kristin hannah - Writer's Digest

26 downloads 245 Views 1MB Size Report
Kristin Hannah (kristinhannah.com) is The New York Times bestselling author of ... including the blockbusters Firefly Lane, True Colors and Winter Garden, and, ...
TH E BI

THE

G 10 IS SU

kristin hannah

Kristin Hannah (kristinhannah.com) is The New York Times bestselling author of 18 novels, including the blockbusters Firefly Lane, True Colors and Winter Garden, and, most recently, Night Road. She divides her time between Bainbridge Island, Wash., and Kauai, Hawaii.

Your books are categorized as “women’s fiction,” but there’s some debate about how to define that genre. How do you feel about the term, and about the genre in general?

10 Genres • 10 Bestsellers • 10 Q&As

1. Women’s Fiction: Kristin Hannah 4. Children’s/YA: Jeff Kinney

2. Nonfiction: A.J. Jacobs

5. Inspirational: Donald Miller

8. Science Fiction: John Scalzi

3. Historical Fiction: Paula McLain

6. Memoir: Jeannette Walls

9. Paranormal Romance: Christine Feehan

7. Short Stories: ZZ Packer

10. Humor: Justin Halpern

photo © Deborah Feingold

Honestly, when you start talking about genres, you’re talking as much about the business side of writing as anything else. Certainly there are elements of reader expectation that play into various genres, and those are important, but it also becomes about packaging, placement, audience. When asked, I say I write women’s fiction, mostly to clarify the intended audience. In the end, I’m not a fan of labels. I think the best fiction blurs the boundaries between genres, stretches and breaks them. You’re known for blending elements of other popular genres in your work. Do you approach the process in a systematic way? I love reading

so many kinds of fiction. … It’s not surprising that bits and pieces of all of

that show up in my novels. I love books that are well written and yet have commercial, can’t-putit-down kind of plots. Having said that, I don’t consciously try to weave such elements into my books. I simply go after a good story [and] try to create fully dimensional, complex characters. For me, this means months of research on the front end, a long, detailed synopsis, and more drafts than I care to admit. Somehow, no matter how carefully I plan, I discover that errors in conception occur. I try to write my way out of those problems, allowing the characters’ evolutions to show me the truth of the story. What is the most difficult part of the writing process for you? Hands

down, the hardest part for me is coming up with an idea. I spend about 14 months writing a book, and that’s a lot of hours spent thinking about a single project. I simply have to love the idea. I’ll go through dozens of workable ideas until I find one that lights my fire. You’ve said you have a tendency to revise as you write, but I understand that you write longhand. How does that affect your process? I do write

all of my books longhand, on yellow legal pads, with a fine-point gel-tip pen. How’s that for OCD? In the early days, it was indeed a time-consuming and laborious process to write everything out and then type it into the computer.

Especially because I edited as I entered; I couldn’t help myself. Now, I am lucky enough to have a fabulous assistant who enters the material into the laptop and hands me perfect pages. I find that I’m more creative with a pen. Something about it makes the whole process feel easier, more relaxed. And it means I can write on the beach, which I do regularly. Your books are popular with book clubs. What is the key to reaching that audience? I think club members

like books that inform and educate, as well as those that challenge their beliefs or introduce them to an unknown place or time. Controversial issues work especially well with book clubs because they create lively discussions. Looking back on your career, how do you feel you’ve grown as a writer?

I’ve changed a lot over the years. My vision for the books has grown more complex and interesting; I’m drawn to deeper and more difficult ideas. I’m less concerned with the “rules” of writing and more interested in finding the best way to tell the story. I’m also more comfortable dealing with unlikable characters and in creating characters who make profound mistakes or do unsympathetic things. —Jessica Strawser What Women Want For more of Hannah’s tips on writing for your audience, visit writersdigest. com/article/hannah-big10.

E

Women’s Fiction

TH E BI G 10 IS

paula mclain

A.J. Jacobs is the editor at large at Esquire magazine, and the author of three New York Times bestsellers: The Know-It-All, for which he read Encyclopædia Britannica from A to Z in a quest to learn everything in the world; The Year of Living Biblically, for which he tried to follow every rule in the Bible, from the Ten Commandments to stoning adulterers; and My Life as an Experiment, a collection of radical self-improvement projects.

