Roger Johns will lead a four-hour writing workshop entitled “Becoming a New Author” for Georgia Writers Museum on Saturday, June 25, 2022, from 10am until 2pm at the museum. We recently caught up with Roger to learn more about his work as an author and writing instructor.
Roger, you are an award-winning author. What authors do you consider role models and why?
Once I became serious about writing, I lost some of my ability to read for pure pleasure, focusing instead on figuring out how particular writers achieved particular effects—on the page, over the course of a chapter, over the course of an entire book—so I could use those techniques in my own work. Over the years I’ve learned a lot by studying the writing of authors like Karin Slaughter, Sue Grafton, Stephen King, Daniel Woodrell, John Hart, and Michael Farris Smith.
What, for you, is the most difficult part of the writing process?
Making sure character motivations are correct and consistent throughout. Most of the time, when I begin a project, whether it’s a short story or a novel, I’ve got an ending in mind and a cast of characters that will carry the story from beginning to end. But the route from start to finish changes as I try, then discard, ideas for how best to tell the story. As the sequence of actions the characters take changes, so too will their motivations, so keeping on top of this is a big challenge.
What advice can you give new authors to bring their book idea to a finished product?
Don’t quit, until you’ve gotten it written, but be open to the possibility that the story you end up telling may be very different from the story you started out intending to tell. So, keep writing, but be willing to change course. Changing course is not the same as giving up. It’s maybe a recognition that the little voice in your head is steering you onto more fertile, workable ground. And, as you’re writing, take time to learn about agents, and publishers, and the how-to’s of self-publishing.
What is your advice for how one best promotes a new book?
Be clear on what promotion opportunities are reasonably available to you, find out which of those your publisher will do, then make a plan to do the others, yourself, and to augment those your publisher does. For this to work, however, the key is to start early because so many of the best opportunities have long lead times and it’s important to know how to take advantage of those opportunities before you’re in the thick of it. This sort of planning should begin months ahead of the publication date.
The cost for the workshop will be $90 per person, plus $10 for lunch. For more information and to register, visit www.georgiawritersmuseum.org.
-Contributed