I've always been fascinated by interviews with writers: how they work through the creative process, what fears dog them and what joys nourish them, how they attract the muse and what they do when she fails to appear.
As a reader, I enjoy these "behind the pen" glimpses into how their ideas make it from their mind and onto the paper, and, as a writer, I feel less alone when I learn that other, more successful writers have also been challenged by creative setbacks and personal issues.
With One on One: Insights Into the Writer's Life, I'll share these stories through a series of interviews with authors and writers, those whose work lines the bookshelves (both physical and electronic) as well as those who are still struggling through the process of publication. Because, published or not, wildly successful or unknown, we are all writers.
As Isaac Asimov wrote in Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection, "…let me be clear what I mean about 'writers." I don't want to confine the word only to those who are successful…I also mean those writers who just sell an occasional item…whose names are not household words…even…those writers who never sell anything, who are writers only in the sense that they work doggedly at it, sending out story after story, and living in a hope that is not yet fulfilled."
I hope you enjoy these interviews and from them, glean new insights and gain more confidence to help you as you continue on your journey through this writing life.
Nancy Christieby nancy on May 15, 2013
We are back with novelist/essayist/short fiction and nonfiction writer Antoine Wilson. (If you missed part one, read it here.) In part two, Antoine talks about the inspiration for his novels and the writing process. (For more information about Antoine Wilson, visit his website at http://antoinewilson.com or follow him on Twitter at @antoinewilson.)
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by nancy on May 1, 2013
Writer Antoine Leonide Thomas Wilson certainly gets around. Born in Montreal, he grew up in southern California, with, as he puts it, “spells in Central California and Saudi Arabia.” From UCLA, he went to the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and has since taught creative writing at Iowa, Wisconsin, CSU Long Beach, UC San Diego, and UCLA Extension.
But it’s his writing that perhaps spans the broadest range. Antoine is the author of The Interloper (Handsel Books / Other Press) and Panorama City (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), short fiction, essays and nonfiction pieces, and some very visual “side projects” including The Slow Paparazzo and Shopping Carts of Panorama City, among others. (For more information about Antoine Wilson, visit his website at http://antoinewilson.com or follow him on Twitter at @antoinewilson.)
In part one of this interview, Antoine shares some information about his work, his process and his thoughts on writing. Stop back on May 15 for part two! [click to continue…]
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by nancy on February 15, 2013
We are back with Caitlin Kelly, whose credits include essays, articles and two books: Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail and Blown Away: American Women and Guns. (For more about Caitlin, visit her websites at Caitlin Kelly.com, Blown Away by the Book, and Malled, and her Broadside blog.
In part two, Caitlin talks about her experiences writing and marketing her books, and how she lives her writing life!
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by nancy on February 2, 2013
I “met” Caitlin Kelly through the organization we both belong to, the American Society of Journalists and Authors. And I was struck by her commitment to writing — both as a profession and an art form — and impressed by her extensive and diverse background. From investigative pieces, personal essays and informational articles, to her recent book, Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail (2011), Caitlin has traveled far and wide (metaphorically speaking) in her goal to bring information and insights to her readers.
So of course I wanted to know how she does it — and how she handles all the challenges that come with this career choice. And here, in this two-part interview, Caitlin shares her experience and knowledge. (For more about Caitlin, visit her websites at Caitlin Kelly.com, Blown Away by the Book, and Malled, and her Broadside blog. [click to continue…]
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by nancy on January 15, 2013
Novelist, short story writer, memoirist — and editor. One could be forgiven for wondering if Dawn Raffel ever eats, sleeps or even has a life! But she does, and that life has given this New Yorker much inspiration for her writing, and resulted in reviews such as “The stories in Dawn Raffel’s astonishing Further Adventures in the Restless Universe (Dzanc) as as sharp and bright as stars” (Elissa Schappell, VANITY FAIR), “[Raffell's] prose is intense enough to make even everyday topics seem fire-hot.” (TIME OUT NEW YORK) and “Her gift for capturing the nugget of a relationship in a single backward glance works beautifully in this illustrated memoir.” (The Chicago Tribune). (For more information, visit her website and Facebook page and follow her on Twitter at @Dawnraffell.)
In part 2 of this two-part interview, she shares insights into her writing process, the writing biz and how she defines success. [click to continue…]
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by nancy on January 1, 2013
“I was an editor before I was a writer,” wrote Dawn Raffell, adding “I had some idea that writers were magical people with special gifts.”
