Andrew Shaffer

How did you become a writer?

I've just always known. It's funny—we're all "writers" as children. We all play with Barbies or Transformers, and create our own stories. Most of us grow out of playing make-believe. I never did.

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

I've had a lot of great teachers over the years, especially at the University of Iowa. Chris Offutt, Daniel Alarcón, Alan Drew, and Deanna Fei all provided invaluable instruction and encouragement. As far as influences go, Stephen King is right up there at the top. Also Elmore Leonard, Lawrence Block, and Donald E. Westlake. Since everyone always recommends Stephen King's On Writing—for good reason—I'll recommend instead Block's trio of books for writers (Writing the Novel from Plot to Print to Pixel, Write For Your Life, and The Liar's Bible).

When and where do you write?

When I'm working on a project, I write every day. Usually at a coffee shop—not to be pretentious, but because it's easy to nap at home or find something else to fill my time with. I order a coffee, turn on the Freedom app to block social media on my computer, and do writing sprints of 30 minutes until I hit my word goal for the day (usually between 1,000 and 3,000 words, depending on my deadline). I follow the same process when editing or revising, just without a set word count every day.

What are you working on now?

I'm currently working on Hope Rides Again, the sequel to my instant New York Times bestseller Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery. I completed a fair amount of the book before going on my current book tour, but it's been a struggle to write on the road. I can't wait to get back home and finish the first draft. That's when the fun begins: edits.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

If we're talking about the dread you get when staring at a blank page (or blank Word doc), then yes. I might put off beginning a story for days or weeks as I research a project. Some research is necessary, but at a certain point it becomes its own form of procrastination. Best to just sit down at the computer and break in that blank page.

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

"Kill your darlings." I first heard this phrase from Stephen King, but it's been floating around the writing community for well over a hundred years (sometimes attributed to Chekhov, sometimes to Oscar Wilde). Basically, it means you need to be ruthless with revisions. No matter how much you love a turn of phrase or scene, if it doesn't serve the work, it needs to go. I stenciled this advice on my wall as a teenager. It troubled my mother. I don't know if she believed it had to do with writing, seeing how it was sandwiched in between pictures of Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson.

What’s your advice to new writers

I regularly mentor beginning and intermediate-level writers, and the number-one thing I see—consistently, across the board—is a lack of awareness of genre. Are you writing literary fiction? A thriller? Young adult or middle grade? It's important to know where your book would be shelved in a bookstore. (Don't say, "With the bestsellers.") Even if you're not going the traditional publishing route, you'll need to know the genre so you can find bloggers and readers willing to take a chance on a book by a new author. Don't let this advice limit you, though: Let your imagination go where it wants. Have fun. Write without boundaries. But when you're finished, take a serious, detached look at what you've written.

Andrew Shaffer is the New York Times bestselling author of Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery, the parody Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, and numerous other humorous works of fiction and nonfiction. He attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and studied comedy writing at Chicago's famed The Second City. An Iowa native, Shaffer lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife, novelist Tiffany Reisz. He teaches and mentors writers at Lexington's Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Riley Sager

How did you become a writer?

Like pretty much every writer, I started out as a reader. As a child, I always had my nose in a book. At some point in high school, I started writing, mostly out of curiosity. I wanted to see what it was like to create a story rather than consume it. That curiosity remained all through college, which is when I made my first attempt at writing a full-length book. Never did I think it would become my career. It was more of a challenge to myself -- write a book. Once I did that, the challenge changed to trying to get published. Even now, I continue to set challenges for myself. It keeps me motivated. 

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

Well, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY by Roald Dahl was the first book I can remember sinking into so deeply that the real world just fell away. The same thing happened with Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Stephen King was definitely a huge influence, as was my English teacher my senior year of high school. Kind and wonderful Mrs. James, who encouraged me to keep writing.

When and where do you write?

I can't for the life of me write at a desk. I just can't do it. So now most of my writing is done in a plush chair in what I call my book nook. It's a small room at the top of the stairs of my townhouse filled with bookshelves and comfy furniture. I try my best to write in the afternoons, even though I've always been a night writer. I tend to do my best work in the darkness and quiet of the middle of the night.

What are you working on now?

I'm nearing the end of my next psychological thriller, which I can't say too much about at the moment. But it's a little bit of a departure from my previous books. I'm simultaneously nervous and excited about how it will be received when it's done.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Definitely. There's always a point in every book where I hit a wall and just have no idea how to continue. But I always find my way out of the weeds somehow. The key is to just work through it. 

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

There's a quote attributed to E.L. Doctorow that I've always loved. "Planning to write is not writing." And it's so true. I spend so much time thinking about my book that it borders on the ridiculous. I always have to remind myself that thinking doesn't get words on the page. Nor, quite frankly, does it pay the bills. Only finished books can do that.

What’s your advice to new writers?

There's so much advice out there that I'm reluctant to add to it. I guess it would be to ignore what others are doing. Their success or failures don't matter to you and your writing career. Everyone works at a different pace. Everyone has a different idea of success. Identify your goals first and then figure out a method for achieving them that works best for you.

Riley Sager is the pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer who previously published mysteries under his real name. Now a full-time author, Riley's first thriller, FINAL GIRLS, became a national and international bestseller and won the ITW Thriller Award for Best Hardcover Novel. Translation rights have been sold in more than two dozen countries, and a film version is being developed by Universal Pictures. His latest novel, THE LAST TIME I LIED, was a New York Times bestseller. A television adaptation is being developed by Amazon Studios. A native of Pennsylvania, Riley now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

J.A. Jance

How did you become a writer?

I became a writer by writing. I wasn’t allowed in a university creative writing class in 1964 because, as the professor told me, “You’re a girl. Girls become teachers or nurses. Boys become writers.” So I lived my life. I taught high school English for two years and served as a school librarian for five. Then I spent ten years in the life insurance business. In my late thirties, in March of 1982, I gave myself permission to try living my dream of being a writer. My first book, which weighed in at 1200 pages, never sold to anyone but it was my on-the-job training for being a writer. That was 36 years and 57 books ago. So I became a writer by writing.

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

As soon as I read the Wizard of Oz in second grade I realized that a living, breathing person put the words on those pages, and right then—at age eight—I knew that was what I wanted to do.

When and where do you write? 

I write every day. Usually in a comfy chair in the family room or out on the porch with my laptop on my lap. Right now I’m in a family room with my fingers on the keyboard and with my elbow resting on the back of my long-haired, miniature dachshund, Mary.

What are you working on now?

I'm working on the next Ali Reynolds book, # 14. It’s called The A List.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

I’ve suffered from writers block often. The only cure for it is actually more writing.

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

The man who sold me my first computer in 1983 fixed it so that whenever I booted up, these are the words that appeared on the screen: A WRITER IS SOMEONE WHO HAS WRITTEN TODAY! Those were words that sustained me before I became a published writer and they’re a gift I pass along to the new writers I encounter along the way.

What’s your advice to new writers?

See number six above.

Bio: I was born in South Dakota, raised in Arizona and now live with my husband and two dogs, dividing our time between homes in Tucson and Seattle.