I have Rae Shawn with me today and we are talking about her experiences in journalism and what she has brought to writing from there. Rae is a Los Angeles native, who lives in Nevada. She writes her novels under a pen name to separate her journalistic and fictional writings. She just self-published her first novel, Cane’s Justice, and is working on the sequel and well as another story which she plans to turn into a series.
On the series today, we are chatting about how she got into journalism, how her experience applies to fiction and non-fiction writing as well as how to make stories interesting. We will also talk a little bit about fake news! Let’s get started with the interview!
Why Journalism
Welcome to Creator’s Roulette, Rae! What piqued your interest for you to pursue journalism?
I used to attend many concerts and music events. I started doing charity events with music artists and helping promote a few as well. I met the A&R person for one of the artists I helped promote and he thought I was really good at getting the word out and focused well in asking for and providing information to others. So, he told me I should go to school for public relations. While taking courses I ventured into journalism as well and I was hooked.
Which places has your journalism career taken you too?
I started my career in Northern California. It’s the only place I’ve traveled so far for work, but I did learn about many different areas of life including city, state and federal government, country music, amongst other styles of music, and women’s heart health, amongst other medical needs.
From Journalism to Writing Fiction
How do these experiences become part of your books later?
What I’ve learned and the experiences I’ve been in, allow me to expand and extend ideas into my books. Some of the lyrics from music artists and quotes from people I’ve interviewed have been inspirations for the thoughts and actions of my characters in my novels.
That’s amazing. Tell us a little bit about Cane’s Justice, your first book. What inspired you to write it?
I hadn’t exactly planned on writing anything, but I had been off from work due to a knee surgery for a little over six weeks. I had gotten bad news about school and was dealing with some other overly complicated situations. I was watching Supernatural and Bones reruns and something sparked in my head. The idea came and was daunting until I decided to write. It took me about three weeks to complete and I surprised myself.
Cane’s Justice follows LeAnne Cane and Tyler Simmons. They are neighbors and, for years, had barely spoken more than a few words toward each other. When LeAnne was pulled into a case with Tyler, at her father’s request, they had to get to know each other.
Going from LAPD to private investigators was more than easier, especially for LeAnne who was obsessed with finding who was murdering foreign women. Once Tyler, her father and LeAnne figured out it was tied to a human trafficking ring, they did what they do best and went undercover.
Things went from unusual too intense quickly. LeAnne was missing and Tyler could not find her. The hunt to find her and locate the human trafficking ringleaders intensified, but once things came to a head, the situation only shifted gears.
That sounds like a fast paced read! 🙂
When we were chatting earlier, you mentioned that your professors helped you improve storytelling. What are some tools/techniques a writer can use to be more concise and interesting?
Sometimes being concise can still be long and detailed. When people think of concise they tend to think shorter, but when it comes to storytelling, you want to paint a picture using your words.
So if I were to describe what I’m doing at this very moment, I could say something like: Rae is sitting on the runner of her couch with her computer resting in her lap, her legs stretched out in front of her as she leaned back revealing the black and yellow plaid pajama shorts covered almost completely by her laptop. Her red t-shirt, from a college event she volunteered at, raised slightly uncovering the quote tattooed on her left hip. Her hair, parted in two, looked like oversized brownish-red cotton balls. When she leaned her right elbow on the arm of the couch and rested her chin in her hand, her eyes focused on nothing in particular, but gave off the look of deep, invested thought.
The paragraph may be long, but it’s concise in the fact that it gives just enough information to paint a mental picture and see exactly what a person is doing without actually seeing a person. It’s interesting that even though nothing of interest is happening, a person reading can still be interested. I learned this from the magazine writing and long form storytelling classes I took. Writing for news is different in the fact that you only describe in excruciating detail if it’s necessary to the narrative, like if a person’s hair and clothing are important pieces of information. Otherwise it’s short and straight to the point.
My professors helped me craft my style by teaching me to expand “the accordion” of detail when necessary. This means sometimes it’s good to shorten parts of a story and give just enough information, while other parts are longer and more detailed. It’s like looking at a photograph of a couple standing together, face-to-face and smiling. The woman’s hands on the face of her partner. Her partner’s hands are resting on her hips. Then the background is blurred and out of focus. That’s because the important part of the story in that photo is the couple not the background, so the focus leads you to the details that need to be seen.
On Fake News
There is tons of fake news to be found on the Internet. Why do you think such false journalism exists and how do you go about recognizing fake resources when you are doing your research?
Reputable sites are less likely to promote or spread false information because real journalists have integrity and tend to research a topic before just writing an article based solely on the word of whomever they interviewed. Unless a journalist is giving a verbatim recount of what someone said, information is researched and added to the article. Since I have the experience in writing and interviewing sources, I tend to look up information provided in articles after I’ve read them. I don’t even click on a story on social media sites unless it’s from a reputable source like actual newspapers, online news sites, television networks or actual organizations.
Sites that aren’t actual sources of information, for example say it’s something like funnytoreadnews.com says “Oranges are the new remedy for solving a nose bleed.” I wouldn’t click and read that article. I would go look up the information and try to find it on a reputable site or within actual organizations who focus on what remedies a nose bleed. If I can’t find that information, then I classify it as false and ignore it. One of the easiest ways to know if something is more than likely true is to type it in a search engine. If multiple news organizations have reported on it, then it’s probably true. If you can only find one or two sites that are saying it, then it’s probably false.
Blogging as a form of Journalism
Writing blog posts about books and conversations like this one, is non-fiction and I think aligns well with journalism in some ways. I’m reporting about books! What are some lessons that you have learned in journalism that me and my fellow bloggers can apply to their writing?
When it comes down to it, blogging is a style of journalism. If the focus is on talking to an author then the important part is digging into the author and asking questions that can expand readers knowledge and understanding of the person being interviewed. If the focus is on reviewing books, then it should give just enough detail from the book to let a reader know why or why not the book is successful in painting a picture for readers without giving away the story. It should also let readers know while it may be something the blogger loves or hates, that doesn’t mean it won’t be the opposite for the readers.
If a blog post focuses on both the author and a book they wrote, it needs to be a good balance of information about the author and details of the book. The focus should be on one or the other but it should transition seamlessly so readers don’t feel like they are reading two different pieces jammed into one. Oh and check spelling and other errors often. It’s bad to see issues in a blog post or any other writing. It shows a reader that the person who wrote the piece actually cares about what they wrote.
These are great reminders, Rae. Thank you so much for joining us for Creator’s Roulette!
What are some lessons about writing that you have learned from a profession other than a writer?
Connect with Rae on her website, twitter or Goodreads.
Cover Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
For someone who tends to expand paragraphs it’s such a relief to learn longer written can still be concise.
Great tips for on writing for bloggers here that I’ll need to make a note of!
I’m glad I could be of help.
I think that bloggers and long form writers are able to use longer paragraphs more than new writers. The main reason being because in news writing people tend to look for the most important information as quickly as they can get it, but in blogs or features or any other type of long form writing, people expect it to be a little longer. Long as the information doesn’t drag on unnecessarily, then a reader will be more likely to read long paragraphs or long pieces.