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Analyzing Characters with Sydney Pruett · WriterCon

0:00
Speaker 1: This week on the writer Con podcast.
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Speaker 2: I think for me it would be having consistency and community,
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Speaker 2: which are two of the hardest things I think for
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Speaker 2: me as a writer as well. But the more consistent
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Speaker 2: you can be in, the more of a writer community
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Speaker 2: you have to help keep you consistent. That about our YouTube.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to writer Con, a gathering place for writers to
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Speaker 1: share their knowledge about writing and the writing world. Your
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Speaker 1: hosts are William Bernhardt, best selling novelist and author of
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Speaker 1: the Red Sneaker books on writing, and Laura Bernhardt, Award
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Speaker 1: winning author of the Want lnd Files book series.
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Speaker 3: Thank you, Jesse Ulrich. Hey, they're writers. Thanks for joining
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Speaker 3: us today. So here we are. You know, I'm going
0:44
Speaker 3: to talk about writer Con again. Only a few short
0:49
Speaker 3: weeks away. That's the annual writers conference we host at
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Speaker 3: the Scurvin Hilton in Oklahoma City Labor Day weekend. That's
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Speaker 3: August twenty nine through September one. Over sixty speakers, over
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Speaker 3: one hundred sessions and pitching and contests, manuscript reviews, private consultations.
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Speaker 3: What have I left out? Jesse?
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Speaker 1: Just now been socializing, networking, and we make Jeopardy.
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Speaker 3: That's right. We have fun as well. People are posting
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Speaker 3: photos and scheduling parties and meetups on the conference app already.
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Speaker 3: I know, Laura, did you tell me that people are
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Speaker 3: This was a subject on the last podcast that we
1:34
Speaker 3: have a karaoke night and you and I always do
1:36
Speaker 3: a duet. So people are like doing a poll on
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Speaker 3: that now or something.
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Speaker 4: Yes, people are trying to guess what we will do
1:43
Speaker 4: it this year. So there's a whole there's a whole
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Speaker 4: post any good dedicated just to that.
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Speaker 3: Wow, what's in the lead? Do you remember?
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Speaker 4: Yeah? Well, I'm not gonna I'm not going to share
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Speaker 4: anybody's guesses. I want people to have to think of
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Speaker 4: their own.
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Speaker 2: Ideas, be creative. But it's it's great.
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Speaker 4: The app gives everybody the opportunity to plan ahead. You
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Speaker 4: can see what the schedule looks like, but you can
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Speaker 4: also start to see what people Okay.
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Speaker 3: I post your ideas in the show comments everyone, Jesse,
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Speaker 3: have you been on the app yet? Have you taken
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Speaker 3: a look?
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Speaker 1: I have not. Writer con comes after a couple other
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Speaker 1: things I have, so I'm waiting for those things to happen.
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Speaker 1: I know, listen, people, listen. I just talked to people
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Speaker 1: about audiobooks and podcasts. And just have a good time
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Speaker 1: and hopefully this year run around less between rooms.
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Speaker 3: Yeah I have. I told you that we're having six
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Speaker 3: sessions on Saturday.
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Speaker 1: Listen. As long as you put me in touch with
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Speaker 1: the people controlling the rooms, we should be fine.
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Speaker 3: So good. If you want more information about writer Con,
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Speaker 3: it's writer con dot com. Our interview today is with
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Speaker 3: Sydney Pruitt. Now this is a change of pace for
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Speaker 3: us because you know, it's normally a writer, but Sydney
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Speaker 3: is a therapist who works with authors to help them
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Speaker 3: develop their characters so that they're more psychologically believable and interesting.
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Speaker 3: She helps with writing about mental health or disability accurately
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Speaker 3: and consistently, providing lots of information for nonfiction books, or
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Speaker 3: making sure that fictional characters are responding to situations in
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Speaker 3: ways that fit with that human psychology. Okay, it's fascinating
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Speaker 3: and we will talk to her about this work. But
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Speaker 3: first the news news story number one audiobook walking clubs. Yes,
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Speaker 3: that's the thing they take reading outside. So audiobook listeners
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Speaker 3: who like to walk need not walk alone. With encouragement
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Speaker 3: from books to gram you know what that is. That's
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Speaker 3: book clovers on Instagram like book talk for TikTok, but
4:20
Speaker 3: this is obviously Instagram anyway. The books to Gram entrepreneurs
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Speaker 3: joined with independent bookstores and leadbroad dot FM. That's an
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Speaker 3: app for audio books, and now they're creating audiobook walking clubs.
