JR Thorp

How did you become a writer?

When I was a very small child, I wanted to own a bookstore, because I was allowed to spend a remarkable amount of time in libraries and running my own bookshop seemed like the best possible future. In about fourth grade, I mentioned this ambition to an elderly teacher, who informed me with great sniffiness that "ladies don't own bookshops". With the unquestioning seamlessness of small-person logic, I thought, "Well, I'll write books instead." I've since realised that people of all stripes own bookshops and I'm not even close to being a lady, but the die was cast.  

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

I had a shelf of most beloved books for ages in Australia: Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, Ovid's Heroides, Patrick White's Voss, a complete Emily Dickinson collection, Umberto Eco, Anne Carson, Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces, Helen Vendler's annotations of Shakespeare's sonnets – it's a long list. My literature tutor, Gordon Shrubb, was enlisted by my parents in mid-high school to help me stop running riot in English classes, and was responsible for many of the things on those shelves, from Robert Browning to Virginia Woolf. (If it counts, Impressionist and Pointillist paintings, too.) 

When and where do you write?

Mostly in cafés with movie soundtracks, though I do have a study at home when something is proving particularly difficult and I need to be essentially trapped in one spot to get it done. Spotify informs me that in 2020, the year of editing Learwife for publication, I was the only person whose most-listened was a playlist of shrieking medieval bagpipes (I like the composer Jed Kurzel). 

What are you working on now?

I'm currently on the second draft of my second novel, which is about translators, people-smuggling, family secrets, architecture, and how the past can eat you. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

I suffered from something I think is quite common in young writers, which is consuming worry about Being A Writer rather than actually writing. I was so battered with anxiety about making every sentence worthy that I essentially wrote a novel into the ground. I had to get over it and recognise that I was in service to an audience, not to any self-concept of status, before I could work properly.  

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

Try everything – every genre, every commission, whatever you've got time and space to try. My Masters at Oxford was a gift because they essentially threw you into every possible form (radio drama! prose poems! lyrics! scriptwriting!) over two years, and you had to give it a shot. If you say yes to a thing and don't know how to do it, don't be afraid to learn from others or teach yourself.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Find a philosophy of failure. (This worried my agent when I said it in my first big newspaper interview, but I continue to believe it's a valuable piece of advice.) You will fail a lot, even if you are extremely gifted/lucky/connected/have succeeded previously, and if you don't manage to detach your self-worth from your work and its reception, you will fall into a hole and won't be able to do anything. If possible, find a skilled therapist, but do have a support network to help you through. Also, don't compare yourself to anybody else if you can help it, and if you can't help it, see therapist advice above. 

JR Thorp is an Australian writer. Her first novel, Learwife (Canongate/Pegasus), was a 2021 Waterstones Book of the Year, an Apple Books and Audible pick, an Independent Fiction Book of the Month, and was longlisted for both the Walter Scott Historical Fiction Prize and the Authors Club Debut Novel Award. She is the recipient of a Markievicz Award from the Arts Council of Ireland, and lives in Cork.

Eli Cranor

How did you become a writer?

Ray Bradbury once said something like: "You're not a real writer until you've written a million words." He was probably just being facetious, but I took that line to heart. So much so, I kept up with every word I wrote in a Moleskin journal until I hit one million words. As it turns out, that's about the same time I signed with my first agent. I'm on my third agent now, and he's a keeper. But the point is I became a writer by writing. That's the only way anybody does it. 

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

Music was big for me growing up. My dad had all these old cassettes I'd listen to as I fell asleep. John Prine. Harry Chapin. Carole King. Jerry Jeff Walker. Jimmy Buffett. When I got older, guys like Jason Isbell became a huge influence on my writing. Nobody tells a better story than that dude in so few words. I was also reading Flannery O'Connor, Larry Brown, Toni Morrison, Harry Crews—more Southern literature than anything. Jordan Harper's She Rides Shotgun coupled with Michael Koryta's The Prophet were the two books that got me thinking maybe I should try my hand at crime fiction. My writing mentor is a man named Johnny Wink, and I love him with all my heart. 

When and where do you write? 

