Jennie Melamed

How did you become a writer?

I have always written, as far back as I can remember. As a kid, I was obsessed with animals and unicorns and princesses and tropical islands, so my stories had a lot of those elements. In middle school I wrote a four-novel series heavily plagiarized from Secret of the Unicorn Queen that actually started­—from my adult viewpoint—to get interesting by the fourth book. Then I got writer's block and focused more on poetry and short stories. I've always written, even though it took me so long to publish anything!

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

I went through a period in adolescence where I read a lot of the great women of literature: Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, Charlotte Bronte, Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood. Their stories took my breath away. All I knew was that someday I wanted to write stories that did the same to other people. I'm certainly not in their league yet, and may never be, but it's a good thing to strive for!

I read constantly. It's the most important contribution to my writing. I am trying to expand my knowledge of the classics, and currently am reading Henry James and W. E. B. Dubois, with some Anthony Trollope thrown in to lighten things up a bit. However, I'm totally psyched for a novel called Vox that is coming out soon, and will probably take a break to fit that in. 

When and where do you write? 

I write whenever I have the time, which isn't nearly as much as I'd like. I work full-time. I've stopped having any hobbies, really, I just write. Sometimes words or sentences occur to me and I have to run to the computer and write them down, or dictate them into my phone, or make a note on the back of some envelope. So I guess I write everywhere, but the bulk of it is in my office. We moved a few months ago; before that, I had a desk shoved into my bedroom, but now I have a bookshelf and a desk and my pictures on the walls! Luxury.

What are you working on now? 

My third novel since Gather the Daughters was released. Novel One was rejected by my editor as being too dark (which I immediately saw the wisdom of when people began reacting to Gather the Daughters) and Novel Two by my agent, because it had elements too similar to Gather the Daughters. ( My heart's still a little broken; it's shelved, but I'm not giving up on it.) 

I don't want to say too much about my current project, but it's a story that's been in my mind for a long time. It starts off with a young girl driving a stolen car with a blind dog in the backseat. She stops to pick up a hitchhiker, and the tale goes from there.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Oh God, yes. What I usually do is tell myself to just write one sentence a day. Sometimes that's all I can fit into my day anyway! I just work on describing a certain detail, or some dialogue that's not vital, and eventually it goes away. Sometimes it takes a while. Running helps, I always seem to get good ideas while I'm running. 

If all else fails, I usually have a backup project I can work on while I wait for my writer's block on the other project to fade. My agent recently recommended a huge, book-changing alteration to my current manuscript, and whenever that happens, I have to wait a week or two while working on something else. Some unconscious process goes on to figure out how it's going to fit together, and then eventually it comes to the forefront of my mind. Sometimes when I'm faced with a writing dilemma I say to myself, shelve it, and it gets put back in some corner of my brain where my mind can work on it unobserved. 

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

I always heard, write what you know, and the best advice I ever got was not to listen to that! We'd never have speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, if everybody did this. Yes, it's good to write about things you can portray authentically, and we all bring our lives to what we write, but it's also good to stretch your imagination to the limit and make up something new.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Keep trying to get published. I spent almost two years looking for an agent before the incredible Stephanie Delman rescued me from the slush pile. I can't count the number of queries that were rejected. I actually put Gather the Daughters on the shelf and said, Okay, maybe this isn't publishable. Maybe I wasn't meant to be a writer. But after a few months I decided to try again, because I just knew I had written something good.

If you know you have something good, don't give up on it. 

Jennie Melamed is the author of Gather the Daughters, published by Little, Brown in 2017. Gather the Daughters was listed as a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian and Booklist, and was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Her writing has appeared in Joyland Magazine, Teen Vogue, Lithub, and other publications. Jennie lives in Seattle with her husband and two Shiba Inus.

Sophie Hannah

How did you become a writer?

Even as a child, I was constantly writing. It has always been my favourite hobby, though I don’t think I ever imagined it would become a career. I just kept writing and writing, and one day I noticed that it was the thing everyone expected and wanted me to do, instead of the thing I did when I was supposed to be doing other things, like school work and secretarial work!  Writing is the only thing I’ve ever really cared about — I’ve never been so committed to or obsessed with anything else.

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

The authors who have most influenced me are Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell, Nicci French, Val McDermid and Tana French — all are great crime writers with an excellent grasp of psychology. I was also hugely inspired by my primary school teacher, Dorothy Dearden, who had an infectious love of poetry, and my university tutor (and, later, poetry publisher) Michael Schmidt.

