It reminds me of that episode of Friends where Chandler can't take a good picture, and every time the camera goes up his smile becomes a grimace. Weird things happen to us when we're on camera, man.
Thanks so much for sharing this information, as an up and coming writer myself, I find this very helpful!🤓
There’s so much power in being part of the writing community🤓✍️
I also want to say that I’ve always thought that your Divergent series was & is truly unique. Yes, it does fall into the dystopian genre & certain typical tropes are used, it’s still for me unique as both its protagonist, other characters, & the story try to understand their internal struggles whereas books like hunger games & maze runner focuses more on the external struggles of their respective stories.📖
I believe that in order to truly change the world we must first conquer the obstacles within ourselves. That can both apply IRL & fiction & you’ve done that beautifully with your Divergent characters, especially Tris & Tobias📖✍️👱🏻♀️🧑🏻🦱🎡
Thank you for this advice on interviewing! This was so helpful. I’m writing my second poetry book and already getting nervous about talking about it for upcoming interviews and blog book tours. Sharing your experiences shows that it does take time and practice to talk about a book you created.
I love the way you subtly practice what you preach in this post, by talking about your books or citing them as examples, as you would (and should!) do in an author interview.
I'm assuming a high level of verbal fluency (as demanded by unforgiving audio and visual media) comes from confidence built up by adequate preparation, or are there other ways?
Thanks! I am of course working on giving myself permission to...talk about my books. You'd think it wouldn't be necessary to do that, because this is my newsletter, but somehow it still is.
As for the verbal fluency-- I think preparation is the main thing, as well as the thing that other people can replicate regardless of what point in their career they're at. The other factors for me personally are probably that I did three years of congressional debate in high school, which means I routinely spoke extemporaneously about fake proposed laws, and once you've embarrassed yourself doing that for three years, it's really easy to talk about your books instead. The first time I spoke in public I laughed through my nose while it was stuffy and snorted snot all over my face, so there was really nowhere to go but up. I also took an improv class once, just for fun, but again-- once you've experienced the horror of improv, discussing your books in a controlled setting is easy by comparison. So I suppose I'd recommend embracing discomfort for the sake of growth, because it really has helped me a lot.
That's great advice, Veronica. Thank you so much. (And I'll blow my nose vigorously and frequently from now on - I snorted my drink at your snot snort tale 😝.)
I mean I think defining your goals and preparing your answers to questions is helpful whether you're doing actual Media Stuff or not! It's a good exercise for telling yourself why your book is worth writing.
Veronica (The Divergent series author) has given good points here for any writer/author who is working on their first book or 5th book or 10th book. I have taken multiple screenshots of what she has said. I intend to share my thoughts on those screenshots here and on Threads. Thanks, Veronica. 🌹
Just a quick recap of her words that connected with me.
1. "I do recommend watching yourself on camera at least once so you can be aware of your posture and presentation, even if you're just practising for a job interview."
2. "So before you start talking about your book anywhere-online, on panels, in interviews, whatever-sit down and figure out what your 'buckets' are. What are the things you want to talk about when you talk about this book? Know what they are. Write them down."
3. "The main takeaway here is: talking about your work is a skill you can and should develop, whether you're a writer or not. Maybe you're not naturally gifted at it, maybe you're not funny or particularly entertaining, but clarity is a goal that we can all achieve, whether we're good at it or not."
Why these and other points she highlighted made me go ahead and screenshot them was because I talk about the importance of personal marketing on social media, which is what Veronica seems to be telling us. As part of my purpose and activity, I urge all professionals (including authors) in all career sectors and business owners, to record themselves on camera and talk about their work. They should then publish those videos (reels & shorts) on social media. This brings clarity and establishes their expertise, authority and knowledge in their domain.
Veronica, you mentioned that for the Divergent series, when you were pressured to write more: “my inexperience when writing the books, there are some world-building weaknesses”. It’s been a decade since Divergent first came out, and now that you have a lot more experience, I and many readers/fans would LOVE a re-release of Divergent! I am OBSESSED with the story and the faction system, so I would die to read a re-release version that dives deeper into the world and has more flushed out world-building. I hope you consider a re-release because even if the story is going to have some differences, I know many fans and I would love to purchase and read such a novel.
I really enjoyed reading your blog, and found it very productive especially given the cthe path I wish to persue in the future. I am currently doing a degree in english in creative writing at university and have a few questions about writing
1. What is the most effective way of planning your story, and do you use any particular software to do this?
2. How easy is it to alternate between two POVs when writing, as I enjoyed this method when reading alegiant.
I look fowrard to reading the next blog and hearing from you
All excellent advice. The only media training I had was during my career as a detective. We were often interviewed at crime scenes. Our training was more about what NOT to say. After my first interview (over the phone) with a local newspaper about a novel I wrote, I quickly realized my training in this context was useless. All I could think of was everything I should have said.
After the second one (videotaped), I was a little better, but I remember when that was finished, I felt I had been talking too much. So I take your advice seriously. It's not as easy as it looks.
This is great! I didn’t realize how hard it would be to talk on camera until I started a YouTube channel and even then I’m only talking to myself lol.
It reminds me of that episode of Friends where Chandler can't take a good picture, and every time the camera goes up his smile becomes a grimace. Weird things happen to us when we're on camera, man.