I think the key to nonfiction writing is reporting. I used to work at a smalltown paper scribbling two articles a day. And I learned to ask a ridiculous number of questions. As in, “You were eating lunch when the earthquake struck? What were you eating? What kind of sandwich? Turkey and cheddar? I see. Did you drop the turkey and cheddar sandwich?” And on and on. You come up with brilliant ways to highlight issues and topics you’d like to address in your work. Where do you get your ideas? Some are inspired

by my family. For instance, when I was a kid, my dad started to read the Encyclopædia Britannica, but he only made it up to the letter B, around boomerang. So I wanted to finish what he began, and remove that black mark from our family name. That’s how I decided to write The Know-It-All. Some ideas come from taking a cultural phenomenon and pushing it to its logical extreme. A few years ago, I was reading Tom Friedman’s The World Is Flat, which was about how banks and credit card companies were outsourcing their tasks to India. I figured, why can’t I outsource my tasks? [So, for an

Paula McLain’s latest book is the bestselling The Paris Wife, a fictional account of Ernest Hemingway’s first marriage and upstart years in 1920s Paris, told from the point of view of his wife, Hadley. The author of two poetry collections, a memoir and an earlier novel, McLain holds a Master of Fine Arts in poetry and teaches in the MFA program at New England College.

From that moment on, I didn’t look back … because the inspiration felt so right.

Esquire article,] I hired a team of people in Bangalore, India, to do everything for me. They answered my e-mails for me, they answered my phone for me, and they argued with my wife for me. A lovely experience.

wasn’t allowed to touch her during her “time of month.” And since I was really taking Leviticus literally, I couldn’t even sit in a seat where a menstruating woman had sat, because the seat was impure. My wife found this offensive, so she sat in every seat in our apartment. I had to stand much of the year. What do you think about the label When it comes to the final product, “stunt journalism”? I’m fine with it. my wife is allowed to censor anything I’ve also heard it called “immersion that’s too private. But she hasn’t used journalism,” … “first-person journalher veto power for the last two books. I ism,” “George Plimpton–style journal- think she’s gotten used to it. ism.” Whatever it’s called, I think it What did becoming a bestseller can be an entertaining and enlightening way to explore a topic, both for the teach you? Certainly to be more careful with spelling mistakes. In my first book, writer and reader. I misspelled the name of hockey great What writing advice should writers Wayne Gretzky. I got several irate ealways follow? I’m a fan of specifics mails from Canadians. I always thought over generalities. See the above point Canadians were supposed to be polite. about turkey and cheddar sandwiches. What writing advice should writers never follow? I’m not a fan of write what you know. If you don’t know, find out. I knew nothing about the Bible before I started writing The Year of Living Biblically. That was kind of the point—to learn.

How does your background in poetry influence your fiction? It’s

definitely heightened my awareness of language and imagery. The Paris Wife is nowhere near as poetic a novel as my first, A Ticket to Ride, because I was attempting to blend my own natural writing voice with Hadley Richardson’s, and was also being pretty heavily influenced by Hemingway (how could I not be?). But finding and crafting the right imagery was essential to my process for both books, particularly as a way of understanding and revealing my characters’ emotional lives. Voice and tone are also incredibly important to me as a craftsperson, and I think that grows directly out of my connection to poetry.

Is there a key to staying sane in the journalism world? I’d recommend

learning to accept rejection. Become friends with rejection. Be nice to rejection, because it’s a huge part of being a writer, no matter where you are in your career. —Zachary Petit

What influenced your decision to undertake a work of historical fiction, so unlike anything you’d writ-

Do your experiments ever take a toll on your personal life? My wife

has experienced a bit of exasperation, I’d say. During my year of living by the rules of the Bible, I

photo © Stephen Cutri

writing? I’m not the first to say it, but

E

Historical Fiction

A.J. Jacobs

What’s the No. 1 key to nonfiction

SU

Nonfiction

ten before? It had never occurred to me to write a historical novel before I stumbled onto A Moveable Feast, Hemingway’s memoir of his upstart years in Paris. His portrayal of his marriage to Hadley was so tender and so moving to me that I sought out biographies to learn more about who she was. That’s when it struck me that she would make an incredible speaker for a novel.

