Courtney Zoffness

How did you become a writer?

I was enamored by language and storytelling at a young age and went on to major in English as an undergraduate. After college, I worked briefly in journalism, then pursued graduate school for fiction. It feels important to note that it took over 15 years from MFA to published book, but I just kept doing this thing I loved to do. Which means I’m either obstinate or nuts.

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

Early influences were authors who showed me that you could tell propulsive stories in beautiful prose: Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston. I think I’ve learned from nearly every book I’ve read since, even if a text is just revealing a technique I may not wish to use.

When and where do you write?

I don’t adhere to a set schedule, in part because the nature of my life doesn’t permit it. I have a full-time job and two young kids, one of whom wakes before 6 AM. That said, I squeeze in writing time every week, where I can: during slow office hours or on my commute or, sometimes, after the kids are in bed. I’m most productive in the summer.

What are you working on now?

I’m back to writing fiction, my first literary language. I’m still not sure yet what shape the project will take…

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I used to, especially when I was a much younger writer and overeager to be in the world. That kind of desperation was paralyzing. These days my challenge is finding time in my schedule to tend to various ideas.

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

I appreciate every teacher and mentor and writer-friend who said some variation of “don’t give up.” Who promised that the stick-with-it-ness would pay off.  

What’s your advice to new writers?

See above?

Courtney Zoffness is the author of the critically acclaimed Spilt Milk (McSweeney’s), named a best debut memoir of 2021 by BookPage. She won the 2018 Sunday Times Short Story Award, the largest international prize for fiction, as well as fellowships from The Center for Fiction and MacDowell. She directs the creative writing program at Drew University.

Audrey Schulman

How did you become a writer?

When I was 12 years old, I wrote what I called a novel. It was illustrated and handwritten and probably if I typed it up, it would have been less than 15 pages. Still I got a lot of attention for this from others who could not imagine spending any time writing something they did not have to. I liked the attention and I imagined a writer's life as filled with coffee shops and waking up late and having no boss. 

At 12, I did not think about things such as a lack of healthcare and a regular paycheck.

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

Valerie Martin, Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, Kay Boyle, Kent Haruf, and so many others.

When I was young I read a lot of Hemingway and Faulkner and the Bible. The very different rhythm of those sentences will stay with me, and within my work, forever. 

When and where do you write?

There is never a good time for writing. It is difficult and scary and it’s easy to put off until later. Therefore you have to make regular time for it, sort of like flossing your teeth. if you work at it regularly, it gets so much easier. With practice, you can train your mind to work better at that time of the day.

I write each morning, first thing, for several hours. I try to choose a place with a view of something interesting. Then my eyes can wander, while my brain works.

What are you working on now?

At the moment I am taking a vacation from writing. I've just finished my most recent novel, called The Dolphin House. It will be published in the spring of 2022. The novel was inspired by a research experiment that happened in 1965. A woman lived in a pool with a dolphin for several months trying to teach it to speak English. Dolphins make noise with their blowholes, not with their mouths, so they have no teeth or tongue or lips with which to form the words. Asking them to speak would be as hard as enunciating through a kazoo. Meanwhile the other researchers are all men and the head of the research center was experimenting with LSD. In the novel, my character works hard to protect the dolphin and herself.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Writer's block, I think, is about a fear of failure. It's that blank white page in front of me making me scared that what I write might be terrible. 

However, I have little fear of failure because I am pretty certain that my writing will always be bad at the start of a project. Luckily I am deeply stubborn and willing to commit to the project over a long period of time to improve it. If I am willing to accept the certainty of failure as part of the process, the failure changes from something I fear, to something that moves me forward toward something that could be worthwhile. 

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

To read stories in front of other people and listen hard for when the audience gets very still. That is when your writing is good. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

• Write regularly, every day.

• Accept that it will take you at least 10,000 hours of solid hard writing to become a good writer. Be comfortable with writing a lot of bad stuff until then and always assume you can do better.

• Accept that, even after those 10,000 hours, your writing will be bad and if you keep working, it will improve.

• Write about subjects and people and situations that you never tire of, write about them in the way that only you can do.

• Rather than going to writing school and spending tens of thousands of dollars, find other writers who will expect the best from you and can point out with respect when you don’t achieve that, and when you do. Teach each other with kindness and honesty how to write.

• Understand the relationship between money and writing. Writing takes time and means you have less time to earn money. Every time you spend a dollar, think that dollar is coming from your writing time.

Bio: Born a long time ago, in another country, I have traveled enough to have vomited on four continents, including once onto a Masai tribesman’s feet. He, unfortunately, was barefoot.

I have published five novels including The Cage, Swimming with Jonah, A House Named Brazil, Three Weeks in December and A Theory of Bastards.

My novels have been translated into 12 languages, reviewed by The New York Times, New Yorker and CNN. They have won the Phillip K. Dick Award 2019, Dartmouth College’s Neukom Award and twice been selected as notable books by the American Library Association. 

My books aren't boring. For a short time, one was even optioned for a movie with Wes Craven (the director of Nightmare on Elm Street). Articles I’ve written have been anthologized, as well as published in Orion, Grist, Ms. Magazine, Bust and others. I now live near Boston and run an energy-efficiency nonprofit called HEET.

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