Who: Andrew Mayne

Claim To Fame: Andrew Mayne is a best-selling novelist and magician. He is a Edgar nominated author for Best Paperback Original (Black Fall), a Thriller Award finalist (Name of the Devil), and the star of A&E television’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne. He’s written several bestselling mystery and thriller novels, including Murder Theory, Looking Glass, and Station Breaker. And his recent novel, The Naturalist is an Amazon Charts best-seller and spent six weeks at the number one spot for all books on Amazon. He’s also written non-fiction books about the creative process, including How to Write a Novella in 24 Hours—a #1 Amazon Best Seller on Authorship.

Where To Find Andrew: His Website, Amazon, Twitter

Praise For Andrew: [On Black Fall] “Enthralling . . . The author, a professional magician, makes the impossible seem probable in this twisty, clever treat.” — Publishers Weekly

When and where do you like to write? Are you the same-thing-every-day kind of guy or can you write anytime, anywhere?

I’ve taught myself to write anywhere. Sometimes I find myself juggling two things at a time and I can’t be too precious with a routine. I wrote Name of the Devil sitting on a bed in a rented out room in Hollywood while I was working on a television series for A&E. My latest book, Murder Theory, was written while I was in production for a shark documentary and doing rebreather training in Catalina. I’ve written in casinos, waiting in line at Disneyland, basically wherever I have to.

Ideally, I’m at home in my comfy office chair in front of my iMac, but that’s often not the case. Habits can be helpful but can also become roadblocks. I’ve noticed a lot of writers become less productive as they become too particular. My advice is to get over needing comfort to write. Great works have been written in prison, in the freezing cold and even the battlefield.

As a side note: My main computer for writing doesn’t have iChat, instant messaging, Facebook, Messenger or any notifications turned on. When it’s time to write I think allowing those things into your attention is detrimental.

Do you have any pre-writing rituals that help you get in the zone? Anything to signal to yourself ‘The writing day has begun’?

I try to keep Scrivener always open and make sure that it’s in front of me every time I sit down in front of my computer. If I’m feeling a little lazy I go drink a fruit smoothie. That has a wonderful effect on my mood.

You’re a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction Do you have different mental frameworks for writing each? Does your approach or the mechanics of your writing routine change genre to genre?

My approach is pretty similar to whatever I’m writing. Even computer code. It may sound weird at first, but I’m always asking myself ‘What’s next?’ and ‘Why?’

I’ll outline a book in the same way I outline nonfiction or some application I’ve been playing around with. Everything is an answer to questions I pose myself and trying to find the best solution.

If you don’t have a book in the works, do you keep a daily writing process?

No. At first I did when I wanted to make sure I had good habits. I spent a year doing at least 5,000 words every day. I wrote something like 12 novels that I had no plans to do anything with. I decided that output wasn’t going to be a problem for me. It was *good* output that should be my focus.

You’ve written a book about the dreaded enemy of writing: writer’s block. The Cure for Writer’s Block lays out different kinds of writer’s block. Is there one you struggle with the most? What are some go-tos that help you overcome a block?

I’m at that point, like a lot of writers, where putting words on the page isn’t a problem – it’s almost automatic. The problem is making sure that they’re the right words.

I’ve heard some of my favorite writers say that writer’s block doesn’t exist, however, I’d argue that in some cases they’re confusing their ability to fill pages with telling a story. If you’ve ever waded through a hundred pages of someone’s novel and realized nothing happened, this was because the writer was experiencing a block. Instead of advancing the story they decided to repaint all the furniture because they didn’t know what to do.

My advice to myself is to constantly ask myself my two favorite words “Why?”  or “What?” Sometimes I’ll force myself to recap what’s happened so far from the point of view of the characters and in the mind of the readers so I have a clear idea of where the novel is and what should happen next.

Deciding on an idea to pursue writing about can be the most challenging aspect for a writer. How do you generate and capture ideas? And how do you come to the point of ‘this is something I want to write about’?

I’m always making notes about things I want to write about. When it comes to actually choosing what story to go with, I’m a bit of a mercenary about it. I imagine a Venn diagram of things I want to write about in one circle and things I think there’s a marker for in another. Wherever they intersect is where I decide to draw from.

Another factor is understanding what you have energy to write about. There are a lot of topics I’m fascinated about, but I don’t think I have the energy to write about on a daily basis for a few weeks.

You’re first known as a magician. Do you think great magicians and great writers have anything in common?

Magic and writing are about storytelling and the suspension of disbelief. An audience walks into a magic show knowing it’s not real. We pick up a thriller novel knowing that it didn’t happen. It’s up to the writer/magician to build a world where the audience’s mind is inside of that world and not on the outside questioning our attempt to make a reality.

When did your aspirations to become a writer begin?

Probably when I was nine years old and discovered a bunch of old science-fiction novels in a cardboard box in the guest room closet. I wanted to not only consume them all, I wanted the ability to make something like that.

The ability to have a whole novel come out of your head seemed like magic. I wanted that magical power. It seemed almost god-like.

So basically, power-mad nine-year-old me wanted godlike powers and the ability to decide who lives and who dies.

What writers or books have most influenced the way you think and the way you write?

Isaac Asimov for his productivity. Robert Heinlein for his ability to imbue his books with philosophy and politics that felt different than the usual group-think. Michael Crichton for his incredibly scientific knowledge that’s still unmatched by any writer to this day that I’m aware of. Suzanne Collin’s first-person point of view in Hunger Games showed me the power of that technique.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Ask yourself why you want to write and don’t be embarrassed by the answer. It can be for pure escapism. It can be artistic. It can be for commercial reasons. All three are fine. Don’t convince yourself of the answer you think sounds better to other people. Ask yourself deep down why you want to write. Knowing this will help you plan out your career and help you avoid pretending you’re something you’re not – and allow you to really enjoy writing.

If it’s to make money, then look at the independent authors that are doing well. If it’s because writing is a form of escapism for you and you want to spend two hours a day imagining yourself a vampire queen or whatever, then look at the genres where there’s a big need for those kinds of stories. If it’s because you’re trying to explore something inside yourself, then just write and don’t worry about where it takes you.

If your end goal is to sell books, then study the books that people are buying. Ask people what they’re reading. Ask them what they like about it. Study the people reading books as much as the books themselves.