Adrian Nathan West

How did you become a writer?

The writing part began early, when I was a kid. But if you consider a writer someone who is publicly recognized for writing, that really began, apart from a short story published in 2006, with critical essays about translated fiction I started writing in around 2013: initially, these were for online journals, then the Times Literary Supplement and eventually any number of other magazines. My first book was published in 2016 thanks to the odd coincidence of a very unusual publisher being founded just as I had written a very unusual book.

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

My Latin teacher when I was in eighth grade told me if I wanted to be a writer, I needed to get a journal and write every day. I don’t stick to that anymore because I’m too busy, but it was good advice. I’m not naive enough to think that I can claim the writers I like or admire as influences, but I love Samuel Johnson, Celine, Malaparte, Natalia Ginzburg, the philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch, Ilse Aichinger. Sam Sacks classed my novel with the Dirty Realists in his recent review; I like those writers, but I think what similarities there are exist because I come from the same place as some of those writers. My sentences I think are quite different from theirs.

When and where do you write? 

I just write when and where I can. My translating schedule is pretty brutal––I translate around four books a year, but I do just as much or more work for Spanish publishers and the occasional commercial or film client, anything from book chapters to subtitles to catalogue copy––and in addition to this, I do a fair bit of reviewing. My idea is to change that this year: For the first time in ages, I have the prospect of an extended period of leisure before me, and I would like to go back to maintaining my journal more regularly and writing the next book in a more disciplined fashion.

What are you working on now?

I’ve just finished two fairly long essays, one on the Spanish writer Rafael Chirbes and one on Catalan separatism viewed through the work of a wonderful untranslated writer, Jordi Ibáñez Fanés. I now have a little bit of annoying work to get through and I will be turning to my next novel, which will be about a lot of things but will center on dementia.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Not really. I don’t think there’s a great need for more writing in the world, so if people can’t write or feel reluctant to, they shouldn’t do it. You have to distinguish between having something to say and wanting to have something to say. It’s true that when I write criticism, especially if it’s a longer piece, there is a lot of anxiety at the beginning, but this can be cured by reading more. But if I had an idea for a story about a conflict between a young dissolute heir and his rich religious aunt and I couldn’t get it off the ground, I’d just quit. There are already more good novels than a person can read anyway, and there’s much more to life than writing.

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

Other than the above-cited counsel from my Latin teacher, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten good writing advice in the general sense. A recommendation to fill out this part of the text or change this adjective, sure. But knowing why you want to write and how and if you can and if you should, all that is very private and it’s unlikely someone can really guide you there.

What’s your advice to new writers?

Just question everything you do. Question why you want to be a writer: if you think it’s because you’re smarter or your experience is richer or you have something to say that’s never been said, you need to figure out whether or not you’re right about that, because if you’re not, you’re just going to spew a bunch of cliches and cultivate an unjustified self-regard that will then turn you bitter when readers ignore you. You need to know what you think of the opinion of the public: there are lots of people who scorn the public as ignorant while ranting and raving that the public doesn’t give them the praise they believe they deserve. You can’t have it both ways, though. You should ask yourself whether writing really matters to you: writing, I mean, not publishing, because your own writing is the only thing you can actually control––everything else is in someone else’s hands. If you write because the act of doing so is pleasurable or enlightening or relaxing, it will make you happier, but if you do it because you think it will get others to love, respect, or admire you, you’ll probably be disappointed. Writing is not something to stake your self-esteem on.

Adrian Nathan West is a literary translator and author of My Father’s Diet and The Aesthetics of Degradation. He has translated more than thirty books, including Hermann Burger’s Brenner and the International Booker and National Book Award-shortlisted When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut.

Bill Roorbach

How did you become a writer?

I'm not certain, but I know it has something to do with my mother reading to us when we were little. Maybe that's where I got the idea. At age five my mom took me to see Santa at Shopper's World, the original shopping mall, outside Boston. I asked him for a desk.  On the way home my mom said, "Why on earth did you ask Santa for a desk?" he said. And I told her, "I want to be a writer." Still have the desk. It's a tiny oak rolltop from Sears. My daughter used it for some years and perhaps her kid will use it too one day.  

