How did you become a writer?

I was hosting a dinner party and was speaking to a writer friend about growing up in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s and how insane the parents were. Suddenly I realized I had to write the story. I had never considered becoming a writer, it was as if a switch was flipped and that was it. It took me ten years to write it and get it published!

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

I love Anthony Trollope, Iris Murdoch, Rachel Cusk, Susanna Clarke, and Donna Tartt. None of these, with the exception of Donna Tartt's The Secret History are directly perceptible in my writing. It's funny, my novel Age of Consent is so American, but I mostly read British authors! I have always been a reader. You cannot be a writer without first being a reader. When I was in 7th grade my teacher Mrs. Alling took me aside and asked me if I'd like to do a special reading seminar with her. I was already reading constantly, but she helped me expand into new territory, introducing me to surrealist authors and edgy modern ones pushing boundaries. 

When and where do you write?

I have a day job that I cannot afford to abandon, so I write whenever and wherever I can. I mostly write in my bedroom (the only place I have any privacy!) and tend to write early in the morning, hopefully carving out an hour or so every day. I don't have the luxury of writing every day, I am planning on that in the future, at some point. 

What are you working on now?

A new novel about two women who look exactly alike. It's very different from Age of Consent. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

A little bit. I'd say it is more like "plot block" which happens when I don't know what is going to happen next in the narrative. I have to go for long walks, visualizing the story, until the answer unfolds before me. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Writing is like being in a boat, and you are crossing the ocean, and you must cross to the other side, no matter what. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

Don't show your work to too many people, and if you do, receive their advice with a deep breath, a thanks, and then tell yourself, this is MY work, nobody else's. Never take the advice unless it really strikes a chord, and even then, let it sit with you for a while before altering your work.  

Amanda Brainerd grew up in New York City and went to Harvard College and Columbia Architecture. She sells real estate by day, and lives with her husband, three children, two cats and one dog blocks from her childhood apartment. Age of Consent (Viking July 2020) is her first novel.