Constance Hale

How did you become a writer?

My first ambition was to be a ballerina (elementary school). Then I wanted to be Robert Coles—go around and interview poor people and tell the stories of their lives (high school). Then I wanted to be a gynecologist, then a clinical psychologist (early college). I worked very hard at writing term papers, but by college had only written one very sweet poem in iambic tetrameter, and one embarrassing play. I had a crisis in college (partly a result of moving from a shack on the beach in Hawaii to a gothic dorm at Princeton and all that that entailed). Keeping a journal saved me. I was rejected the first time I applied to be in a poetry class, but then was taken in when Charles Wright came to teach during my junior year at Princeton. I started to find my voice. In my twenties I wrote short stories and solo dramatic monologues (performed in bad coffeehouses in San Francisco), in my thirties I got a master’s degree in Journalism and worked at newspapers, and since then I’ve written all kinds of stuff—travel essays, social commentary, personal narratives, political news, books on writing, children’s picture books. I am still on the long and twisting path of “becoming” a writer.

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

It starts at home. My parents found us unusual books, read to us, and gave us imaginative space. My father went so far as to send us the Sunday comics and a cassette of his voice reading them when he was in Korea with the Army. Storytelling was honored. I went to Punahou School in Honolulu (Barack Obama’s alma mater) and had unusual writing teachers. They cared about my thinking, they showed me how to craft sentences, they encouraged me, they held me to high standards. My history teacher gave me the only D+ of my life and the only A+. My professors at Princeton, especially Carol Rosen, Lawrence Lipking, and Uli Knoepflmacher, respected my ideas and indulged me when I wanted to ask impertinent questions and explore odd corners of English Literature. And my professors at the UC Berkeley School of Journalism helped me find my place in the world of nonfiction. Influential books: Ring-a-ling (a book of Eastern European songs set to watercolors), Green Eggs and Ham, Eloise, Babar, Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, The Pearl, The Sun Also Rises, The Plague, The Poems of Robert Frost, Hamlet, King Lear, Mrs. Dalloway, Lolita, The Ten Thousand Things. Favorite writers: Leo Lionni, Dr. Seuss, Earnest Hemingway, Adrienne Rich, William Carlos Williams, W. S. Merwin, Susan Orlean, Adam Gopnik, Junot Diaz, Anthony Doerr, Jon Lee Anderson, Janet Malcolm. (To name the ones I get the most inspiration from.)

When and where do you write?

For early mornings and weekends, I sit in a huge studio on the ground floor of my house that looks out into the garden. It has an L-shaped desk made by my husband from recovered Douglas Fir, my grandmother’s Steinway baby grand, most of my books, an “ego wall” (a bookshelf holding everything I’ve every published or edited), a bed for naps, a reading chair, and beautiful art. Weekday afternoons and evenings, I also have a small sunny office at the San Francisco Writers Grotto, a community of 90 writers who share a space with 32 offices and some big public rooms. I have just the right balance of solitude, beauty, stimulation, and company. Early mornings are for reading and imaginative musing—sometimes on paper. Late morning till early evening is for work, and the computer: my books, articles, Web site, and email.

I’ve written an essay about “total risk, freedom, discipline,” the linchpins of my somewhat unusual process: http://www.sinandsyntax.com/sin-and-syntax-salon/total-risk-freedom-discipline/

What are you working on now?

I am writing a series of lessons for the New York Times’ Opinionator site on the craft of sentences, as well as preparing a new edition of Sin and Syntax for publication in late 2013. I’ll also write some pieces to complement the publication of my book Vex, Hex, Smash, and Smooch in fall 2012. But I’m also researching for a piece of narrative journalism set in Hawaii and dealing with some hot political, social, and cultural issues. Thinking about an essay for a literary magazine.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Who hasn’t?

What’s your advice to new writers?

I’ve written an essay with advice on how to break in: http://www.sinandsyntax.com/sin-and-syntax-salon/breaking-in/. If you want to write you have to read and read, but more importantly you need to write and write and write and write. Try different genres, stretch in new ways. Find sympathetic editors and stick with them. Nothing is more discouraging than a small-minded, short-sighted, petty editor, and the world is filled with them. Seek magnanimity and generosity—and pay it back in kind.

Constance Hale is a San Francisco-based nonfiction writer. She is the author of three books on writing and literary style: Wired Style, Sin and Syntax, and Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch. Her articles and essays have appeared in newspapers like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Examiner, as well as magazines as varied as The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Wired, Health, Honolulu, and Afar. Full bio: http://www.sinandsyntax.com/bio/

Mike Elgan

How did you become a writer?

