David Yoon

How did you become a writer?

I’ve always wanted to write, ever since I wrote a story in 3rd grade that made my whole class crack up laughing. That was a total high, connecting with everyone like that! From then on, my favorite classes in school were English, I majored in English in college, and went on to get an MFA in writing. So in a way, I’ve always been a writer—writing has been my way of making sense of the world and creating my own space to belong in.

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

My high school English teachers were my first mentors. My friends were next. We would do things like go to the beach and act out the entirety of Death of a Salesman, because we thought that sort of thing was cool. We were total word nerds and did not give two grapes about it.

Authors I keep returning to again and again are Kurt Vonnegut, Kazuo Ishiguro, Margaret Atwood, Celeste Ng, George Saunders, Blake Crouch, Elmore Leonard, Haruki Murakami, and so many others. And call me biased, but I’ve always admired the hell out of my wife Nicola Yoon’s writing, too. 

When and where do you write? 

I write in the mornings, through lunch, until it’s time for my daughter to come home from school. My wife bought me a big fuzzy orbit chair that I like to hide in and do my work in silence and darkness. I’m a friggin’ embryo in an egg.

What are you working on now? 

Lots of things! I’m getting ready for the launch of my second adult novel, City of Orange, which is an intimate post-apocalyptic thriller. I’m also working on another adult book exploring toxic masculinity. Nicola and I might be working on something together, but you didn’t hear that here. ;) 

When I’m not writing, I’m reading manuscripts for our publishing imprint Joy Revolution or working on story development for the Yooniverse Media/Anonymous Content partnership. It’s a fantastically busy and fun time for which I’m grateful.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Never! 

(Has everyone left the room? Okay. Of course I’ve experienced writer’s block. But you get over it by showing up, day after day, even if no words come out. You just have to trust that they eventually will—and they always do.)

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

The great Margaret Atwood, who I saw speak at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo (which is a really nice embassy), said Read, read, read and write, write, write. The read, read, read part means: read anything you can get your hands on, even if you think it’s not for you, because you never know where inspiration will come from. The write, write, write part means to write as much as you can, because that’s the only way to develop your unique voice. Begin by imitating, then move on to experimentation and synthesizing.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Two things, really.

First, go to writing school if you can. I know they can be expensive, but it’s a good, quick way to find people who are as passionate about writing as you. Also, the connections you make will last a lifetime. I went to Emerson College, and my writing friends have almost all been published, and we help each other out however we can whenever we can.

Second, get an agent. You can’t grow your writing career without one.

David Yoon is the New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love, Super Fake Love Song, and for adult readers, Version Zero and City of Orange. He’s a William C. Morris Award finalist and an Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature Honor book recipient. He's co-publisher of Joy Revolution, a Random House young adult imprint dedicated to love stories starring people of color. He's also co-founder of Yooniverse Media, which currently has a first look deal with Anonymous Content for film/TV development. David grew up in Orange County, California, and now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, novelist Nicola Yoon, and their daughter. Davidyoon.com

Dan Fesperman

How did you become a writer?

I started writing as a college reporter at The Daily Tar Heel at UNC, and from there I spent the next twenty or so years meandering through various newspaper jobs until the winter of '94, when I began writing my first novel, shortly after returning from a reporting trip to the besieged city of Sarajevo. I suppose I'd finally concluded that even the long, narrative pieces I was writing for the Baltimore Sun could no longer encompass all the vivid material that had piled up in my notebooks, or the ideas that were tumbling in my head. It took a while for me to get comfortable with the idea of letting my imagination take the helm whenever I sat down to write, but otherwise the transition to fiction was fairly smooth.

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

Carol Moloney, a high school teacher who turned me into a voracious binge reader by introducing me to the novels of Kurt Vonnegut at age fifteen; Claudia Stillman, a freshman English instructor at UNC who let me know right away that the bullshitting and imprecise writing habits of a lazy, under-achieving high schooler would no longer be acceptable; Jim Shumaker, a journalism professor who was an evangelist of clarity and simplicty; and, in one way or another, just about every writer I've ever read. And as long as you keep reading, the learning never stops.

When and where do you write?

Mornings are my most productive time, and as I move ever deeper into a novel my work days lengthen and become increasingly productive, increasingly absorbing. Once I'm past the halfway mark it's the last thing I think about before sleep and my first thought upon waking. My basement office has big windows that overlook woods that change with the seasons, and it's quiet and private.

What are you working on now?

