Jack Zipes

How did you become a writer? As soon as I could write and draw as a young boy, I began writing stories about dogs and baseball players. By the time I reached high school, I became the editor of my school newspaper.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). It is difficult to name influences because there have been so many and because I cover many different fields. In fiction, I'd say Kafka and Camus have had a great influence. The German philosopher of Hope, Ernst Bloch, along with many other philosophers from the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory such as Herbert Marcuse and Theodor Adorno, have influenced me.

When and where do you write? I generally write from 6:30 am to 1:00 pm every day. Then in the afternoon, I read or do some chores.

What are you working on now? I have just finished a new collection of essays, Buried Treasures: The Political Power of Fairy Tales. At the same time, I have edited three volumes of fairy tales by the neglected, author Gower Wilson, who published them from 1929-1931 -- Red Fairy Tales, Green Fairy Tales and Silver Fairy Tales.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Not really. Writing has been my relief and sanctuary.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? Write from  your heart and write to resist all the brutality in this perverted world.

What’s your advice to new writers? Never let anyone tell you how to write or advise you how to write.

Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota. In addition to his scholarly work, he is an active storyteller in public schools, founded Neighborhood Bridges at the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, and has written fairy tales for children and adults. Some of his recent publications include: The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre (2012), and The Golden Age of Folk and Fairy Tales: From the Brothers Grimm to Andrew Lang (2013). Most recently he has published The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: An Anthology of Magical Tales (2017), and Fearless Ivan and His Faithful Horse Double-Hump (2018). In 2019, he founded his own press called Little Mole and Honey Bear and has published The Giant Ohl and Tiny Tim (2019), Johnny Breadless (2020), Yussuf the Ostrich (2020), Keedle the Great and All You Want to Know About fascism (2020), Tistou, the Boy with the Green Thumbs of Peace (2022), and Haunting and Hilarious Fairy Tales (2022).

Ann Jacobus

How did you become a writer? Acting or directing were my early aspirations but I was too inhibited, had four kids, and didn’t live in LA or NYC. In fiction writing I get to do both plus produce, design sets and costumes, stage manage, etc. and can work at any hour any place—a necessity if you have four kids. I didn’t start writing seriously though until my mid-thirties and didn’t publish a novel until my fifties.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). I keep a running list of all my favorite writers and books in order to answer questions like this because I tend to go blank on the spot. But it’s seven pages long now, single spaced. Writers learn by reading—and watching and listening. I’ve always been obsessed with story and felt that plotting and premise were weaknesses of mine. So I studied screenplays, plays and watched films for homework. A few screenwriter-playwrights I revere include Thornton Wilder, Charlie Kaufman, Nora Ephron, and Stanley Kubrick for the way they tell a story as much as for the stories they tell. Novelists whose writing I’m in awe of include Miriam Towes (The Fying Troutmans, All My Puny Sorrows), Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex), Virginia Woolf (anything), and J.R.R. Tokien (the Lord of the Rings Trilogy). Other inspiring writers for me include Dr. Suess, Dav Pilkey, Carlos Castaneda, C.S. Lewis and Annie Dillard.

When and where do you write? Mornings—I have just a few hours of semi-productive multi-neuron firing in me and then I’m useless. My “office” is a comfy chair with my laptop screen raised to eye level thanks to a small, foldable stand to reduce neck and shoulder wear and tear. I recommend it. Long plane flights are good—Isn’t there some writer who flies to Tokyo and back to revise manuscripts? I’d like to try that if someone will pay for it.

What are you working on now? A ghost story/thriller set in Arkansas about a religiously conservative family and their increasingly clairvoyant daughter’s relationship with an agitated spirit.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Yeah, right now. After I send the above ms. off I don’t have any ideas for my next novel. I envy people with a long list of premises just waiting to be spun into prose. Mine come slowly and piecemeal, similar to extracting molars. But I’ll start researching something that fascinates me and wait for a story to bloom.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? An author I admired told me early on that the only writers he knew who were successful were the ones who made it their first priority and never gave up. More myopically, I go by, “Just do it.” Just get something—anything—down and don’t judge yourself. Then, improve it. Also research and write about what pulls you and what you feel passionate about. You may be improving it for a long time.

What’s your advice to new writers? You are perfecting a craft, no different from learning to play a musical instrument to the point where people will willingly pay to listen to your version of “Für Elise.” Don’t be afraid or put off by the work you need to do, but don’t kid yourself either. Write every day, if possible (grocery lists count), take classes, find good readers and/or a writing group. Then, even something that’s well-crafted, and has readers responding enthusiastically, STILL has to be promoted vigorously by you the author, a whole new, unpaid skill-set. If there’s anything else you’d rather be doing, then you are better off doing that. Harumph. But not to be too discouraging—if you can get beyond all the nay-sayers, you’re golden. I wouldn’t do anything else.

