Scott Newstok

How did you become a writer?

Until How to Think like Shakespeare, I’ve felt stuck in some ruts that are endemic to academics. It’s really only now that I feel I can begin to claim to have become a writer.

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

As I gladly acknowledge in the book, my secondary school teacher Tim Blackburn first taught me how to think like Shakespeare. He assigned serious reading, crafted ingenious writing prompts, and gave us shockingly detailed and rapid feedback (often returning a batch of 60 marked papers the day after they were submitted). He made us think we had something to say. 

Some favorite essayists: Christopher Alexander, Hannah Arendt, James Baldwin, John Berger, Jorge Luis Borges, Kenneth Burke, Willa Cather, Stanley Cavell, J. M. Coetzee, Lydia Davis, Emerson, Geoff Dyer, Ralph Ellison, Zbigniew Herbert, Pauline Kael, Montaigne, Zadie Smith, Edward Tufte, Robert Warshow, Virginia Woolf. With Emily Dickinson, I thank these Kinsmen of the Shelf.

When and where do you write? 

I used to think I wrote best late at night, but now in mid-life, my head seems clearest early in the morning, before my family wakes. 

Where do I write? Ideally, in silence, in seclusion, and surrounded by my books. All three are rare! But occasionally they converge: in my college office; in a basement closet; ideally, at lakeside cabin.

• In silence: like the cranky Arthur Schoepenhauer, I feel something akin to pain at the sudden sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of reflection, and murders thought.

• In seclusion: as Virginia Woolf knew, all writers need (and women have chronically lacked) a room of [their] own, let alone a quiet room or a sound-proof room.

• Surrounded by my books: like Montaigne, without order, without method, and by peece-meales I turne over and ransacke, now one booke and now another.

What are you working on now? 

I just finished an essay on Ira Aldridge, whose stunning career took him across 19th century Europe. We remember Aldridge today as the first black Shakespearean to achieve international professional renown. In fact, he’s the first American actor to do so. 

I’ve long been fascinated by the career of Orson Welles. Last year I was lucky to have a fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library, where I explored their archives, as well as those at the Library of Congress, just across the street.

Other projects have been simmering off-and-on for over a decade: thinking through the multilingual roots of English phrases such as “love and cherish”; pondering the odd status of Duluth, my hometown, in the American cultural imagination.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Frequently. I love this advice from Alastair Fowler’s How to Write: “the best way to begin is not to. Or rather, to have already begun in the past.” When stuck, I delve into research. This can become a crutch; I know I read far too much in proportion to how little I write. But I can’t help it — I really enjoy it, and every time I chance upon a new insight, as we rub and polish our brains by contact with those of others, per Montaigne. 

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

Erasmus knew that the secret of style was no secret at all: write, write, and again write. Even something as banal as an email can be an occasion to think hard about the best way to phrase something. As Ta-Nehisi Coates reminds us: The intellect is a muscle; it must be exercised.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Little more than what Werner Herzog advises aspiring filmmakers: Read, read, read, read, read. Those who read own the world; those who immerse themselves in the Internet or watch too much television lose it. 

For more detailed guidance, I endorse what Lydia Davis enjoins: 

Go to primary sources and go to the great works to learn technique. . . .  Read the best writers: maybe it would help to set a goal of one classic per year at least. Classics have stood the test of time, as we say. Keep trying them, if you don’t like them at first — come back to them.  . . . How should you read? What should the diet of your reading be? Read the best writers from all different periods; keep your reading of contemporaries in proportion—you do not want a steady diet of contemporary literature. You already belong to your time.

Scott Newstok is professor of English and founding director of the Pearce Shakespeare Endowment at Rhodes College. A parent and an award-winning teacher, he is the author of Quoting Death in Early Modern England and the editor of several other books. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee.

Nathaniel Lande

How did you become a writer?

I became a writer at a very early age because of a speech handicap. I was a curious observer, and until I could express myself clearly, I used notes to communicate. Most first published novels are often biographical. Mine was—it was called Cricket, and thankfully received stunning reviews. That reinforcement really helped.

Later when I was head of TIME World News Service, I came to realize that every dispatch was a story unto its own. Composing and editing thousands of words each week provided an opportunity to appreciate the written word, and all that it carries. Later, I discovered writing fiction is a uniquely creative process, developing an engaging story and compelling characters, who you come to know and sometimes love.

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

Read the classics. Study authors you admire. As an exercise, copy the way they style sentences. Discover the way they put one word after another, just as an artist might copy other artists and learn the way they apply color and light to canvas.

My father was a friend and physician to Ernest Hemingway. As my father was a visiting professor to the University of Havana, I often traveled with him when I was a child. I had treasured opportunities becoming friends with ‘Papa’ at Finca Vigia, his home in San Francisco de Paula in Cuba. He took a liking to me. Spending afternoons together in his study and on in his boat the Pilar, left lasting impressions.

I’ve always appreciated Southern writers. The most influential writer was my friend and mentor, Bill Styron.

I’ve admired great story tellers; Walker Percy and Pat Conroy.

When and where do you write? 

In my library, surrounded by books on a desk that I find a perfect place.

What are you working on now?

