Research Writer Interview With Ariel

My name is Ariel, if you somehow missed the byline directly above this line, and I am an aspiring writer. I’ve always loved both writing and reading, as loving writing naturally includes a love of reading other writer’s work. I’ve known since I was quite young that writing was something I was good at and an avenue I would like to pursue in life. However, I was told countless horror stories of starving artists, which included those seeking to write the next great American novel, and so I turned my education toward a more lucrative career. Alas, I have not quite found something that I can do in this current economy that will also appeal to my love of writing.

However, I have always had many diverse interest. I am also a martial artists, having studied, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Kendo, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, Wushu, Krav Maga, and Boxing. I avidly watch many mixed martial arts competitions. A large portion of my library is filled with books not only on technique but also on the philosophy of martial arts. Philosophy and the nature of reality is another one of my interests. I’ve studied Socrates, Plato and Aristotle as well as Hume, Kierkigaard as well as Nietzsche. Their rhetoric and locutions have shaped and informed my own discourses, whether written or verbal, and given me a foundation for my own analysis and extrapolation of any topic I study.

I also love to watch animation, whether American or Japanese. Though simple in presentation at times, the way they touch on the archetypes present in the human heritage and how they convey that knowledge through stylized characters fascinates me both as a viewer and as a creator. My first encounter with anime opened my eyes to the greater world of symbols, tropes, and archetypes that existed beyond American or English literature while never diminishing my love for the forms and expressions that In grew up with. I also love video games, in their breadth and depth. Some I appreciate for the visceral satisfaction of fantasy escapism that they offer. Others I wonder and study for the level of interaction and immersion that they offer. It is truly a different form of storytelling than cinema or literature. However, video games as a storytelling medium are in their infancy and the great works of the medium are yet to be created.

After I graduated High School I took some time off in order to work for a while. This brief respite turned into a five-year hiatus where I worked a series of jobs that eventually culminated in a position with a nascent film company. I helped in their production of the film Lady Samurai. My talent for writing was eventually noticed and I was drafted to help edit scripts for future projects as well as adapt Lady Samurai into a cartoon series. I eventually wrote an entire season’s worth of episodes before production shut down and I was released as the company dissolved. Fortunately during this time I returned to school and pursued a degree in yet another interest of mine: history. Eventually I graduated and sought to attain a master’s degree in library science in order to follow my love of books. Several years and term papers later, I find myself trying to find employment wherever I can while I work a menial job.

Now comes my dirty little secret. My former employers were not the only people to notice my skill in writing. Several of my schoolmates and friends noticed my talent. There came a day when one of my friends was hard up for an essay, a simple 5 page affair about native Americans in the American revolution. My friend came to me for help and I fired off a paper in a matter of hours. He got an A on the assignment. Word spread and I became a pinch hitter for a small circle of friends. They were determined not to abuse my talents and so I worked with them sparingly, writing an essay here and there, crafting bibliographies, finding research. My biggest assignment came in the form of the research paper I am including as a sample of my work.

In truth, my abilities as a research writer boil down to two things: I am an accomplished reader and a talented writer. I can put words together to achieve almost any effect I desire, a talent helped in part by my voracious reading habits as well as my level of retention for works I have read. I read quickly and can zero in on the information I need in order to craft a paper. I have already been tried and tested (none of the papers I have ever written have ever scored anything less than an A) and I view this job as a great opportunity to test and improve my skills. The money, truth be told, is a bit secondary but appreciated nonetheless.