Jahmal Mayfield

How did you become a writer? I’m fond of saying “reader first, writer second” on my social media platforms, and it’s quite true. I remember devouring George Pelecanos’ novel, RIGHT AS RAIN, back in 2001. It was a transformative experience for me because here was a Greek man writing Black characters with, I believed, such verisimilitude. They came alive on the page. After finishing that novel, I wanted nothing more than to do something similar. 

Name your writing influences. Obviously, George Pelecanos, but also Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, James Lee Burke, Don Winslow, and so many crime writers I can’t even begin to mention them all. Musically, Nas, who has always told impactful stories in his songs while also emphasizing the poetic beauty of words and how they can elevate you when placed together in a meaningful way. 

When and where do you write? On my couch, in my car, swivel chair in my home office. Almost always late at night when the world around me is quiet and doesn’t interfere with me listening to music playing softly in the background. I draft by longhand on yellow legal pads. This slows me down and forces me to write with intention. Transcribing those words into the computer also provides me with a built-in second draft, as I inevitably make changes during that time. 

What are you working on now? I don’t want to divulge too much, as I’m in the early stages and would hate to talk myself out of the enthusiasm you need to finish a project. I will say, it follows what I’ve determined will be my “brand.” It’s gritty, crime fiction, written with a Black gaze, and dealing with social commentary. In this case, racially motivated mass shootings. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Probably, but I refuse to admit as much because that can be defeating. During those times when the words simply aren’t flowing, I’ll allow my mind to drift in ways that can still benefit the story. I might imagine a piece of dialogue that I know will happen at some point in the manuscript. Or attempt to answer a nagging question about a character’s motivations. Or search Google for interesting possibilities for character names. What this does is wire my brain to understand that, okay, yes, I’m not actively writing, but I most certainly am working on the manuscript. 

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” Hat tip to the prolific Stephen King for that one. It acknowledges, and in fact cements the notion that a first draft is all about the writer. Whether we realize it or not, that first draft is borne mostly of our experiences and worldview. The edit, at least a thoughtful edit, welcomes the outside world and other ideas and experiences. That’s crucial, because if every character in my novels ends up being some facsimile of me, then I haven’t written an honest book. I want to write honest books. 

What’s your advice to new writers? Be a reader first, a writer second. Fall in love with the work of others and then interrogate their texts to understand why you loved it. Then take that understanding and apply it in your own unique way. No one else can write the book the way that you will. Embrace that knowledge, lean into it, and you will be the greatest of commodities. You'll be original.

Jahmal Mayfield was born in Virginia but currently resides in New Jersey. In addition to writing crime fiction, he serves as the director of a nonprofit program that provides employment support to people with disabilities. SMOKE KINGS was inspired by Kimberly Jones’ passionate viral video, “How can we win?”

Elizabeth Flock

How did you become a writer? As a kid, books were my refuge. I told stories to myself all the time in the tub. I wrote all my life and finally entered publishing by way of journalism. I figured it was the only way to get paid to write! And I had a strong interest in social issues and untold stories. A decade in, I found narrative journalism -- a wonderful hybrid between deep reporting and novelistic writing. That's what I do now, writing mostly stories related to justice and gender issues.

Name your writing influences. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's "Random Family," Katherine Boo's "Behind the Beautiful Forevers," and Sonia Faleiro's magazine pieces and books are all masterclasses in immersive writing / narrative nonfiction. 

When and where do you write? I write on my laptop anywhere and everywhere. I don't write well at desks. I finished THE FURIES while I was very sick from being pregnant, so I was on the couch for a lot of that. Sometimes I even edit best on my phone. I'm a firm believer in writing from wherever you are comfortable, at the times you seem to work best. For me, that's from 11am-4pm, when I'm fully caffeinated. I find the pomodoro method helps me get into deep focus in a world that's rife with distractions. I do 45 minutes of writing -- with no phone or internet or other distractions -- then take a 15 minute break, then do 45 more minutes, and continue on that way as long as I can. 

What are you working on now? I am adapting a narrative piece I wrote for The Economist's 1843 Magazine about two women who sabotaged a pipeline into a documentary film. I am also noodling over my next narrative nonfiction book project. I am very interested in writing about the fine line between loneliness and being alone with yourself, and also the relationship between motherhood and the climate.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? With journalism, I don't think writer's block is as much of a problem as in novel writing. The world is full of people and places asking to be written about. The bigger problem is how to tell it and what to leave out. I find that I am like a hoarder in my book projects -- collecting all the information and details I can -- and then spending a lot of time plotting out the most compelling, interesting and telling scenes. It is sometimes hard to know what to leave on the cutting room floor. The most fun is figuring out how to tell it. These days, journalists can tell their stories in books, magazine pieces, podcasts, documentaries or even fiction films.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? Somewhere along the way, I heard that a book is the answer to a question to which a writer desperately wants the answer. My first book was driven by the question of what makes marriages work or fail. My second book, THE FURIES, which just came out, was a quest to understand whether violence can be useful, what constitutes self-defense, and what happens when institutions fail to protect women.  