And while she said that she later realized it took both labor and talent to be a writer, there is no denying that Raffell does indeed have a special gift for not only bringing out the best in those she edits but also in herself as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Her illustrated memoir, The Secret Life of Objects, was on Oprah’s Summer Reading List for 2012, and she is also the author for two story collections— Further Adventures in the Restless Universe and In the Year of Long Division (soon to be reissued)—and a novel, Carrying the Body.
As for her short stories, they have appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, BOMB, Conjunctions, Black Book, Fence, Open City, The Mississippi Review Prize Anthology, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, Arts & Letters, The Quarterly, NOON, and numerous other periodicals and anthologies.
On the editorial side of the desk, Raffell served as a fiction editor for many years, followed by a seven-year stint as Executive Articles Editor at O, The Oprah Magazine and three years as Editor-at-Large at More magazine. She has also taught in the MFA program at Columbia University and at the Summer Literary Seminars in St. Petersburg, Russia; Montreal; and Vilnius, Lithuania. Raffell is now Editor at Large, Books at Readers Digest, and the editor of The Literarian, the magazine for the Center for Fiction in New York.
Raffell lives outside New York City with her husband and sons. (For more information, visit her website and Facebook page and follow her on Twitter at @Dawnraffell.) The following is part one of a two-part interview. (Stop back on January 15th for the second half!)
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by nancy on December 15, 2012
It was the kind of review that first-time novelists dream of: “Pagán writes with both a subtle sense of humor and great wisdom in her quietly compelling literary debut.” (The Chicago Tribune).
But each novel requires “a leap of faith,” points out Michigan journalist-turned-novelist Camille Noe Pagán, and there’s no guarantee that the outcome will be all the author desired. However, since Pagán is now working on another novel, it’s clearly a leap that she is willing to take. (For more about Pagán, visit her website.) [click to continue…]
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by nancy on December 1, 2012
Amy Hill Hearth has an unusual credit to her professional bio. She not only co-authored the New York Times bestseller Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, but was also portrayed in the film version by actress Amy Madigan. Talk about watching your words come to life!
But for Hill Hearth, that book is only one of long line of publication credits. She has authored or co-authored six other books, and is also known for her photography, including those featured in her 2008 book, Strong Medicine Speaks: A Native American Elder Has Her Say: An Oral History, an oral history of the matriarch of a Lenni-Lenape tribe.
With her latest book, Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society: A Novel (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster), Hill Hearth has now entered the fiction realm. In this interview, she talks about her writing process, background, and how she came by her name. (For more about Hill Hearth, visit her website.) [click to continue…]
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by nancy on November 15, 2012
We’re back with New York City novelist (just to name one of his successful professions!) Morrow Wilson, whose latest novel David Sunshine is “delightful and full of truth,” according to Eliot Fremont-Smith (book critic of The Village Voice, The New York Times and, before that, Editor-in-Chief of Little-Brown). (For more information about Wilson, visit his Facebook page.)
In Part 2 of our One-on-One, Wilson talks about his latest work and the business side of the publishing business, along with his thoughts on writing. [click to continue…]
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by nancy on November 2, 2012
Morrow Wilson started his writing career comparatively early: he received his first rejection slip at age 14 and his first payment for his writing at 17. Since then, he’s held a variety of roles related to creative professions, from novelist and short story writer, playwright, columnist, and reviewer to award-winning New York actor, singer, producer, broadcasting, publishing and advertising executive. And, he adds (only slightly tongue-in-cheek), “the survival jobs associated with being a Renaissance Man centuries after the Renaissance.”
A graduate of New York’s Columbia College, where he studied English and American literature with, among others, Mark Van Doren and Lionel Trilling, he’s a Lifetime Member of The Actors’ Fund of America, this country’s oldest theatrical charity and a Board Member of The Players, this country’s oldest theatrical and literary social club.
Wilson currently makes his home in New York City, sharing space with two cats, both named after Shakespearean heroines: (Kate, the husky defiant one; Juliet, the slender loving one). David Sunshine is his second published novel. (For more information about Wilson, visit his Facebook page.)
In this two-part interview, he shares his thoughts, observations, experiences and philosophies on living the writing life. [click to continue…]
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