Ronald Wright

How did you become a writer?

I'd wanted to write since my teens. But my twenties were busy with studies, working odd jobs, and backpacking around the world. Not until I was thirty, when I fell ill during a long journey through the Andes, did the writing urge return. Knocked flat in Peru for months, I read everything I could find or borrow. When I got home I began my first book, Cut Stones & Crossroads: A Journey in Peru, published three years later by Viking Penguin in New York. Around the same time I took up freelance journalism in print and broadcast media.

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

D.H. Lawrence was a strong influence during my schooldays (Sons and Lovers, Lady Chatterley, Mornings in Mexico) and I still go back to him, most often for his wonderful essays. I also took an interest in his poetry (plus Pound and Eliot) and in Middle English epics, especially the alliterative ones (Piers Plowman, Gawain and the Green Knight), whose form comes down from Beowulf. But my favourite writers back then were the great satirists in both prose and verse: from Dryden, Swift, and Pope to H.G. Wells (The Time Machine, War of the Worlds), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World), and George Orwell (Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and his essays, such as the essential "Politics and the English Language").

Much of this was on the Eng. Lit. curriculum, with Chaucer and Shakespeare of course. All very white and male, as things were in those days. Later I discovered Mary Shelley (The Last Man, Frankenstein), Amelia Edwards (A Thousand Miles up the Nile), Shirley Hazzard (Transit of Venus, The Great Fire), Harriet Doerr (Stones for Ibarra), and many other important women writers.

By then I could read Spanish, which took me into the literary world of Latin America, from its modern authors to early historical works by Indigenous and Spanish writers such as Inca Garcilaso (Royal Commentaries of the Incas), Felipe Waman Puma (The First New Chronicle and Good Government), and Cieza de León (Discovery and Conquest of Peru).

My fascination with Peru began at thirteen, when I happened to pick up a dusty Victorian adventure tale by W.H.G. Kingston, who had lived there himself. The book, called Manco, was set during the great Tupac Amaru revolt of the 1780s, as recent when Kingston wrote about it as World War II is now. The author was good at evoking sympathy for underdogs, in this case heroic Incas struggling to free themselves from Spanish rule. Manco awoke my interest in the ancient American civilizations and their modern descendants. Peru became the subject of my first book (Cut Stones & Crossroads), and my tenth, The Gold Eaters.

When and where do you write?

Mostly at home in the Gulf Islands near Vancouver. I find the writing goes best in the afternoons.

What are you working on now?

Not ready enough to talk about.  

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Every day, for about an hour or so.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Read. The rule of thumb is ten hours reading for every hour of writing. Of course not every day has to be like that. Nor does all the reading need to be related to your work. But I've found the overall ratio is about right. Almost any good book sends the mind to interesting and unforeseen places; these unlock creativity. Reading is a good remedy for writer's block.

What’s your advice to new writers?

See above. Also, for good writing of almost any kind you need to have gathered a fund of knowledge and experiences. This is the writer's raw material. Though I didn't know it then, I was doing that in my twenties when I was backpacking and driving trucks. Last, a word about revision. Successful writers do a lot of it, often 5 or 10 drafts before a book is ready to be seen. When I get really stuck and lose all hope and perspective, I put the draft away and do other things for at least two months. The fallow time must be long enough to "forget" what you've written so you can read with fresh eyes. When you do go back to the stalled work, imagine it was written by somebody else. It's always easier to see the flaws in others' work.

Novelist and historian Ronald Wright is the author of ten books published in 16 languages and more than 40 countries. Wright’s first novel, the dystopia A Scientific Romance, won Britain’s David Higham Prize for Fiction and was chosen a book of the year by the New York Times, the Globe & Mail, the Sunday Times, and others.

His Massey Lectures, A Short History of Progress, won the Libris Nonfiction Book of the Year award and inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2011 film Surviving Progress.

Born in England to British and Canadian parents, Wright took archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge, pursuing these interests with years of travel and study in the Americas and elsewhere.

His first three books--Cut Stones and Crossroads, Time Among the Maya, and Stolen Continents--were recently re-issued in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His latest novel, The Gold Eaters, is set during the Spanish invasion of Peru. RonaldWright.com.

Sarah Sentilles

How did you become a writer?

I’ve always loved to write. I was in a poetry program in college and took a writing seminar there, too. I found a binder of creative writing from that time, and I probably should have been forced to read it before I graded any of my college students’ writing. It was terrible! I wrote my first book, Taught by America, to try to understand my experience teaching elementary school in Compton, California. The first version of that book was stolen out of my car (manuscript and backup disks and computer!), so I had to write it all over again, which taught me the importance of revision. I write to try to make sense of the world – or, if not to make sense of it, to help bring a better world into being.

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

I am a voracious reader. I love novels. Right now I’m reading Sherman Alexie’s new memoir, You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me. I recently re-read Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red, which is magical and beautiful and devastating. I also read a lot of critical theory and visual theory – Sara Ahmed and Ariella Azoulay and Judith Butler, for example. One of my biggest influences was my mentor in graduate school, the late theologian Gordon Kaufman. For him, theology was a constructive enterprise, akin to art. He taught me that words make worlds and that our creations have material affects. Everything we write or speak or construct – whether that’s “God” or a new law or a novel – must be evaluated ethically and in community.

When and where do you write? 

I do my best writing in the morning before the censor in my brain wakes up to tell me everything I type is stupid. I have a beautiful office in my house (with a window seat!). I write at a desk while wearing noise canceling headphones. I often play a single song on repeat.

