Joanna Briscoe

How did you become a writer?

Well, I was writing quite a lot from the age of nine or so – at school, and at home. I was always thinking about what I wanted to do as a career, and veered off in several different directions, but from the age of fifteen, I committed to being a writer, and at that age, I actually wrote in a very disciplined manner that the adult me envies! I used to do an hour a day, after homework, and finished two full length children’s novels before I left school. I had no idea about agents, sent them to publishers, and was rejected, and this was a real blow to my confidence. However, I carried on, and started getting short stories published. These, and a non-fiction book, were published in my twenties, and I did lots of work for national papers from my early twenties, but to me, this was all a way to support what I really wanted to do – write a novel. I went through so many drafts of what became my first novel, Mothers and Other Lovers, and it then won a Betty Trask Award on the manuscript, and was published by Orion. That was the turning point. I had a desperate need to be a writer from a young age, and a lot of determination, but that meant that the rejections were very, very hard along the way. You do have to inure yourself to rejection.  

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

I was lucky enough to have two great English teachers – Judith Kirk and Antony Dixon. The latter was my teacher for many years, and he totally inspired me. I wrote partly to please him! Then, from early on, my influences were Rumer Godden and Laurie Lee, followed by Thomas Hardy, Vladimir Nabokov, and Daphne du Maurier. Toni Morrison, Marguerite Duras, Michael Cunningham and AS Byatt are favourite writers of mine. 

When and where do you write? 

During lockdown, I’m at my kitchen table – or in cafés when we’re allowed to be. I find I can write in noise, as long as there’s not one specific conversation that’s audible right near me. Before this, I always wrote at the fabulous British Library in King’s Cross. I constantly attempt to have a routine, certain hours, certain word counts, and usually fail. Somehow, I muddle through. Some writers are so much more disciplined than me, and I admire them for it. I think you really just have to find the method that suits you, and it won’t necessarily be the same as someone else’s. Many writers say they are morning people, and when I get my act together, that works for me. As long as you produce something, regularly, the words will build up.

What are you working on now? 

I’m working on my seventh novel. It’s set in the 1960s and the present, in Somerset and Enfield. The truth is, if I say too much about a novel in progress, I don’t have the same impetus to write it…. I think this is something to be wary of. You can find yourself expressing yourself to friends instead of on paper, and by talking about a work in progress too early, the themes can be crystallised in a form they weren’t quite meant to take. So I advise not talking about it, unless you have a particular plot problem, and that can sometimes be solved by a conversation with an objective listener.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

I just refuse to believe in writer’s block. There are good days and bad days, but if you sit down and force yourself to write, something useful will come out of the process. Workers in other fields aren’t allowed a sudden ‘block’. I find if I’m really stuck, I go for a walk, and the thoughts flow differently.

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

Just do it. It’s as simple as that. It’s so easy to give up, but if you stop, you won’t have done it, will you? 

What’s your advice to new writers?

I’d say many things…among them, that it’s hard. Remember that. It’s a marathon. So when you hit difficulties, don’t think you’re alone in feeling hopeless. You will hit difficulties, and if you persist, you will overcome them. Also, try to loosen your process so that you delve into some kind of emotional truth. Don’t stop yourself because of embarrassment or self-consciousness or fear of what readers will think. Go for it, and tell yourself you can edit later. If you really want to do this, it’s a long, lonely, hard slog. Don’t deny yourself other aspects of life, but understand that it may take some time. On the other hand, the rewards can be great too. If you have to do it, you have to do it. 

Joanna Briscoe’s sixth novel, The Seduction, was published by Bloomsbury UK and Bloomsbury US this summer. Her third novel, Sleep With Me, was adapted by Andrew Davies as an ITV drama. She has written reviews, features and columns for all the major newspapers and magazines, and is a literary critic for the Guardian. She broadcasts on Radio 4, and teaches on Faber Academy’s Writing a Novel course.

Nadia Owusu

How did you become a writer?

Ever since I can remember, writing has been a way for me to process the world and to understand what I think. In my twenties, I did some freelance writing, but it wasn’t until I was approaching thirty that I decided to give myself the space and time to see if I could make a career out of writing. For me, that meant getting an MFA and beginning to submit essays and stories to journals and magazines.

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

Some of the writers who are really important to me are Zora Neale Hurston, Jane Austen, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Chinua Achebe, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Joan Didion, Virginia Woolf, and Leo Tolstoy.

When and where do you write? 

I have a day job, so scheduling time to write is really important. I block the time off on my calendar and I hold that time sacred. Usually, I do a short writing session before work and then another longer one in the evening. When I can, I get additional writing time in during my lunch hour. 

What are you working on now? 

