Q&A With WriteByNight Editor J.R. Rivera

J.R. Rivera (New Jersey) is a freelance writer and editor. She has a BA in Linguistics from Montclair State University. After graduation she worked as a copywriter for Word Tonic Academy and has lent copywriting/editing services to a variety of nonprofit causes in her home state. Prior to her return to creative writing, she contributed to the research and publication of academic literature surrounding linguistic, racial, and disability justice. She has also provided audio description for Montclair Art Museum’s exhibition “Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge/Native Art” as part of an effort to improve accessibility for public services. Dynamic in her writing abilities, you’ll find her daydreaming about that sci-fi epic she’s “going to get around to writing one of these days” one minute, and considering an essay on the ecological implications of the English language’s role in shaping our relationship to nature “just for funsies” in the next.

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Where are you from?

Saddle Brook, NJ.

Where did you study?

I started my studies at Monmouth University as an Anthropology major. Then I hopped over to Universidad del Belgrano in Buenos Aires for half a year. One pandemic and two presidencies later, I finished my schooling at Montclair State University and graduated with a BA in Linguistics.

How did you get your start as a writer?

It started with Puerto Rico and a marble notebook. My sisters and I would write increasingly absurd short stories in our bisabuela’s sweltering guest room. Sometimes based off of a show we just watched, sometimes just from whatever our Kid Brains conjured up and found funny. From there I was always writing. A lifelong passion spawned because we wanted to make each other laugh.

Who are some of your influences?

I’m all across the board. From Bill Watterson’s philosophical Sunday comic strips, to the sharp imagery Donna Tart evokes, to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s non-linear storytelling—they all inform my writing style. Honorable mention to Vince Gilligan for leaving a permanent stain on my approach to character creation.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Snuffing out the imaginary critics in my head who cow me out of writing anything at all.

What’s your favorite word and why?

“Pulchritudinous.” It’s the least pretty-sounding word to describe one as exceedingly beautiful. Devastatingly beautiful. The word quite literally holds inner beauty. I think it needs to make a comeback in our daily conversations.

What’s the last book you read & what did you think of it?

I’m three-quarters of the way through Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. It’s been a long time since a book has made me audibly gasp. Or cry. Or kept me up at night with a creeping dread. Carrion Comfort was published in the late eighties but here we are, thirty-six years later, facing so many of the same horrors I see reflected on every page. The world keeps turning but its evils remain stuck in place. So does hope, though. There’s a pinprick of light that shines in the darkness. In the book and in real life. It’s not bogged down with only morbidity (which can make or break horror and drama books for me) and that makes the reading experience so much richer.

Any words of wisdom for aspiring writers?

Be bored. Actively. The days you skip YouTube with dinner or stare blankly at the walls in a waiting room with the devices tucked away, there’s no choice but to let the mind wander. When it’s just you and your brain (and a little pocket notebook), creativity flows more often and more freely. I say this not in a “kids and their phones these days” way but a “you deserve to have your imagination back” kind of way. Trying to take my own advice. Semi-successful.

Request a free consult now to discuss working with J.R.