Fullmoon’s Employee Spotlight Series Presents:
Our talented Copywriter turned Long Form Content Writer, Nissa (aka Kimber), has been instrumental in elevating our blog and client content. She brings immense creativity and storytelling ability to every project, thanks to her background as an author.
Meet the Woman Behind the Words
Nissa self-published her first YA novel titled Runaway Imagination in 2017, an imaginative tale of a high school senior navigating tragedy through comedy and art:
Vampire-trend-hating high school senior Charlie Lagarde lives in a swirl of imagination and flights of fancy until one day when reality comes crashing down. Simultaneously dealing with her tragedy and everyday woes, Charlie and her friends use comedy and the arts to cope with life and overcome the suckage that is teenage hormones.
Putting her fiction writing talents on display, Nissa brought her imaginative YA novel to life. She has also shown her versatility by publishing poetry, including the verses “Cuimhnigh I Gconai” and “Chinese Bird Fishing” in The Peel Literary Arts Magazine.
Nissa now applies her writing chops to crafting compelling long form articles for clients such as Siltstone Capital, as well as our own weekly blog content. From illuminating digital marketing trends and DIEB topics, to spotlighting small business tips, team updates, and more – Nissa’s articles inform and engage readers. We are delighted to house such a gifted scribe on the Fullmoon team!
Not only is Nissa a good writer, but she has an imagination that I haven’t seen before, even when writing technical articles. She knows how to use the proper tone and voice and adds that extra X Factor to her articles. She is a joy to work with!
– Chris Frisz, SEO Specialist
Luckiest Aunt Nissa with her nieces on a Chincoteague adventure!
Sitting Down with Our Resident Wordsmith
How has your experience as a published author influenced your work?
Well, not a lot, honestly! Is that weird?
The biggest thing I think it did for my younger self is to validate my years stretching back to the single digit ages, proving that hey, maybe this thing I love to do I’m actually pretty decent at!
I think the thing that has most influenced my work was actually a person, my creative writing professor at Appalachian State University. Under Abigail DeWitt’s gentle guidance and ever open door, I really started to blossom as a writer. (Check out her site, her books are DOPE, y’all!)
What do you find most rewarding about long form writing?
Words, words, words.
Truly, the thing about long-form writing is that the length in of itself is meaningless. Just ask anyone who has fallen for a clickbait title just to find an endless page to scroll through with redundant chatter and filler text that never seems to arrive at any point. It’s worse than a fluff piece, because at least fluff makes you feel cozy!
But when treated with integrity, long form writing can create worlds within worlds, dig into topics with the curiosity of an archeologist, and create a fulfilling experience where the audience isn’t left wanting.
When long-form writing is at it’s best, both author and reader are left with a sense of awe, continually provoked thought, inspiration, insight, contentment, enlightenment, piqued interest, or any number of things that our human nature craves intellectually (or sometimes, even spiritually).
What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on at our company so far?
I must say that the opportunity I’ve been given to provide blog content has been the most valuable to my continued skill acquisition and style building. I am still fairly novice at the art of writing composition on a professional level, and having generous reins to explore what that can look like has been an invaluable experience.
I’ve made some choice blunders, and there are some blogs I look back upon and recognize how I’d like to grow from them.
How much cheese is too much cheese? Well, that depends on the consuming connoisseur, doesn’t it?
How much reliance on AI aid is proper, or at least beneficial, to my level of knowledge on the topics I write about? It’s a line I’m defining as I go. Sometimes it’s a lot. Sometimes, like this time, none at all.
When is long form too long? Striking a balance between a well-researched article and a piece that goes overboard is a constant challenge.
How would you describe your writing style and voice?
Depends on what I’m writing, and who’s asking! *sus*
What I can say that is if I have it my way, you can expect a pretty casual tone, and a whole lot of (attempts at) humor. The trick is to let it flow, and if it gets clogged up, let it go.
I tend to lean into 360-views, avoiding biased, abrasive, or under researched approaches. Because the older I get, the more I realize, if you are arguing, you often miss a lot of nuance that could enrich your life–whether or not you ever change your mind. Plus, you often alienate the very folks you want to connect with in the first place. Boooo! 👎🏼
I do know one thing: I definitely love writing for a particular reason, and that is that my written word makes up for my lack of refinement when speaking. For example, if this were an oral interview, I’d probably answer by saying something unfortunate like “Brain word is better than mouth word!”
What advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers?
I want to pass along some wisdom that Dr. DeWitt shared with me when I was at university.
You have within you a multitude of roles with distinct functions and personalities, but the ones that often are combating each other in any author’s mental writing nook are the Artist and the Editor.
While both of these roles are paramount for the creation of epic works, they often don’t see eye to eye. They’re in the writer’s room, going back and forth, calling names, slashing paragraphs left and right. This is why they need their own spaces: a studio and a press room.
When you allow the Artist the space to create, you minimize disruptions to the process. The Artist may come up with some really outlandish things and impractical compositions, it’s true… but this is a part of the process. Where the Editor would cry about the mess, the Artist revels in a working fervor, or a state of flow. There is no time to slow down to tidy up as that shifts the tone to an already defined, organized, structured, regulated state of mind.
If you put creativity in a cage, like a fish in a tank, it will only evolve to fit the space it lives in. But, release that creativity to let it fly, and the wingspan can grow to stretch into the horizon.
When the creative phase has been given a wide berth, the wild beauty has a better chance to reveal itself as it truly is. Once that happens, the Artist then can pass along the creation and hand it over to the detail-oriented refiner that is the Editor. From the press room, the Editor can still make alterations and do all the cleaning up it wants–without disrupting the Artist.
So, my advice? Let your Artist art. When you catch the Editor sneaking into the studio and trying to influence the process (for the Editor is quite impatient and strong-willed, you see), kindly invite them to bugger off. They’ll get their turn.
Thus is how the collaboration can commence to writing success: the Editor will add polish to the Artist’s creation, creating a stunning result that otherwise would never have come to be.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
As a budget world traveler (a hobby I have not been able to engage in these recent years, much to my dismay), this is alllllways a question in mind. Where to, bugaboo?
One of my favorite quotes is, “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”
So, where do I want to go? Yes. Here, there, and everywhere. The bucket list item is to go to every continent, if not every country.
I’ve been to: Canada • France • Ireland • England • Scotland • Wales • Denmark • Norway • Sweden • Iceland • Japan • China • South Korea • Mexico • Colombia
But, if I must choose, New Zealand is up there. Take me to the Shire!
If you could live in any fictional universe, which would you choose?
The Four Lands: The realm of the Shannara series by Terry Brooks always intrigued me. Elven magic meets post-apocalyptic Earth.
Parting Words
For almost a year now, I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring Nissa here at Fullmoon. Her passion for writing and eagerness to take on new challenges with an open mind is admirable. I’ve watched her flourish as a long form content writer by leaning into her creativity, developing her craft, and tackling obstacles head on like a true boss!