I just finished what I think is my best book yet (and I'm not one of those authors who reflexively says that about each successive novel). It's called Winter Work, and it's set about four months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The main character is an East German spymaster who's about to receive his last paycheck, and isn't even allowed back into the office to clean out his desk. His life and his secrets -- and those of his colleagues -- are up for grabs. And their former friends and foes (chiefly the Russians and the Americans) are eagerly vying for both. It's a shadowy and chaotic espionage marketplace, with plenty of twists, turns and intriguing personalities, and there's no guarantee of safe passage for anyone.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I don't believe in writer's block. I do struggle sometimes to settle on an idea for my next book, but once I've made that decision I have no trouble beginning or continuing the writing.

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

Make writing a daily habit, even if you're not yet certain you have something worthwhile to say. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

See above answer. Also, read as needily as if books were food and drink. And by all means, get outside of your comfort zone to spend time among people who aren't like you, even if only in the name of research, and in doing so be a careful listener, an observant watcher.

Dan Fesperman is the author of a dozen critically acclaimed novels of suspense, including The Cover Wife, which the New York Times called “a sharp, smart novel that hits fast and hard, its reverberations echoing after the last page is turned.” Previous books have won two Dagger awards in the UK and the Dashiell Hammett award in North America. His work is drawn from his own travels as an author and reporter, experiences which have taken him to three war zones and more than thirty countries. His next novel, Winter Work, will be published in the coming year by Alfred A. Knopf. He lives in Baltimore.

Ashley Winstead

How did you become a writer?

I think it was one of those “born that way” situations. I was always a voracious reader and have very early memories of being fascinated by language choice, the rhythm of a sentence, the way it’s more than just the direct signifier of a word that contributes to the feeling you get when you encounter it. For a long time I thought I wanted to be a poet, but I used to stay up late at night telling my siblings elaborate stories, so I probably should have known I’d write books.

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

The poets Mary Oliver and Richard Siken have had an enormous influence on the way I write and also my tendencies toward earnestness, intensity, and vulnerability. Hands down the most influential teacher was my fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Ruth, who encouraged my writing to the point I actually gained a self-confidence that has remained fairly stubborn, despite all the rejections in the years since. The power of early support. And I love pop culture, so I have to credit Francine Pascal, Ann M. Martin, and the writers of Buffy, Veronica Mars, and Dark Angel for my obsession with narratives that center complicated, powerful women.

When and where do you write?

I try to write every day, all day, if my attention span will let me. And I write in my guest bedroom, which we’re slowing trying to turn into my office. Right now it’s a lumpy chair, an ottoman, and a side table. I can’t work at a desk to save my life. Feels too much like school.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on several projects: a sequel to my first romance/women’s fiction novel and two new thrillers, one of which is a high-drama feminist murder mystery, and the other is a dark, intense southern gothic. I love being able to switch between different voices and modes. Keeps things interesting.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

If I’m struggling to get words on the page, I’ll either listen to music or take a shower and then I’ll get inspired. Or I ask myself why I’m struggling, and the answer is usually because I’m bored. And if so, that means the plot needs to change to something I’m excited to write and readers will be excited to read. But not being able to get words on the page is a rare problem for me. Much more common is struggling to work out the puzzle pieces of my plot in the earlier plotting phase. But I give myself grace with that because it’s literally just hard to invent a story that will wow and surprise and also feel earned and organic. So when I’m drawing a blank, I feel like that’s pretty earned and I give myself time and space to come to the right answers.

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

I can’t write books without Lisa Cron’s Story Genius, so I could probably just point to that book as the answer, but something else that has been meaningful to me is the advice that you are who you are and you’re going to write what you’re going to write, and there’s tremendous value in not trying to be like someone else, whether in style or subject matter. I used to worry that the things I was interested in were too feminine or superficial for the crime fiction genre, or too dark and vulnerable for the romance genre, and on and on. But your particular voice and set of interests are strengths, not weaknesses. I’ve learned to embrace “Winstead style” and “Winstead subjects” wholeheartedly.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Embrace your unique lens on the world, first. Second, if you’re like most of us, there’s going to come a point in your writing journey where you feel so overwhelmed by rejection that you can no longer envision a future where you’re successful. It ceases to become a possibility even the most optimistic part of your brain will allow. The writers who do become successful are the ones who keep going, relying on whatever they need to—spite, sheer stubbornness—to push on. If you keep writing and growing, you will have a future.

Ashley Winstead is the author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife (Sourcebooks Landmark, 2021) and the forthcoming romance Fool Me Once (Graydon House, 2022) and thriller The Last Housewife (Sourcebooks Landmark, 2022). She has a PhD in contemporary American literature and a BA in English and Art History, and lives in Houston with her husband and two beloved cats.