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Speaker 3: So typically on one of these listeners meet at some
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Speaker 3: predetermined location with an audio book queued up that they've gotten,
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Speaker 3: you know, they bought or they got it on libby
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Speaker 3: the library app, and participants listen to the book of
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Speaker 3: their choice and or talk about it while they take
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Speaker 3: a not too demanding walk a conversational pace. They wrap
5:02
Speaker 3: up someplace some and have a casual gathering where they
5:05
Speaker 3: can make or hear book recommendations. So people are coming
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Speaker 3: month after month. They say. Word of mouth has been
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Speaker 3: very positive and organic. This started with some influencers in DC,
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Speaker 3: but now apparently they're thinking about expanding. Jesse, do I
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Speaker 3: remember that you said you listened to audiobooks sometimes.
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Speaker 1: No, I'm actually a very rare audiobook listener. I can't
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Speaker 1: concentrate the way I would like to when someone's telling
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Speaker 1: it to me. I know, it's very weird. It's say
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Speaker 1: the work I do.
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Speaker 3: So does this sound at all appealing to you?
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Speaker 1: So Okay, let me get this straight. So people show up,
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Speaker 1: they have an audiobook they're listening to. It's a different
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Speaker 1: audiobook than what the rest of people are.
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Speaker 3: Like, I guess, so, I mean it would be too
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Speaker 3: regimented if everyone were listening to the thing.
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Speaker 1: And then they walk for a I guess a predetermined
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Speaker 1: time listening to their audiobook with other people.
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Speaker 2: Listen.
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Speaker 1: If it gets you out of the house and gets
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Speaker 1: you walk.
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Speaker 3: In, great, It's like a walking club, except for people
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Speaker 3: who don't want to make conversations.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, which, you know, listen. I understand there are people
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Speaker 1: who don't want to make conversation. I do love the
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Speaker 1: idea of collective book listening, but like reading for me
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Speaker 1: is very like it's an intensive, one on one activity.
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Speaker 1: I don't need to also be around people because I'm
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Speaker 1: go'n feel weird and not having conversation with them. That
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Speaker 1: might just be me, but but I mean it's a
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Speaker 1: cool idea. This sounds very up the the same alley
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Speaker 1: of another story I heard recently of people just doing
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Speaker 1: collective scream outs. If you heard about this one start
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Speaker 1: in Chicago. People just all show up at the same time.
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Speaker 1: They go onto a bridge and they all just scream
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Speaker 1: into the void together for like thirty seconds and then dissipate,
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Speaker 1: and I'm like, that sounds great.
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Speaker 3: So well, Lara, for a different take, I'm guessing I
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Speaker 3: don't know how how much you listen to audio books,
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Speaker 3: but I know you love to walk. Does this sound fun?
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Speaker 3: Are you going to start one?
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Speaker 4: I'm usually distracted with my bird identifying app when I'm walking,
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Speaker 4: and I am a visual learner, and interestingly, like Jesse,
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Speaker 4: I do find it a little bit difficult to stay
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Speaker 4: focused on a a story when I'm just listening to it. However,
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Speaker 4: not everything is for every person, and I absolutely support
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Speaker 4: anyone who enjoys this gets them out, gets the moving
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Speaker 4: they're enjoying a book I have. I have no problem
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Speaker 4: with someone enjoying that. Spending time with people the way
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Speaker 4: that is comfortable for them sounds good to me.
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Speaker 3: News story number two, fan fic court controversy. I knew
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Speaker 3: I couldn't say that without that's an US. Was that
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Speaker 3: close enough? Do you want to do it?
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Speaker 5: No?
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Speaker 2: You fanfic court.
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Speaker 3: Yeah that's a pre court controversy.
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Speaker 1: It's a good uh mic test. Fan fic court controversy.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, three times fast.
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Speaker 1: Anyway, panfit, court controversy, fanfic, court cut, convercy, co conversy.
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Speaker 3: I did not anticipate the direction this was going to
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Speaker 3: take anyway. The news story is indeed about fan fiction.
