Witold Rybczynski

How did you become a writer?

Thirty-four years ago I was approached by a book editor who had read an essay of mine in CoEvolution Quarterly and asked if I would be interested in expanding it into a book. I said sure. The result was Paper Heroes. I found I liked writing, that is, long periods of solitude, digging in libraries, research. I have written a book roughly every two or three years since, as well as innumerable articles, essays, and book reviews.

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

I am a non-fiction writer, so probably that sort of writing has had the most influence. I admire V.S. Naipaul, Paul Theroux, Jonathan Raban, Tracy Kidder—especially their language and clarity. Also historians: John Keegan, Simon Schama, Fernand Braudel, Niall Ferguson. Among art critics, Robert Hughes. For fun I read and re-read Ross Macdonald, Alan Furst, Charles McCarry, Philip Kerr, and John Le Carré—I don’t know if they count as an influence or not. Probably something seeps in.

When and where do you write?

I write pretty much every morning, from seven till noon. Occasionally I take holidays, but I consider writing like exercise—I have to do it regularly.

What are you working on now?

I’m finishing a book that contains everything I know about architecture after fifty years of studying it, looking at it, building it, critiquing it, and writing about it. That’s not the subtitle, but it could be.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Sometimes dead-ends and major re-writes, but no blocks. I often have trouble with titles, they either come immediately or very slowly. As I get older it’s gets harder to pin down a subject for the next book. Increasingly, I feel I have said all I want to say.

What’s your advice to new writers?

I learned the most about writing from listening to my editors, both book and magazine. They taught me how to edit myself, which is the most valuable skill a writer can have. Rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite some more. The writing can always be clearer, shorter, more to the point. And Churchill, a very good writer, was right: “Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.”

Bio: Born in 1943 in Edinburgh, Scotland, grew up in England and Canada, now lives with his wife Shirley in Philadelphia. Studied architecture and taught at McGill University in Montreal and the University of Pennsylvania, where he is professor emeritus. Author of fifteen books, including Home, The Most Beautiful House in the World (a NYT bestseller), A Clearing in the Distance (which won the J. Anthony Lukas Prize), and Makeshift Metropolis. His latest book is The Biography of a Building. Has written for The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and the New York Review of Books. Writes a regular blog on his website, www.witoldrybczynski.com.  

Andrew Ferguson

How did you become a writer?

I became a writer when I had exhausted all the alternatives. My earliest ambition was to be a Beatle, but they weren’t hiring, and my attempts to be a more run-of-the-mill rock star after college ended in failure. I contemplated law school, worked a host of odd jobs – they got odder as I went along – and attended a pair of graduate schools and left them degree-less. Only then did it occur to me that I would have to write a sensitive and delicately etched novel because I was suited for nothing else. As it happened, I wasn’t suited for novel-writing either, but in the process of discovering this I stumbled into journalism.

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

The first writing I remember being charmed by was the old (1928) Book of Common Prayer. I still think the burial rite is among the profoundest meditations on death anyone’s ever come up with, but from first to last the whole book seems magical in its ability to do things with words. Later, in high school, I had a wonderful English teacher who insisted I pay close attention to what I was writing – still a good strategy for success though in the age of blogs and tweets it is one that many, many writers reject. And I’ve spent countless happy hours reading and always being refreshed by the great New Yorker writers, from Alva Johnston to Liebling and Mitchell to E.B. White and Emily Hahn and John McNulty – writers-for-hire who could turn a magazine article into something more. This list isn’t exhaustive, of course.

When and where do you write?

I have a little office at home with a tiny window and not-enough shelving. But it holds a desk and computer and chair, which I guess are the essentials, and has floorspace for a dog – not essential but still nice to have around. In fair weather I’ll take my laptop onto our back porch and try to work while the lawn crews scour the neighborhood with their leaf blowers. The early morning hours are best for writing, but my world-class gift for procrastination means that I often don’t get started in earnest till it’s time for dinner, and I never write at night.

What are you working on now?