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

So many influences, across all the arts, but pretty much all subjects and disciplines. When I was young I liked writers like Bukowski and Jim Harrison and even Cheever and Updike. By the time I went to grad school at age 33 I'd read much more widely, but grad school broke it all open, and soon I was reading Didion and Toni Morrison and Mary McCarthy and on and on and on, very wide-ranging. I play music, too, and music is an influence for sure. I like all kinds, just as I like all kinds of writing. The only requirement is that it's terrific.

When and where do you write? 

I write anywhere and everywhere, five minutes here, a half hour there, in the car waiting for my daughter at dance class, at the kitchen table, in my office, on the beach, waiting at the dentist, you name it. 

What are you working on now? 

I've just finished a new novel, Lucky Turtle, which will be available everywhere April 26. It's available for pre-order right now, and as you know, pre-orders really help! 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block?

Not really. More like Writer feels like doing something else.

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

Write every day, whether a little or a lot, just simply every day. Also read. 

What’s your advice to new writers?

Write every day, whether a little or a lot! 

Bill Roorbach is the author most recently of Lucky Turtle, a novel, also five previous books of fiction, including The Girl of the Lake, the Kirkus Prize finalist The Remedy for Love, the bestselling Life Among Giants, and the Flannery O’Connor Award–winning collection Big Bend. His memoir in nature, Temple Stream, won the Maine Literary Award in nonfiction. Roorbach has received fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He held the William H. P. Jenks Chair in Contemporary American Letters at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. His craft book, Writing Life Stories, has been in print for twenty-five years. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, Ploughshares, Granta, Ecotone, New York Magazine, and other publications. He lives in Maine with his family.

Gina Sorell

How did you become a writer?

I started writing poems when I was about seven years old. I had a lot of big feelings, and it was a place for me to put them all. That writing grew into performance pieces; monologues, plays, sketch comedy, stand-up, and eventually novel writing. I was an actor for many years, and writing my own material was a way to stay creative and keep performing in between hired gigs.

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

My parents had a beauty salon (my dad was a hairdresser), and one of my dad's clients was the highly respected South African writer Isaac Pfaff. He had written over a dozen plays, three novels, and many short stories and radio plays. A lot of his writing centered around human rights and compassion. My dad mentioned that I was also interested in writing, and Mr. Pfaff took it upon himself to read my work and offer feedback. For years he would check-in and follow up on my writing progress. I was barely a teenager, but his interest and encouragement made all the difference. Much later, after many years as an actor, I returned to school, enrolling in UCLA Extensions' Writing Program. There I studied under the wonderful writer Caroline Leavitt, who became my mentor and dear friend. Caroline has advised, read, critiqued, supported, and encouraged me throughout my writing journey. It is no exaggeration to say that I wouldn't be a working writer without her.  

When and where do you write?

I try to write before the rest of my life wakes up, 5:30-7:00 a.m., and then again in the afternoon after doing other freelance work like copywriting and naming. I focus better when my desk is clear. I also like to take a few hours on the weekend to write. Anytime I can get an uninterrupted stretch where no one in my family needs me, you can find me in my home office at my desk overlooking the backyard, with a thermos of coffee in hand.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I'm working on a book about three friends who are all in need of a second chance, professionally and personally. It's been ten years since they were all together, and they reunite in the city where they met twenty years earlier. 

Have you ever suffered from writer's block?

I get stuck. But I don't think of that as writer's block; I just think of it as part of the process. Often I just need to step away from the work and go for a walk. Walking always helps me.

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

“Don't give up,” and “you're not alone.” At some point, writing feels hard and lonely and scary for everyone—even the most accomplished writers! 

What's your advice to new writers?

Try it all and find your own way. I know writers who can write anywhere: in line at the grocery store, on the subway, on their lunch break from work…and others who need three solid hours to get anything done. The important thing is to write and build a writing practice. Eventually, you'll find what works for you. Just keep at it. And know that while it can feel like everything, it isn't everything. It's words on the page, and there are an infinite number of ways to arrange them—trust that, and be sure to get out and live too, so you have things to write about! 

A graduate with distinction of UCLA Extension Writers' Program, Gina Sorell is the author of Mothers and Other Strangers, a Great Group Reads selection, and a 2017 best book of Refinery 29, and Self Magazine. Her second book, The Wise Women (HarperCollins, 4/5/2022), has been named a most anticipated book of 2022 by Parade Magazine and The Today Show's Read with Jenna Book Club Community. She lives with her family in Toronto, Canada. Visit her at www.ginasorell.com.