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Speaker 3: It's a book called Rose in Chain Chains, Rose in Chains,
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Speaker 3: which is part of this increasingly popular form of book
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Speaker 3: profitable too. It's fan fiction that's been previous for, written,
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Speaker 3: previously written for something like what pads someplace people post
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Speaker 3: and they can read it, and then they change it
8:45
Speaker 3: a little bit to avoid being sued by whoever it
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Speaker 3: was originally about, or what it was based on, and
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Speaker 3: then they publish it. And you know, everybody listening probably
8:58
Speaker 3: knows that fifty Shades of Grace started as Twilight fan fiction,
9:02
Speaker 3: and now we have those books after ever After, Happily
9:08
Speaker 3: ever After. That was originally Harry Styles fan fiction. Right,
9:13
Speaker 3: So now we've got Rose in Chains in Controversy. It's
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Speaker 3: actually Harry Potter fan fiction. In this story Draco and Hermione. No, yeah, yeah, yeah,
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Speaker 3: it's about Draco and Hermione finding love in a world
9:30
Speaker 3: where Voldemort wins. So it's but now it's changed. So
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Speaker 3: it's an original fantasy romance between characters Toven and Briany,
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Speaker 3: which is completely different. Okay, here's the problem, not that
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Speaker 3: this really sounds too close for comfort, but because it's
9:51
Speaker 3: obviously Harry Potter fan fiction, people are attacking it, associating
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Speaker 3: it with JK. Rowling and so the that she has
10:00
Speaker 3: made about trans people, and and so the argument they've
10:06
Speaker 3: advanced is that this book is keeping Rowling's work relevant,
10:14
Speaker 3: even though the author has never said anything controversial. She
10:17
Speaker 3: got online criticism because her book was once formerly related
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Speaker 3: to Harry Potter. You see what I'm talking about. So
10:28
Speaker 3: she was scheduled for this convention, and then because they
10:33
Speaker 3: didn't want to court controversy, she dropped out, and then
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Speaker 3: others dropped out in support, and pretty soon half of
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Speaker 3: the authors so we're planning to attend have decided not to,
10:45
Speaker 3: which has been a nightmare for Romance. Colm Laura, you
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Speaker 3: are the podcasts official Harry Potter news correspondence.
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Speaker 6: Does this new title yes?
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Speaker 3: Does this trouble seem fair to the woman Julie Soto
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Speaker 3: who wrote Rose and Chains?
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Speaker 4: In my opinion, no, no, it isn't. I don't think
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Speaker 4: the work that she did should be torn down. There
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Speaker 4: are a lot of people who still enjoy those books
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Speaker 4: and have a lot of happy memories of those books,
11:27
Speaker 4: and I suspect for this author, that's what this story
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Speaker 4: stemmed from. And it's unfortunate that it's being ruined in
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Speaker 4: some way. And don't get me wrong, I don't love
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Speaker 4: any of this stuff that's going off on the side,
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Speaker 4: but for me, it is off on the side.
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Speaker 2: I don't It doesn't take away the joy that.
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Speaker 4: I had with my kids in those.
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Speaker 3: Books, right right exactly, Jesse, what do you think is
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Speaker 3: there any realistic way to separate the books from the author?
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Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, yeah, it's fan fiction. It's
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Speaker 1: literally not written by her, literally, and they've changed the
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Speaker 1: characters and obviously didn't spend that much time on the
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Speaker 1: names change changing the characters. But that's nothing yet Miami, Yeah,
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Speaker 1: Jaco and h Jermione. No, like here, this is the thing,
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Speaker 1: Like people have anger and they want to express their
12:29
Speaker 1: anger and something they express it in the wrong direction,
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Speaker 1: and this is this is wrong, this is not This
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Speaker 1: doesn't in any way hurt jk Rowling or stop people
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Speaker 1: from spending money on Harry Potter things. So if you
12:41
Speaker 1: want to get mad someone, get mad jk Rowling, or
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Speaker 1: get mad at Warner Brothers for remaking the movies into
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Speaker 1: a TV show and then casting these people for ten
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Speaker 1: year contracts, of which I doubt the show will actually
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Speaker 1: make it that long. But you know who knows you
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Speaker 1: be mad where you should.
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Speaker 2: Be mad, nicely said, well done.
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Speaker 3: All right, let's move on to Kraft Corner.
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Speaker 7: Craft Corner. Everybody, it's John Myers from right Better together.
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Speaker 7: And look who I'm here with. I'm here with my
13:13
Speaker 7: TC mile.
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Speaker 5: Hello.
