Interviews: How to Become a Writer

First, try to be something, anything, else.
A movie star/astronaut. A movie star/missionary.
A movie star/kindergarten teacher. President of the World.
Fail miserably.

- Lorrie Moore, “How to Become a Writer”

©2010 Kelcey Parker, Poems. Book of Narrative Poems, Dead Bee.

ANNOUNCING: the How to Become a Writer Interview Series

In the How to Become a Writer interview series, contemporary writers share how they became writers. I’ll post a new interview with a different writer every other Sunday. Each author will answer the same five questions:

1.  Why did you want to become a writer?
2.  How did you go about becoming a writer?
3.  Who helped you along the way, and how?
4.  Can you tell me about a writer or artist whose biography inspires you?
5.  What would you say in a short letter to an aspiring writer?

Several of the writers I’ve interviewed have come from readers’ recommendations. If you’d like to recommend a writer for the series (including yourself), send me a message through the comment box at the bottom of the page. Your message won’t appear as a public comment; it will come to my email account.

Here’s a list of writers who have generously participated, along with their primary genre:

7/10/11 Sarah Domet (fiction)
7/24/11 Caitlin Horrocks (fiction)
8/7/11 Molly McCaffrey (fiction)
8/21/11 Louise Mathias (poetry)
9/18/11 Darrin Doyle (fiction)
10/2/11 David Bell (fiction)
10/16/11 Forrest Anderson (fiction)
10/30/11 Lesley Jenike (poetry)
12/4/11 Carrie Oeding (poetry)
12/18/11 Deborah Fries (poetry)
1/8/12 Andrew Porter (fiction)
1/29/12 Cila Warncke (nonfiction)
2/12/12 Daniel Bowman Jr.  (poetry)
2/26/12 Matt Mullins (fiction, multimedia)
3/11/12 Donna Miscolta (fiction)
3/25/12 Eric Bosse (fiction)
4/1/12 Amina Gautier (fiction)
4/16/12 Frances Hwang (fiction)
4/29/12 Jen McConnell (fiction)
5/14/12 Anne Germanacos (fiction)

I also occasionally write other posts about How to Become a Writer because there’s more to becoming a writer than just writing. Writing is the biggie, of course, but there are a million books and blogs about how to be a better writer, how to craft a better character, or mend a broken poetic line (or break a brittle one).

My basic premise is that becoming a writer is not rocket science, but it’s not magic either.

Being a writer is a lifestyle choice–usually a lifestyle change. And it’s not just about putting butt to chair and fingers to keyboard, it’s about participating in the literature of the contemporary moment. Imagine a musician who doesn’t listen to music, attend concerts, and talk/debate with other musicians.

Participating in this exciting literary moment (and it is exciting, alive and kicking) requires more than just sitting at your desk and writing. It requires writing about writing, reading, writing about reading, attending readings, meeting writers, writing to writers, writing about writers, maybe even teaching or class-taking. (Notice that I haven’t even mentioned publishing. That will come.)

Here are four more reasons why I want to do this series.

Traveling to one’s grandfather’s village on the coast of Norway requires advanced planning and a really good map.

1. Becoming a writer is a journey. When you go on a trip, you pack, you set itineraries, you make reservations, you budget. While those journeys in which you just go wherever you feel led can be delightful and surprising, they can also be meandering and unfocused (like this sentence), or full of regret and missed opportunity. You can waste a lot of time flailing around as an aspiring writer, or you can be focused and intentional–and get where you want to go.

2. Ignorance is an obstacle. Many students come to my office, and, god help me, many strangers call, because they want the heart before the course. They want the short cut to publication and fame, when what they need is time spent learning the craft, and learning (in this case, defining for themselves) what it even means to be a writer. I can’t give the short cut (which always leads to roads that don’t exist or can’t be traveled on), but I can give pretty good directions with lots of helpful landmarks.

3. Most advice out there is about short cuts: how to write better novels or how to get published or how to outline a killer plot. Or how to be a certain type of writer. But there’s so much more to becoming a writer than all that. It’s about developing a voice, having a vision, being connected with other writers, participating in conversations and debates about art and culture, and creating a habit of reading, writing, submitting work, and being accepted and rejected.

The long and winding road. No shortcuts.

4. I’m a first born. I’m used to stumbling through experiences, making mistakes that others can learn from, and then playing big sister.

Me and my little sis, taken by our younger brother. Pop Pop’s village in the background: we made it!

So my series will have questions for reflection, to-do lists, to-read lists, to-write lists, and whatever else I come up with.

Click the “How to Become a Writer” category for all relevant posts.

You might also check my under construction categories “reading like a writer” (for reflections on things I read) and “writing experiments” (for prompts to get your writing going).

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Feel free to contact me directly using the contact box below. Your message won’t appear as a public comment; it will come to my email account.

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