When and where do you write?

There's a lovely room at Lucy Cavendish College in Cambridge (where I am a Fellow Commoner) that is usually empty during the day, and has a wonderful view of the college's stunning gardens. I go there to start and finish most of my books. I write in all kinds of places, though: on planes, on trains, in hotels and even occasionally at home… if my dog lets me!

What are you working on now? 

I’m doing the final edits to my forthcoming self-help book, which will be published in November in the UK and January in the US. I have been a self-help addict for many years. My contribution to the genre is called How to Hold a Grudge, and the subtitle is From Resentment to Contentment - The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life. According to my publishers, the book is 'the ultimate guide on how to use grudges to be your happiest, most optimistic and most forgiving self'! Being someone who holds grudges is seen by many as a bad thing, but what if our grudges, when managed correctly, are good for us? I believe they are, and in my book I offer a new method for processing negative thoughts and turning them into productive, life-enhancing, great grudges!

I’m also working on my next psychological thriller, which will be published in the UK in 2019. It’s called Haven’t They Grown. Beth, a mother of two, drives past an estranged friend’s house and sees that friend for the first time in twelve years. But when the friend's children step out of the car -- children Beth also hasn't seen for twelve years -- they  haven't aged at all. They still appear to be five and three, the ages they were more than a decade ago, when Beth last saw them. How can this be possible? Why haven't they grown?

(I hope I don't have to explain why the book's title is Haven't They Grown! And no, it isn't supernatural! The answer to the puzzle is entirely human-reality based.)

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

No. But I do suffer a lot from the urge to procrastinate, and 'Writer's Fear of facing W.I.P’ (Work in Progress).

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

It comes from a poem by Wendy Cope and is beautifully simple: 'Don't let anybody mess with your swing’.

What’s your advice to new writers?

The same advice I got from Wendy Cope (see above).

Sophie Hannah is an internationally bestselling writer of crime fiction, published in 49 languages and 51 territories. In 2014, with the blessing of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, Sophie published a new Hercule Poirot novel, The Monogram Murders, which was a bestseller in 16 countries. In September 2016 her second Poirot novel, Closed Casket, was published and became an instant Sunday Times top five bestseller. Sophie's latest Poirot novel, The Mystery of Three Quarters, is published by HarperCollins and William Morrow later this month.

Sophie has also published two short story collections and five collections of poetry – the fifth of which, Pessimism for Beginners, was shortlisted for the T S Eliot Award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A Level and degree level across the UK. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge and between 1999 and 2001 she was a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She lives with her husband, children and dog in Cambridge, where she is a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College.

Piper Weiss

How did you become a writer?

Am I a writer? I have no idea. I do write, because I'm not great at a lot of other things. (Examples of things I don't do: Math, science, surviving apocalyptic scenarios). If I had a choice, I'd make music, but that's not my strong suit, so by default I started writing. I loved poetry early on in school, because it reminded of music but didn't require any musical proficiency. I still struggle with grammar, sentence structure, misusing words, concision—you know, all the things great writers have mastered. But I like ideas, I enjoy the challenges of structure and plot, I savor the opportunity for detail. 

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

I'm most influenced by artists in any genre who perfectly nail a feeling, set a mood, and pull you inside the sensation of a character's experience in the world. I like imagery, rhythm and momentum. I have a few staples to turn to: The poem "Don't Do That" by Stephen Dunn. Two stanza's from Robert Lowell's "Skunk Hour" haunt my memoir (Beginning with "One dark night, my Tudor Ford climbed the hill's skull..."). I'm particularly drawn to works that break genre codes: people who pull out the humor in darkness, or the darkness in humor. Mike White's HBO series "Enlightened," Harry Nilsson's album "Nilsson Sings Newman," Donald Barthelme's short story "The School," the films of Yorgos Lanthimos and Sofia Coppola, The Temptations' haunting cover of "Ain't No Sunshine," and anything that comes out of writer Ottessa Moshfegh's brain.  

When and where do you write? 

I write at home in a reclining position on various cushioned upholstery. I wish to be the kind of person who writes for 4 hours a day and then goes to the gym, but I'm not. I'm more of an addict. So I write for 17-20 hours a day for five days and then panic for the next five days because I haven't written a thing. My problem is that there's no dimmer switch in my brain. It's either on or off. When it's off, I worry I'll never find the light switch again. So when it's on, I work until the bulb fizzles out.  

