Join us in welcoming Jodi Clark to the Kingdom Pen Team! She is a new writing intern here at Kingdom Pen, and we got the wonderful opportunity to interview her!
Thank you so much, Jodi, for letting us interview you!
Here is the interview and enjoy!
Kingdom Pen: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What are three interesting facts?
Jodi Clark: Hello everyone! My name is Jodi Clark and I’m super excited to be interning here at Kingdom Pen. Here are three facts about me:
First, I used to fence! It was so much fun because I wanted to learn how to sword fight in order to write more realistic fight scenes. Second, I’ve been homeschooled for most of my life, and I’ve been going through college entirely online. Third, I love the beach and I try to visit the Oregon Coast as often as I can.
KP: What are your goals as a writer?
JC: For me, writing stories that are deeply immersive and that truly engage readers emotionally would be one of the greatest accomplishments in my writing career. Helping others to feel understood and less alone with my work is another goal of mine. I want to spread hope and direct people toward themes of love and forgiveness, which will in turn hopefully guide them toward the love of Jesus.
KP: What is your favorite thing to write - poetry, short stories, novels, screenplays, etc?
JC: Novels are my favorite, because I like reading them and spending a lot of time with the characters and the story once they are finished. Short stories are also fun, but I almost always want to continue the story into something more after I’m finished writing.
KP: What genre of writing are you particularly drawn to?
JC: I love fantasy, but historical fiction is a close second for me. Fantasy is so fun because it is something you can make up based on what interests you, but historical fiction is intriguing because it breathes new life into eras that we will never experience and increases our appreciation of how we got to where we are in modern times.
KP: Which author has most influenced the way you write?
JC: This is a fun question! When I was younger, Tolkien was my biggest influence by far. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve found that the work of James Scott Bell has been influential in helping me find my voice as an author as well as helping me to understand everything that goes into writing a novel.
KP: What’s your favorite thing about Kingdom Pen?
JC: My favorite thing about Kingdom Pen is the community. I love the uplifting sense of support and common goals that I’ve seen around here, and I’m so excited to be a part of this amazing group of writers. Writing can often be an isolating practice, but in a community like this, I know that no one is on their own in the adventure of writing stories.
KP: What do you consider your biggest accomplishment? (It’s okay to brag a little on this one!)
JC: I would say my biggest writerly accomplishment would be the critiques I did last year for several good books. I love helping authors to fully realize the vision of their novel, and I really enjoy feeling like I’m a part of the publication process for great stories.
KP: Do you have something to say to the KeePers of Pen? Sage pieces of advice? Words of encouragement? Random tidbits?
JC: Your story has not been told before. Yes, there have been others like it in the past. There will be others like it in the future, as well. But there is no story that is one hundred percent the same as yours, because your stories come from you: your unique experiences, your beliefs, your joys and sorrows. Keep writing, because your works matter, and they can help us all to feel a little less alone and a little more understood in this world.
KP: What’s the premise of the story you're currently working on?
JC: I actually haven’t figured out many of the details of this story yet, but here’s the basic idea of the fantasy story I’m planning on writing next:
When a young girl’s homeland is invaded, she must rise up and fight in a long war to repel the invaders and save her country.
KP: What is your favorite thing about writing?
JC: My favorite thing about writing would be the way it can make you feel emotions, sometimes for things that you have experienced and sometimes for people you’ve never met and situations you may never be in. Writing helps to broaden our understanding of the world, of other people, and can increase our empathy for those around us.
KP: What is your biggest struggle as a writer? Biggest fear?
JC: My biggest struggle as a writer is getting past the halfway point in my novels. Every time I get to that point, I experience a period of utterly disliking my story and thinking it is garbage, despite everything my beta readers have to say about my novel. My biggest fear as a writer is that my works do not matter and will not connect with anyone, but this has proven to be untrue many times as the readers of my works have reached out to me and let me know how my writing affected them.
KP: What does your daily writing routine look like?
JC: I currently don’t have a daily writing routine because I’m not drafting any fiction works right now. All my writing efforts are going into the last few months of my college classes! In general, when I am writing fiction, I will take any hour of the day to write, as long as I have about 45-60 minutes to sit down and get my head in the story.
KP: What is one mistake you see most young writers make?
JC: A lot of new writers, young and old alike, make the mistake of including content in the story that is just there because the writer likes it and not because it actually contributes to the progression of the plot. Guys, I want to keep that fancy ballroom dance scene or that cute birthday party scene as much as you do, but unless these scenes contribute to the progression of the plot through character development, discovery of clues related to the plot, or other important plot-related things, those scenes are just slowing your story down and are taking the spotlight away from the core plot and purpose of the story.
KP: What was the first story you wrote, and what inspired you to write it?
JC: When I was ten years old, the first story I wrote was about a thief and a farm boy who…wait, I actually don’t remember what happened. I think it involved defeating a dark lord who had a terrifying army? As you can probably guess, The Lord of the Rings was a huge influence on that work, as well as the plethora of fantasy novels I had been reading at the time. I wanted to write a great fantasy story like the ones I loved so much. I was planning on finishing my story in time to give it to my brother for his birthday, but that did not happen, and I actually don’t think I’ve ever let him read it!
KP: What is your favorite writing quote?
“When you write – explode – fly apart – disintegrate! Then give time enough to think, cut, rework, and rewrite.” -Ray Bradbury
Jodi Clark
Jodi Clark is a writer and college student from Central Oregon, where she has lived for fifteen years. At college, she is studying for her BA in English along with a minor in history.
She has worked with many authors to revise their manuscripts through her job on Fiverr while working on her own various projects. Aside from writing, her hobbies include hiking, photography, and other outdoors activities.
Become an Unstoppable Writer!
This was fabulous, Jodi! I loved reading this and learning more about you and your writing journey!!
Thank you so much, Gracie! I’m so excited to be a part of Kingdom Pen and to share my writing journey with all of you here.
Amazing interview Jodi!
Fencing? That is just the coolest thing ever! Are there any small tips about writing sword fighting that you’d want to share? I’m a huge fan of swords/fencing/sword fighting and the practice plays a huge role in my WIP, so I was just wondering:)
Anyway, it was awesome to meet you!! 😀
Hi Abigail! It’s so nice to meet you too! I’d love to share some tips. One that I can think of right now would be to remember that sword fighting can be chaotic and the blades will be everywhere, causing a lot of minor damages even if the fighters are skilled. Another might be to write a fair amount of detail when the fight begins, and then as it continues, to fade out into more general descriptions of “clashing blades” and such (to match how the character will be in the moment instead of thinking of every little detail like they might at the beginning).
Ooh, that is a LOT of great information, I never thought of all the minor damages the blades will cause despite skill. And that’s true, the character won’t be paying attention to anything more than absolutely necessary. Thank you so much for your advice!:)
Wow! There were so many parts of this interview while reading I wanted to save on my list of inspiring quotes! Especially your advice to KeePers, that really stood out to me. Also something that stood out to me was your favorite thing about writing. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and has probably become my favorite thing about stories and writing as well. You perfectly described it in your reply. Loved reading this interview and getting to know you better Jodi!
Hi Kathleen! Thank you so much. My advice to KeePers was something I really needed to hear a few years ago, so I’m very glad it connected with you!
Wonderful interview, Jodi! I love the advice you gave. Your novel sounds very interesting!
Thank you, Sandrina!
This was awesome, Jodi! There is so much great advice in here, especially the point about how sometimes, you just have to delete wonderful, yet useless content from your novel. It’s something that I still need to be reminded of time to time. XD Thank you so much for doing this interview!