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Speaker 6: Hello, I heard we're both going to be a writer
13:17
Speaker 6: con this year.
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Speaker 5: Oh yeah, it's going to be fun. I'm prepared. I'm
13:21
Speaker 5: ready looking forward to meeting some of the most phenomenal
13:26
Speaker 5: writers in the region.
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Speaker 7: It's wonderful, it is. And one of the things that's
13:31
Speaker 7: wonderful is that William Bernhard Bill likes to keep it
13:36
Speaker 7: always positive and so even like critique sessions, he wants
13:41
Speaker 7: there to be a positive slant. So every session has
13:44
Speaker 7: a positive slant, because sometimes you go to writers' conferences
13:46
Speaker 7: and it's like ten bad things.
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Speaker 6: That you don't get that around.
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Speaker 2: No, you can do that.
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Speaker 5: It is a positive space. Absolutely, I agree.
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Speaker 6: What are you going to be doing?
13:56
Speaker 2: So?
13:56
Speaker 5: I tell you, I'm so excited about the ask the
14:02
Speaker 5: Agent Anything panel, and so that's an opportunity for writers
14:08
Speaker 5: to come out and just basically as literary agents anything.
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Speaker 5: So I'm excited about that. I'm also excited about this year.
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Speaker 5: I have an opportunity to facilitate a workshop. It's pitch,
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Speaker 5: post and promote, and so in that it's really to
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Speaker 5: help I'm going to pour in all of my PR
14:34
Speaker 5: exec and all of my college tools that I teach
14:39
Speaker 5: at the university from a PR perspective, marketing perspective as
14:44
Speaker 5: it relates to you know, how to use your content,
14:47
Speaker 5: how to use your book as a tool as a
14:50
Speaker 5: strategy to really elevate and build engagement through your shared
14:57
Speaker 5: and your owned media. I mean, you're going to walk
14:59
Speaker 5: a way with a strategy to help you do that,
15:02
Speaker 5: to be able to do exactly what the title says, pitch,
15:06
Speaker 5: post and promote. I'm excited about it.
15:08
Speaker 6: That's gonna be so great.
15:09
Speaker 5: I'm excited. It's gonna be fun. So I'm looking forward
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Speaker 5: to this year at writer Corn. What are you going
15:16
Speaker 5: to be doing?
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Speaker 7: First of all, I'm gonna switch this out. I'm gonna
15:20
Speaker 7: put Bill's book up here, Okay, Bill, So I have
15:27
Speaker 7: a couple sessions and then a masterclass. Let me tell
15:30
Speaker 7: you about the sessions first, and then I want you
15:33
Speaker 7: to go ooh.
15:33
Speaker 5: And okay, we got that.
15:35
Speaker 7: So the first one is called relatable versus relational, using
15:39
Speaker 7: relationship theory to make your story more compelling. Oh and
15:46
Speaker 7: I did if you guys watched a writer con podcast,
15:48
Speaker 7: I did a craft corner about that one to give
15:50
Speaker 7: you like a little sneak, a little three minute sneak.
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Speaker 5: That's gonna be a good one.
15:54
Speaker 6: Yeah, thank you, You're gonna be good too.
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Speaker 7: And then the other one is comfort content, the psychology
16:00
Speaker 7: behind your audience's cravings and how to give them what
16:03
Speaker 7: they want.
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Speaker 5: Oh.
16:05
Speaker 7: Absolutely, and I'm also I'm I'm on a green Player
16:11
Speaker 7: round table for writing.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, for screenwriters, gonna be taking pitches.
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Speaker 7: I'm gonna carey, I'm taking I'm gonna take pitches on
16:19
Speaker 7: a memoir pieces and like a little short memoir like, uh,
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Speaker 7: well that ties into uh uh this uh masterclass. So
16:29
Speaker 7: the master class is cherry picking twenty small moments from
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Speaker 7: your life, because a memoir isn't your life story stories
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Speaker 7: from your life, and you don't have to wait till
16:41
Speaker 7: it's not an end of life of you can write
16:44
Speaker 7: a memoir when you're twenty five. So you have twenty
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Speaker 7: stories that are compelling, and I'm gonna teach you how
16:51
Speaker 7: how to get the get to the core of these
16:54
Speaker 7: stories out of your life, and then how to arrange
16:58
Speaker 7: them in a compelling way, how to then arrange them
17:01
Speaker 7: in the book. And then I'm even going to tell
17:03
Speaker 7: you how to market the book. And yeah, and in
17:08
Speaker 7: the same way, because I'm gonna write a memoir next
17:09
Speaker 7: year the same way that I'm going to market mine.
