Paz Pardo

How did you become a writer? I started out in theater, first as an actor and a director—but the stories that I was getting to work on always felt just a little off from the ones I wanted to tell (or drastically off; after getting cast as three rape victims in three months I could see myself building a career consisting of looking scared onstage that would come to a screeching halt as soon as I stopped passing for sixteen). Writing was a way of taking control over what kind of art I was dedicating my life to; instead of auditioning for whatever was available or trying to sell myself as the best option for directing A Christmas Carol, I was creating the stories I needed to tell from scratch. 

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). I grew up on sci-fi—if you're into that and read my novel The Shamshine Blind, you can hopefully see my love for William Gibson and C.J. Cherryh on the page. Through their prose I found my way to the classic hard-boilers, Dashell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. N.K. Jemisin's ability to world-build not just through description but also the metaphors she uses in narration and puts into the character's mouths is a huge influence. 

The latest thing I'm working on isn't speculative, and draws more from influences like Lily King and Jenny Offill. I'm also excited to play with mixing genre and literary work in a different way than I did with The Shamshine Blind; in my first novel, the beats of the noir genre structure the book. In my next one, I'm planning out a mise-en-abyme where a mystery story plays out inside a realist plot. I'm thinking of the way that Margaret Atwood threads a science fiction serial throughout The Blind Assassin, or the way that Kevin Wilson's narrator works out her anti-Nancy-Drew novel in Now Is Not the Time to Panic.

I credit Elizabeth McCracken's long-standing crusade against "sentient, anguished helium balloons" with vastly deepening my work. Bret Anthony Johnston told me in grad school that I should stop writing like I was getting away with something. That's stuck with me. 

When and where do you write? In an ideal world, I write every morning at a desk in the office space I share with my husband at home. I discovered that mornings are my best writing time when I was in my early twenties, and that has stayed constant. Being in the office keeps me from deciding to do the dishes and helps me feel focused. 

In the real world, with a toddler in the house, I write wherever and whenever I can, whether that's the dining room table, the kitchen counter, or on my phone at the playground. My brain still fires best before 1 pm, but the dream of daily uninterrupted writing hours is on hold for the time being. 

What are you working on now? A new novel. During the pandemic, a mystery writer moves with her family to a small town in the Argentine Andes that conspiracy theorists claim was the secret hiding place of Hitler after he faked his suicide. When she starts writing a mystery loosely based on these outlandish claims, she discovers the town's actual history as a Nazi hiding place. As she grapples with the implications of the fact that her life choices have led her to raise her son in a place that stocked the boards of its most prestigious schools with war criminals, her life begins to unravel.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Yep! Right now, in fact, I've got a nasty case of it. I've tried to learn to think of it as part of the process—usually the block means I need to rethink something, or that something else in my life is taking up the back-burner brain space where I'd be unconsciously writing otherwise. But it's still frustrating as hell whenever it hits, whether it lasts a day or six months. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? I'm a firm believer in Isabel Allende's "Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up too." That, combined with "Write every day for at least two minutes" (a version of which Bret Anthony Johnson blessed me with in grad school) has kept me sane—and kept me writing, writer’s block be damned.

What’s your advice to new writers? Find your people! It's so important to have people you trust, whose work you love, who will buck you up in the bad times and cheer for you in the good—but who will also offer honest feedback in a way that helps you revise what you've written. It's the only way I've gotten where I am. 

Paz Pardo is the author of The Shamshine Blind, which Kim Stanley Robinson called “a deadpan hilarious allegory for our times” and the San Francisco Chronicle described as “appealingly strange.” Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, LitHub, The Brooklyn Review, and Howlround Theater Commons. Her plays have been performed across the US, Argentina, and Colombia. She received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers, her BA from Stanford University, and is the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship. She lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. More at https://www.pazsays.com/.

John Milas

How did you become a writer? My childhood involved a lot of bedtime stories and library books and I was exposed to Bible narratives on a daily basis. The inundation of narrative was a foundational thing for me as I grew up, so I assume this is why I feel so compelled to tell stories now. But I'm sure a psychologist could figure it out for us.

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). I am a loyal follower of Sol LeWitt's "Sentences on Conceptual Art" from a 1960s magazine called 0 To 9. I was introduced to the piece in a poetry workshop in grad school and now find myself deeply moved each time I encounter it, particularly the fifth sentence, which reads, "Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically." I draw influence from any artistic medium, including from works that I do not understand or that I do not personally enjoy. Anything can push you in the right direction. Aside from the books that helped me as I wrote The Militia House, I studied the feature film The Blair Witch Project, the documentary Combat Obscura, and a mid-series episode of The X-Files.

