Reid Mitenbuler

How did you become a writer?

During my freshman year in college, I was particularly inspired after reading a roundtable interview with a group of notable writers. Their comments contained one consistent piece of advice: live some life before expecting to be a good writer. Many of them had attended film school or MFA programs--paths I was interested in pursuing at the time--but I was surprised by how often they downplayed those experiences. Instead, they recommended getting out into the world, stepping outside your comfort zone, taking weird jobs, socializing with people from different backgrounds, etcetera. The sentiment really stuck with me. So, after graduating, I joined the military, which sparked a chain reaction of interesting life experiences and jobs--both in and out of the military--that took me all over the world. I like to think that it gave me some valuable perspective. Meanwhile, I spent a lot of time dissecting other writing that I admired. 

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

For narrative nonfiction: Jill Lepore, Rich Cohen, Alfred Lansing, Walter Lord, Mark Kurlansky, Susan Orlean, Truman Capote, Nathan Philbrick, Laura Hillenbrand; this list could go on. If you were to look at my copies of these authors' books, you'd find them covered in ink. While reading them, I ask myself questions like "Why was this so interesting?"; "What kept me engaged?"; "How did this writer use suspense?"; "How did they structure this or that?"; and so on. Then, I try to figure out the mechanics of what makes those books work.

When and where do you write? 

In a home office. I stick to a regular schedule, although I find the first several hours of the morning to be my best period. The returns diminish after that, although they improve if I cram in a midday workout. I also get a second wind if I can manage to work late at night. There's a wonderful book, Daily Rituals, by Mason Currey, that examines the processes of different writers, architects, painters, musicians, etc. It helped me figure out my own approach.

What are you working on now? 

My next book is more narrative nonfiction, a true-adventure tale about a polar explorer. I also do screenwriting, so I have a number of different projects on that front. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Not really. I keep a running list of ideas and potential projects to work on. If I get frustrated with one project, I take a break and work on something else, which usually helps my mind reset on the other thing.

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

Just finish that first draft. Don't worry if it's "bad" or "good," because that first draft is probably not great. That's what rewriting--and rewriting and rewriting--is for. I once read an interview where Amy Tan showed off a page from one of her manuscripts that was flooded with red ink from her editor. I took so much reassurance from that, knowing that huge talents like her had to work really hard for it.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Limit your time on social media, especially Twitter. The main goal of these platforms is to make money, not promote sophisticated dialogue or thinking. So far, it's been more profitable for them to amplify division and negativity than to promote the kind of complexity and nuance that good writers explore with open-minded curiosity. I sense that too much time on Twitter traps writers in bubbles of doctrinaire thinking. Ultimately they stop pushing back against certain approved narratives that need pushback, for fear of getting dunked in the local pond alongside the other witches. In my opinion, too much time soaking up that mindset destroys creative freedom.

Reid Mitenbuler is the author of Wild Minds: The Artists and Rivalries That Inspired the Golden Age of Animation and Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America's Whiskey. He is currently working on a book about a polar explorer, as well as several film projects. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

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.