Nathaniel Bellows

How did you become a writer?

I was always writing and drawing pictures when I was a kid, but I never considered it to be a step in becoming…anything. It was just something I always did, implicitly and constantly, as it gave me more pleasure and peace than pretty much anything else. It felt very natural—and necessary—but looking back, I guess it was the beginning of it all.

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

There are so many influences that have helped me, and kept me inspired, challenged, and humbled. Some writers in particular—William Maxwell, Penelope Fitzgerald, Mavis Gallant, Richard Hugo, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Leo Tolstoy…there are too many to name. I am extremely fortunate to have had some excellent teachers, too. In graduate school I had the honor of working with the poet and translator Richard Howard. When he edited my poems, he was exacting and unsparing, underscoring the value of cleanliness and clarity, while still encouraging the voice I was beginning to craft for myself. Over time, I was able to absorb his editorial methods and make them my own. He gave me a huge gift.

When and where do you write?

I have no set schedule for when I write, but I try to only sit down at the computer when I know I can be productive. I’ve been at this long enough to know when it feels right, and if it doesn’t, I draw or play the guitar or read or walk in the park. Walking—thinking while walking—is work too; invaluable work that I can’t live without. When I do write, I usually work in my kitchen, which is a dark, cool room in the back of my apartment. From the window I can see Riverside Church’s stone spire and the flocks of seagulls that fly over from the Hudson River to rest on the water towers of the surrounding rooftops. It is a quiet room, except for when my neighbor, whom I have never met and must be a professional musician, practices the bassoon. 

What are you working on now?

Right now I am working on designing the print version of my novel-in-stories, Nan. This summer I released Nan as an ebook with Harmon Blunt Publishers, a small publishing house I started with my brother years ago, and now I’m going to produce a limited run of first edition hardcovers. Nan is the story of a young woman named Nan who moves to NYC from rural Vermont for college in the wake of a family tragedy. There are 10 linked stories in the novel, 7 of which have been published in places like Narrative, Guernica, and Post Road. It’s been a lot of work to get this book out by myself, but the challenge has been enlightening and affirming. I’m proud of this book.

I’ve also been working on a series of poems and illustrations called “Unremembered” in collaboration with the incredibly talented composer Sarah Kirkland Snider. This song cycle will be her second album, which she hopes to start recording this winter. Alongside these projects, I’ve been trying to write new poems for what I hope will be my second collection of poetry.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I don’t think I have, but I think that goes back to not working when I know I won’t or can’t be productive. For me, forcing the work always makes for demoralizing results.  Whenever I feel blocked writing, I usually turn to another form of artistic expression to see if I can make something of the creative impulse in another medium.

What’s your advice to new writers?

One thing I would say is this: If you’re interested in trying to publish your work, it’s important to figure out a strategy that helps to manage the constant rejection that’s endemic to this pursuit. The ideal is to convert each grim dismissal into inspiration and industry, but that’s often not possible. Feel these things, experience them, but don’t let them defeat you. Gain strength from the basic truth at the center of each disappointment: That you were brave enough to write something and put it out in the world.

Alafair Burke

How did you become a writer?

My mother was a librarian and my father was an author, which was the perfect recipe for a chronic storyteller like myself. Growing up, I was lucky to have inherited a narrative tradition from my parents, which has made writing a very natural process for me from a young age. In terms of my genre, it was my experience at the District Attorney’s Office that inspired me to become a crime novelist. At the time, I was reading two or three crime novels a week, but I realized that everyday at work, I was surrounded by characters, dialogue, and an atmosphere that was different than anything I saw on the page with crime fiction. As a prosecutor, I was working directly out of a police precinct, going on ride-alongs with cops, leading in-service trainings, and teaming up on pre-indictment investigations—I felt like I was ready to try my hand at writing a crime novel.

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

Many people assume my father, James Lee Burke, a mystery author best known for his Dave Robicheaux series, must have served as a significant influence. Surprisingly enough, his actual work did not influence the way I write; my style turned out to be very different than his. Nevertheless, my father’s perseverance and dedication to his work has inspired me to write stories ever since I was a child. I remember watching him come home to write every single day after a long day at work, determined to put his story onto page.  And I saw my mother bring that same ethic to her own work as a librarian who also loves to paint. I can thank both of them for having discipline.

Although I did not read my father’s books when I was young, mystery novels have always fascinated me. I used to love reading Donald Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown, a series of mystery books for kids about a young boy who solves mysteries. Later I became a fan of E.L. Konigsburg’s The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which I still love reading to this day. These days, I’m lucky enough to have found mentors in Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Laura Lippman, Sue Grafton, Karin Slaughter, Lisa Unger…. The list goes on, and for that I am very lucky.

When and where do you write?

I am a full-time faculty member at Hofstra Law School, so my crime writing is a little catch as catch can. If I have a free day, I try to write all day long. I have a studio that I use just for writing. Otherwise, I’ll write wherever I need to: planes, hotel rooms, the bar at my favorite lunch hangout.  

