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Meet the Teaching Artist: Improv for Writers with Jorjeana Marie
by Writing Workshops Staff
3 months ago
Jorjeana Marie is no stranger to the creative stage—whether writing for the Emmy-nominated Tab Time, narrating over 400 audiobooks, or voicing the iconic "Trikini" on Mickey Mouse Funhouse, her storytelling prowess is unmatched.
Plus: she is the Los Angeles Times bestselling author of Improv for Writers (Penguin Random House/Ten Speed Press). Now, in her highly anticipated 4-week Improv for Writers class, she’s ready to share the secrets behind her creative magic.
Through a mix of dynamic writing exercises and the spontaneous energy of improv, Jorjeana will guide you through unlocking fresh ideas, overcoming writer’s block, and injecting new life into your characters and worlds. Perfect for writers of any genre, this course invites you to take risks, embrace creativity, and transform your writing process.
If you're just starting or a seasoned writer looking to push boundaries, this class promises to leave you with a new toolkit of improv techniques, fresh material to expand upon, and a renewed sense of confidence in your craft.
Hi Jorjeana, please introduce yourself to our audience.
Hi! My name is Jorjeana and I have been writing since I was a kid.
What made you want to teach this specific class? Is it something you are focusing on in your own writing practice? Have you noticed a need to focus on this element of craft?
I get letters from all over from people who have found my book and though it's not for everyone, it is for every kind of writing. When you need and want to write but there's something in the way, even procrastination, playing these 'games' gets real, amazingly helpful, spontaneous, surprising and wonderful pages FULL. It's really a unique trip and I use it constantly as a screenwriter and novelist myself. I use improv to solve problems, come up with ideas solutions and just get deadlines met and some pretty enjoyable writing going on. Every. Day.
Give us a breakdown of how the course is going to go. What can the students expect? What is your favorite part about this class you've dreamed up?
My favorite part is the surprise we feel in the pressure to just go, in this moment, to write something specific while a timer is ticking - and then the surprise in how much each writer likes what they came up with. There is a sweet pride in - hey, I just made this thing. We did it! And it's the start of something that can be edited. We're writing and writing is how we get better (in so many ways!)
What was your first literary crush?
Stephen King
What are you currently reading?
Beautiful Writers, All the Light We Cannot See, Pick the Lock by AS King(and narrating-what an HONOR).
How do you choose what you're working on? When do you know it is the next thing you want to write all the way to THE END?
I'm often on deadline for a tv project I'm hired for, so when I choose something for myself, I try to savor it. It's special writing time and it is a project I am really really really into. Or, I'm onto the next thing. I've just got to be feeling it, in the flow, flowing. And if I'm not, I sit down anyway and just write. Because some days, that's what it takes. Even on a project we love. That had us lit up several pages ago. It'll come back.
Stories have ups and downs and so of course do we, in the writing of them.
Oh, and I also write every day (especially when I'm in a write-every-day-for-90-days-for-10-minutes-a-day sprint). So, I just work on the big project at hand relentlessly. Comedy bits pop in, so I always capture those in my Idea Bank as well as poetry lines or lyrics or character fragments.
Where do you find inspiration?
Mostly in nature or when daydreaming - I have been making sure to let myself do that lately. Daydreaming is something I got into a LOT of trouble for as a kid. So much that the teacher who was most infuriated by me made me move my desk outside... how much attention do you think I paid to her then? At least she didn't have to look at me I guess. Anyway, I stopped daydreaming for a long time because I had been taught it was wrong. And now that I get hired for my ideas, I know that I actually have to protect it, you know. It's my JOB to daydream. It's my job to make Sure my mind is an open invitation to the unusual. Otherwise, I'm not coming up with the unique things only my mind can come up with. I'm a mosaic of other people, other events. And that's fine too, but I also just want the space to allow some nutty thought to drop in. And an idea for a weird short story to just appear.
I also get pretty inspired teaching and working with kids or observing them. And I also get inspired being around fun and funny people, just observing life. In having a daily routine of writing, I find inspiration lurking lurking.
What is the best piece of writing wisdom you've received that you can pass along to our readers? How did it impact your work? Why has this advice stuck with you?
I found a book on comedy writing by a guy names Sol Saks who I wasn't familiar with, but I loved how he wrote about comedy. He taught that if you stick to being yourself, that's your originality, that's your style. He was talking about that buzzy word 'voice' I think. Basically, you be you. And I needed that advice. Because I was, and still am, pretty weird. I mean, I try to out-toddle my toddlers if you know what I mean. I just want everyone to be silly. Because why not? 98.8 percent of the time, silly is just fine.
There are a lot of people taking things too seriously. I'm sometimes one of them. And I don't like that about myself, but I think it's part of life and it's a part I'm just not ready to give in to. You can write gorgeous words. You will do that. But can't we also just get a little messy, do some bendy stretches so that gorgeous-word writing doesn't have to be painful? It really doesn't. You don't have to write animation to be playful. Quirky writing flies across all genres. I think quirky just means, partly funny/partly we don't know where to put you, so we'll call you quirky,
Join me. Let's be non-categorizable.
What is your favorite book to recommend on the craft of writing? Why this book?
I love the Artist's Way for newer artists or artists who haven't done any work similar to Cameron's morning pages. For screenwriters, Story (Robert Mckee), The Sequence Approach (Paul Joseph Gulino) and Heroine's Journey (Carringer and Murdock). And Sterling the Craft (Ursula K Le Guin)
Bonus question: What’s your teaching vibe?
Warm, welcoming, playful, yet structured (you'll know what you're doing and why). Each game or exercise we do will strengthen a writer at any level and I share in the satisfied surprise/unique output of every student. I'm invested in your forthcoming delight!
Learn more about working with Jorjeana:
You can sign up for Jorjeana Marie's upcoming seminar, Improv for Writers 4-Week Zoom Class, and join us for what promises to be an in-depth and engaging class!
Instructor Jorjeana Marie is the Los Angeles Times bestselling author of Improv for Writers (Penguin Random House/Ten Speed Press) and a staff writer on the Emmy nominated Tab Time with Tabitha Brown. She is the magical rabbit “Trikini” on Disney’s Mickey Mouse Funhouse and Mickey Mouse and the Roadster Racers (she also wrote on both shows). You may recognize her voice from Nickelodeon, Disney, PBS or for narrating over 400 audiobooks for authors including Meg Wolitzer, Nina La Cour, Jacqueline Woodson, R. L. Stine, Elizabeth Gilbert. Kate DiCamillo and Gayle Forman. Winner of a prestigious Audie, a SOVAS, and more than a dozen Earphones awards, Jorjeana has been named one of the best YA voices by AudioFile Magazine year after year. Publishers Weekly calls her “Pitch Perfect”. Paste Magazine named her one of their favorite narrators and Audiofile Magazinecalls her characters “Hilarious!” She is the voice of The New Nancy Drew Diaries and AudioFile says “Jorjeana Marie captures the essence of what makes Nancy Drew such a timeless fictional icon”.