Were you ever daunted by the task of undertaking such an ambitious project without knowing if it would ever be accepted for publication? I did have a lot of anxiety—par-

ticularly when the publisher of my first novel passed on their option for The Paris Wife after considering 50 pages. After that disappointment, I wrote in a fever, fueled partly by my growing obsession with the project, and partly by blind panic. I had quit my teaching job to focus on the book. But I was emotionally committed to writing the book and couldn’t have given up on it. I was “all in,” to put it in gambler’s terms!

presume to know), because I felt I could. I was fully connected to the material. What key elements do you feel the best historical novels have in common?

For me, good historical fiction succeeds on multiple levels—transporting a reader fully to another time and place through convincing and compelling period detail, creating characters that feel complex, dynamic and real, and building a narrative that works well as a good story, rather than simply digesting an historical event. Finally, I love when historical novelists raise the bar and deliver something truly literary. Your next book is also a historical novel. How will what you learned in writing The Paris Wife affect your approach? I’m hoping I’ll have more

confidence from the outset about finding my way into the real story at hand, and trusting what I know about my characters’ interior lives to lead the way. I’m also hoping I’ve learned something about organization. Oh, the piles I had Early on, I felt a tremendous responsito dig through to find some detail I bility to stay true to the facts, and true remembered jotting down somewhere. to my characters as I was finding them It’s not likely I’ll have a major personalin various sources. The further in I went, although that sense of responsibil- ity change, but I’ll start with, you know, —Jessica Strawser ity didn’t change, I did begin to trust the a filing system! net of the story more, and to trust what I was discovering about my characters presenting the past emotionally as I grew closer to them. I Learn more from McLain on historical didn’t alter the facts substantially, but novelists’ responsibility to their subjects: rather felt freer to write deeply interior writersdigest.com/article/mclain-big10. moments (which no biographer would The book’s website contains extensive information about the lines between fact and fiction in the story. How much did you struggle with drawing those lines as you wrote?

TH E BI G 10 IS Donald Miller (donmilleris.com) is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers, including Blue Like Jazz and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. He has served on the Presidential Task Force on Fatherhood and Healthy Families, is a sought-after speaker regarding narrative structure as it relates to a person’s life and projects, and is the founder of the Storyline Conference, which helps people structure their lives using a cohesive narrative, and The Mentoring Project.

Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, is an online game developer and designer, and a No. 1 New York Times bestselling novelist. In 2009, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. Kinney, also the creator of Poptropica.com, lives in southern Massachusetts with his wife and two sons.

natural to me because I have the sensibilities of a kid. I don’t have to work at it.

What type of humor have you found to work best? I’ve found ordi-

nary, relatable humor to be the most effective. Nothing too over-the-top or slapstick.

In a nutshell, what’s your writing process? When I’m in an idea-

generating phase, I try to book an hour or two each day to come up with new material. It usually doesn’t work out—I usually fall asleep on the couch. … It takes me about nine months to write a book these days. I wish I knew the secret formula to generating ideas, because that’s always the hardest part for me. How do you get into the minds of your young characters? It feels

What are the biggest challenges of writing a series? The biggest chal-

lenge is keeping things fresh and

thing, then you’re for something else. [But public opinion doesn’t] mean as much to me as it used to. You find your audience—you say what you think is true, what you think is right. In A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, you talk about good stories—writing, editing and living them. You say most writers don’t live good stories Your work pushes the conventions of inspirational Christian writing, altering the expected tone and content of the genre. Is that something you intentionally chose to do, or does it just flow out of who you are and what you write? Probably a

little of both. Mostly, it’s out of who I am and what I write. There are times that you know, If I say this, it’s going to make some people upset. So I weigh those options. I don’t mind upsetting people if it helps the point of the book. I don’t think I strategically try to position myself as someone who’s controversial.

ing life and recent fame with your full-time job and your family?

I have no strategy, and certainly no balance. I bounce from one thing to the next—coming up with island ideas for Poptropica, drawing pictures for the next Wimpy Kid book, working on the treatment for the next film, and spending time with the kids. It’s a roller coaster ride for sure. —Zachary Petit

How do you react to people who think you’re controversial? Usually

photo © SJ Harmon Photography

is key. Kids like to read for entertainment, and the best way to entertain kids is to make them laugh.

