During his visit Nov. 17, Sigmund Brouwer held a session in FLEX for a few keen creative writers. Sophia Hu, one of our Library bloggers, kept a record to share some of the questions he answered. The excerpts below are not his exact words, but summarize his responses.
Q: What is your writing process?
- I have a target audience in mind
- I think of what reaction do you want to provoke in your audience
- I research
- I write (search for a story)
Q: What emotions do you want to provoke in your audience?
It depends on who the target audience is and what causes them to react in a certain way.
Q: Why did you become an author?
Because I loved reading. Humans are driven by stories and crave emotional reactions. As an author you can do all that.
Q: what is your favourite part of writing?
Research and prewriting.
Q: What are some tips you have for aspiring writers?
- Send your short stories to multiple magazines to get them published.
- Listen to stories in real life.
- Don’t be tentative or too critical to your own work.
- What does your character want the most? Don’t give it to them
Brouwer also explained how he views stories in 3 aspects and each requires different skills:
- story
- writing system
- technical skill