What’s your advice to new writers? Follow your interests, as weird as they may be. If you are interested in a subject, someone else will be too. Write the book you wish existed. Don't stop writing until, as a professor one told me, you're circling back on yourself, moving periods and commas around, coming back to the same scenes again and again, like a serpent eating its tail.

Elizabeth Flock is a journalist who reports on gender and issue and the author of THE FURIES, which tells the story of three real-life women who used violence to fight back. 

John Lancaster

How did you become a writer? I guess it was in my blood. My father was a reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal in the 1950s and 1960s. Later he wrote for American Heritage and other magazines, and he also wrote a very fine biography of a 19th century newspaper reporter, Julian Ralph, called Gentleman of the Press. So I grew up steeped in the lore of writing and writers, especially those who worked for newspapers. After college I followed the traditional path of a journeyman reporter, first at the Des Moines Tribune, then at the Atlanta Constitution, and eventually at the Washington Post, where I finished my newspaper career as a foreign correspondent in 2006. I’d gotten a little tired of the genre and wanted to try my hand at longer forms of writing, much like my father had a few decades earlier. 

Name your writing influences. Besides my father, two more names come immediately to mind. The first is my high school English teacher, Holly Weeks, who was the first person other than my dad who told me that I could write. The second is Nathaniel Philbrick. I’ve read a lot of great nonfiction over the years, but Philbrick’s Heart of the Sea is the one I keep returning to for inspiration, as much for its structure as for the elegance of its prose. The book is rich with historical context, but it never gets in the way of the riveting narrative at its core. Philbrick knows just when to zoom in and out from the action, and the pacing never flags. I used it as a model for my book on the 1919 transcontinental air race, to the point of keeping a copy on my desk while I wrote. If I got bogged down on one passage or another, I would pick it up and leaf through it for a few minutes, trying to internalize its rhythm. It often did the trick.

When and where do you write? As a newspaper reporter I wrote at all hours, depending on time zones and deadlines, and in all kinds of places, including airplanes and ships, so I’m not too fussy about where and when I write. Now that my life is a bit more settled, I do keep to more of a routine, though it's not especially rigorous. Although I’m an early riser, I tend to waste a couple of hours reading various newspapers—old habits die hard—so I generally don’t sit down at my laptop until about 9 a.m. or so. Usually I write in my home office; if that starts to feel too monastic I’ll head to coffee shop for a change of scene. I try to write for at least three hours, though I’ll often go longer if I’m on a roll. You’ll rarely catch me at the keyboard after 2 p.m. because I’m usually pretty hungry by then. I aim for about 500 words a day, which probably doesn’t sound like much, but the prose that I do produce in one sitting is pretty polished. I know a lot of writers like to slap down a messy first draft without looking back, churning out thousands of words in a single day, but I can’t work that way. It’s probably a holdover from my newspaper days, when I often had to write stories on tight deadlines with no time to revise—you had to get it right the first time. Of course, in writing my book I did have time for revisions, but I made them along the way, rather than after finishing an entire draft. Yes, it slowed me down. But it also meant that the first draft of my manuscript was also my final draft, which was kind of a good feeling when I finally got to the end.

What are you working on now? Polishing the silverware? That’s actually not too far from the truth. I’m pulling at a few threads that I’m not ready to discuss just yet. Failure is an option. Stay tuned. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Not really. The challenge for me is finding the right idea. If I have one that I’m excited about, that is usually enough to break any logjam.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? As my dad used to tell me, “There is no one right way to tell a story.” I can’t tell you how often I’ve repeated that to myself while struggling over a newspaper lede, or some other piece of writing.

What’s your advice to new writers? “Follow your interests.” It’s what my dad told me years ago when I was first casting around for book ideas. In hindsight it seems like such an obvious thing to say, but it was just the nudge that I needed. I’d always been fascinated by airplanes—I’d learned to fly just after college—so I started reading books about early aviation. In one of them I came across a brief reference to the transcontinental air race, which led to my first book.

John Lancaster is a veteran journalist who spent twenty years at the Washington Post, including eight years as a foreign correspondent based in Cairo and New Delhi. He left the Post in 2006 to write for magazines, including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Slate, The New Republic, and The Surfer’s Journal. John is also an amateur pilot and longtime aviation buff whose interest in flying led him to the subject of his first book, The Great Air Race. As part of his research for the  book, which tells the story of the 1919 transcontinental air race, John piloted a small two-seat plane along the route of the contest, from New York to San Francisco and back again. John grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Stanford University in 1980.  He lives on Nantucket and in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Gail Walker, an attorney. They have two adult children.