Gerald Nachman

How did you become a writer?

I became a writer in high school, co-authoring a wicked "Batman" parody in the school paper, called "Vultureman," with his faithful young sidekick Crow, my first published success. In college, I wrote for the humor magazine, which I later edited, and then did a humor column on college life in the campus daily at San Jose State University. The journalism fraternity, Sigma Delta Chi, published a paperback of my pieces, "The Portable Nachman" -- and I was on my  way. A few months before graduating, I got an offer from the San Jose Mercury-News, quite out of the blue, to write a TV column, and later added a humor column.

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

My major influence was Robert Benchley, whose nonchalant comic style I ruthlessly tried to mimic. I read everything he wrote, the funniest man in print I'd ever read (more laugh-out-loud funny than Thurber or Perleman). I also was heavily influenced by Mad magazine's mercifless jabs at all pop culture, Max Shulman's column on campus life that ran in the college paper with Marlboro ads, and the satirical comedians of the time --Nichols & May, Bob & Ray, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman, Bob Newhart, etc. (all of whom I later wrote about in my 2003 book "Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s"). I had a creative writing teacher at college, Roland Lee, who was a big supporter of mine. The book that most influenced me to become a journalist was Ben Hecht's autobiography, "Child of the Century." Mencken was also an influence, his flamboyant rococo style more than his views or politics.

When and where do you write?

I write at a computer in my study, surrounded by photos of some triumphant moments in my career, musical theater posters and showbiz artifacts. I write every day for four to six hours if I'm working on a book or have a free lance assignment or column deadline.

What are you working on now?

I'm now at work on a book about the landmark Broadway musical showstoppers, also a memoir and a collection of my entertainment pieces from my 14 years as critic and columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I've never had a real psychological writer's block, just periods when I'm not much in the mood, or don't feel inspired or in a funny frame of mind, but it always passes. I've never understood writers who claim it's agony and claim to bleed every sentence. For me, it's a joy and a release, if it's going well. It's all I really know how to do with any competence. It keeps me engaged and entertained as nothing else does, except friends or a great musical or solo performance.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Read everything, the classic advice that I never quite followed, and write, rewrite and polish every day. Be as tough on your work as you can be, advice I wish I were more vigilant about. New writers, if they're any good, don't really need advice.

Bio: TV critic and humor columnist, San Jose Mercury-News (1960-1963). Feature writer, New York Post (1963-1966). movie and theater critic, Oakland Tribune (1966-1971). Feature writer, critic and syndicated humor columnist, New York Daily News (1972-1979). Critic and humor columnist, San Francisco Chronicle (1979-1993). Author of six books, including "Playing House," "Out on a Whim," "The Fragile Bachelor," "Raised on Radio," "Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s," "Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!: Ed Sullivan's America." Winner of an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for a series on Broadway lyricists, Pulitzer Prize juror on the best play of 1989, winner of New York Newspaper Guild Page One Award for humor. 

Ramona Ausubel

How did you become a writer?

There are probably a few ways to answer that. You could say that I worked hard, went to graduate school, worked hard some more, read a lot, got lucky. But I prefer to think that I have always been a writer (as is everyone who writes seriously). Writing is an act of communication, so it’s natural to want an audience, but it’s easy to let success and recognition be the measuring stick, when really what matters is the time spent in worlds of one’s own making. That, and the sentences and paragraphs that make those worlds.

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

My teachers Ron Carlson, Michelle Latiolais and Geoffrey Wolff, Christine Schutt and Brad Watson were all extremely influential. There are so many other books and writers that have mattered to me in different ways: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, everything George Saunders has ever written, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Aimee Bender. I try to be at least a little bit influenced by everything I read.

When and where do you write?