meeting readers’ expectations. I don’t want to coast—I want to try to raise my game. … I think that any creative property, whether it be a television You first published Wimpy series or a comic strip, has a natural Kid online. Did its huge Internet life span. After a certain point, people success make an impact when the lose interest, regardless of the qualpublisher was considering the series, ity of the writing. My goal is to try and would you recommend other to anticipate the life span of Diary of authors use Web publishing to cona Wimpy Kid and to try to write as nect with kids? I don’t think the many quality stories [as possible] dursuccess of the online version facing that period. tored into my publisher’s decision With online publishing and meetto acquire the property. I think they ing your publisher at Comic-Con, you liked what they saw and thought it had an unconventional entrance into was marketable. I think the Internet the book world. In retrospect, what audience was a bonus. That being would you change if you had to do it said, I think that having a built-in all over again? I wouldn’t change anyaudience did help me out once the thing. I feel like meeting my editor at book hit shelves. I think publishComic-Con was incredibly serendipiing on the Web is a good idea, but tous … a once-in-a-lifetime chance I was lucky enough to publish to a happening. It felt like something more site that millions of kids visited. If than a coincidence. an author is starting from scratch, they might have difficulty reaching a How do you balance your writlarge audience.

I feel misunderstood, and I feel like they’re not quite getting what I’m trying to say. When you write to an American audience these days, you’re writing to an audience that thinks in dualistic categories. They’re going to hear what you say and think if you’re against some-

because they’re too busy writing, and most people living good stories don’t have time to write. What’s your advice for those of us who want to live and write good stories? I’m amazed at how much my writing is improved when I step away from the computer, even in small amounts. If I’m stuck, I vacuum the living room or walk the dog. I’m amazed at what comes out of that. Like right now, I’m in the airport, heading down to San Diego to help a friend on his book … but I know that this process will [also] open something up in the book I’m working on. I don’t know what that is yet. We have to realize that the part of the writing life where we’re sitting down at the computer is harvesting the crops, but you have to have planted them and watered them and created fertile soil—and that’s a life. Your books deal closely with your life, and issues very personal to you—

such as love and heartbreak, weakness and failure, and growing up without a father. How do you decide how much to share? I share whatever I

need to share to communicate an idea I want to communicate to the most people. Vulnerability is interesting [to readers]. You can have a really good point in your nonfiction, but if it’s not compelling, fewer people are going to get your point. I use vulnerability as a tool. It engages the reader, especially when you’re dealing with sort of subtle issues related to spirituality. That’s all vulnerability has ever been to me—a tool to engage the reader and establish trust so that they trust me and what I’m saying. What do you think Jesus would say if he read one of your books? I don’t

think he would. I would hope he’d have better things to do. I think he’d want to get to know me, and I don’t think he’d want to do that through a book. But, if he did read them, I think he would see flaws in them. He’d see things that weren’t true. And I don’t think that that would matter very much to him over encouraging me and establishing a relationship with me. —Melissa Wuske

inspiring your work For Miller’s advice on what to do when you realize the story you’re writing isn’t working, go to writersdigest.com/ article/miller-big10.

E

DonalD Miller

Jeff Kinney

What’s the No. 1 key to a successful middle-grade novel? I think humor

SU

Inspirational

Children’s/YA

TH E BI G 10 IS

zz packer

ZZ Packer is the author of the short-story collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, a PEN/ Faulkner finalist that was selected for the “Today” show book club by John Updike. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Story, Ploughshares, Zoetrope: AllStory and The Best American Short Stories, and have been read on NPR’s Selected Shorts.

Jeannette Walls is the author of The Glass Castle, a memoir with more than 3 million copies in print, and Half Broke Horses, a bestselling true-life novel based on her grandmother. She lives in the Virginia Piedmont with her husband, John Taylor.

open the childhood section of What advice would you give new [The Glass Castle] with being memoirists about making their stoburned when I was 3. I was sort ries compelling for a broad audience? of dismissive of it, telling him it In my opinion, trying to guess what was no big deal. “Trust me,” he readers want is the wrong approach. said. “It is.” You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You’ve often said that while writing The Glass Castle, You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and you’d run passages by your not care what anyone thinks of it. brother because of his excelOne of the many lessons I hope lent memory. What role did I’ve learned is how much I underestiresearch play in Half Broke mated people, their open-mindedness Horses? The Glass Castle is and their willingness to understand. I written pretty much exclusively What advice would you give to think, moreover, I underestimated the others who are writing about difficult on my own recollections. Half Broke degree to which everyone has a story. Horses is based almost entirely on personal situations? The best advice So my advice, for whatever it’s worth, interviews with my mom. I talked anyone’s ever given me was when, is to trust readers, trust the truth and to her for about an hour a day for a upon confronting my then-homeless trust the power of storytelling. year. After I wrote an early version, I mom and asking her what the heck I —Kelly Messerly was supposed to tell people about her, took Mom on a trip west and visited many of the places where she and her she said, “Just tell the truth.” mother had lived, so that I could fully Making Your Mark How can writers know if they need describe them. Should you read other authors’ mem-