17:12
Speaker 6: And so you'll leave with a marketing plan.
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Speaker 5: I love that. That's huge. That's very huge.
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Speaker 7: And then the people in the masterclass, they'll get to
17:22
Speaker 7: be in a cohort. My TC and I have talked
17:26
Speaker 7: about the power of a cohort in a different episode,
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Speaker 7: And they'll be in a cohort in a private discord
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Speaker 7: group that we already run it right better together, and
17:35
Speaker 7: they'll be able to trade their writings and get notes
17:37
Speaker 7: from each other, and they can make what they want
17:39
Speaker 7: of it.
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Speaker 5: I love that, the power of cohorts.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, so they take the master classes, they can be
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Speaker 7: in there for the rest of their life.
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Speaker 5: Oh wow, that's phenomena all by itself.
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Speaker 7: Once they register for the masterclass then all that other
17:54
Speaker 7: extra stuff. They can stay in the cohort for the
17:57
Speaker 7: rest of their life.
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Speaker 5: Oh wow, so this is a life time access. I
18:02
Speaker 5: love that. Just by coming and registering for Writer Colm
18:06
Speaker 5: and being a part I think people should really get
18:09
Speaker 5: excited and if they haven't already, go ahead and register
18:12
Speaker 5: for Writer Come. I'm looking forward to seeing you there
18:15
Speaker 5: and also the writers cool.
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Speaker 6: All right, you means I get to see you on
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Speaker 6: b Yes.
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Speaker 5: Absolutely absolutely, see you soon. All right, see you soon.
18:30
Speaker 3: Now let's talk to Sidney Pruitt. Sidney Pruet, welcome to
18:42
Speaker 3: the podcast.
18:44
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
18:46
Speaker 3: It's a pleasure to have you here. Okay, usual first question,
18:50
Speaker 3: if you could offer writers one piece of advice.
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Speaker 6: What would it be.
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Speaker 2: I think for me it would be having consistency and community,
19:00
Speaker 2: which are two of the hardest things I think for
19:02
Speaker 2: me as a writer as well. But the more consistent
19:05
Speaker 2: you can be, and the more of a writer community
19:07
Speaker 2: you have to help keep you consistent, the better you do.
19:12
Speaker 3: Okay, since you've practically set me up by mentioning groups
19:16
Speaker 3: and whatnot, you're coming to writer Con, aren't you.
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Speaker 2: I am, Yes, looking forward to it.
19:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're looking forward to having you tell everyone what
19:25
Speaker 3: you're going to be doing, or at least.
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Speaker 2: Some of it. So I will be leading a Yeah,
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Speaker 2: I'll be leading a breakout group at the conference called
19:33
Speaker 2: Character Psychology one oh one. I am a licensed therapist
19:37
Speaker 2: and I live with a lot of physical disabilities as well,
19:42
Speaker 2: and so one of my pet peeves in writing is
19:44
Speaker 2: when people write about mental illness or disabilities consistently or
19:49
Speaker 2: inconsistently or incorrectly. So what I would like to do
19:52
Speaker 2: is just go over the basic psychology behind why humans
19:56
Speaker 2: act the way we do, how we respond in difficult situations,
20:00
Speaker 2: how trauma or a culture can impact those things, and
20:04
Speaker 2: then how to write about people who are from different
20:07
Speaker 2: backgrounds cultures consistently and accurately. And so obviously it'll be
20:11
Speaker 2: sort of an overview with him on a time that
20:14
Speaker 2: we have at writers On, but I'm looking forward to
20:17
Speaker 2: sharing that with everybody.
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Speaker 3: H fantastic sounds great. Well, I would say that now
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Speaker 3: I'm going to totally mess up the schedule, and Laura
20:24
Speaker 3: will just keep up because she's brilliant that way. But
20:28
Speaker 3: you and I have worked together. The people who listen
20:31
Speaker 3: to the podcast regularly know about my Superman book, The
20:34
Speaker 3: Superman Wars, and at one point I was looking for
20:37
Speaker 3: some more professional insight than I could provide on my
20:43
Speaker 3: main historical character. You know, what's driving this guy, why
20:46
Speaker 3: does he do this and that? And you were nice
20:49
Speaker 3: enough to chip in. I sent you some pages and
20:52
Speaker 3: some documents, and that was really terrific, very helpful.
