Sue Prideaux

How did you become a writer?

I adored elephants as a child. I suppose I was about seven when I began an elephant newspaper reporting all the goings-on in an imagined herd. I illustrated it, too – a talent that hasn’t survived into adulthood. 

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

I might answer that every book I have ever read has influenced me for better or worse, but you’ll be maddened by such a non-specific answer. Books were my deepest connection in a thoughtful and solitary childhood. Earliest favorites were The Odyssey, the Greek myths and the Nordic sagas. In retrospect, I can see that they were the very best textbooks for a writer-to-be. Nothing better to teach you the technical things like plot, character and vivid economy of style, while at the same time nurturing your own human characteristics of creativity, empathy and imagination.   

When and where do you write? 

Everywhere and all the time, invisibly in my head. Then it’s just a matter of getting it onto paper. That can happen wherever I can find a flat surface to put my laptop. There’s only one constraint: it has to be totally quiet. I can only write in absolute silence. 

What are you working on now? 

Dear old Nietzsche so often comes up with the right word for things. He talks about a fishhook in the brain. Rather a disgusting image, but spot-on for how I feel when the idea for a new book takes hold of me. The fishhook tugs and tugs and won’t leave my brain alone until I start writing and then it tugs me along all through the book. As yet, no fisherman has sunk a new hook into my brain. I think I’m still recovering from Nietzsche, which isn’t surprising. I knew it would be a hugely difficult book to write. He’s vastly controversial of course. Not only that, but in the end he goes mad. Surely the ultimate challenge for a writer. You have be an excellent technician to wriggle under the skin of insanity and write it believably. If you can do that you can probably do anything. No wonder it took me four years and the deepest investigation into my own humanity. Writing about Nietzsche also involved a masterly juggling act in terms of making the philosophy as clear, vivid and exciting to the reader as any cliff-hanging sub-plot. If the reader skips the philosophy, I’ve failed. I felt I had succeeded when the wonderful Sarah Bakewell wrote about the book: “This is what every biography should be like – engrossing, intelligent, moving and often downright funny. Simply a blast!” I’ll take that. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Most mornings. I call it terror.

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

Most mornings, when my husband says; “Go to your desk.” 

What’s your advice to new writers?

Give it a go. You’ll know if it works. 

Bio: I never do this. Three-headed Cerberus guards the door to my personal life – he’d eat me if I let anyone in.

Brian Kimberling

How did you become a writer?

Partly through a literary arms race with the neighbor girl. If she wrote a poem about a chain link fence I had to write one too; when she wrote a gruesome medical scene I had to follow suit. She’s had 3 novels published now, and I’m on 2. But she’s 6 months older.

Also, everybody in my orbit as a child was a voracious reader. Becoming such myself was probably crucial to developing a penchant for writing later.

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

Carolyn Baugh, neighbor girl and author above. Peter Taylor, Katherine Anne Porter, and Frank O’Connor. Salinger. Much later Tessa Hadley. I’ve been accused of writing with a pointillistic style, whatever that means — I think it comes from revering the compression and economy of the short story above all else. I had to grow up to learn that character and feelings are important too.

When and where do you write? 

Sporadically in the kitchen. This has changed over the years. My first book, Snapper, was written in a garage with a pool table in the southern English countryside. I could watch cows out the window, take a few shots on the pool table, and then go write a paragraph or smoke a cigarette or both. I’m amazed that book got written, let alone quickly and easily, but the truth is that shooting pool alone is pretty boring. My second book, Goulash, took much longer and was written in a variety of dwellings.

What are you working on now? 

A long narrative in 3rd person. May sound vague but both my previous books have been first person faux memoirs. In 3rd I’m enjoying the omniscience and the ability to condescend to my characters. But it’s best not to say much more about it until it’s complete.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

No, I don’t think so. I suffer heavily from procrastination and distraction and some other things.  There have been times when I was too stricken by one thing or another to work. But I don’t think I’ve ever felt blocked per se. I am however often unwilling to do the sheer amount of work writing involves — at least the way I do it — false starts and dead ends and starting all over again.

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

Don’t shine. Don’t seek to shine. Burn. (Richard Mitchell)

What’s your advice to new writers?

Writing is hard work! Don’t forget that or let anyone persuade you otherwise.

Brian Kimberling grew up in southern Indiana and spent several years working in the Czech Republic, Mexico, and Turkey before settling in England. Snapper, his first novel, was published by Pantheon in 2013, and Goulash, his second, by the same imprint in 2019.

Tamara Warren

How did you become a writer?

One word at a time. My mom says I slept with a book instead of a security blanket in my crib. When I was about eight, I told anyone who would listen that I had aspirations to become The New York Times food critic.  When I was in fourth grade, the middle school drama teacher adapted my short story “Detective Tamara and the Case of the Missing Dog” to the seventh grade stage. The byline hooked me. Going forward, it was a matter of persistence and curiosity.

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

The teacher and author Jackson’s Taylor’s writing group changed my writing life. My teachers Daryl Pinckney, Zia Jaffrey, Honor Moore, Susan Bell, and Jonathan Dee made me a better writer. The MFA creative writing program at The New School also prompted me to read a book a week, an excellent habit that I keep up.  One go-to example of a literary influence: I return to The Great Gatsby for a healthy dose of voice, scene and character. Conversations with journalist and author friends Brett Berk, Karen Good, Kierna Mayo, and Ayana Byrd keep me fired up about writing in both buzzy new digital forms that come with the times and the quiet pursuit of satisfying prose. The writers Phil Patton and Warren Brown mentored me on how writing about technical topics, like cars, could be clever and creative.

When and where do you write?

I take a notebook with me everywhere. When my time is more limited and I have a specific goal or deadline, I write in the morning, before I check email and engage in other distractions.

What are you working on now? 

“Winter Skin” a coming-of-age novel set in the post-industrial Detroit music scene in the 1990s, and a series of articles that will be published in 2019. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

No, but I have suffered through many days of terrible writing. I try to take walks and read to get back on track when the writing stinks. 

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

Read the work out loud before sending it out.  

What’s your advice to new writers?

The writing brain is a muscle that needs to be trained. Use exercises to warm up when you feel stuck. Read more poetry. Get to know your writing process and develop a routine around it. 

Tamara Warren has written for over 100 publications including The New York Times, Car and Driver, Vox, Automobile, Rolling Stone, AutoWeek, Architectural Digest, Vibe, and Detroit Free Press. She co-hosts the weekly Cheddar Rides show on the Cheddar news network. She is also the former transportation editor and senior reporter at The Verge. Tamara is the founder of Le Car, an editorial app based on automotive journalism. Her essays have appeared in Definition: The Art & Design of Hip Hop (Harper Collins) and Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption (Bloomsbury.)  She has appeared as a guest on ABC World News Tonight, CBS, CNBC, and The History Channel. She was raised in Detroit, Michigan and lives in Brooklyn, New York.