Writers Workshop: Open Question Night

Writers Workshop: Open Question Night

Dancing Word Writers Workshop

with Rene Gutteridge

September 23, 2005

Hosted by: Anne McDonald

Dancing Word Publisher/Editor

* This chat has been edited for clarity

Anne McDonald: I'll open in prayer, go over protocol, and then introduce our guest.

Lord, thank You for loving us so much; for providing for us, guiding us, and directing our steps. Please be with all of those fleeing Hurricane Rita. Use this as a means to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Bless our workshop guest and participants tonight. Let us grow in our writing craft, and may we be a blessing to You, and to others. Help those who are unable to get into the room tonight. Give them wisdom to get around the block. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Protocol reminder: type ! for comments, ? for questions, and please wait to be called on in turn. So that we don't step on each others' toes, please type ga at the end of your questions/comments for those new to the chat room, "ga" means go ahead. Tonight, I'm thrilled to introduce a woman who has incredible writing talent. I've enjoyed reading her suspense and have put her BOO series on my Christmas list. Please welcome Rene Gutteridge.

* AZAnnie leads the applause.

* kc applauds

* Lamp claps.

Jeremiah: clapclapclapclap

* Lamp flickers on and off in a show of appreciation.

* EllieSchroder really is clapping

* DonitaKate is so happy to see Rene again

Rene Gutteridge: Okay, this is funny. I actually feel like people are clapping. Thanks for the warm welcome!

Anne McDonald: We'll open up for questions. I'll keep track of the hands, Rene, You just have to worry about answering the questions.

Rene, where did you come up with the idea for the BOO series?

Rene Gutteridge: It all stemmed from the idea of what would happen if a famous writer suddenly turned Christian. From there, it just built and built until I had an entire town, characters, etc. It really took on a life of its own!

Ellie Schroder: How do you come up with such a variety of story ideas?

Rene Gutteridge: Well, I think of plots that would be a little strange, and then I make them work. Basically I "sell" the idea to the reader. So I'll think of something that is really improbable, and then try to make it a pretty good, interesting, believable story.

So that's how I do it. For My Life as a Doormat, the plot idea stemmed from a character who is conflict phobic. Then I built the story around that character.

Lamp: As both a Christian and a writer, how do you keep your priorities straight? I find that the more I write, and the better I become as a writer, the less likely I am to write as an act of worship . . . it becomes something I do as evidence of MY talent as a writer. What suggestions do you give for someone struggling to keep God first and foremost in the writing process?

Rene Gutteridge: Well, it's a daily struggle for me. Here's how I look at it. Writing is my talent, but it is also my job. It is also a complete joy. So as I do try to give everything in my life to the Lord, I also give this to Him. I also don't make it more important than it is. In fact, I am humbled by the fact that I am a lowly writer, rather than a missionary or a preacher. That's just how I see it. It's not a knock on the profession, but for me, I try to see the world through God's eyes and see all his many servants. I am one of many, doing my small thing. Unfortunately, in our society, people have put writers and entertainers on a pedestal. But for me, I feel lucky that God has allowed me to do this small thing, and I hope I do it well for him. I once heard a writer continue to refer to this business as a "high calling" but for me, it's not the profession that is "high" it is the Lord! (Okay, off my soap box now. Great question!)

Lamp: Thanks so much!

Ellie Schroder: Which of your novels would you like to see made into a movie, and why?

Rene Gutteridge: I think I would love to see Boo made into a movie. It was optioned and I think it would make a great movie. Great characters, lots of good scenes, funny. And I also think it has enough of a faith message to be effective, but it's not so preachy that Hollywood would snub it.

But I also think My Life as a Doormat (which will be coming out next year) would make a great movie it's a romantic comedy about finding your worth.

deb: I wondered how you switch back and forth between genres? What do you do to switch gears?

Rene Gutteridge: Well, I typically am only writing one book at a time, because I don't know that I could write both at once. So I go back and forth between comedy and suspense, but I use basically the same story telling technique for both. In my comedy, I use elements of suspense and make sure it's a page turner, and in my suspense, I add a lot of comedy. It does take a couple of weeks for me to step out of the current story and prepare myself for the new one, though.

Jeremiah: Many Christian novels suffer from terminal cheesiness. How do you manage to get around that?

Rene Gutteridge: Well, thank you for saying my novels aren't cheesy, LOL! Okay, I hate to say this, and I hope this isn't taken the wrong way. But I think a lot of it is "instinct". And here's what I mean by that. I study a lot of pop culture, I watch a lot of tv and I see a lot of movies. I'm in touch with what works and what doesn't. I basically "study" entertainment. I can usually tell whether or not a show will bomb by watching the first episode, simply because I tend to know the "pulse" of this business.

Now, saying all that, there are techniques as well such as knowing how to write realistic dialogue, knowing what it means to have a page-turner, learning pace, setting, etc. I think a lot of novels tend to be cheesy because the basic story telling elements aren't there, so then, at the last minute, they have God bail them out or something, you know?

Jeremiah: yeah

Rene Gutteridge: So there are many factors, but I encourage people to know what's on tv and what's the IT entertainment shows. You don't have to watch them all the time, but be aware. And really practice the craft of storytelling. Am I making any sense at all, LOL???

Jeremiah: Thanks, that’s great. Plenty of sense

Anne McDonald: total sense

Laura: You have small children, right? How do you manage to balance your day with children, all your other responsibilities and still find time to write? That is my biggest thing right now Also, when adding description, do you find a lot of it is edited out? How much is too much? Can you add a lot of color, etc? Or do your editors prefer it left out?

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