20:57
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm glad I was helpful for you. I enjoyed
20:59
Speaker 2: reading through the pages that you sent and I'm looking
21:01
Speaker 2: forward to reading the full project. That's a newer service
21:05
Speaker 2: that I'm offering as a therapist is being a consultant
21:08
Speaker 2: for authors. And so I've gotten to your book you
21:11
Speaker 2: on that project. And then I worked with another fiction
21:15
Speaker 2: author writing about of mental illness, so about to provide
21:19
Speaker 2: some information for that. And then it helps still work
21:21
Speaker 2: with an author on fiction book. I got to write, oh,
21:25
Speaker 2: it's for her as well.
21:28
Speaker 3: Great tell us. How did you get involved in therapy
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Speaker 3: in the first place.
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Speaker 2: I'm one of the kind of weird people who just
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Speaker 2: has somewhat always known that's what I wanted to do.
21:40
Speaker 2: I decided when I was about fourteen or fifteen that
21:42
Speaker 2: I wanted to be a therapist. There was always the
21:44
Speaker 2: friend that people would go to for advice, and I
21:47
Speaker 2: liked being that person, but I wanted to make sure
21:50
Speaker 2: that I was giving good advice, and so went straight
21:54
Speaker 2: through college knowing that psychology was going to be my major,
21:58
Speaker 2: and after getting into it for a while, I had
22:00
Speaker 2: thought that I originally wanted to work with kids, and
22:03
Speaker 2: did for sometimes several years, but during the pandemic, when
22:08
Speaker 2: everything was virtual, I decided that working with kids was
22:11
Speaker 2: not productive for any of us at that time since
22:14
Speaker 2: we were all on the screens, and so I ended up
22:18
Speaker 2: working with college agent and really loved it. So that's
22:20
Speaker 2: what I primary now was college age or younger adults,
22:24
Speaker 2: and I'm working with people who have OCD, which is
22:27
Speaker 2: something I'm diagnosed with as well, but also people who
22:30
Speaker 2: have experienced various forms of trauma.
22:35
Speaker 4: I think it's brilliant that you just knew exactly what
22:38
Speaker 4: you wanted to do from such an early age. I
22:40
Speaker 4: don't think that happens very often.
22:42
Speaker 2: It really doesn't. I don't know many people who have
22:45
Speaker 2: that story with people shop around a little bit before deciding.
22:50
Speaker 4: Or just like too many things and don't know how
22:52
Speaker 4: to focus. Yeah, you've written a lot of non fiction articles.
22:59
Speaker 2: Yes, some freelance writing, and have also written some personal
23:03
Speaker 2: stories with my health issues. I had to have it
23:06
Speaker 2: distract me when I was twenty six, and so I
23:08
Speaker 2: have a story that's published about that experience. I have
23:12
Speaker 2: an upcoming one for Suicide Awareness Month in September that
23:16
Speaker 2: will be published. But I love sharing mental health and
23:19
Speaker 2: disability stories and my own piction writing as well.
23:24
Speaker 4: And tell us how that can help writers.
23:27
Speaker 2: I'm sorry I lost you guys for a second.
23:29
Speaker 6: What was the question?
23:31
Speaker 4: Tell us how this can help other writers.
23:36
Speaker 2: So with your own experiences, I think it's important just
23:40
Speaker 2: to be able to share the things you know we
23:42
Speaker 2: always hear right way, you know, as an author, and
23:46
Speaker 2: I think that incorporating that with my background as far
23:51
Speaker 2: as the past gosit writer from it helps writers to
23:54
Speaker 2: know how to incorporate the real life things. Why do
23:57
Speaker 2: we act the way we do? Knowing that psychology, I
24:00
Speaker 2: think helps to create deeper characters because a lot of
24:03
Speaker 2: times writers do the right things when they're writing and
24:05
Speaker 2: they don't know why, so the character actions will make sense,
24:09
Speaker 2: but they don't necessarily know the science behind it. And
24:11
Speaker 2: it's those little moments where things are inconsistent with psychology
24:15
Speaker 2: that we don't necessarily know why as readers, but it
24:19
Speaker 2: feels so if the writer can understand the background behind that,
24:22
Speaker 2: it will help them to be able to not have
24:24
Speaker 2: those little moments where the reader feels like something's just
24:27
Speaker 2: not quite right.
