The writer gets to the point about tension, narrowing in and finding a story just about anywhere.
Greg Hardesty was a staff reporter for the Orange County Register. Greg teaches journalism at California State University, Fullerton. Most recently, he has joined the communications department at CHOC Children’s Hospital in the OC. He is also a distance runner [of very, very long distances], and I was interested, among other things, to hear how the sport [passion] nourished his creativity.
The Writer’s Journey: How and when do you know in your gut that an idea is viable and worth following? Is there a telling moment for you?
Greg: Oh yes—a bell goes off when, more than anything, I feel a strong sense of curiosity: How did this person do that? What does this person’s wife/husband/child think of this? A key ingredient in any good story is a sense of tension or of a person overcoming odds or an obstacle, or a person with a reasonable amount of complexity; someone with shades of gray instead of black and white.
The Writer’s Journey: When it comes to writing would you describe your mind as a friend or foe? What’s his/her/its voice like?
Greg: Oh, it’s a friend—but one with a very demanding sense about what holds interest. My friend has ADD and if I can’t grab your attention at the beginning of the story, I am dead. My friend inside my head demands that a story be as interesting as possible. [dig this alert:] If I, the writer, am bored, the reader will have no change. My friend usually says, “Think cinematically. Think of the most compelling scene, and go from there.”
The Writer’s Journey: Taking the stance that creativity is a natural state, why do we get stuck? How do you overcome “stuckness” if you encounter it?
Greg: I reinterview people when I feel I do not have enough material. I go over notes again and again. [wow alert:] I rarely get stuck. There’s always some way to get into a story. The challenge really is, what is the most interesting way? To overcome stuckness, I walk away from a story and do something else and come back to it with a fresh mind/eyes.
The Writer’s Journey: Jackson Pollock said, “The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.” Using his model for creation, how do you, as a feature writer and reporter, let a story come through?
Greg: It’s sort of an instinctual process. I let the person or subjects of the story rattle around in my head for several hours while I do something else. Then they usually speak to me in the sense that a clear picture of the essence of their story emerges, and then a specific scene that makes the essence of the story clear.
The Writer’s Journey: You’re a (long) distance (trail) runner. Does running fuel your writing? Can you describe what fuels your writing, if not, or in addition to running?
Greg: Running fuels my mind and spirit and absolutely helps my writing. It forces me to live in the moment, which makes me a more attentive person when I do an interview and allows me to focus more sharply when I review notes and sit down to right. Running supercharges my mind with a flood of endorphins and all that energy allows me to bust through the color and narrow in on a subject, much like I narrow in on where my feet land on the trail.
Greg lives in southern California in a canyon where it’s hard to get a cell phone signal. He was probably out running at the time this went live.
Photo by Declan Lopez on Unsplash
