Pen Densham

How did you become a writer?

Despite my apparent success as a writing filmmaker, the early part of my career involved making many Oscar nominated and award-winning documentaries that required no dramatic script at all. I was not even certain I had any skills as a writer until I discovered the CFC were willing to fund young filmmakers with passion projects. I decided to try my hand at creating a drama. I didn't know how to lay out a script, never worked with an actor, but I wrote a half-hour drama called IF WISHES WERE HORSES, about a down-and-out horse owner whose mare was breach birthing - which meant that he was involved in a life and death crisis, having to choose between the mare and the foal. That movie brought me to the attention of Norman Jewison who mentored me into Hollywood and convinced me that I should continue my dramatic career as a writing filmmaker. 

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

As a child, I always read two or three grades above my age group and loved science fiction, particularly Robert Heinlein. I also came to an immense respect for Robert Bolt and the work he did with David Lean. But probably my most impactful experience was meeting Billy Wilder when he came to view Sunset Boulevard for the last time.  I'd been invited to be there. Billy Wilder's career blows me away. Not only did he write in a second language, but he wrote dramas and comedies that are as powerful today as they were in his time. When you pick up a book of movie quotes more lines are quoted from his scripts than most other screenwriters put together. It's humbling to see what he achieved. 

When and where do you write?

Whilst I have a home office, I've yet to be able to train my brain to give me ideas at the exact moment when I want them. I live my life with sticky notes everywhere, frequently jumping out of the shower to jot down a damp but important thought -- or waking up at 3a.m. to capture a line of dialogue that the Gods have given me in my sleep. I don't find that I write coherently, but more like I harvest it when my subconscious delivers its next creative energy. I've learned to take down what it gives me, when it gives it to me - or regret the loss of my leisure. 

What are you working on now?

I'm in the process of completing post-production on my friend and ally Todd Robinson's script that he wrote/directed called PHANTOM - a submarine thriller starring Ed Harris and David Duchovny. Todd writes from the heart and it's a great pleasure for my producing partner John Watson and I to champion his creative work. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

The question could probably be re-phrased 'Have you ever NOT suffered from Writer's Block?' -- and that happened once, when I wrote a script called MOLL FLANDERS that poured out of my soul in a gusher of words, emotions and scenes.  It was a riveting and joyous experience that I yearn to find again. Most of the time my writing process is a mixture of wonder and frustration. I was once advised that the best way to overcome writer's block is to lower your expectations by playfully saying to yourself that you are writing "a piece of crap". It takes the tension out of the process and helps to free up the idea flow, which inevitably will be edited into something refined and quite wonderful, in time.     

What’s your advice to new writers?

It would sound very inauthentic to say that I would like them to read my book because it sounds like I'm trying to gain something from them financially. But I truly have tried to distill a lifetime's worth of positive - and negative - experiences into a survivor's guide for a certain kind of emotional writer, who years to develop their voice and survive in a complex and not always sympathetic business. Rather than buy my book, I would like people to download a free chapter that attempts to help fire up one's creativity, and also to see the inspirational videos and other essays that are on my website, ridingthealligator.com. If they touch you, then probably my book would be the right choice to help and advise.

Pen Densham, co-founder of Trilogy Entertainment Group, considers himself a triple-hyphenate: a writer – producer – & director. He and his partner John Watson have been Oscar Nominated twice, have produced 15 features and over 300 hours of television. He writes for both TV and feature films and is personally responsible for reviving 'The Outer Limits' and 'The Twilight Zone' series to television, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, etc. This year he is one of the Producers on Phantom – written and directed by Todd Robinson, starring David Duchovny and Ed Harris. His personal favorite is Moll Flanders, which he wrote and directed, starring Robin Wright and Morgan Freeman. Pen also teaches as an adjunct professor at USC Film School. His book on screenplay writing for publisher Michael Wiese is - "Riding the Alligator: Strategies for a Career in Screenplay Writing ...And not getting eaten.” 

Jay Parini

How did you become a writer?