A proposal for a new book.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Yes, continually (or do I mean continuously?). In fact, it’s closer to the truth to say that I spend more time being blocked than I do writing. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

The famous question (asked first by Jacques Barzun, I think) that should be pointed at would-be writers is: Do you want to write, or do you want to have written? The distinction is crucial, because if you truly want to write, you’ll write, and the kind of advice you need will find you sooner or later; if you just want “to be a writer” you’re probably in the wrong line of work and no amount of advice will square the circle. For myself, I detest the act of writing but it’s too late for me now. As Robert Benchley once said about his career as a hack: “By the time I realized I wasn’t any good, I was making too much money to stop.” He made more money than I do, but the principle is the same.

Bio: I was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, and had a very happy childhood that has made the writerly pose of deep feeling and inner turmoil extremely hard to pull off. Went to Occidental College in Los Angeles and graduated as a religious studies major. Been in the magazine business since the mid-1980s, with time spent at Fortune, TV Guide, the American Spectator, Time, National Review, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes, Life, and lots of others, plus a couple years with Scripps Howard Newspapers (RIP, most of them) and Bloomberg News. Now a senior editor at the Weekly Standard and author of three books.

Caroline Leavitt

How did you become a writer?

I became a writer out of necessity. I was a sickly, asthmatic little girl and I had a lot of time to myself, so I read. But I didn't want to just read stories, I wanted to write them. The first time I had to read a story in front of my class, I was scared witless, because I was bullied. But when I started to read, the class got silent. And then they applauded, and I knew then and there that that was what I wanted to do.

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

The teacher who made me get up in front of the class and read was a big influence. I had some negative influences which really worked out positively. When I was at Brandeis, I took this writing class from this guy who was friends with Norman Mailer. He used to tear apart my work in class and I would sit there, tears streaming down my face, but I wouldn't leave the class. At the end of class, he told me, "You'll never make it as a writer." Five years later, I published my first novel and mailed it, along with a rave NYT review to him. I sent him a note that said, "See? You were wrong." He wrote back and made up some lame excuse that he was just trying to get me angry enough to keep at it. But still.... Books are a huge influence for me, and so are other writers.

When and where do you write?

I am lucky enough to be a writer at home. I get up with my son and husband and around 9, hit my desk and try to write 4 to 6 hours. I can't seem to do anymore!

What are you working on now?

I just finished the copyedits on the novel that is coming out Spring 2013 from Algonquin called IS IT TOMORROW. It's set in the 1950s, during the age of paranoia about Communists, and it's about a divorced mother and her son, who are somehow targeted when a child vanishes in the neighborhood. I've also started a new novel, tentatively titled SHE'S NOT THERE, which is set in the 1970s and is based on a real murder that happened in my home town.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I've never had writer's block. I sit and dream and if I have a bad day writing, I rewrite something I've already written! It works!

What’s your advice to new writers?

New writers. NEVER EVER GIVE UP. Don't listen to all the no, no, nos that will be thrown out at you. Just because someone says they don't like your work, doesn't mean your work is not good. Pictures of You, which is a NYT bestseller and a USA Today ebook bestseller and which got on 5 different Best of 2011 lists, was REJECTED by my former publisher as not being "special enough." I was sure my career was over because I had never had any sales, though I had had good reviews. But then Algonquin bought the book and changed my career and my life. If it happened to me, it can happen to any of you. Do. Not. Give. Up. Ever.

Caroline Leavitt is the New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You, which was a USA Today ebook bestseller, a Costco "Pennie's Pick," a San Francisco Chronicle "Lit Pick," and on the Best Books of 2011 Lists from the San Francisco Chronicle, The Providence Journal, Bookmarks Magazine and Kirkus Reviews. The author of 8 other novels, she is also an award-winning teacher at UCLA Writers Program online and she works with clients on their novels privately, as well. A book critic for People Magazine and The Boston Globe, she has her own book column at Dame Magazine and Shoptopia.com. She lives in Hoboken, NJ with her husband, the writer Jeff Tamarkin, and their son Max. She can be reached at carolineleavitt.com.