Who: Joyce Carol Oates

Claim to Fame: Joyce Carol Oates is an American author who has published over 70 books, including best sellers We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. She has received numerous honors and awards, such as the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, the National Book Award, Prix Femina Etranger, and the Pushcart Prize. Oates currently serves as the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University.

Where to Find Her: on Amazon, her Twitter, and her website.

Let’s start with the basics: What time of day do you start writing? Is it easier for you to write early in the morning? Late at night?

Around 7 AM ideally. Yes, I sometimes work late into the night.

In an interview in 2005, you told us that you own a laptop but write your stories in longhand. Is that still true now?

Notes for stories in longhand & an initial draft, then the laptop.

How many words a day do you produce, or try to produce? How much of that ever sees the light of day?

I have no idea. Why would anyone count words (!)

A corollary — you’ve published over 40 books and other works. Do you struggle at all with that dreaded enemy of writing: writer’s block? Do you think such a thing exists?

Yes, to a degree — when we are not fully prepared to write, & need to do more background work, more note-taking.

Finding a great idea for a book can be one of the most challenging aspects of an author’s life. How do you find your book ideas? How do you know what is worth pursuing and what needs to be cut?

A novel is a river into which many tributaries flow. Impossible to know the source.

In the same interview linked above, when asked whether you have any particular preoccupations that haunt you, you’ve said “Most of my writing does arise out of some hauntedness of some kind. Often it’s a place or image or perhaps a person or an event.” In your writing career, do you have one or more “hauntings” that particularly stands out?

The genesis of Mudwoman was an actual, very vivid & “haunting” dream. However, I did not write the novel for years.

Related: Which book would you say was your favorite to write?

Favorite to write?— My Sister, My Love — like Expensive People. The quirky first-person voice is very enjoyable to read as to write, I think— but I rarely write in this engagingly conversational voice.

How do you think about the audience you’re writing for? Is there one in your head, or are you basically writing for yourself?

All that concerns me is the integrity of the work at hand; hoping to fully realize its potential.

You’ve taught at Princeton for a long time. What is one lesson you hope that everyone who takes your class comes away with?

One lesson? I have no idea. You’d have to ask my students.

What would your most important piece of advice be for someone who wants to be a writer?

Most important for a writer to read widely, enthusiastically. Writing is a consequence of reading & writing well is a consequence of reading well.