Photo Courtesy of Flickr, Valerie Peters
On Oct. 29 at Club Downunder (CDU), author Kiley Reid visited FSU to give a lecture. Reid is known for her two novels “Such a Fun Age” and “Come and Get It,” and the latter of these novels had free copies given out to the first ten people in line at the event.
The lecture was hosted in collaboration between the CDU and The Kudzu Review, FSU’s undergraduate literary magazine. The Midtown Reader, a local bookstore in Tallahassee, sold copies of Reid’s books at the lecture. The event started with a 45-minute lecture, followed by a 15-minute Q&A section, and then a 30-minute book signing by Reid.
Reid opened up by telling the crowd it was her first time in Tallahassee, and read a passage from the novel.
To begin the lecture, Reid devolved into how she incorporates humor into her novels and how intentional she is with her technique when including humor in her writing. She spoke about how people tend to make jokes and use humor to alleviate uncomfortable situations. To Reid, humor in writing is about timing.
When asked, Reid also spoke about where she finds inspiration for her novels. When writing dialogue, she told the audience that she would often write down bits of dialogue she hears from other people to use.
She drew inspiration for her novel “Come and Get It” while teaching undergrads, and she did interviews with 30 to 40 people for the novel. Reid says that she finds when writing a novel in a certain setting, stepping away from a place gives her time to ruminate on her experience and it makes more sense.
For the writers in the audience, Reid advised on how to deal with rejection, which is a constant in any writer’s life. She spoke on how writers need to find a job that will prop up their writing life, and they should write in their own private life. She also spoke about “good rejection,” such as when an author’s work may get rejected, but it almost makes it into a publication or a similar outlet.
Near the end of the lecture portion, Reid gave out a list of advice that she wished she knew when she was in college. She gave the audience tidbits on things she’s learned about jobs, apartments, babysitting, writing, pregnancy, family, college, and vegetables.
Her college advice hit home for students in the audience. When speaking about going to university, Reid told the students attending that college does not have to be the best time of their lives. She said that you can have fun after college, even in your thirties and forties.
The session then moved on to the Q&A, where Reid gave advice when asked by an audience member on how to get out of a rut or creative burnout. Reid said that when she writes and is facing writer’s block, she will spend a day or two researching her topic and finding other forms of media to consume; she gave examples of podcasts, movies, and Reddit.
In addition, Reid said that it is important to accept that you may not be able to make a scene “100%,” but set a goal to make it “10% better. “
Ending on the Q&A, Reid spoke about an alternative ending for her novel “Such a Fun Age,” while keeping it spoiler-free.
In the cut ending for the novel, the big scene stays the same, but the smaller scene is a time jump of 10 to 15 years in the future. Emira is holding a lasagna, and she sees Alex teaching Briar to parallel park.
Briar keeps asking if she’s okay on Alex’s side, but Alex is on her phone in the scene and ignoring Briar. Reid said she changed the ending because it had been too sad and she wanted to keep the original spirit of the book intact, so the book currently has the ending it does.
For writers and non-writers alike, Reid’s lecture was an informative experience for the audience. Reid’s insight into her writing process, where she draws information, and the general advice she gave were an excellent resource for the audience to learn from.
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