After college, I got a job as a reporter with a local newspaper company in Santa Barbara, California. That job gave me the opportunity to write all kinds of things, from obituaries to political stories to opinion pieces.

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

My first (and longest-lasting) job in technology writing was at Windows Magazine. I had a great boss, Fred Langa, who mentored me and taught me a lot about writing. We also had a great staff, and many of us were talking about writing constantly. I've also been influenced by Strunk and White (while at UCLA), as well as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Christopher Hitchens, George Will and countless others. I've learned one or two things each from hundreds of columnists and writers.

When and where do you write?

I have a desk in my living room with a big iMac on it. That's where I do most of my writing. I also have a laptop and an iPad, both of which I enjoy writing on at coffee shops. I write almost every day, and almost all day, if you include blogging.

What are you working on now?

I have five opinion column deadlines a week, plus I post between three and fifteen blog posts a day. My wife and I are working on a diet and health book.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Sort of. But it's gotten better with time. Nowadays I'm pretty good at bringing in my intuition to figure out what point of view or opinion or angle I want to take. Once I have that, the words flow unblocked.  

What’s your advice to new writers?

Originality is the most important thing, which is why you should avoid clichés, idioms and other commonly used words and phrases. Just talk plainly and say what's true. It's impossible to be too clear.

Writing is nothing more than organized thinking captured in written language. The thinking is what matters most. When you are thinking about what you'll write, you're actually engaged in the craft of writing -- you're doing the most important part of writing. So write in the shower. Write while you're falling asleep. Write all the time, guard your attention and don't let anyone steal it while you're writing, even if you're not typing. 

Emotion creates memory and reader affinity. Humor is emotion and often the most powerful one. Don't tell jokes. Expose the humor of reality and truth. 

Blogging is a powerful learning tool because your readers will teach you to anticipate what they're going to be confused about, disagree with and what they like and don't like. You can use that anticipation to write better. 

Bio: I'm a Silicon Valley-based writer, columnist and blogger, covering technology and culture. My work appears all over the place, most frequently Computerworld, Datamation, Cult of Mac, PC World, InfoWorld, MacWorld, CIO Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and The CMO Site.

James Scott Bell

How did you become a writer?

I always wanted to write. In fact, always wrote. Made up stories all through elementary school. But then I got into sports in junior high and that took over. But a great high school English teacher got hold of me and told me I had talent and to keep writing.

In college I got into some writing classes, including one taught by Raymond Carver, and got convinced I didn’t have what it took. I mean, Raymond Carver? And I couldn’t plot. I thought writers just sat down and great plots flowed from their fingertips. I believed what I now call The Big Lie: you can’t learn how to write fiction.

I believed that for a long time. Then one day I realized I had to try to learn to write, that it was what I wanted to do, and I was darn well going to give it a go. And lo and behold I did learn. It took time and effort, but I began to figure it out. And sell my work.

And once I started selling I never stopped.

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

Early influences were The Hardy Boys and Edgar Rice Burroughs. In high school, believe it or not, Richard Brautigan. He, to use the argot of the time, blew my mind. In college came William Saroyan, Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Chandler.

Later, learning the craft, I turned to first to Dwight Swaine, Jack Bickham and Lawrence Block. I still love to read books and articles on the craft. My philosophy is if I pick up just one thing, or get a new spin on something I already know, it’s worth it.

When and where do you write?

I start at my home office in the early morning hours. I love getting up while it’s still dark and making the coffee for me and Mrs. Bell. Then I try to do what I call a “nifty 350” number of words. Sometimes a “furious 500.” That makes the writing day (and reaching my quota) so much easier.

What are you working on now?

I am one of these writers who has several projects going at any one time. I just turned in the third book in a zombie legal thriller series to Kensington. I have several projects in the works for self-publishing (I love that shorter fiction is back), and a thriller I’m developing with my agent.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Never have. I attribute that to what I answer in your next question.

What’s your advice to new writers?

The best piece of advice I got, right at the beginning, was to write to a quota. I write six days a week, and aim for a weekly quota of words. That way, if I miss a day, I don’t get riled up. I can do extra on the other days.

You do that day after day, week after month, you look up and there you’ll have a completed novel. That’s a very good feeling. Lather, rinse, revise and repeat.

James Scott Bell is the author of several bestselling books for writers, including Plot & Structure and The Art of War for Writers. He is an award-winning suspense author and a finalist for a 2012 International Thriller Writers Award for One More Lie. His website is: www.jamesscottbell.com