How did you become a writer?

In college I took a lot of classes in Near Eastern Studies and anthropology, and my goal was to be a professor of some kind. But after I graduated, I realized that all of my favorite articles were in magazines like Texas Monthly and The New Yorker. I discovered that nonfiction writing was a way to learn about the world and participate in a larger public conversation about policy, culture, and other big subjects.

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

From my editors at The Marshall Project, I learned a great deal about how to write sensitively about real people, as a way of helping readers understand complex and sad public policy issues. Among my favorite writers are Isabel Wilkerson, Lawrence Wright, and Pamela Colloff. I’ve also learned a great deal about storytelling from my wife Emily Chammah, who writes fiction and has pointed me to many great novels. 

When and where do you write?

I’m fortunate to get to write for my day job at The Marshall Project. I mostly do this from my home in Austin, Texas, in an office painted an intense shade of green — it’s like I’m writing in an emerald cave. While working on my book, I was living in New York City, and I would spend my hour-long commute on the subway rereading my interview notes and court records and other research materials. Then on Saturday I would try to get as many words down as possible.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a series of articles about the criminal justice system. I’m especially interested at the moment in sheriffs and jails. In my free time, I am continuing to research my father’s life — which I have previously written about for Guernica — and I plan to write more about those discoveries.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Absolutely. Usually the problem is coming up with a compelling opening that both inspires me to keep going and will eventually inspire readers to stick with something long.

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

My Marshall Project editor Bill Keller once told me: start writing earlier rather than later. This was in the context of journalism, where it is easy to endlessly gather research and put off the writing. He explained that in trying to write, you actually discover what research you really need to do.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Don’t be afraid to produce material you think is terrible. Most of what we call writing is actually editing — you get something down that isn’t very good, and then you try to figure out how to make it better. 

Maurice Chammah is the author of Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty, and a staff writer at The Marshall Project, a non-profit newsroom that covers the U.S. criminal justice system.