Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Author Connie Willis covered memorable writing at the ENMU event.
Connie Willis, left, speaks with Johnny Cordoba during a session on good storytelling Saturday as part of the Jack Williamson Lectureship at Eastern New Mexico University.
PORTALES — Author Connie Willis lectured to accomplished writers and newcomers alike Saturday morning during one of the final events of Eastern New Mexico University's annual Jack Williamson lectureship.
Willis has attended, and taught at, the lectureship for close to 20 years. This Saturday her topic was what she called "razzle dazzle," otherwise known as the "money shot" or "eyeball cake."
Willis taught five different techniques for making students' writing more memorable and accessible to an audience.
She said writers must make stories personal and create some key moment for audiences to latch onto. She added that these techniques are not for the initial writing of a piece but for the editing process.
"The story needs to stand on its own; these are adornments," said E.M. Tippetts, another author who was in attendance of the class and was a student of Willis.
The attendance of the class varied from students of ENMU to visiting students even to professors and writers.
Kelly Cradock, a kindergarten teacher at Brown Early Childhood Center, said she came to the class as a precursor to her coming back to school. Cradock intends to attend ENMU next semester for her Masters in English.
She said she learned a lot about how to analyze books and movies for their writing techniques.
"It makes me more aware of how to look for these things," said Cradock.
Willis said the best way to learn as a writer is to re-read and re-watch well-made pieces and learn from them.
"These things, razzle dazzle and such, are the reason those are your favorite movies and your favorite books, you just don't realize it," said Willis.
Sarah Durand, a University of New Mexico sophomore, said she learned a lot about making her work more accessible to an audience.
"I feel like I know more about writing something unique using the same concepts all writers use," said Durand.
She said these exercises are important because writing can be such a lonely task.
"Writing can be isolating and it can make you feel like you're the only one doing it," said Durand. "That's why hearing from experts is such a good thing."
Johnny Cordoba, an ENMU senior majoring in music, said the connection to other writers is why he wants to become a writer in the first place and why he, in turn, attended this class.
"I hope to inspire another kid one day who wants to write their own science fiction novel or about their own steampunk dystopian world," said Cordoba.