24:28
Speaker 6: Yeah.
24:29
Speaker 4: No, that sounds like I would really tighten up the story.
24:32
Speaker 4: That sounds very useful. I'm fascinated. I think I'm coming
24:36
Speaker 4: to your session.
24:38
Speaker 3: I thought this was unique and interesting. That's why I
24:41
Speaker 3: invited you to writer Con in the first place. I
24:43
Speaker 3: was glad that you were able to come. So you're
24:46
Speaker 3: also I'm sorry.
24:47
Speaker 4: Go ahead, sorry, I've I'm still I'm still enjoying talking
24:52
Speaker 4: about the therapy.
24:53
Speaker 2: But you're a practitioner. VMDR Yes, EMDR and ERP are
24:58
Speaker 2: my two main modalities that I use. So EMDR is
25:03
Speaker 2: one of the leading forms of trauma therapy, and it's
25:06
Speaker 2: unique in that it's not all talking back and forth
25:09
Speaker 2: like we do with most other forms in therapy. It
25:11
Speaker 2: uses a tapping method or sometimes you'll do eye movements
25:15
Speaker 2: back and forth, and it stimulates both sides of your
25:18
Speaker 2: brain so that it gets your logic and reasoning going,
25:21
Speaker 2: but also the emotions, the past memories. But it keeps
25:24
Speaker 2: you grounded in the present, and it helps your brain
25:26
Speaker 2: to process the things that you've been through and file
25:29
Speaker 2: away the things that are useful, but it sort of
25:31
Speaker 2: deletes some of that unnecessary information that's keeping you for
25:34
Speaker 2: feeling it and keeping you stuck in that situation. You
25:38
Speaker 2: ever seen somebody who is sleeping and their eyes dart
25:41
Speaker 2: back and forth. It's the same type of thing when
25:44
Speaker 2: that happens, you're dreaming and your brain is processing. But
25:47
Speaker 2: with EMDR, we get to choose what we're processing and
25:52
Speaker 2: do that same type of work. And then the ERP
25:54
Speaker 2: is for people who have OCD, it's exposure and response prevention,
25:58
Speaker 2: and it helps expose them to some of the things
26:00
Speaker 2: that are triggering or intrusive for them and prevent the
26:04
Speaker 2: responses of the compulsion.
26:08
Speaker 3: Now, speaking of things you can do for writers, you
26:11
Speaker 3: also handle sensitivity reads. Right, I think everybody on this
26:16
Speaker 3: podcast knows what I'm talking about. Having your manuscript read
26:20
Speaker 3: it in advance to ensure that you're not inadvertently possibly
26:26
Speaker 3: offending someone.
26:28
Speaker 2: And I think the benefit of having a therapist do
26:32
Speaker 2: the sensitivity read is as a therapist, we are required
26:35
Speaker 2: to have a certain amount of continuing education each year,
26:39
Speaker 2: and so every year I'm learning about. I primarily try
26:42
Speaker 2: to focus mine around trauma for cultural awareness and sensitivity,
26:49
Speaker 2: s aying someone who has more education every single year
26:52
Speaker 2: about what terms are accurate, what terminology is appropriate at
26:57
Speaker 2: this time, different things to look out for when writing
27:00
Speaker 2: out disabilities or cultural differences or even different religions. Lots
27:06
Speaker 2: of knowledge in that area, so I can help you
27:09
Speaker 2: know what to look out for that a lot of
27:10
Speaker 2: people might not think about.
27:14
Speaker 4: M On a completely unrelated note, but something that I
27:19
Speaker 4: thoroughly enjoy talking about. You have three rescue dogs.
27:23
Speaker 3: You do, so I am didn't know that was coming. Huh.
27:27
Speaker 2: I surprised shirt right now. I don't know if you
27:30
Speaker 2: guys can even see me, but copy dogs and mental health.
27:35
Speaker 3: Ah, and there's Baxter barking. He approves totally. That's our
27:39
Speaker 3: rescue dog anyway, Going love.
27:41
Speaker 2: That, Yeah, I had to. Going into my relationship, I'm
27:46
Speaker 2: getting married next month, and I have Lilian Padson and
27:51
Speaker 2: Lily is a Collei mix. Padfit is some sort of
27:55
Speaker 2: like fake German shepherd mixed. He's very small, but he's
27:59
Speaker 2: he looks like a German shepherd. And then we have Olive,
28:02
Speaker 2: who is a blind, elderly toy poodle. So that was
28:06
Speaker 2: my coming into the relationship.