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Every writer will inevitably face writer’s block in some way, shape, or form, and I am no exception. I certainly have moments at my desk, when I think I am ready to write the next chapter, but there is something that just doesn’t feel right. I figured out that often this feeling comes because I’m trying to mold my story to some advance plan that is no longer working. My preconceptions about plot do not always remain consistent with characters who have continued to live and grow throughout my writing process. While outlining a novel can be conducive to organizing a plotline, I have come to realize that, once a story starts to take shape, I have to let it follow its natural course, regardless of my original plans. I’ve had characters up and die on me when I had intended for them to live, but that is the beauty of storytelling. Every story is an ever-changing entity that I let myself get pulled into, just as I hope a reader will. After publishing eight books and finishing a ninth, I’ve learned to trust that I should simply follow the natural development of my characters in order to avoid stunting a story’s growth. Going back to the characters has been my best escape from writer’s block.

What’s your advice to new writers?

You’re not a writer if you don’t write. And if you’re going to write, you have to think of yourself as a writer. Sounds simple, but conceiving of yourself as a writer can be an adjustment. There are some perks. Buy yourself a comfortable chair. Create a productive working space. Don’t apologize to your family for needing time, space, silence and solitude to write. It is, after all, your job. But thinking of yourself as a writer also creates responsibilities. You have to write. This is not a hobby. It’s your job. Your identity. Your compulsion. Write every day. If you skip a day, make sure you have a darn good reason, and make sure you don’t skip the next one.

Alafair Burke is the bestselling author of eight novels, including NEVER TELL in the Ellie Hatcher series and the standalone thriller LONG GONE. A former prosecutor, Alafair lives in Manhattan and teaches criminal law and procedure at Hofstra Law School.

Helen Sword

How did you become a writer?

As a child, I always thought of myself as “a good writer,” thanks to the early encouragement of teachers and friends. I confidently dabbled in various genres, especially poetry. In my mid-twenties, however, when I was working on my PhD, I gave up writing poetry: my critical self stamped out my creative self. In recent years, I’ve allowed the poet back into my life. I like the cross-fertilization that happens when I’m working on creative and critical projects at the same time.

Name your writing influences.

The writers I’ve learned from most are the ones I’ve studied and taught: Yeats, Rilke, H.D., Joyce, Woolf, Stevens, Dickinson, Lawrence…. But have they influenced my writing?  Only in indirect ways: the seepage of rainwater into roots. As a scholarly writer and teacher of academic writing, I also look to recent masters of clarity and grace: Joseph Williams, William Zinsser, Andrea Lunsford, Richard Lanham, Annie LaMotte. 

When and where do you write?

I subscribe to the “write every day” school of productivity and try to plant myself in front of my computer every weekday morning between six and seven a.m. (It helps that my study has a beautiful view of the Auckland waterfront, particularly stunning at sunrise). No matter how busy the rest of my day becomes, at least I know I’ve cranked out a new paragraph or two. Otherwise, I carve out time whenever and wherever I can amidst a fairly frantic life of teaching, meetings, family, and travel. Several times a year I rent a tiny cottage on Waiheke Island, half an hour away by ferry, and hunker down for four or five days of concentrated, distraction-free writing, interrupted only by long beach walks morning and evening. Bliss! 

What are you working on now?

I recently published a book called Stylish Academic Writing, which has led to invitations to “write about writing” for a number of publications (including this one). These tasks have temporarily distracted me from my current project, a book about the writing habits of successful academics. I’ve interviewed more than eighty academic writers and editors from across the disciplines and around the world, and I’ve gathered questionnaire data from hundreds more. Now I’m itching to find time to sit down and write the book. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

That malady was cured the moment my first child was born, more twenty-one years ago. I used to wait until my daughter was asleep, then rush to the computer to write until she woke up again an hour or so later. Since then, I’ve never suffered from a lack of ideas, only from a chronic lack of time.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Read the work of great writers and think about what they do. Write every day. Most importantly of all, build rituals of positivity into your writing routine. Behavioral psychology research suggests – and my own research confirms – that people who approach their writing from a positive frame of mind and with good social support structures in place will be more creative, productive, and prolific than those who set out steeped in negativity, loneliness, and angst. Try prefacing your daily writing with a walk or a swim; treat yourself to a beautiful notebook, a special pen, a whizzy new laptop; write in cafes, at parks, or in any other physical space that contributes to your well-being; meet regularly with friends or colleagues to talk about each other’s work and feed off each other’s energy. 

Bio: Born and raised in Southern California, I now teach at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and have published widely on academic writing, modernist literature, and higher education pedagogy, and digital poetics. My latest book is Stylish Academic Writing (Harvard University Press 2012). See my website (www.helensword.com) for links to my books, my digital poetry, and the Writer’s Diet, a free diagnostic tool for writers.