Well, as a short-story writer, I don’t think there are any weaknesses to the genre itself. I guess I would say that the difficulty of the form is that one must create an entire world in five to 30 pages, as opposed to 300. There is The novel is set during the very little room for fat—you must be Reconstruction. How have you economical. And you must begin as approached research for the story? close to the end as you possibly can. I’ve researched at the National The novel affords you more space Archives [and] the Library of and time, but the short story delivers Congress, gathered hundreds of intensity—which I see as a strength. books on the subject and almost Most of us might ruminate upon an anything peripheral to the subject, intense two-week romance for years, gone and interviewed descendents but a marriage, no matter how good, of Apache tribes, of Buffalo Soldiers, can be bogged down by the quotidtraveled all throughout the Southwest ian, by daily tasks that might seem (where a great part of the novel inconsequential, unless seen in retro- takes place), and lived in Texas. The spect. So in a way, a novel is more like research, in a way, has taken over my a marriage, and a short story like a life. But that has been fun. I believe youthful affair; it may be over quickly, that if someone is going to give up but you are bound to remember it, a piece of their life to read this story (my novel), I should have at least and you are bound to have learned given up a piece of mine to write it. something about yourself you didn’t know going in.

oirs while you’re writing your own? For Walls’ answer—and more insights into her writing process—visit writers digest.com/article/walls-big10.

photo © Marion Ettlinger

were shockingly similar. In both cases, they’re just storytelling. Because Half Broke Horses was based on a real person and real events, I didn’t have to sit around making up characters or plot twists. I’m alarmingly like my grandmother (that’s not entirely a good thing), so capturing her voice and her spirit [was] pretty easy—and Mom supplied the story.

nesses of short stories as a genre?

photo © Mark Regan Photography

best time to tell your story is when you have to tell your story. When it’s not really a choice. But then, when you get that first, messy, complicated version down, you have to read it over and be very tough on yourself and ask, Well, what’s the story here? If you’re lucky enough to have someone you trust looking over your shoulder, he or she can help you if [you] lack perspective on your own story. My husband, John, was the one who suggested I

Half Broke Horses has a lot of fictional elements in it. What was different about writing a more fictionalized story than a memoir? The two

What are the strengths and weak-

story writer, I’d have a problem with quantity, but I have no problem writing tons of pages. My problem is revising and editing them. The near infinite number of edits and reiterations of a short story aren’t possible with a novel—it is simply too long. I joke with my friends that in writing this one novel, I’ve actually written five novels, just all with the same characters.

How is the process similar and dif-

How does being labeled an AfricanAmerican writer help or hinder your work and your identity as a writer?

ferent from short-story writing? The process of writing a novel has been hard for me. You’d think as a short-

W.E.B. Du Bois’ theory of “double consciousness” rings true here, because the flip side of racism is that one

You’re working on a novel now.

becomes double-voiced, multivalent and omni-interpretive. If you’re in an ethnic minority, more of your time and mental energy goes into evaluating people, situations and cues that those in the majority don’t have to bother with. It’s destructive when such becomes one’s identity (see Invisible Man), but it can be constructive when one beams that interpretive ability toward illuminating the hidden corners of human nature, which of course comes in handy in writing fiction. What advice do you have for writers who are labeled—willingly or unwillingly—by their race, ethnicity, beliefs, sexuality, etc.? Be wary of

feeling as though there is not enough room at the table. Oftentimes a female Chinese-American might feel as though she is in competition with another Chinese-American woman writer of the same generation. A writer friend of mine calls it the “There Can Only Be One …” syndrome. This isn’t “Survivor.” The more good writers, of all walks of life and all ethnicities and persuasions, the better. —Melissa Wuske

Short Story Short For Packer’s advice on how to sell short stories, and the qualities a story must have to be successful, go to writers digest.com/article/packer-big10.

