Rhys Bowen

How did you become a writer?

I have created stories all my life, from playing pretend games as a small child to writing with teenage angst. My first success came early—working in the BBC drama department I wrote a play which the head of drama liked and then produced. So I have been a professional author ever since.

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

Early influence was Tolkien. I admired his ability to build a whole world and take me on a journey. When I discovered Tony Hillerman I was blown away. Here was a writer who not only crafted a good mystery but took me somewhere, gave me insights into a different culture. I decided that was what I wanted to do. My first mystery series featured a police constable in Wales (home of my mother’s family). I have since become known for my creation of time and place.

 When and where do you write?

Since I write two and a half books a year I write pretty much every day. I go down to my office, sit my behind on a chair and write until I’ve done about 1500 words. The next day I edit what I’ve written the day before, but knowing I have to complete about five pages a day means that I have to keep going through the bad days and that I’ll have a first draft in about three months. My office has a huge shelf of reference books.

 What are you working on now? 

I now write my Molly Murphy series with my daughter Clare Broyles. We are currently coming to the end of a first draft of our third book together called In Sunshine or in Shadow. It’s set in the Catskill Mountains and is about an early bungalow colony.  I recently finished my next big stand-alone called Island of Lost Boys, that takes place in pre-war Paris, in Paris and London during WWII and also in Australia.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Never. I’ve had bad days when I have to extract every word from a reluctant brain but the ideas have always come easily and I find that if a scene is not working well it is because a character is digging his heels in and doesn’t want to do what I’m trying to make him do.

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

Don't ever write something because you think it’s popular and will sell. You have to love what you are writing, walk in the shoes of your characters, enjoy going to work every morning. And if you write something you think is popular by the time it is released that fad will be over.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Know what you are writing and what is already out there. If you write mysteries read the best mystery writers. Learn from the masters.

Rhys Bowen is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of three mystery series as well as several internationally best selling stand alone historical novels. Her Constable Evans series is set in Wales and currently under TV option. The Molly Murphy mysteries are set in early 1900s New York and feature an Irish immigrant. Rhys is now continuing the series with her daughter and they are on book twenty. The Royal Spyness books are lighter satire on the British class system and have a large following. Her stand-alone historical novels have sold over two million copies in over thirty languages. Rhys has won twenty major awards including five Agatha awards, and three Edgar nominations. She was born and educated in Britain but now divides her time between California and Arizona.

Ashley Hutson

How did you become a writer?
In solitude.  

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.).
The weather, definitely. The seasons.

The first piece of writing that truly excited me as a young adult was Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 

This year, on my drive to work, I have been very drawn to Bible verse placards at the end of farm lanes. They're different every month and I'm always on the lookout. These signs have no interest in comforting or amusing people, which I respect. The KJV is out for blood.

When and where do you write?
I don't have a set time. I write on a laptop while sitting at a folding card table that doubles as my kitchen table. 

What are you working on now?
An essay about my dead cat.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?
No. I'd say it's more fear combined with laziness. When one or the other is present, writing is doable. When I am too lazy to overcome the fear, or too fearful to defy the laziness, nothing happens. The writer is the block. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
I don't know. I absorb all advice but completely ignore it.

What’s your advice to new writers?
Since you will (hopefully) ignore my advice, new writers, here goes: 
No one will do it for you. Read things. Writing is not publishing. The lit world is like every other industry. Defend your time. Write what's interesting to you. Don't get too invested in rejection or your own success—the approval and opinions of others are ultimately meaningless and probably based in some capitalistic/ego-driven motivation, so you might as well please yourself first. Unless you're a prodigy and/or write mainstream stuff, your writing won't be remembered, anyway. So live a good life and enjoy things. 

Ashley Hutson is a writer living in rural Maryland. Her debut novel, One's Company, was published by W.W. Norton & Company in 2022. She is a 2022 recipient of the MSAC Independent Artist Award.

Lan Samantha Chang

How did you become a writer?

Through a fixity of purpose, a fascination for stories, and a lack of other skills; despite parental disapprobation and straitened circumstances.

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

I grew up reading post World War II Jewish American writers such as Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, etc. My teachers were James Alan McPherson, Margot Livesey, and Marilynne Robinson. I love Henry James, Patricia Highsmith, Toni Morrison, and Kazuo Ishiguro. I owe a lot to my students, who inspire me by always making it new.

When and where do you write?

In the last fifteen years, I've scraped out writing time whenever I can find it, between being a mother, a teacher, and an administrator. To finish my most recent novel, I went to number of writing residencies, for which I am grateful.

What are you working on now?

I'm filling out this questionnaire. To be honest, I can't write while I'm in the process of promoting a recently published novel.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I hate the time between ideas--not blocked, exactly, but casting about, scanning the horizon for the next project.

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

"A thing worth doing is worth doing badly." My late mentor, Eavan Boland, used this rough approximation of the G.K. Chesterton quote, and it always loosens me up in the drafty beginnings of things. Eavan also used to quote this line that has been attributed to Robert Frost, "The only way out is through."

What’s your advice to new writers?

I would advise new writers not to think about publication until they've put their time, focus, and passion into serving the project itself. Writing is the best part of it. 

Lan Samantha Chang is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her first book, Hunger (1998), was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award. Her second book, Inheritance (2004) won the PEN Open Book Award. She has also published the novels All Is Forgotten (2011), Nothing Is Lost (2010) and The Family Chao (2022). Her work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and The Best American Short Stories. A recent recipient of the Berlin Prize, she is a professor at the University of Iowa, where she directs the Iowa Writers' Workshop.