What are you working on now? I have been working on a collection of Kafkaesque stories about the Marines and I have a couple of novels that are based on some other unrelated life experiences that I'm getting started on, both of which are fantastical and/or speculative in nature.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Honestly, I don't think so. I either choose to write or I choose not to write. I'm not sure I agree with the notion that a force of nature could stop someone from writing because then there's an implication that a force of nature enables someone to write. I think the truth is that writers need to enjoy writing, and if that's the case there will never be such a thing as writer's block; you'll just be writing to write, not because of some external standard you're holding yourself to. Also, it's okay to not want to write. It's not healthy to feel guilty about that.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? When I was in grad school, the poet Mary Leader told me and my friends that the work itself, not publication or external validation, should be the writer's reward. I've considered that very seriously for years. A writer should be most excited to do the work. Following this advice will change your writing, for the better, more than anything else.

What’s your advice to new writers? Daydream as often as you can, even if you have to steal the time from yourself.

John Milas is a writer from Illinois. His short fiction has appeared in The Southampton Review, The Journal, X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, and elsewhere. His debut novel, The Militia House, is out now from Henry Holt.

Alice Robb

How did you become a writer? I’ve always written – I’ve been keeping diaries and making up stories since I can remember. Maybe it was because I loved reading. Maybe it was a response to the conditions of childhood (not much control). Maybe it was because I foresaw a future in which I’d turn my child-thoughts into content! I do think my eight-year-old self would have been thrilled that those early journals eventually helped me write a memoir. 

Name your writing influences (writers, books, teachers, etc.). I’ve never formally studied writing–I don’t have an MFA, and I studied archaeology in college. I started my career at The New Republic in 2013 and was lucky to be surrounded by people – my peers as well as my editors – who had really good taste in books. I discovered a lot of my favorite books and writers just from being around them, and from seeing what galleys were coming into the office and what was being reviewed in the magazine. A few I return to again and again: Jenny Diski, Doris Lessing, Janet Malcolm, Delmore Schwartz, Vivian Gornick.

When and where do you write? I try to maintain a pretty “normal’ schedule” – writing is isolating enough without trying to do it in the middle of the night. My favorite place to write is the London Library, this gorgeous old library right in the middle of London. When I’m in a good rhythm, I go there every day and let its opening hours dictate my schedule. My favorite spot is a desk in the stacks overlooking St. James’s Square. Of course, when I have a deadline, this all goes out the window, and I’m just writing on the floor in my pajamas.

What are you working on now? My second book, Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet, came out a few months ago, so I’m still doing some interviews and events for that. I’m working on a few shorter essays relating to the themes of the book, and I’m also playing around with ideas for longer projects. But I’m trying not to rush into anything. After my first book came out, I spent several months freaking out and pursuing dead ends. The idea for book #2 didn’t come until almost a year post-pub – I had to give myself time to think.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? I definitely have days that are less productive, unproductive…but I have a pretty long list of book and article ideas saved,  probably more than I’ll ever have time for. A nice thing about writing nonfiction is that if I’m really struggling to put words together, I can still be “productive” by reading or doing research. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? I’m not sure what makes advice useful. Your readiness to hear it? Your relationship with the person delivering it? I’m sure I’ve forgotten or dismissed all kinds of wise advice because it didn’t resonate at that moment. Here’s one, though: Don’t keep track of which of your friends have read your book(s). It’s very generous if they do, but it really shouldn’t be a requirement.

What’s your advice to new writers? Read widely; read the kind of work you’d like to produce. When you find a book you love, look up the author and read their backlist; you’ll probably find that their early work was very different. This can be comforting as well as instructive.

Alice Robb is the author of Why We Dream (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018) and Don't Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet (HarperCollins, 2023). Don't Think, Dear has been called "a beautiful, difficult, and compelling memoir" (Vanity Fair); “Enlightening, perceptive” (The Wall Street Journal); "A nuanced, intimate mash-up of memoir, reportage and cultural criticism" (The Guardian); “Remarkable for its nuance and insight” (The Times Literary Supplement). As a journalist, she has written for Vanity Fair, Vogue, and The Atlantic, among other publications.