BLB24 Homework #2 - Zackary Russell
Homework For Thomas’ Talk
Step 1 - Look in the Mirror
What are your strengths?
AP TAG English program
Bachelor of science in engineering from Texas A&M
Theological training from Cru
22 years of ministry experience: domestically, internationally (6 countries), and with international students
4 years of podcasting
Humor: 11 headlines published with The Babylon Bee
I’m pretty balanced between Left and Right brained.
What are you the best in your world at?
Spiritual gift of discernment
Retaining information from many different subjects, finding the connections, and making it interesting to people.
Why do readers pick other authors over you?
If they want more science or less faith.
If they don’t like my ideological opinions. I don’t wade into election stuff but am pretty open with my thoughts about theology and culture.
Why do people read other similar stories rather than your story?
Other stories might have more quirky characters (mine is more plot-driven).
Some will want grittier content (I don’t use profanity or other gratuitous content).
Others want a more cleaned-up version of the future (I’m trying to honestly portray how societal corruption could play out).
What do you do that exhausts you?
Instagram
LinkedIn
I love chatting on Twitter, but interpersonal conflict exhausts me.
Editing. I’m more of a plotter, so editing is a frustrating admission that my outline and character development wasn’t sufficient.
What are your unfair advantages?
All my connections within and thru Cru, where I’m known and respected as a writer of various formats.
Beta readers / potential launch team members among Cru coworkers, ministry supporters, and Christian Youth Theatre kids (friends of my children in the program).
Fantastical Truth, the podcast I co-host: monthly listenership of ~3K, plus connections with 50 authors we’ve interviewed.
Connections with 30 other influencers with a combined following of 500K.
What gives you the authority to write on the subject you’re writing on?
I’ve been in full-time ministry for over 20 years and have personally experienced multiple forms of spiritual warfare.
But I wasn’t always a Christian. Until age 16 I was only a cultural Christian, a very common thing in Texas (and true of one of my main characters).
What gives you the authority to explore the themes in your writing
I think about the future constantly, especially because I have four kids.
I’m an early adopter of technology and a natural digital explorer.
I have read and still read a wide variety of both science fiction and theological books.
Combined strengths of Input, Empathy, and Communication.
Step 2 - Look at Your Readers
Who is your target reader?
Readers who dream about the future or dwell on the past.
Christian geeky dads
Christian teens and college students who are clued in but still hopeful
People who see how much the world has changed and dread what is to come for their children, but know that God gets the last word.
Conservatives and Texans who are tired of seeing negative stereotypes of themselves in media.
What does your target reader read currently?
Timothy 1 (JF)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
System Collapse by Martha Wells
Dust by Hugh Howie
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Across the Sand by Hugh Howie
Timothy 2 (JS)
Eragon
Lightning Thief
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Golden Son
Silmarilion
Note that both Timothy’s prefer audiobooks
How is your target reader different from other readers?
Timothy 1 (JF) - Biomedical PhD data scientist with a love for the arts. Avid sci-fi reader
Timothy 2 (JS) - English PhD history teacher who loves baseball. Eclectic reader of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, YA, and MG.
Both are Texans and fathers.
Why does your target reader read books?
Timothy 1 (JF) - “I think I prefer books because the stories are more interesting, though I can’t say why it is usually like that. Maybe it’s just more engaging because my imagination has to fill in the information.”
Timothy 2 (JS) - “When I choose to read books instead of watching TV, it’s because I can control the rate of which I consume it. I can read a book while I’m sitting next to my child who I’m trying to get to fall asleep, but I cannot watch a show. I can read for five minutes and put it down and come back later. But if I start a show, I feel compelled to watch from beginning to end if at all possible. There is also a greater sense of control in my mind over what details I see and pay attention to the things that I latch onto when I read or vastly different than what I latch onto when I watch.”
How can you thrill your target reader?
Showing things in the dark future that are still cool.
Creating characters with a strong sense of morality.
Showing evil being defeated by good.
Showing how Christian faith will survive amidst persecution.
Step 3 - Listen to Your Readers
This is from feedback from my beta readers.
What do readers like about you?
I’m writing a book that other Texans can deeply relate to.
What are the themes and topics that come up?
Similar to That Hideous Strength; works by Frank Peretti, Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, Andrew Klavan; shows like Stranger Things and Supernatural; video games like Final Fantasy.
This is a radical new chapter in human history.
I liked the biblical references but without actual Bible references, such that characters didn’t feel like mouthpieces.
Really liked the magical technology
most books have a slump in the middle but this is like 💥🤯💀
What words do they mention in their reviews?
Exciting. Never read anything like this. Had to request more screen time.
Intense and fun.
Good pacing
You’re really good at writing action.
Fire sword!
Extremely clever
Great villain
What do people say about you when they talk to each other?
● N/A
Step 4 - Look in Your Reader’s Mirror
What does my brand let my readers say about themselves?
They can find transcendent meaning in a dystopian world.
What tribe does this brand give me access to?
Cultural conservatives who oppose dystopian events happening in the real world.
The politically homeless.
Non-Christians who are becoming aware of spiritual evil.
Who are your outsiders?
Collectivist cultural revolutionaries
Big Tech authoritarians
Radical secularists
Homework For Jim’s Talk
What is the promise you are making your readers?
We are traveling into a dark future but we’ll find glimmers of hope that transcend the chaos and pain.
What comes to mind when people think of you?
Genius ideas.
What is the empathy you have for your readers?
I want to thrill sci-fi readers with an exciting story that portrays Christians in a positive light.
What is the authority you have for your readers? What gives you the authority to write on the subject you’re writing on?
I have been writing stories and other content for 20 years as a cross-cultural missionary with Cru. I’ve written stage plays, screenplays, and other video scripts for major ministry endeavors. As co-host of the Fantastical Truth podcast, I have built an audience of Christian readers who are eager for amazing stories.
What gives you the authority to explore the themes in your writing
Besides my ministry experience, I have been an avid fan of science fiction, fantasy, and video games my whole life.
Find a website that makes it about them, and brainstorm how you would change that website to make it about the website visitor. What are two things you would change?
Talk about the journey people are already on, that they are living in the prologue of a cyberpunk story.
That they don’t have to journey alone into the dark future, we can go together, and along the way look for glimmers of hope.
Who is your target reader? Describe them in one sentence:
My target reader knows we’ve crossed a portal into a dark future, but also knows God gets the last word.
To stand out, we must shock/surprise/delight Broca on a regular basis. How have you, or how are you going to, shock/surprise/delight Broca during the next three days?
You are already living in a cyberpunk novel, so keep reading.
You know your brand has to be organic. What is different, unique, quirky, surprising about you that can/does define you as a person? How are you organically compelling?
I am comfortable embracing all manner of high tech things while simultaneously pursuing analog habits. I point out the darkness in the world but also laugh at it.
In what areas do you need to give yourself permission to be you?
Speaking boldly to fellow Christians that the world may become very strange for a long time before Christ returns.
Speaking boldly to non-Christian cultural allies that there is a better way through the darkness than anger or isolation.
In what two areas are you going to focus on where you’ll make your content surprising/entertaining/provocative/engaging?
There are a lot of things I write on Twitter that resonate with a large number of people. I need to collect these into short blog posts.
I also need to adapt these essays into short stories, in particular one of them into a novella for a reader magnet.