What are you working on now? 

I’m working on a new book. It’s top secret, but I can give you a hint: I’m doing a lot of thinking about kinship as a practice.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

I have a friend who is an artist, and she shows up at her studio to make art every single day, and she’s been doing that for decades. Her discipline and commitment inspire me. She once told me “being blocked” is a myth, and ever since she said that I stopped believing in writer’s block. I’ve been afraid when I’ve come to the blank page. I’ve been distracted (now more than ever in this political climate in which I keep refreshing my news feed as if reading the news will somehow change something). I’ve avoided writing. I’ve believed the voices in my head that tell me there’s no point in creating anything new. But a block? I get in my own way – but I’m not sure that’s a block. It seems to me to be more of a habit, or a decision to center my fears instead of my hopes, or a choice to fall toward despair and away from creativity.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

I took an amazing writing workshop with Nick Flynn, and he taught me a very physical method for revision (which he learned from Carolyn Forché). He encouraged me to cut up my manuscript and tape it back together – and this was a revelation for me. (You can read about it on Powell’s blog here). But some of the best advice I’ve ever received is from my husband: Put your butt in the chair and write. That’s the real magic: show up and stay put.

What’s your advice to new writers?

My advice to new writers: Trust yourself. If you hear that voice urging you to the page, listen to it. Make time in your life to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Believe you have something to say. The world is waiting for your words. We need your voice so we might imagine new possibilities and a more just and life-giving world for all beings.

Sarah Sentilles is a writer, critical theorist, scholar of religion, and author of many books, including Breaking Up with God: A Love Story. Her most recent book, Draw Your Weapons, was published by Random House in July 2017. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Yale and master’s and doctoral degrees at Harvard. At the core of her scholarship, writing, and activism is a commitment to investigating the roles language, images, and practices play in oppression, violence, social transformation, and justice movements. She has taught at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland State University, California State University Channel Islands, and Willamette University, where she was the Mark and Melody Teppola Presidential Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Christina Henry

How did you become a writer?

I’ve wanted to be a professional writer since I was 12 years old and read THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien for the first time. I wrote poetry and lots of short stories and novel extracts for years but never tried to sell anything. When I was 34 I decided I wanted to write and sell a book before I was 35. I wrote BLACK WINGS in about six weeks, mostly during the time when my son was napping. I spent eight months shopping around for an agent. I couldn’t find one so I decided to submit directly to Ace/Roc, since they published many of my favorite fantasy novels. I submitted a query letter and ten pages; a week later an editor contacted me and asked for the full manuscript, and a week after that she called to offer me a three-book contract. I’ve been with Ace/Berkley ever since, and have published ten books with them.

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

Tolkien is probably the biggest influence, since his books were so inspiring to me as a young reader and writer.

Robin McKinley was also an early favorite – she taught me that girls could fight dragons (in THE HERO AND THE CROWN), defeat armies (in THE BLUE SWORD) and change their fate (in SPINDLE’S END).

I adore Angela Carter – I always say that anyone who has ever read my books ALICE or RED QUEEN will recognize this immediately – and Shirley Jackson and Daphne DuMaurier. I re-read Ray Bradbury’s SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES every year – it’s not October without it. I’ve also read pretty much every Stephen King and Agatha Christie novel.

When and where do you write?

I write chronologically and by hand in a standard college-ruled notebook. I started doing this when my son was small, because I could take him to the park and let him play in the sandbox and I would be able to sit on a bench and write while he played. The system worked for me so I still write that way, and take my notebook wherever I go so if I have downtime I can write.  These days I mostly write at our dining room table. Once I’ve got about 50 or so pages into the notebook I transfer it to a typewritten manuscript and edit it as I go, and then the process starts over again in my notebook until I’ve completed the book.

What are you working on now?

I just finished edits on THE MERMAID, which should be out next year. It’s a story about P.T. Barnum and the Feejee Mermaid, except in my story the mermaid is real instead of a hoax. It’s pretty different from anything I’ve written before – there are no large action set pieces, no horror, no bodies, no blood. The magical element is slight (there’s a mermaid; that’s it!) and the book is mostly about relationships. It was a challenge for me to write but I wanted to try something different. Trying something new is the only way I know how to improve as an author.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

No, I would say I probably have the opposite problem – too many ideas and not enough time to write them!

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

To forget about the audience. If you worry about what people will think of the book you’ll never get it done – it can become paralyzing – so just write what makes you happy.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Persist. The most successful writers are the ones who never gave up even when they were rejected or were dropped by a publisher. If you believe in your work just keep pushing forward.

CHRISTINA HENRY is the author of the CHRONICLES OF ALICE duology, ALICE and RED QUEEN, a dark and twisted take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, as well as LOST BOY: THE TRUE STORY OF CAPTAIN HOOK, an origin story of Captain Hook from Peter Pan.

She is also the author of the national bestselling BLACK WINGS series (BLACK WINGS, BLACK NIGHT, BLACK HOWL, BLACK LAMENT, BLACK CITY, BLACK HEART and BLACK SPRING) featuring Agent of Death Madeline Black and her popcorn-loving gargoyle Beezle.

She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on and watching movies with samurai, zombies and/or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.

You can visit her on the web at www.christinahenry.net, facebook.com/authorChristinaHenry, twitter.com/C_Henry_Author, and www.goodreads.com/CHenryAuthor.