Ask the Author: Jonathan Lee
Answered Questions (5)
Jonathan Lee
I was making my kids sandwiches for school when I realized the truth. We were out of peanut butter.
Jonathan Lee
Sometimes if I'm blocked, I try to give myself a "readers' residency." I just spend a few weeks using my usual early-morning writing time as reading time instead. I need to fill up on other books before I can return to my own.
Jonathan Lee
I was walking in Central Park one day when I came across a marble memorial bench dedicated to "Andrew Haswell Green, the Father of Greater New York." I got curious: such a grand title for someone I'd never heard of. And then I spent the next 9 years researching his mysterious murder and equally mysterious life...
Jonathan Lee
I like the Somerset Maugham quote: “I write only when inspiration strikes. And it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.” I think the act of sitting down to write something — anything! — is what inspires further writing, for me. It can be easy to waste a lot of time waiting for inspiration to strike.
Jonathan Lee
I think every good writer has to become a good reader first. Read widely and generously — the good books and the bad. Structure, character-building, sentence rhythm — it can all be learned from reading. And find yourself a wonderful opening line! I wrote a piece about some of my favorite opening sentences here: https://granta.com/notes-on-craft-jon...
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