Spotlight on: Brian Woods

The average college student at Rowan University is generally not thrilled by writing papers or writing at all. They certainly would not take on the monumental task of attempting to write the next great American novel. But sophomore Brian Woods is not the average student.

Woods, 19, of Cranford, N.J. is an inspiring entertainment writer who is in the midst of writing  his first novel before graduating college.

“I’m on page 60,” Woods said. “It’s a fun thing to do. I wrote a short story that got a lot of good feedback, so I decided to broaden it and turn it into a short book.”

Woods’ story is a romantic comedy about a regular guy whose mother dies choking on a piece of broccoli. The guy decides that because eating vegetables killed her, he would no longer listen to any other life lesson she gave him growing up. Each chapter is about how he avoided a life lesson and along the way, he gets closer to meeting the girl.

“I’d like my writing to get better before I try to publish it,” Woods said. “I’d like to publish it but not right away because I like the story, and I’d rather do it when I feel confident, more confident in my writing.”

Brian Woods, right, is certainly not your average student at Rowan University; balancing school and the task of writing a novel.

Woods is not intimidated by being so young and attempting such a daunting task as writing a book. He explained that school work and writing don’t  stress him out.

“I’ve always had that feeling that stuff works out, and when I’m done with this, people will like it,” Woods said.

Writing is one of Woods’ hobbies and prompted him to become a journalism major at Rowan.

“I went into journalism because I thought it would be a fall back kind of thing,” Woods said. “I thought there would be more job opportunities, if I didn’t get work as a writer.”

Woods’s dream job would be to write in the entertainment industry either for television sitcoms or to be a stand-up comic, writing his own material.

“I did stand up comedy my freshman year in the Rowan comedy battle,” Woods said. “There was a lot of people there, I got a lot of laughs, and I didn’t get booed off the stage — I thought the judges were pretty crappy though.”

Woods skipped the competition this year, but has plans to come back and win next year.

After the book, Woods’ next project will be a murder mystery story about a detective from the city who has to investigate a murder in a nudist colony. The story, meant to be a comedy, will take the straight edge detective out of his element and create the comedic situations that will unfold.

Like any young college student with dreams, Woods has had a variety of odd jobs. He has worked as a busboy, a usher at a movie theater and as a camp counselor.

While part-time work may not be Woods’ forte, his free time will surely be used to further pursue is writing goals and dreams. Perhaps, the Rowan community will see a novel from him upon graduation day.