In A World All Her Own

In a World All Her Own
A Snapshot in the Life of Kiersten Novak
by Amanda Uekert

The Roots of A Passion

Kiersten Novak was not born a native of the West Michigan area. She was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and came to Kalamazoo nine years later. From a very young age she began to write whenever she could. The smallest article, such as a vocabulary list or a beloved character from a TV show, was enough to spark her imagination. Along with her writing, Miss Novak has also been interested in music, and dance.

One of the impacts that occurred on her writing happened very early in life. The effects of 9/11 had taken quite a toll on her writing capabilities. Even though she was only in the 9th grade at the time, Miss Novak felt compelled to research what had happened that day. She had found the exact times of the plane crashes and reasons why the buildings collapsed, along with many other pieces of important information. She started writing a short story about a young girl who was in the buildings when they were hit, and who had almost lost her mother in the ordeal. At the time it was only an extra credit assignment, but her history teacher told her that it was extremely well written and that he would keep a look out for her name in the bookstores.

This assignment, in turn, started her off on her journey as a writer.

The Power of an Author

So many authors are a part of a writer’s life. They influence writing styles and points of view. Miss Novak is no different. One author that has influenced her is L.M. Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. After reading a few of Montgomery’s works, she finds herself wanting to write in the same language style as this author.

Another influential author in Miss Novak’s life is Tamora Pierce, a leading author in young adult literature. Pierce specializes in the fiction/fantasy genre, a genre that Miss Novak is particularly fascinated with. “Tamora Pierce is like my idol and I want to do what she's doing!” says Novak ecstatically. It is her style as well that has sparked Novak into creating and writing her own stories.

What’s In a Style?

There are so many styles of writing in this world. Mixing them up and creating new ones are a part of being a writer. When asked what kind of style she has, Miss Novak answered that she was not sure, but she pays particular attention to the development of the characters. “I spend time trying to describe the way they move, their mannerisms, as ways of developing characters. And you know body language is such an important thing in everyday life for us, so why should it be any less important in a novel?” The important thing is to make the characters relatable in her mind.

Another important part of her style is the language of the characters. Characters don’t just say something to say it, says Novak, they talk with hand motions, laughs, and gestures. The believability factor is a big deal because, if it’s not there, not many people would want to read the novels out there.

Schooling in the World of Writing

Being a writing major, Miss Novak has gone through many of the classes provided by the Grand Valley State University Writing Department. She told me she is satisfied with what she has learned, but there are still ways the program can be better. The greatest asset to the writing department, in her mind, would be to have a class that was genre specific, such as young adult or children’s literature so that the writers can be shown how to write for these groups of people. She also believes a class that changes focus every semester would be beneficial because the whole of writing is not just broken into fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

New Country, New Viewpoint

It is offered at Grand Valley State University to study abroad for a semester or two. Currently, Miss Novak is studying in Japan and learning many new looks on life and culture. I asked her if she thought studying abroad would change how she wrote and she believed, quite adamantly, that it would. The new places and the new experiences have all given her new avenues to pursue in her writing career, and she highly recommends it to any writing major out there. Miss Novak told me that, “It's like walking up to an artist who only has red, green, and blue paint on his pallet and giving him a pallet with 10 other colors on it. I mean obviously the artist could have just mixed the paints himself, but red, green, and blue only get you so far.” I really believe that as well, and join in her feeling that everyone (if they can) should study abroad to gain these kinds of experiences.

To all of the Future Writers Out there...

Finally, I asked her if there was any advice she would like to pass along to anybody who wants to write for the rest of their lives and she said simply this, “Just to keep writing things.” In her mind no one knows when they are going to strike gold on a project, that’s why it is always good to keep at the craft and work with it the best one can. She also believes it is beneficial to always have a pen and paper around to jot down words, ideas, or thoughts that could eventually become a jumping off point for a story. So many times people think they will remember their ideas and they don’t so to always have something to write it down is very beneficial.