I started by writing poems in college -- terrible poems. But during my junior year in Scotland (St. Andrews) I felt a sense of a personal voice -- and found myself writing a good deal, reading a good deal: Eliot, Frost, Stevens, Wordsworth, Blake. And especially Gerard Manley Hopkins. From then on, one thing led to another, as I moved from poetry to prose, still writing poems as well but expanding into criticism, then fiction. Eventually I wrote biographies as well, after having written THE LAST STATION, a novel about Tolstoy. Now I seem to write screenplays as much as anything else.

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

In Scotland, I met the Scottish poet Alastair Reid. He was a huge influence, as a poet and mentor. Most of my ideas about writing fell into place then. I met, through him, Borges and even Neruda -- just in passing. But these writers played a huge role in my imagination. Later, I met Robert Penn Warren and Gore Vidal, both of whom were mentors and, most of all, good friends. Warren was a model as teacher/critic/poet/novelist.

When and where do you write?

I write mostly in the morning, mostly in a local cafe, although I work at home in my study as well, more in the afternoons and evenings.

What are you working on now?

There are always a number of poems in progress. I'm finishing a ghost story -- a novel -- set on Lake Champlain -- I've been through it many times but it still needs work. I'm writing a biography of Jesus. And I'm revising two screenplays based on earlier novels of mine: Benjamin's Crossing and The Passages of H.M.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

No. Never. It's an artificial problem. If you're blocked, you shouldn’t be writing. You should be fishing. Or mowing the lawn. Or fixing things. Or anything.

What’s your advice to new writers?

There is really only one worthwhile piece of advice. Write about what really interests you, and do it every day. If you don't do it everyday, you'll never do it. Getting a habit of writing is the key: pick a time of day when you can manage it, and arrange your life so that this time is sacred. Use that time, and don't fret about not getting anything done. That is your time to write. If you just read during that time, that's okay too. Reading and writing go hand in hand. When my reading is not going well, my writing falters. I need to be excited about what I'm reading. Everything follows from that.

Jay Parini, a poet, novelist, and biographer, teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont. He has written such novels as The Last Station, Benjamin's Crossing, The Apprentice Lover, and The Passages of H.M. His books of poetry include The Art of Subtraction: New and Selected Poems. He has written biographies of Steinbeck, Frost, and Faulkner. He has also written several volumes of essays and Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America.

Paul Krassner

How did you become a writer?

In high school I wrote the senior play, and was so engrossed in the process that when my mother said that dinner was ready I realized how fast the time had passed. I sold a couple of captions to a syndicated cartoonist for $5 each.

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

Dalton Trumbo, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller, Ken Kesey, Kurt Vonnegut, Ring Lardner Jr., J.D. Salinger, Nora Ephron, Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Tom Robbins, and anonymous reporters -- for example, there was a 3-inch item during the Watergate period which mentioned that Martha Mitchell (rebellious wife of Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell) which said that she confided with a journalist she called at 3 o'clock in the morning, and I thought "confided" was a sardonic choice of words since Martha knew it would be published in the papers, which was what she wanted to happen.

When and where do you write?

In my office, but I have a pad and pen to make notes in the living room, the dining room, the bedroom, the bathroom, and in my pocket. In a sense I'm always "writing" as ideas pop up from my subconscious.

What are you working on now?

At the age of 80, my long awaited (by me) first novel, about a contemporary controversial comedian based on my friendship and association with Lenny Bruce, whose autobiography, "How to Talk Dirty and Influence People," I edited.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Only when there are other priorities that fall into place. When I do get stuck, it becomes a learning experience, as I examine what exactly is delaying the next sentence.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Make lists. Reflect on what you're writing from a reader's point of view. Avoid clichés like the plague. 

Bio: Published The Realist from 1958-2001. Wrote a few things for Mad magazine, and a column, "Freedom of Wit," for The Independent, a precursor to the underground press and alternative weeklies. Wrote for magazines, from The Nation to Los Angeles Times. Contributed to Playboy, from covering the Patty Hearst trial to a dialogue with the late right-wing propagandist Andrew Breitbart. Did columns -- "Brain Damage Control" for High Times and "One Hand Jerking" for AVN (Adult Video News, a trade journal for the porn industry). Published several collections -- the latest, "Pot Stories for the Soul" -- and an expanded and updated edition of my autobiography, "Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in the Counterculture," including a new chapter, ""Bloopers and Outtakes: The Parts Left Out of This Book." In December 2010, honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Oakland branch of the writers' organization, PEN.