E

Short Stories

jeannette walls

distance from their own experiences to effectively write about them? The

SU

Memoir

TH E BI G 10 IS

CHRISTINE FEEHAN

John Scalzi is the author of several science-fiction novels, including the bestselling Old Man’s War series comprising Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony. He is president of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a Hugo Award recipient for Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, a collection of essays from his wildly popular blog, The Whatever (whatever.scalzi.com).

I was using Little Fuzzy as a general road map, but then as far as the plot went I went off-road enough that I still had to do all the things I usually do [in regard to] plotting and figuring out where the story was going next. The one major difference was being mindful to strike the balance between what people expect from a familiar and classic story, and also putting enough in that was new and unexpected. …

What other writers inspire you?

Many of the writers who’ve inspired me most are outside the genre: humorists like Robert Benchley and James Thurber, screenwriters like Ben Hecht and William Goldman, and journalists/ columnists like H.L. Mencken, Mike Royko and Molly Ivins. They inspire me because they were good with words (obviously) and they were also in command of their particular form How would you describe your of writing. [I] believe that the best approach to writing? It basically way to grow a genre is to bring new boils down to: “Don’t be boring.” As elements into it. This is why I always a reader I have a very short attention recommend to aspiring science-ficspan and a low tolerance for boredom tion and fantasy writers that they read … so I keep the “Am I bored with this?” outside the genre as much as they read question near the top of my mind inside of it. You’ve experimented with making your books available in different formats. What advice do you have for writers trying to get their work noticed? Ultimately the first, best step

in getting your work noticed is to write good work. If people don’t engage in your writing, no amount of serializa-

What is it about paranormal romance that appeals to you so strongly? What advice might you offer writers aspiring to the genre? I love the scope that you

tion or free downloads is going to matter. You have to write something worth reading, and often it takes time to get at that level. By the time I serialized Old Man’s War on my blog in 2002, which lead to its publication, I had a decade of professional writing life behind me, and had spent several years writing daily on my website, which grew an audience. What is your favorite thing about science fiction and fantasy right now? That it has so many genuinely

You are one of the most prolific authors writing today, in any genre. What enables you to produce so quickly? I am very regimented. I

good writers in it. I am biased, but I can say that the best writers in our genre can hold their own against any writers in any genre. I read a lot of my contemporaries’ work and am just so damn impressed. It’s a great time to be reading the genre.

devote a minimum of eight hours a day in writing and research. … I have certain rules for myself that enable me when I get stuck to get past it. I am able to cut scenes out that I love and have worked on for days, if I know they are going nowhere, to get back on track.

What’s your best advice for writers looking to break in? I would ask them:

What do you want to read [within] the genre? That’s what I would tell them to write—because writing what you love is one of the best ways to write something someone else will love. —Scott Francis

How Not to Be Boring To find out why Scalzi doesn’t pay much attention to trends, and to learn more about the role of humor in his writing, visit writersdigest.com/ article/scalzi-big10.

You first pursued writing while raising 11 children. What were your secrets for making the time then, and how has your routine evolved? I did

photo © Cassandra Young

Your latest book, Fuzzy Nation, is a reboot of the 1962 H. Beam Piper classic novel Little Fuzzy. Was your process for writing it different than your other projects? Not particularly.

Christine Feehan has published more than 40 novels, and each of her four series has hit No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list. She is the recipient of 10 Paranormal Excellence Awards in Romantic Literature, a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times, and the Borders 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been a Romance Writers of America RITA nominee.

not have writing as a career when I was raising all my children. … [At first,] I wrote every day because I had to do it. I wrote at every opportunity, as it was something I did for myself. The difference now is I am published, so I write eight hours a day as my job.

have when writing paranormal. You can go anywhere with it. I think you need to put as much recognizable reality and truth in your paranormal so that the reader can suspend [disbelief] and feel that it is actually possible. Do your story ideas most often start with a character, or with plot? It

else’s expectations. It is like going on a great adventure, even for me. You’ve worked with multiple publishers over the years. What have you learned about the publishing process that you wish you had known going in? I could probably write a whole

book on that alone. I knew nothing going in. I found you need an agent that you totally trust. That you can talk and ask questions, too. You need an editor that truly believes in you. You have to learn marketing whether you want to or not. You have to never forget you are a businesswoman/man and that you should be in charge of your own career.

always starts with me with the character. They start talking to me in the back of my mind. Then they start becoming real to me. Until I know You’re an extremely prolific reader. them completely and what motivates Who are some of the writers who’ve them, the story doesn’t come. My stoinspired your work over the years, ries are completely character-driven. and why do you think reading is so

What do you find most enjoyable, and most challenging, about writing a successful series? The most enjoy-

important for writers at all levels?

