Who: Jeff Zentner

Claim To Fame: Jeff Zentner is the author of New York Times Notable Book The Serpent King, Goodbye Days, and Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee. He has won the William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, the International Literacy Association Award, and the Westchester Fiction Award. He’s a two-time Southern Book Prize finalist, been longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and UKLA, and was a finalist for the Indies Choice Award. He was selected as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start and an Indies Introduce pick. His books have been translated into fifteen languages. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. 

Where To Find Jeff: His Website, Amazon, Twitter

Praise For Jeff: [On The Serpent King] “Pens would run dry if readers were to underline extraordinary sentences–the kind that are so true, or funny, or beautiful that they clamp hearts.” –Shelf Awareness, Starred

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

I actually write on the bus, on my iPhone, on my bus commute to and from work in downtown Nashville. I’ve written at least 80% of all three of my books that way, and I’m almost done with a fourth. That’s really my only writing time each day.

Do you have any pre-writing rituals or habits before you sit down to write?

I like to go on walks and listen to music. Those are times of great inspiration for me. I think a lot about what I’m going to write the next day. Because I have such limited writing time, I have to make the most of it.

What do you do when the writing isn’t coming easy? Do you struggle at all with that dreaded enemy of writing: writer’s block?

I force myself to be bored. When my mind is quiet, it’s hungry. When it’s hungry, it starts to make its own food, in the form of stories and inspiration. I can almost always circumvent writer’s block that way.

When did your aspirations to become a writer begin? At what age did you start writing in hopes of making a living out of it?

In 2012, when I was 34. Up until that time, being a writer had never occurred to me. I thought the kind of people who write books were very different from me. Before 2012, all my creative energy went to music.

Writers have to be master prioritizers — juggling all sorts of projects and deadlines at the same time. That’s certainly the case for you. Do you have any methods for managing tasks and time to stay productive and not let overwhelm sneak in?

I do a lot of planning and I’m very disciplined with my time. When it’s writing time, I don’t procrastinate, because I can’t afford to. Procrastination is the enemy of writing. Also, I like to limit my social media time. It can be a real black hole.

Deciding on an idea to pursue writing about can be the most challenging aspect for a writer. How do you come to find the stories and lives that become the subjects of your books? Are there habits or daily tricks you use to think about book ideas?

All of my stories start with people who fascinate me, whose lives I want to inhabit. The stories come organically out of the struggles, hopes, desires, and hurdles I imagine them facing.

Along with the books, you are a songwriter. Do you have a different approach or mental frameworks for writing each? Do the mechanics of your writing routine change?

Songs don’t require you to think in terms of arcs or journeys the way novels do. Songs can be a snapshot. A sad song will probably begin and end as a sad song. So I have to pace myself a lot in my thinking when I write novels. They can’t be snapshots the way a song can.

How do you judge a productive writing day or an unproductive day? What’s the sign of a good day for you?

If I get one or two truly good sentences out of a day, that’s a good writing day for me. If I manage to say something that feels very true to me, that’s a good writing day. If I feel something while I’m writing, that’s a good writing day.

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

My biggest influence is probably Stephen King, which is funny to say because I’m not at all a horror writer. But Stephen King is as good a chronicler of friendship as he is of horror, and I love to write about friendship. IT, The Body—these are masterworks of friendship and they’ve been hugely influential on my own writing. Plus, he just comes across as a really decent, generous guy—the sort I’d hope to be.

What is your advice to aspiring writers? Or better, what’s something aspiring writers should NOT do?

You don’t need to write every kind of book. You’re allowed to love books that you’re not supposed to write. Honor your own voice. Tell the stories that only you can tell.

___________

Ready to create a writing routine of your own?

Sign up now and receive our free guide “12 Essential Writing Routines To Help You To Craft Your Own.”

Learn from the routines of superstar authors Stephen King, Gertrude Stein, John Grisham, Ernest Hemingway, Neil Gaiman, and many more.

Get the free guide here!