How did you become a writer?

Lonely, ignored, I

discovered Dostoyevsky. Ah.

Kill the landlady.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).

Faulkner, JCO

Nin and Miller. Bergman films.

Williams, Tennessee.

When and where do you write?

Mornings, afternoons.

My secret lair or somewhere

Mountainous, discreet.

What are you working on now?

Terror and beauty.

The Russian Revolution.

Almost done. This year!

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Am I a writer?

Is it hard? Do I yearn?

I love, also suffer.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Notice everything.

Love the senses. Ban the cliché.

Hold nothing back.

Janet Fitch is the author of White Oleander and Paint it Black, novels set in Los Angeles. She teaches creative writing at USC and the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and shares short shorts and writing tips at www.janetfitchwrites.wordpress.com.