is really kind of
reading it out loud. And he didn't quietly at lab because what you see on the
Week 1 Great Writer Presentation WRIT 201
page is very different when you read it out loud. And you can realize, did I
did that right? Well, did that was I repetitive? Overwrite that? Kind of set it
more succinctly. Is there a way that I could have made it more specific and
less general? And you get that when you're kind of reading it aloud. I'm not
sure we read much out loud anymore and maybe some cultural shift. I think
that someone could, I do that quietly in my RAM. That's not, you know, and
sometimes it's in my head. I may I'm just reading through it, but i'm I'm
really needing it to sound conversational so that if someone did read it out
loud or, you know, it has done it for me. And again, I'm writing fiction and not
something more practical that you want it to be user-friendly and that
sometimes isn't until you read aloud. If you get them. You often have a lot of
projects going at once. I have lots of projects going at once, but not I don't I
definitely finish one book before I go to the next, but I know what I'm going
to write next, but I have an outline that book until I finish the one before it.
So lot of times that project might be a social media campaign. You know,
writing book club questions out. So there's lots of writing, writing articles for
publications that are marketing publications within bookstores was
constantly writing that interrupts my books. But I don't go to the next book.
And so I finished, I think having so many projects going on at once, actually
homes or skills of NP that makes you a better ride. It keeps you sharp
mentally. I mean, it makes you you have to you have to be able to switch
gears. A lot of the social media strategizing marketing pieces are less than
not the depth that my novel SAR. So it's probably a good exercise that you're
switching it up and trying different things. So if somebody is called to do
some writing for there, they employer, maybe they want to also do some
journaling just to kind of loosen up the ability to speak on the page. Well, I
think about people who are working for a corporation or a marketing firm, or
like I said, a law firm. And they're interested in becoming a professional rider
in those capacities. Maybe they're worried that they can't do all those things
at once. But if organization is the most critical initial skill, well, you gotta
have things organized. Belgian, you do, and you have to say, Oh, hey,
sometimes you need to look at your hours of your day and say, especially if
you're doing something, if you're, your work hours are 85 and 90 snakes. And
here's when I have to do my work, then I have a dream, which I'm always a
big believer in, follow those dreams. And if your dream is to do something
outside of that, that maybe is, hey, I want to be the person who designs is
material for multiple firms, not just this one firm that's going to come
afterwards. So you need to say this is family time or this is where I'm doing
these things and my community that this time 79, I'm working, I'm entering,
wow. And then I guess there is some sort of ministerial component to this as
well. Is there did you go into your writing projects that initially looking at
them as a ministerial project, something that you just enjoy and you want to
explore that idea. Do you look at it entrepreneurially? Well, this would be a
good project that folks might be interested in reading and by, or is a
combination of all these things. I think it's a combination. It's pretty, pretty
intimately woven together that when I come up with an idea, I, I first have to
Week 1 Great Writer Presentation WRIT 201
love that idea. And so again, this is fiction, so it's not the kind of thing you'd
see it in a law firm. But when I loved that idea of part of what I love about it
is that it does speak to the redemptive message or message of forgiveness. I
love, so I love that part of it. That's part of it. That's, you know, that's going
to drawn into the project. Are there anythings that are are just off limits for
you? I mean, obviously we would, we would not want to write anything then
that causes people to dwell deeply and say in order to be drawn to a
particular subject but calls it, is sinful. But are there things outside of normal
moral concerns that just think are not very well? I think for me, I think
today's day and age that that would be considered, would be political. So I
have to be mindful that God's first calling me to be a communicator. Story,
people's stories and not get hung up on. So you talking about off-limits. Most
things are not off limits like I've written about gamut. Meaning the themes in
a drunk driving or alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse, sexual abuse,
pornography are in my books. I've got touched on these themes. But I think
the differences to me and a secular author is my Christian worldview allows
me to take it to a graphic place spiritually and emotionally, physically. Well.
Thanks, Karen. Yes.