I’m working on a novel and also on several essays.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

I don’t think so. There are times when I don’t really want to write and times when it is going horribly. But I find that if I just keep showing up, I’ll find my way eventually. 

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

Follow your curiosities. My father told me that. He was my first writing teacher.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Read a lot and read widely. And approach writing as something you have to practice.

NADIA OWUSU is a Brooklyn-based writer and urban planner. Simon and Schuster will publish her first book, Aftershocks: A Memoir, in January 2021. Her lyric essay chapbook, So Devilish a Fire won the Atlas Review chapbook contest. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the New York Times, the Washington Post’s the Lily, Orion, Quartz, The Paris Review Daily, Electric Literature, Catapult, Bon Appétit, Epiphany and others. She is the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award.

Araminta Hall

How did you become a writer?

It sounds like a cliché but it is what I’ve always wanted to do. Obviously after graduating I had to do quite a few other jobs to meet the rent, but I’ve been writing stories since I could hold a pen and probably began writing my first novel quite soon after university. My early attempts were naturally terrible and then I also started having children, by which time I was working as a freelance journalist, so I had very little time. After the birth of my second child though I realised I was going to have to take it seriously if anything was going to come from it, so I enrolled on a creative writing MA, which was brilliant not just for my process, but also for my confidence. I completed my first novel on that course and sent it off afterwards and was lucky enough to get a deal. A writer’s life though is never straight forward – I thought it would be plain sailing once I was published, but it is so far from that. I’ve changed agents and publishers since then, have had times where I thought I’d never be published again, and amazing highs. It’s taught me not to take anything about writing for granted and also to keep on working hard because if you want a long career it takes a huge amount of graft.

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

Like I said, my creative writing MA was very influential because it taught me to take myself seriously as a writer and to treat it like a job (even when you can’t afford to make it your full-time job). It also taught me huge amounts about editing, which is a totally fundamental part of the writing process. I write about 3 drafts before I even show anything to my agent and then I’d expect to work on 1 or 2 with her and a further 2 or 3 with my publisher. And I’m constantly influenced by other writers – in fact I’d go as far to say that if you don’t read a lot you’re probably not going to become a writer. The writers I return to again and again are Daphne du Maurier, Iris Murdoch, Carol Shields, Patricia Highsmith, Zadie Smith, Maggie O’Farrell and Tana French. They all make me want to do better!

When and where do you write? 

Because I started my career with three young children (I’d had a third baby by the time my first book came out), I’m not at all precious about how or where I write. I have much more time now as my children are older and all in full time education, and I don’t have to have another job either, but I’m really grateful for that early grounding. I try to write for a couple of hours most weekdays and I’m most likely to be found at my kitchen table or sitting on my sofa, despite having built myself a writing cabin at the bottom of the garden.

What are you working on now? 

I’ve just finished my fifth book and am at the stage where I’m going through edits with my publisher. It’s actually a bit of a departure for me because it’s set in the early 1900s, although it does still retain thriller roots. My great grandfather survived the sinking of The Titanic and I’ve wanted to write a book around this for a long time, although it’s been hard for me to find a way in to the story. It’s one of those books I’ve started so many times, but this year it came together.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

No, I haven’t and I think there are two reasons for this. Firstly, like I said, I spent the first decade of my writing life very time poor, which meant any time I did have felt like a bit of a gift. But also, when I’m writing my first draft I know it’s going to be terrible and I’ll never show it to anyone, which gives me a real freedom to just get words down on the page. And then, once you have that draft, you have at least the bones of something to work with, so again it gives you a structure.

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

Always cut the first twenty pages. A writer friend said it to me when I was first trying to get a deal and it’s so true. The best stories, in whatever genre, ask questions and create suspense, but as writers we want to explain things. If you do this too early however your book is in danger of feeling boring. I guess it’s another way of saying show don’t tell, but it’s such good advice and in fact can be applied throughout your book. When I’m editing I’m always asking myself do I really need this sentence or do I really need to let the reader know this yet.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Start thinking of writing as a business. Know the market and be savvy. You can have moments of being a tortured artist, but if you want to be published, ultimately you have to remember that you are creating a product which your publisher will want and need to make money on. Also, most importantly, read constantly and write as much as you can. As I’ve said editing is one of the most important parts of writing, but you can’t start drafting until you’ve got those words on the page. Give yourself the gift of putting down bad words, because that’s where the good words eventually come from.

Araminta Hall is the author of four novels, Everything & Nothing, Dot, Our Kind of Cruelty and Imperfect Women. Our Kind of Cruelty is being adapted for film and Imperfect Women was recently optioned by Elisabeth Moss' new production company, Love & Squalor Pictures. She lives by the sea in Brighton, UK, with her husband and three children.