Thanks so much for sharing this information, as an up and coming writer myself, I find this very helpful!🤓
There’s so much power in being part of the writing community🤓✍️
I also want to say that I’ve always thought that your Divergent series was & is truly unique. Yes, it does fall into the dystopian genre & certain typical tropes are used, it’s still for me unique as both its protagonist, other characters, & the story try to understand their internal struggles whereas books like hunger games & maze runner focuses more on the external struggles of their respective stories.📖
I believe that in order to truly change the world we must first conquer the obstacles within ourselves. That can both apply IRL & fiction & you’ve done that beautifully with your Divergent characters, especially Tris & Tobias📖✍️👱🏻♀️🧑🏻🦱🎡
I'm going to print this out and hang it on my wall.
Well, you have written so many absurdly helpful, practical, and informative newsletters for authors, so that means a lot, Jodi!
Thank you for this advice on interviewing! This was so helpful. I’m writing my second poetry book and already getting nervous about talking about it for upcoming interviews and blog book tours. Sharing your experiences shows that it does take time and practice to talk about a book you created.
I love the way you subtly practice what you preach in this post, by talking about your books or citing them as examples, as you would (and should!) do in an author interview.
I'm assuming a high level of verbal fluency (as demanded by unforgiving audio and visual media) comes from confidence built up by adequate preparation, or are there other ways?
Thanks! I am of course working on giving myself permission to...talk about my books. You'd think it wouldn't be necessary to do that, because this is my newsletter, but somehow it still is.
As for the verbal fluency-- I think preparation is the main thing, as well as the thing that other people can replicate regardless of what point in their career they're at. The other factors for me personally are probably that I did three years of congressional debate in high school, which means I routinely spoke extemporaneously about fake proposed laws, and once you've embarrassed yourself doing that for three years, it's really easy to talk about your books instead. The first time I spoke in public I laughed through my nose while it was stuffy and snorted snot all over my face, so there was really nowhere to go but up. I also took an improv class once, just for fun, but again-- once you've experienced the horror of improv, discussing your books in a controlled setting is easy by comparison. So I suppose I'd recommend embracing discomfort for the sake of growth, because it really has helped me a lot.
That's great advice, Veronica. Thank you so much. (And I'll blow my nose vigorously and frequently from now on - I snorted my drink at your snot snort tale 😝.)
If I ever become that good of a writer where I would need media training, I would be so happy!!
I mean I think defining your goals and preparing your answers to questions is helpful whether you're doing actual Media Stuff or not! It's a good exercise for telling yourself why your book is worth writing.
Thank you!!
Veronica (The Divergent series author) has given good points here for any writer/author who is working on their first book or 5th book or 10th book. I have taken multiple screenshots of what she has said. I intend to share my thoughts on those screenshots here and on Threads. Thanks, Veronica. 🌹
Just a quick recap of her words that connected with me.
1. "I do recommend watching yourself on camera at least once so you can be aware of your posture and presentation, even if you're just practising for a job interview."
2. "So before you start talking about your book anywhere-online, on panels, in interviews, whatever-sit down and figure out what your 'buckets' are. What are the things you want to talk about when you talk about this book? Know what they are. Write them down."
3. "The main takeaway here is: talking about your work is a skill you can and should develop, whether you're a writer or not. Maybe you're not naturally gifted at it, maybe you're not funny or particularly entertaining, but clarity is a goal that we can all achieve, whether we're good at it or not."
Why these and other points she highlighted made me go ahead and screenshot them was because I talk about the importance of personal marketing on social media, which is what Veronica seems to be telling us. As part of my purpose and activity, I urge all professionals (including authors) in all career sectors and business owners, to record themselves on camera and talk about their work. They should then publish those videos (reels & shorts) on social media. This brings clarity and establishes their expertise, authority and knowledge in their domain.
Veronica, you mentioned that for the Divergent series, when you were pressured to write more: “my inexperience when writing the books, there are some world-building weaknesses”. It’s been a decade since Divergent first came out, and now that you have a lot more experience, I and many readers/fans would LOVE a re-release of Divergent! I am OBSESSED with the story and the faction system, so I would die to read a re-release version that dives deeper into the world and has more flushed out world-building. I hope you consider a re-release because even if the story is going to have some differences, I know many fans and I would love to purchase and read such a novel.
Hi Veronica
I hope that you are keeping well
I really enjoyed reading your blog, and found it very productive especially given the cthe path I wish to persue in the future. I am currently doing a degree in english in creative writing at university and have a few questions about writing
1. What is the most effective way of planning your story, and do you use any particular software to do this?
2. How easy is it to alternate between two POVs when writing, as I enjoyed this method when reading alegiant.
I look fowrard to reading the next blog and hearing from you
sincerely 😊
Aliza Rehman
All excellent advice. The only media training I had was during my career as a detective. We were often interviewed at crime scenes. Our training was more about what NOT to say. After my first interview (over the phone) with a local newspaper about a novel I wrote, I quickly realized my training in this context was useless. All I could think of was everything I should have said.
After the second one (videotaped), I was a little better, but I remember when that was finished, I felt I had been talking too much. So I take your advice seriously. It's not as easy as it looks.
Have a good day.
I am going to save this forever. THANK YOU!