I have two kids, so I have to wake up before they do to get my work done. That usually happens around five in the morning, which gives me about two hours to write. The daily commitment to the time and place is what's important. I've given up on word counts. I used to be the hare but I'm learning to be the tortoise; slow and steady wins the publishing race. Oh, and I write longhand on unlined yellow legal pads with a blue Pilot V7 pen, a habit I picked up from Elmore Leonard. 

What are you working on now? 

I'm trying to write my version of Deliverance. 

 Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? 

Things get clogged up sometimes, but I always slog my way through, even if it's to my own detriment. The old football player coming out in me, I guess.

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

A beautiful writer and dear friend of mine by the name of Alex Taylor once told me, "Write what you write and let the devil take the hindmost." Took me a minute to understand what he was talking about, but I'm starting to get it now. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

Write a million words then throw them all away and write a sixty to eighty thousand word manuscript. Revise the hell out of it. Send it out to at least one hundred agents. While you're waiting to hear back from those agents, start on another manuscript. Rinse and repeat until you get a book deal, or die trying. 

Eli Cranor played quarterback at every level: peewee to professional, and then coached high school football for five years. These days, he’s traded in the pigskin for a laptop, writing from Arkansas where he lives with his wife and kids. In addition to his critically acclaimed debut Don't Know Tough, Eli is also the author of the forthcoming novel, Ozark Dogs. For more information visit elicranor.com.

Michael Kaufman

How did you become a writer?

Grade two. I decided to write a book. Called it “Mike’s Dream.” The teacher gave it to the school librarian, who put it onto a shelf among the other books. I was hooked.

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

Diverse as all get out. Because I write both fiction and nonfiction, my influences are all over the map. On the fiction side, I’m an eclectic reader. Half are classics — especially from the 19th and first half of the 20th century; the rest is mainly mysteries, plus some sci-fi and contemporary literary fiction. For my nonfiction, my books have focused on the themes of my activist/advising work with the United Nations, governments, and NGOs — that is, engaging men to support women’s rights, end violence against women, support diversity and inclusion, and positively transform the lives of men.

When and where do you write?

I’m a lucky man. I have a cozy office on the third floor of our house with the perfect office chair and two grand monitors. I look west across Toronto and listen for the screech of hawks and the insistent call of blue jays. As for when, it depends on other demands: paid work, shopping and cooking, getting some exercise. But my fav writing days are when I start in the morning and can’t drag myself away from my computer until late at night.

What are you working on now?

My latest is book two of my Jen Lu/Chandler mystery series. “The Last Resort” (coming out in January 2023, but available for a ridiculously low price as an eBook only in December) is set in Washington, D.C., in 2034 and features police detective Jen Lu who has a habit of taking on cases that no one on the planet but her, thinks is actually a case. Sure, the climate crisis is hitting hard along with ever-growing inequality, but this isn’t another bleak dystopia where you want to jump out a window at the end. I set out to write a fun, page-turning book but one that deals with serious political and social issues. About half is narrated by Jen’s “partner” Chandler, the bio-computer implant tucked into her brain. Chandler is a wannabe tough guy, but since he’s not even three years old, he has a hard time pulling it off.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Nope. However, there are inevitable moments when I can’t figure out a scene. I usually go for a walk and, distracted by trees and squirrels, people and buildings, I start hearing my characters talking to each other and the scene starts fleshing out. It’s quite a miracle.

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

Trust editors. The good ones are awfully smart.

What’s your advice to new writers?

All the usual: Read, not only in your genre but as widely as possible. Stoke your curiosity. Be prepared for disappointments: Writing is a craft that requires practice, humility, and patience. Don’t hesitate to weave political and social themes into your writing. And, of course, write, write, write.

Michael Kaufman is the author of the Jen Lu series, set in Washington D.C. in the 2030s. Publishers Weekly called The Last Exit “outstanding.” Michael has worked in fifty countries with the United Nations, governments, companies, and NGOs engaging men to promote women’s rights, end gender-based violence, support diversity and inclusion, and positively transform the lives of men. He holds a PhD in political science. His most recent non-fiction book is The Time Has Come: Why Men Must Join the Gender Equality Revolution. His articles have appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, and many other papers and journals. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and Durham, North Carolina and now lives in Toronto, Canada.