Lots of great writing advice to share, following the 2019 Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference I attended in Phoenix at the end of February. The first workshop I went to was “Writing for Change” with Yvette Johnson. According to her bio statement, Johnson is a writer, filmmaker, speaker, and the Executive Director of the Booker Writer Project. Since I’ve always been interested in writing memoir or personal essays, and in making a documentary, I was really looking forward to hearing her speak on this topic. I wasn’t disappointed!

Some takeaway messages

The personal:

• Writing about controversial topics requires
  studying others without judgement. This means putting forth your best effort to
  really hear what they are trying to say and to recognize what they are
  feeling-even if it is poles apart from what you believe. Try to put yourself in
  the shoes of those you may find hardest to deal with. Understand that there
  aren’t as many monsters out there as we think.
• Consider how you yourself may have changed or modified
  some of your views over the years. Try to recall what, or who, helped you be
  more open to various interpretations and opinions.
• Neutral questions to ask can include “Tell me
  where you heard that.”, “What does that mean?”, and “What can we do about it?”
• Remember-any true societal change requires all
  types of rhetoric, not just the prevailing point-of-view.
• Maybe you can’t change the world, but you also
  can’t not try to!

The writing process:

• Don’t settle for less than your best writing. Revise
  until you get it right!
• Use either a narrator, or a character who may
  be more like your readers, as a bridge between different types of people and
  their messages.
• If you feel compelled to tell a story about a
  group that’s not yours, go for it! Just make sure you do any necessary research
  first.
• Model for the reader both the behaviors you
  want to see in the world, and also what it means to forgive.

Johnson’s memoir, The Song and the Silence: A Story about
Family, Race, and What Was Revealed in a Small Town in the Mississippi Delta
While Searching for Booker Wright, is next up in my book queue. I’ll let
you know how I like it!