I’m taking a bit of a break. My newest novel, WHILE THE MUSIC PLAYED, will be published May 12th. It was a long time in the making—eight years. But I’m always turning and churning ideas around in my head, sometimes months and years. If I talk too much about them, for me, it diminishes the process of committing to paper.

Have you ever suffered from writers block?

Of course.

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

Write. The craft of writing is re-writing. Get it down, then return, pace and polish once, twice, and then once again.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Always be mindful that the reader is your companion on a literary journey turning pages through themes and plots, conflict and resolution, life and death, twists and turns, in time and place.

I’ve met many people who are rightfully ‘subjective’ about one’s work. It’s a word that holds little respect for me, because it’s hollow. Let your vision take you as far as your imagination can take you. Be true to your story. And in time, work with an editor and agent who is supportive, one that you trust and appreciate, one who will help make you better than you are.

Nathaniel Lande is a journalist, author, and filmmaker with a career spanning several decades. He is the author of twelve books including Cricket and Dispatches from the Front: A History of the American War Correspondent, and was the creative force behind TIME Incorporated during his tenure. His documentary films have won over 20 International Gold Medals. The holder of two patents, he is credited for pioneering the digital book. Educated at Oxford University, he earned his doctorate at Trinity College Dublin where he was a Distinguished Scholar. As a professor, he has held appointments to the School of Journalism at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He lives in Santa Barbara, California. For additional background and works, visit www.nathaniellande.com.

Mara Bergman

How did you become a writer? 

From an early age, I was fascinated by the written word. I remember being in awe of my parents reading the newspaper, then frustrated at not even being able to  read the short captions under the photographs. A boy in my kindergarten class could read and I was so envious!

We were always encouraged to write at school. My first-grade teacher had us choose a picture from a magazine and dictate a few lines to her. Mine were about a newborn chick – how proud I was! Reading and writing came together in a big way after that and I would write notes to my mother and hide them under her pillow. Later it was stories and skits. My best friend, Lori, wrote too, and when we were twelve we decided it was time to start writing poems, and we did. I wrote during my teenage years and at university took as many poetry workshops as I could, continuing afterwards when I returned to New York City, including a particularly memorable one with Sharon Olds. 

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

Teachers at school had a huge influence, from elementary school through to high school, and particularly my English teachers Mrs. Rosen and Mr. Russell. During my senior (final) year, we even had a poet visit our school, and it was then I attended my first writing workshop. At university, I took poetry workshops with English professors Don Petersen and Richard Frost, highly respected poets themselves, and made close friends with other poets, especially Suzanne Cleary, now an established voice in the U.S. I also worked on the literary magazine. The State University of New York at Oneonta in the 70s was a hugely creative and exciting place to be.

As a child I loved Pippi Longstocking and Dr. Doolittle. I’m convinced that without Dr. Suess I never would have learned to read. Later I learned to love the poems of Robert Frost and Emily Dickenson. At uni, Richard Frost’s course on the Romantic poets led to my coming to England to study at Goldsmiths on a junior year abroad program. Blake Morrison opened my eyes to contemporary British poetry, but I’ve always been especially drawn to American poets, among them Sharon Olds, Louise Glück, Carolyn Forché, Katha Pollitt, Susan Mitchell, Gerald Stern, Richard Wilbur. 

When and where do you write?

I always have a notebook to hand and jot down thoughts, bits of conversation and observations all the time. Maybe not actual writing, but the seeds of it. And while it’s a bit of a cliché, I really do like writing on trains and now, during lockdown, I’m missing my commute to London. But the real writing takes place at home, in my study or at the kitchen table, overlooking the garden. Or in cafes –  I’m really missing that too right now – or when I manage to get away on a writing retreat. 

What are you working on now? 

I’m shaping my next poetry collection and I have a couple of picture book ideas on the go, as well as a young novel in verse. I’ve just agreed to write a couple of young picture book readers, which are always fun and challenging,  

Have you ever suffered from writers block? 

There have been times I haven’t been able to write, for example, when my children were very young, and now, during lockdown, though I am taking lots of notes. I find it a bit numbing not being able to go where I want to go and meet up with people I want to be with. But by now I’ve learned that even when I’m not writing, I will write at some point, and that’s comforting. 

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

This has to be from the poet Philip Gross, who, when we were talking about how to decide between writing for children (in his case young adults) and poetry and how to know which genre would work for a given idea, said, Go where the energy is.

What’s your advice to young writers?

Write from the heart. Find like-minded writers you trust to give you feedback. Don’t let anyone undermine you. Be patient, it sometimes takes a long time to get where you want to go. Believe in yourself and your work. Don’t give up. 

Mara Bergman is a poet, picture book writer and children’s book editor. The Tailor’s Three Sons and Other New York Poems won the Mslexia Poetry Pamphlet Competition and her first full collection, The Disappearing Room, was published in 2018 by Arc. Among her numerous picture books are Oliver Who Would Not Sleep, illustrated by Nick Maland, which won the Booktrust Early Years Award and Snip Snap!, (also illustrated by Nick), which won the Stockport Children’s Book Prize and awards in the US. Born in NYC, Mara grew up on Long Island and makes her home in Kent.