Author, illustrator, and San Diego Writers, Ink instructor Clarissa Janeen joins us to discuss her work as a multidisciplinary artist, and provides insight into her classes, ‘Structuring Your Story’ and ‘Speculative Fiction: Read & Critique.’ In her upcoming class ‘Structuring Your Story,’ attendees will develop structure for in-progress works to strengthen their drafted novels/narratives. Beyond that, her ongoing class ‘Speculative Fiction: Read & Critique,’ meets every first and third Sunday of the month to write all things fantasy or sci-fi and receive constructive feedback in a tight-knit group. This interview has been edited for clarity.

 

Bianca: As an editor, author, and illustrator, you are a woman of many talents, Clarissa. How do you manage to balance your time between your creative pursuits?

 

Clarissa: That’s a question I’m still asking myself, truthfully. I have to prioritize my projects based on deadlines, size, and how long they’ve been on my plate. And with the Read and Critique group I lead twice a month, I have to keep in mind when scheduling myself that I’ll be busy every other weekend working on feedback for that. So even when I’m focusing on one project, I try to sneak in opportunities to improve on the other crafts (so my skills don’t wane). I like listening to writing advice and audiobooks to keep my writing skills sharp. I also doodle while talking to my friends over Discord a couple times a week.

 

Your illustration for Jacob Haffner’s The Squirrel and the Moon is IngramSpark’s #1 bestseller; how did you arrive at the final version of this illustration? What did your creative process look like?

 

Well it was a #1 bestseller in certain specific categories, not the bestseller across the entire website. I started by storyboarding the book’s layout to figure out where the page breaks would be and what illustrations I wanted for each page. Then I did the line art for every page in pencil and began painting them in with watercolor. About halfway through this process, I had left one of the partially-painted illustrations on the floor of my room and a leak in my ceiling ruined the page. I decided, that was enough of that. Anyways, a couple of years had passed since I finished my undergraduate degree and entered the workforce, and I felt that the finished illustrations no longer reflected my abilities; I could make them better. I switched to digital illustrations, still trying to mimic that watercolor look. Painting digitally ended up helping a lot in revisions. Once I finished my first draft, I showed them to Jacob who pointed out that the story took place in a pine forest. However, there were no pinecones in the illustrations, so I added those in. Then we printed a couple of proof versions of the book and I made edits, like moving the squirrel over from the center fold on a few of the page spreads. The illustrations also printed dimmer and less vibrant, so I had to go back and adjust those for every page. But it was worth it!

 

Building on the last question, is it ever difficult balancing your personal creativity with a client’s request?

 

I didn’t have to worry about that for The Squirrel and the Moon because Jacob Haffner and I were already such close friends. We understood each other’s style and shared similar tastes of whimsy and folklore. For my other illustrative work, as long as I incorporate everything my clients have requested, they’ve been happy. I show them how things are going throughout the process, so they can let me know if I need to make any changes. In the end, they’ve picked me to work with them because they want my personal creative style. So, usually it’s not a problem.

 

On another note, you’ve worked on 15+ titles. As an editor, how do you prioritize the writer’s voice while still providing constructive criticism?

 

When I’m editing for other writers, there’s certainly a delicate balance for me to navigate between offering edits that match a style, which differs from mine, and recognizing when a writer is still in the process of developing their narrative voice (and would benefit from suggestions to help them grow). I make sure my clients know it’s completely up to them to decide which edits are most helpful to them. When I’m providing feedback on a writer’s voice, I look for potential opportunities the writer could have missed; such as ways to make a sentence more concise for readability, or if additional description somewhere could paint a more vivid picture for the reader. This allows the writer to retain ownership of their voice while making more intentional and informed choices.

 

Since we’re on the topic of editors and constructive criticism—writers all seem to possess an inner critic, who isn’t always constructive. As an artist wearing two hats, how do you get past the inner critic in your own artistic pursuits? Or how do you communicate with your inner critic? What advice would you give to a writer who is oppressed by their inner critic?

 

My inner critic tends to come out when comparing my work to someone else’s. I think having an inner critic to some extent is healthy as it pushes us to grow as creatives. However, an inner critic stops being helpful when it paralyzes the creative process. When I hear that inner critic, I make it constructive by asking myself what the other writer or artist is doing that’s making me like their work so much more; then I try to work out how they’re doing it. This allows me to use the same tools as them to improve my own craft. It’s important for creatives to remember that when your inner critic is trying to convince you that you’re bad at something, it actually means you’re getting better at it because you’re recognizing necessary areas of growth. Without that inner critic, our work would grow stagnant. Analyze what the creatives you admire are doing, and figure out how they’re achieving it, you’ll be surprised by how quickly your skills grow.

 

As a writer, in one word, what do you want to instill in your readers?

 

Love.

 

Shifting gears slightly—you’re teaching a class with San Diego Writers, Ink called, “Structuring Your Story.” Who would you encourage to attend your class and why?

 

I think this class will be the most helpful for novel writers who are finding themselves stuck in the drafting process or who have finished a draft and are unsure how to revise. The class focuses on story maps and exploring elements that create compelling narrative structures to help writers reorient their stories. Story maps helped me transition from writing short stories during undergrad, to tackling novel-length narratives during my MFA program.I want to offer the same tools to other writers.

