Grammar | Sep/Oct 2015

career
AUTHOR
Submitted by Amanda B.
If you check out our blog often, you know who Robin
Jones Gunn is. A few months ago, we made a review
video on her award-winning book series, featuring
Christy Miller. Now get to know the face behind the
books . . . and find out if a career as an author might
be something you would enjoy.
1. What kinds of books have you written?
I’ve been writing for over 25 years and have written
fiction, non-fiction, devotionals, children’s books and
novellas. Just about a little of everything.
2. What subjects do you have to study to be an
author? It varies, of course, depending on what field
of writing you plan to go into. I took a lot of English
courses as well as Creative Writing courses and
attended conferences on writing. Many of my writer
friends majored in Journalism and found that
prepared them to be able to write short pieces and
articles first. After that they expanded to writing
books.
3. What kinds of stories do you enjoy writing
best? The majority of the 85 books I’ve written are
fiction because I love telling stories. I like writing
about characters who feel like they could be real
people. In the story they are trying to understand
how God is leading them in whatever they are going
through.
4. Please describe a typical day of work
(writing). Every day is different. I’m an early riser so
for many years I’ve gotten up at 3am in order to
write for several hours while my thoughts are fresh
and the house is nice and quiet. Some days I write
on a laptop while sitting outside. Some days I sit at
my desk and work on the main computer. Other
days I’ll go to the beach and sit and write in my
journal.
What made you decide to be a writer? I’ve
always been a storyteller but I didn’t grow up
thinking I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t plan on
being a writer when I was in college. I was more
interested in doing foreign missions work or doing
youth ministry at a church. I married a youth pastor
and started writing for teens. The Christy Miller
series grew from one book into many more and I
continued to write as a result of the interest of the
readers. I honestly don’t think there has ever been a
moment when I decided to be a writer. I just wanted
to follow God and serve Him and this is where He led
me.
6. Where was your first job? I started working at a
Carl’s Jr. fast food restaurant when I was 16. It was
down the street from where we lived and I didn’t
have my driver’s license yet so I walked to work. We
had to wear uniforms with silly hats and I always
walked as fast as I could so that no one I knew from
school would see me.
7. Have you had any interesting things happen
to you while writing stories? Yes. Always. Many
of the interesting life experiences I’ve had ended up
in one of my stories eventually. When I was writing
the Sisterchicks series I was traveling around the
world to all the locations in the books. I went to
Australia, New Zealand, Paris, Venice, England,
Mexico, Finland, Hawaii and the Netherlands. Crazy,
fun things happened on each of those trips. Those
moments ended up in the books and sometimes my
editor would say that we needed to take those parts
out. They were too unbelievable. More than once I
remember telling her, “But they really happened.”
She would say, “Maybe so, but no one will believe it.”
When I was getting ready to do the research for
“Sisterchicks Go Brit” I invited my editor to travel
with me to England. She was thrilled to come along
and yes, crazy, fun things happened. From then on
she let me keep lots of those moments in the books.
8. What is the best thing about being an
author? For me the best thing is being able to do
what I was created to do. I love being able to be
creative and expressive through the stories I write.
9. Do you have to like certain things in order to
do this occupation? I think you have to get used to
a lot of criticism and a lot of people who want to tell
you what to do. You don’t have to like that sort of
constant input but I think you have to really like
what you’re doing and like people in a
compassionate sort of way. Otherwise the many
opinions you hear will make you want to become
more withdrawn.
10. How do you get ideas for new story plot
twists? From life. While I’m writing, I usually don’t
know what’s going to happen next in the story. I
know the characters and the problems they’re
facing. As I write, I think about what I’ve seen in real
life that is similar to what the characters are going
Page | 7 Volume 4, Issue 5