Alice Mattison

How did you become a writer?

I’ve become a writer many times. Decided at 13 I had to write. Wrote poetry for years, always feeling bad that I wasn’t writing more. Became serious at around age 30—an emotional change brought on, I think, by motherhood. Published one poem, then nothing for years. Published a book of poems in my late thirties. Started writing fiction at 34 or 35, published stories for the first time in my forties. Stories in magazines, then books of stories, then a novel (age 50), then more novels. I had one big break: The New Yorker took several stories, one after another. Other than that, slow shifts in direction, small failures and successes.

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

I was turned into a writer first, as a child and  young woman, by reading a lot of poetry, studying Latin and some Greek, and reading a great deal of Henry James. Dubliners. Jane Austen’s Emma. Around the time I started writing fiction, books by Grace Paley, Tillie Olsen, William Maxwell, Peter Taylor, and, more recently, Edward P. Jones affected my writing of short stories. As for novels—E.M. Forster, Lore Segal, Paule Marshall. But I was also made a writer by friends: the writing friends who have read my manuscripts over the decades, talked writing, talked books, showed me their work, rivaled my anxieties with theirs. THE KITE AND THE STRING is dedicated to my novelist friend Sandi Kahn Shelton, who writes as Maddie Dawson. We’ve been yanking each other along for almost forty years, since we met and said we were writers (on slim evidence back then), then slowly began to do it for real.

When and where do you write?

I’m the world’s only afternoon writer (and of course it’s often hard to free afternoons). I rarely have a good idea before lunch, and close down around suppertime. I usually write in my house. I have a room for writing but it’s crowded with rational thoughts: I’ve written so much nonfiction, emails, letters to students (my job in the Bennington low-residency MFA program requires writing many letters to students) that it’s hard to write fiction there. To think incoherent, messy, fictional thoughts, I retreat to a different room, with soft furniture.

What are you working on now?

I’m finishing a novel about friendship in a difficult world. Three women protested the war in Vietnam. One became a violent revolutionary. One wrote a novel about the revolutionary. The third is the main character. The book is also about her friendship later in life—that is, now—with a woman who runs a social services program. Also her marriage, to a man whose conscience is even more vigorous than hers, and all the trouble that causes. Also about the novel within the novel, which causes even more trouble.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Not enough writer’s block. Being stuck is good—it means that what needs to be written is intense, maybe painful. Or it’s complicated and requires careful consecutive thought. It’s often possible to get unstuck by asking oneself simple, sensible questions (like, “What do I already know about this story?” or “about the next scene?”). But maybe I’d write better books if I let myself remain stuck longer.

What is your advice to new writers?

KITE is all advice, so it’s hard to choose. Also, not everybody needs the same advice. My guess is that the five things I say to students most frequently are: 1. Never mind whether it’s good. Write it whether it’s good or not. 2. Protect your writing time. 3. Plot is whatever provides forward momentum, and, yes, you can make up a plot. 4. If you say what’s happening, the reader will know how it feels, so you don’t have to say. 5. Write when you’re sleepy and stupid, so your strongest feelings get into the work.

Alice Mattison’s new book is THE KITE AND THE STRING: HOW TO WRITE WITH SPONTANEITY AND CONTROL—AND LIVE TO TELL THE TALE. She is also the author of six novels, four collections of stories, and a book of poems. She teaches fiction in the low-residency MFA program at Bennington College.

Lian Hearn

How did you become a writer?

I must have been born a writer. I was making up stories by the age of four. Writing them down was harder. My handwriting as a child was slow, clumsy and illegible. I was taught to write again at age 15, in a modified italic. I still write all my first drafts by hand.  I worked as a journalist, film critic and arts editor before I emigrated to Australia and had my three children. When they were small I wrote poetry and made up stories for them. My youngest child went to school and I thought I would try and write a novel. It was published eventually and I was on my way. It was 1986 and I have been a full-time writer ever since.

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

I’ve always been a wide and eclectic reader, but I’ve never done a writing course or read many books about writing. I learned how to write from reading. I studied French and Spanish at school and university and so was influenced early by literature other than English. Now I read in Japanese as well, which has an effect on my style. As a teenager I loved Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut. Also Lord of the Rings which I read when I was 19 and it was still a little known cult book. When I was poised to try writing my first novel Diana Wynne Jones was a huge influence.

When and where do you write?

I write very early in the morning, in bed, the cat on my knee, a cup of green tea to hand. I like to start before anyone else is awake, while I am still half in the dream world.

What are you working on now?

I’m writing a further tale of the Otori, looking at what happens to the characters who survive the trauma at the end of The Harsh Cry of the Heron. I’m also letting some ideas for horror stories simmer away somewhere in my unconscious.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

All my life I’ve written in stolen hours so I’ve never had time for writers block.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Trying to be a writer is full of paradoxes and contradictions. Grow a thick skin but be sensitive to everything around you. Get a day job but make writing your priority. Read other writers but find your own voice. Have the highest expectations but don’t be disappointed. Be prepared to sell yourself in a marketplace but remain modest. Success if it comes will be followed by failure, so have courage.

Lian Hearn is the pseudonym used by British born Australian writer, Gillian Rubinstein for her Japan inspired medieval fantasies, Tales of the Otori (2002-2007) and The Tale of Shikanoko (2016) These books have been translated into 40 languages and published around the world. She has also written two historical novels, set in 19th century Japan, Blossoms and Shadows and The Story Teller and his Three Daughters. In her previous incarnation Gillian wrote over thirty books for children and teenagers, as well as numerous plays, winning many awards and inspiring many young writers. Previously she worked as a film critic, freelance journalist and editor in London and Sydney. She lived for thirty years in South Australia and now lives in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales.

Nayomi Munaweera

How did you become a writer?

I think the writing chose me. I was unhappy in grad school and trying to write a dissertation. At some point I realized that I wanted to write fiction not analyze it. I dropped out and started writing a novel. It was 12 years before my first book was published and I felt comfortable calling myself a writer.

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

Salman Rushdie, Lionel Shriver, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Ondaatje, Hilary Mantel.

When and where do you write?

In the morning, when I am as close to the dream world as possible. Never at night because I write about dark things and I don't want nightmares.

What are you working on now?

A third novel. It has a very different protagonist from my other two books. He's dangerous and thrilling. I can't say more than that.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

No really, because I write novels--big projects--so if some part of the book isn't working I can work on a different bit. Which is not to say that some days I'd rather do anything else--root canals included--than write. On those days I try to do research or interviews etc :)

What’s your advice to new writers?

This is not a job. This is a calling. If you are called you won't have any choice but to answer. Throw off your clothes, wade into the water, dive deep, deeper, deeper. It will be hard, it will be cold and lonely and sometimes terrifying but if you go deep enough you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams by the writing itself.

Nayomi Munaweera’s debut novel, Island of a Thousand Mirrors, was long-listed for the Man Asia Literary Prize and the Dublin IMPAC Prize. It was short-listed for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and the Northern California Book Prize. It won the Commonwealth Regional Prize for Asia. The Huffington Post raved, “Munaweera’s prose is visceral and indelible, devastatingly beautiful-reminiscent of the glorious writings of Louise Erdrich, Amy Tan and Alice Walker, who also find ways to truth-tell through fiction. The New York Times Book review called the novel, “incandescent.” The book was the Target Book Club selection for January 2016. Nayomi’s second novel, What Lies Between Us was hailed as one of the most exciting literary releases of 2016 from venues ranging from Buzzfeed to Elle magazine. Her non-fiction and short fiction are also widely published. www.nayomimunaweera.com.