 

While we’re discussing your class, “Structuring Your Story,” in the description box, it’s stated that you are willing to help writers who are “partway through a draft.” Pulling from that, what advice would you give writers experiencing writer’s block? Or do you believe in writer’s block?

 

I’ve heard a few authors try to insist writer’s block doesn’t exist and then go on to describe writer’s block, only to give it a different title. Naming it something else doesn’t mean it stops existing. I think denying the existence of writer’s block only invalidates the experience of a writer who’s feeling stuck and unsure of where to go next. My first technique in such a situation comes from my days as a theater kid when directors would stress the need for our characters to react to what was happening in the scene even if we had no lines. Things are happening in your story, how are your characters reacting to them? And how do the other characters react to those reactions? My next bit of advice in such a situation is, don’t be afraid to skip around; be indulgent and write your favorite scenes first, even if they’re chapters apart. This allows you to continue contributing to your word count and often helps to reinvigorate your creative juices. You can also try mapping out your story’s plot points by breaking them down into smaller sections. Hopefully, this will help you figure out what needs to happen for point A to reach B, to reach C, and so on. And in a pinch, I highly recommend having a well-read friend you can call on to bounce ideas off of. Don’t be afraid to just ramble at them. I’ve found that when I do this, while my friend might occasionally offer suggestions, I usually end up solving the problem myself.

 

Sticking with the theme of classes, you facilitate a monthly “Read and Critique Class on Speculative Fiction.” What do you focus on when you are giving feedback? Do you focus on the big picture, plot, or characters? Or do you go line by line?

 

It completely depends on the writer. I ask my students to let the group know where their writing is in the drafting/revision process and if they’d like us to focus on big picture developmental edits, more detailed line edits, or anything specific that they’d like feedback on. Some writers want any and all feedback they can get and are happy to receive both major structural feedback and minor copy edits. I also ask students to let us know if they have a deadline so we can give them reasonable edits for their time frame. At the end of the workshop expectations document (something any good critique group should have) is a list of suggested craft areas to consider while critiquing, asking questions like: Are the character motives clear? How are the stakes being heightened throughout the story? Do we have a sense of what the story is about? Is there enough variety in sentence length & structure to keep the reader invested?

 

As a San Diego Writers, Ink instructor; what inspired you to help other writers? Has San Diego Writers, Ink fueled this desire?

 

My mom is a retired teacher, and my dad has always been good at answering my questions. He showed me the joy in sharing knowledge that could help someone else. While I was in undergrad, I worked as a writing tutor. As part of my training, I was assigned to read Cicero to study rhetoric. This taught me how to ask the kinds of questions to get a writer to analyze the structure of their argument. I was fascinated by the idea that I could help someone else think critically without giving them the answer. While I was working there, the father of a student found my writing tutor bio which mentioned that I was majoring in creative writing. He reached out and asked if he could hire me to edit his novel and I found that I thoroughly enjoyed the process. I liked helping him problem solve and working with him showed me that I knew things that could help other writers. I took an internship with a literary journal to do more editing and found it just as fun. So, I decided I wanted to pursue editing. While I was finishing my master’s program, I attended the AWP Conference (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) in Los Angeles. I was wandering the booths with my Emerson College bag when I came across a booth for San Diego Writers Ink. I was delighted, seeing as I lived in San Diego. I introduced myself, and when I mentioned I was finishing my MFA, the woman at the booth suggested I come teach for them. A couple of people had asked me if I planned to go into teaching when I started my MFA, but I’d never seriously considered it before. I worried I wasn’t qualified. After all, I’d studied writing, not teaching.That evening, a bunch of students from my school got together for dinner and I mentioned the encounter to my friend Kate, who also lived in San Diego. (It was an online program, so most of my peers lived far away from me.) “Oh yeah, I teach for them,” she told me. “You should totally teach!” Kate and I graduated the same year, and I figured if she could do it, then I probably could too. When Kate’s plate got too full with her other teaching jobs, she offered to let me take over the Speculative Fiction Read & Critique group she had established (since we both specialized in that area). There’s something really special about being let into someone’s world like that when you’re critiquing their writing. It’s just fun for me to nerd out and discuss story craft, honestly. Leading this group has also further cemented my understanding of how teaching a subject to someone else helps you to understand it better too. So I’m polishing my own writing skills while helping them, in what I feel, is a mutually beneficial relationship.

 

Before I let you go, I want to ask one last question: what advice would you give to your younger self right now if she were watching?

 

Stop feeling guilty for not having written a book yet, you’re a kid. Not everyone can be Christopher Paolini. Just keep reading and doodling, but also don’t underestimate the importance of play. If you can make it through junior high (you can, I’m living proof), you can make it through anything. Also, don’t try to run a brush through your dry hair when you start developing a curl pattern in your tweens; it will only frizz. Comb it with a wide-tooth comb and only when it’s wet.

 

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

 

You can find me and all the creative stuff I get up to at www.clarissajaneen.com.

 

Clarissa Janeen’s “Speculative Fiction Read & Critique” group is currently full, but don’t worry, there’s an opportunity to join in the future if you sign up for the waitlist. If you’re interested, click here to send us a message or email us at programs@sandiegowriters.org. Fortunately, Clarissa’s other class “Structuring your Story” is still open, and will be held on November 8th. Click on this link to sign up now! Contact or learn more about Clarissa here.