I try to be adaptable. I wrote my first novel early in the morning in bed, mostly. But now I live in a small house with a toddler, so I don’t usually write at home since things are in one state of chaos or another. These days I write in cafes or the library, and I do this at whatever time of day I can.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a new novel, which takes place over the course of a week at the end of a marriage. The kids are half feral, the pets keep dying and the parents disappear in separate directions. The book features a giant, a tipi, and an ill-fated sailing trip. I’m also working on a collection of linked short stories. They take place all over the world and all throughout history, asking questions about home and away, about where we come from and where we go.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I have suffered from feeling stuck, for sure. I want to not believe in writer’s block, because it feels so fatal. The truth is that most writers don’t always have the perfect idea and the perfect understanding of how to execute that idea ready at all times. We have to see our way through so much unknown, and sometimes you get a good burst, but then you also get lulls. Even though I know they’re coming, those lulls can be scary, and who among us has not thought, What if that’s it? What if I never write anything again? My best prescription is to read a really, really great book, and to make something, even if has nothing to do with words. Cook, paint, knit. And then try again. Writing is never wasted—even if you throw away a page, it got you to the next one. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

Some of my favorite advice came from the great Jim Shepherd, who said, “Follow your weird.” I really don’t think you can go wrong with this. The world is waiting for your own unique, strange, beautiful contribution, that thing that no one but you can conjure.

Ramona Ausubel is the author of the novel No One is Here Except All of Us, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a San Francisco Chronicle and Huffington Post Best Book of the Year. Her new book, A Guide to Being Born, is a collection of short stories which will be out in May. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, One Story, The Best American Fantasy, and is shortlisted in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Non-Required Reading.

Nicholas Griffin

How did you become a writer?

I used to work in documentary film. I loved the idea of bringing unknown stories to light. My first job out of college I got involved in a decent sized project for PBS. I was there from start to finish and the thing that amazed me was the constant compromising. We ended up with something very different from what we’d set out to do. It occurred to me the only medium I could have complete control in was the world of books. I wrote at night and then (25 rejections later) sold my first book and shook the hand of my new editor. First thing he did was cut out my opening five chapters.

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

There are two ways to learn. First read. Then reread the good stuff. Once you’ve written for years, you know all the story-telling tricks out there. There is always plenty to learn. For narrative I always look at Dickens and William Boyd. To remind myself there are no limits, Italo Calvino. I always think about “voice,” so I read the strong ones, from Marquez to Philip Roth, to Nick Hornby to Carl Hiassen.

When and where do you write?

I have a small office at home that I find hard to use. I have young kids and a dog that wants to play fetch with my laptop. So I walk uptown to the New York Public Library and use the “Rose Reading Room.” I love it in there. It’s a strange combination of med students, writers and the homeless. 

What are you working on now?

For a while now I've been working on a book tentatively titled Ping Pong Diplomacy, which I sold to Scribner. It's a piece of history that ties together a British spy, World War Two, China's Great Famine and Cultural Revolution and Mao and Nixon's “Week that Changed the World.” Oh yes, and table tennis. Just one of those stories that slipped through the gaps that I was lucky enough to see clearly.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

No. Choosing a subject is the most difficult period for me. Sometimes stories are thinner than you think they are. You start breaking down a plot for a novel or a history and then realize that what you’ve really got is 40 pages. I file these ideas away and then think of myself as a mad scientist. Every now and then I scroll through the story ideas, throw them all together and occasionally the chemicals react to produce something half-decent. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

I think every writer was probably told not to write at some stage. I remember the one novelist I knew in my mid-twenties almost begging me not to start writing. His warnings were all true. It’s an unpredictable game, you’ll be struggling for fresh ideas all your life, the money will probably be poor and if you sell a book and your publisher gives you a reading, only your friends will come. My only advice is, it should take more than encouragement from friends. Take a course, get a bit of professional advice from somewhere. There are fresh voices lurking all around that we need to hear, but there are also plenty who will be wasting their time. My brother-in-law once sent me a chapter written by a close friend of his. It’s probably the worst thing I’ve ever read. I thought I was having my leg pulled. Luckily, my sister was soon divorced, so I never had to meet the guy.

Bio: I was born in England. Came over to the States aged 18 for college. Have lived in NYC since then and written six books, including Dizzy City, The Requiem Shark, The House of Sight and Shadow, Caucasus, the Masquerade, plus the Kindle Single Before the Swarm. Ping Pong Diplomacy should be out in January 2014.