Ann Jacobus is the author of YA novels The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent, and Romancing the Dark in the City of Light. She graduated from Dartmouth College, and earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has published essays, articles, poetry, and short fiction; teaches YA novel writing for Stanford Continuing Studies; and is a former suicide crisis line counselor and always a mental health advocate. When she’s not reading, she enjoys swimming, sailing, dogs and kids, and binging Netflix series. Find her at www.annjacobus.com, and on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Wanda M. Morris

How did you become a writer? I think I've always been a writer and just took the circuitous route to become a novelist. I've always journaled and still do every morning before I start my writing day. As a lawyer, I always wrote--memos, briefs, summaries, etc. But I've never enjoyed writing as much as I do when I am creating stories in my head and bringing them to life on the page. 

Specifically, my journey to publication was not an easy one but I hope it inspires and encourages other writers. It took me 13 years from first draft to publication with my debut novel, All Her Little Secrets. I started a draft of the book and then put it away for 7 years because I convinced myself that nobody would want to read about a 40-ish Black woman who worked with really awful people. I think people  want an escape when they read a book and who would want to escape to the world I had created in that book?! During that time, I continued to write whether it was personal essays or journaling, but I didn’t go back to the book. Then I had a health scare a few years back and I started to look at my life differently. I’ve always loved to write, so why not do what I love to do? I pulled out the manuscript. When I read it again, I knew it was pretty bad, but that was okay. All first drafts are bad. I knew immediately I needed to improve my craft. I began reading about fiction writing and took night classes on creative writing. I attended workshops, including Robert McKee's Story Seminar.

After revising the manuscript, I began querying agents. I did so with horrendous results. My queries either went into a black hole of which I didn’t hear a word back or I got a standard form letter thanking me but advising that the project was “not right” for them. I still felt deep down that I had something with this book, so I kept revising and polishing it. I queried some more. More rejections. But this time, some agents responded that they liked the premise but went on to give me specific comments about why the book wasn’t working for them. I took those comments and poured them back into my manuscript revisions. 

While on my “Journey of Rejection,” I did a really smart thing – I built myself a community of support in other writers, some more advanced in their journey and some right where I was in the journey. I came to rely on their friendship, wisdom and insight. Rejection is hard and having people to support you along the way is hugely important. I joined groups like Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers of Color. I continued to query and continued to rack up an painfully impressive number of rejections. And while you would think I would have given up on this book, I didn’t. I had this mantra in my head that came from the lyrics of a gospel song, “I almost gave up. I was right at the edge of a breakthrough but couldn’t see it.” I knew if I just stayed with this book, I would see a breakthrough. 

Finally, in July 2019, I attended a writing conference and participated in their pitch. I met a lovely woman, Lori Galvin of Aevitas Creative Management, who became my agent. She is a fierce advocate for this book and my career. After I signed with Lori, she gave me notes and I spent another nine months or so (the pandemic intervened and at one point I was not writing all!) working on more edits. We went on submission in July 2020 and the book sold 12 days later at auction!

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). My mother, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Alafair Burke, Lou Berney, Robert McKee, Don Winslow, Steven Pressfield's book, The War of Art, and my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Shirley Cook.

When and where do you write? My brain is fresher in the early morning so I try to get in the bulk of my writing then. I write in a small room off my living room. I have library envy when I look at other people with large, impeccably decorated rooms with wall-to-wall bookshelves that they modestly call their "study."

What are you working on now? I am working on my third book that is currently untitled. It is about a young woman who returns to her hometown in coastal Georgia after suffering a devastating loss. When she learns that a Black landowner is missing and his very valuable property is being redeveloped, she makes a desperate search to find out what happened to him and others like him. The book deals with themes of Black land ownership and generational wealth and what it means to have a home.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Thankfully no. I view writing full-time as my new career. I couldn't show up at my previous job as an attorney and say "I can't practice law today because I'm uninspired." When I feel like I am stuck in my writing, I try to work through it by changing up my routine. That may mean changing the locale where I write or leaving a particular point in the project to work on a different section of the project, or simply distracting myself from the problem by reading to free up my brain. As Stephen King says, I let the "boys in the basement" do their work.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? Grow a very thick skin before jumping into publishing. It can be a tough industry. And that's coming from me, a person who worked in the cut-throat world of the legal profession. I don't think publishing is necessarily cut-throat, but it can be filled with inordinate amounts of rejection and subjectivity.

What’s your advice to new writers? Read as much as you can. Reading helps you develop "an ear" for discerning when narrative works and when it doesn't. I also recommend that new writers read outside the genre in which they write. If you write literary, read a thriller on occasion to learn something about pacing. If you write mysteries, read a biography on occasion to learn about characterization. Read often and read widely.

Wanda M. Morris is the acclaimed author of All Her Little Secrets, which was named as one of the “Best Books of 2021” by Hudson Booksellers and selected as the #1 Top Pick for “Library Reads” by librarians across the country. All Her Little Secrets won the 2022 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel. Her new book, Anywhere You Run, was named as One of the Top Ten Crime Fiction Books of 2023 by The New York Times. It has received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal. Wanda is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Crime Writers of Color and serves on the Board of International Thriller Writers. She is married, the mother of three and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.