Gene Stratton-Porter was a huge influence on me. I read Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost and fell in love able part in writing a series is being with romance. I read all the Sherlock able to visit a world I have created and revisit old friends. The challenges Holmes [books] and loved mystery. Louisa May Alcott made me love famare making the book fresh and new for readers who have started from the ily. Robert Ludlum made me love beginning while still adding old infor- intrigue. Louis L’Amour made me love Westerns. I have been influenced by so mation for new readers. I write the book the way it comes to many. Reading stretches your imagination. It feeds your mind. Reading me. I don’t think about what anyone else wants. Even if I step into the book, makes the world a beautiful place. it stops—I can’t think about anyone —Jessica Strawser

E

John Scalzi

when I write. If I am bored, out it goes. This doesn’t mean everything has to be slap, bang, boom—it’s possible to write interesting quiet moments (and very boring action scenes). It does mean, however, that anything you do has to pull its weight in the story and keep the reader turning those pages.

SU

Paranormal Romance

Science Fiction

Humor

Justin halpern

In 2009, Justin Halpern created a Twitter account to archive his father’s expletive-ridden words of wisdom. Within a month, @shitmydadsays was an Internet sensation. Halpern’s first book, Sh*t My Dad Says, a collection of essays about his father, is a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. He was also the creator/co-executive producer of “$#*! My Dad Says,” starring William Shatner.

On Twitter, you just record what your dad says—some might say it’s easy, but we imagine pulling it off involves real comedic framing and know-how. I mean,

let’s be real here, I’m not part of a SEAL team that has to kill bin Laden, but it’s rather difficult What’s the No. 1 key to humor writto figure out what works best in 140 ing? Honesty. I think it applies to both characters. What Twitter has taught fiction and nonfiction humor writing. I me about writing, and the Internet in know that sounds weird, but there are general, is that you have to walk a fine so many times that I’ll read a piece of line between setting a scene and getting comedic fiction and it doesn’t feel like to what’s funny. People don’t want you the characters are making choices that to meander. They drift quickly. I blame feel real in the context of the world cat videos on YouTube for our attenthat’s been set up. That usually takes me tion spans. out of whatever I’m reading, and then What’s the best training for an aspirit’s hard for me to enjoy the humor. ing humor writer? Observing and writAfter struggling with screenplays, ing. There are interesting characters you started tweeting in August 2009, and conversations you run into every had a book deal by October, and a TV day. Usually they don’t lend themselves deal by November. What’s it like to perfectly to a book or a screenplay, but be an instant hit? Bizarre. When I was they can spark larger ideas. I also think in film school I it’s important to write every day. Just frequently daylogging hours writing will make you a dreamed of a better writer. Or it will make you insane. screenplay I wrote Which sometimes makes you a better being turned writer. It’s win-win. into a film. But How does a writer stay out of trouble never in any daydream did I think, when writing about someone so close?

My policy is that I let anyone I write about read what I’ve written before I submit it to my editor. First and foremost are my relationships with my friends and family. I don’t sit next to my dad with a pen and a pad waiting for him to say stuff. That would ruin my relationship with him. … Generally, if someone does something or says something that really makes me laugh, I remember it. If I can’t remember it, it probably wasn’t that funny. Which do you prefer: writing for the Web, for books or for TV? They all have

things about them I like. Writing a book is incredibly pleasurable, but very solitary. You have total control, but sometimes that can drive you insane. Writing online is great because it forces you to be economical with your words, and the feedback is instant and intense. If people hate it, the anonymity of the Web allows them to say so. Writing for TV is unique because writing is just the first step in a much longer process. You really get to see what you write evolve before you. Sometimes it becomes nauseating, but sometimes it’s unbelievably exciting. Actors are mostly insane, and that can breed some pretty awesome things. —Zachary Petit WD

THE CURSES OF WRITING For Halpern’s advice on when to avoid or embrace prose vulgarities, visit writers digest.com/article/halpern-big10.

photo © Matt Hoyle

Someday I’ll transcribe 140-character quotes from my father and they will be the impetus for a bestselling book. I was incredibly lucky.