28:09
Speaker 4: Nice. Yes, we have a rescue dog and then two
28:12
Speaker 4: rescue cats.
28:13
Speaker 5: So really I.
28:14
Speaker 2: Would love a cat, but my dogs would not. You
28:18
Speaker 2: would be surprised. You would be surprised. And we welcomed
28:22
Speaker 2: our first cat in. We had concerns and doubts, and well,
28:27
Speaker 2: thirty minutes forty five minutes, one of them was just like, cool,
28:31
Speaker 2: there's a cat now, and the other one was just
28:33
Speaker 2: following him around and just fascinated. It's surprising how they adapt. Yeah,
28:39
Speaker 2: maybe I'll have to try it then.
28:42
Speaker 3: Okay, before this started, you got to hear Jesse and
28:45
Speaker 3: I talked Star Trek. But you're a Disney Parks fan.
28:49
Speaker 2: I hear, yes, yeah, so Disney and Star Wars are
28:54
Speaker 2: kind of my main fandoms that I have my fans. Actually,
29:00
Speaker 2: I had had me cosplay on a dating app and
29:03
Speaker 2: that was the picture that he liked. Very fun.
29:09
Speaker 4: Have you ever worked with any like Disney Park performers
29:13
Speaker 4: or anything like that or do you just go and
29:15
Speaker 4: play not in a working capacity.
29:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just like to go and be there. My
29:20
Speaker 2: sisters both worked for the parks, but they weren't formers.
29:23
Speaker 2: They did attractions and hotel work and foods. Yeahs like that.
29:27
Speaker 2: But they did the Disney College program. So Disney College.
29:30
Speaker 4: Yes, one of our daughters did the Disney College program,
29:32
Speaker 4: so we're familiar.
29:34
Speaker 2: Love that. Yeah, it's such a cool program. I wish
29:36
Speaker 2: I had known about it when I was in college.
29:39
Speaker 3: Okay, Sydney, one last question. What are you working on now?
29:42
Speaker 3: I hear a rumor that there is a novel somewhere
29:45
Speaker 3: in the mix.
29:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, like I said, I have an upcoming story
29:49
Speaker 2: that will be an Okay see Pets magazine for next month.
29:53
Speaker 2: So that's my little nonfiction project. I have a poetry
29:57
Speaker 2: manuscript that I'm shopping around right now, and then I
30:01
Speaker 2: am working on my first novel, so it'll be a
30:04
Speaker 2: wrong com it's called conflict of interest, so I guess
30:09
Speaker 2: keep your eyes close air Field for that. But it's
30:12
Speaker 2: going to be a minute before that one's done.
30:15
Speaker 3: Sydney, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
30:18
Speaker 3: Really appreciate it.
30:20
Speaker 2: Yes, thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to
30:22
Speaker 2: Writer Con.
30:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, to see you there. Find out Just one last reminder,
30:40
Speaker 3: Writer Con August twenty one to September one in Oklahoma
30:44
Speaker 3: City at the Scurven Hilton. You want to be there.
30:48
Speaker 3: Laura and I are going to be there, and Jesse
30:50
Speaker 3: will be there, and Sydney's going to be there, and
30:53
Speaker 3: like sixty or seventy other writers, agents, publishers and other
30:58
Speaker 3: people connected to the publishing industry will be there. You
31:02
Speaker 3: don't want to miss miss this. Take the chance to
31:06
Speaker 3: do your writing career favor. Our website is writercon dot com.
31:12
Speaker 3: Let me also remind you that writer Con has its
31:14
Speaker 3: own newsletter and it's totally free, so why would you
31:19
Speaker 3: want to miss that? Where at substack? Just go there
31:23
Speaker 3: and search for writer Con and sign up doesn't cost
31:27
Speaker 3: you penny. You can join the writer Con Facebook group,
31:30
Speaker 3: I mean, why haven't you do it now? And enjoin
31:34
Speaker 3: this really wonderful community of writers posting almost every day.
31:40
Speaker 3: It's a great group of people. All right, until next time,
31:45
Speaker 3: keep writing and remember you cannot fail if you refuse
31:49
Speaker 3: to quit. See you next time, be at a