What are you working on now? 

Currently, I'm working on a short story that centers around one character's exhaustive internet search of people she knew in the past. I'm enjoying writing it, though I'm not sure yet if it's anything solid. Spending so much time alone writing is a bit of a risky thing to do. The process requires isolation, but the best outcome requires the ability to connect with others. Bridging the two is a challenge. The stakes feel high. When someone reads an early draft of my work, I'm less concerned that it's good, and more preoccupied with the fear that it's totally nonsensical. I'm just testing to see if I'm still a sane person who has a grip on the basics of human communication. I know it may sound extreme, but when you spend weeks, months working on something alone without sharing it with another human soul, you start to wonder whether you've drifted too far off into the animal parts of your mind. Then again, that's not always a bad thing, is it? 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

I have suffered from laziness, self-loathing and fear of failure which can hinder my ability to do pretty much anything creative. Discipline helps. But also the block part can be a sign that the approach to what I'm writing isn't working. I make a deal with myself: I can put a hold on the work that's making me feel stuck, as long as I try writing something else—an old poem, a half-finished story, a song, a new idea, anything that strikes me as pleasurable in the moment. Writing should feel like an escape, not a trap. When you're stuck it may be a sign that you're trying too hard to make something work that just doesn't. Writing something new—something with no expectations or associations, something that makes you feel exactly how you want to feel in that moment, regardless of whether it's "literary" or "commercial" or "career-oriented"—helps to remind me why I still write. It's the same reason I did it as a child: to escape my daily existence, to manifest a new feeling that wasn't entirely connected to my own bullshit. Then, when you're on a roll, you may find that self-loathing and fear have a place in the piece itself, rather than in your brain. You can let it out and better yet, use it. 

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

“Nobody cares.” A dear friend and former boss at the New York Daily News would repeat those words to me every time I walked into her office in a state of panic about something totally ridiculous: I can't come up with an idea for the pitch meeting, I think I left a typo in an article, my story isn't good enough, our editor-in-chief hasn't responded to my email, I might be mildly allergic to the vending machine peanuts.

“Nobody cares,” she would say, and what she meant was “you're fine.” And after she said it, I was. 

When you're stuck in a cycle of perfectionism, fear or compulsive second-guessing, it's impossible to move forward on anything. You're stuck in your own ego and desperate for approval. That's no way to be creative. But if "nobody cares," which is generally true, all of the judgement you hear in your head quiets down, and you're free to take risks. You don't have to apologize or worry what other people will think at that stage, because truly nobody cares but you. "Nobody cares" allows you to discover what it is that YOU care about, and drown out the need to please everyone else. By the time you get to the editing process, you want other people to care as well, and you've listened to your own instincts long enough to defend them. Then, "nobody cares" becomes a kind of dare, a challenge that drives you to prove its falsehood. It's brilliant advice (courtesy of two genius editors Amy DiLuna and Colin Bertram), whether or not it was intended as such.

What’s your advice to new writers?

In my early 20s, I was pretty messed up. In addition, I had few job prospects, zero confidence in my writing skills and no career direction. I was desperate for advice of any kind. While in an out-patient treatment program, I met a gentleman who'd spent a decade as a ghostwriter for an Ashram guru. "Is that something I should do?" I asked him. "I don't give advice," he told me. It seemed, especially considering the venue that had brought us together, these were some of the wisest words ever spoken.

Advice is hard. I only know my own path to writing a book, but it's not the only one. I still struggle everyday to be the writer I want to be. But I guess what I've learned in my own experience is this:  Find people who jog your brain, rustle up your imagination, and generally delight you. It doesn't matter what they do for a living. Collaboration comes in many forms. You don't need to be surrounded by writers to write, not that most fellow writers aren't wildly valuable and generous. From my experience, they truly are. There's much to be gained from asking for help, feedback and straight-up introductions. It's just as important to provide any help you can when others ask for the same. We're kind of all in this together. 

Piper Weiss is the author of two books. Her memoir, You All Grow Up and Leave Me, published by HarperCollins in 2018, was named one of Amazon's Best Books of April. She has held senior editorial positions at New York Daily News, Yahoo, HelloGiggles and Levo. Her writing has appeared in Hazlitt, Lenny Letter, LitHub's CrimeReads, Elle.com and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn. More on Instagram (@piperweiss).