Who: Sarah Gailey

Claim To Fame: Hugo award winner Sarah Gailey is an internationally published writer of fiction and nonfiction. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and the Boston Globe, and they are a regular contributor for Tor.com and Barnes & Noble. Their most recent fiction credits include Fireside Fiction, Tor.com, and The Atlantic. Their debut novella, River of Teeth, was a 2018 Hugo and Nebula award finalist. Their adult novel debut, Magic For Liars, was published by Tor Books in June 2019 and An Amazon Best Book of June 2019. Their Young Adult novel debut, When We Were Magic, will be published by Simon Pulse in Spring 2020.

Where To Find Sarah: Their Website, Amazon, Twitter

Praise For Sarah: “This is a thing I now know about Sarah Gailey: she is a word-magician who can render searing touch on a flat page and suspend disbelief flawlessly. The world of River of Teeth feels vast, and navigable due to her skill. The characters within, deep and yet intimately knowable.” — Fran Wilde, Nebula-nominated, Andre Norton- and Compton Crook-winning author of Updraft and Cloudbound

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 prefer a routine – I like writing in the same place when I can, because it’s a good cue that it’s time to focus. I usually do my best writing work at my home desk, mid-to-late afternoon, after all the administrative work is done.

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

If I’m having an ideal day, it goes like this: a cup of tea and a chapter of a good book, followed by a walk with the dog and my partner, then a shower. Those things aren’t crucial, though. I like to wear noise-cancelling headphones and listen to my old boxing playlist while I’m writing – my brain is good at slipping into a rhythm when I’m listening to that playlist. I’ve been told by several people that when I’m in the groove on a chapter, I jam really hard to the music.

Do you struggle at all with that dreaded enemy of writing: writer’s block? Do you think such a thing exists?

I struggle with focus and fatigue sometimes – when it’s not that the words won’t come, but that they won’t come easily. There are some days when I can only manage a few hundred words, and on those days, the words are never good. I try to approach this as an issue of self-care: usually, on the days when I’m struggling to write, I need to rest or exercise or manage my mental health in some way. That said, I don’t know that I’ve ever suffered from true writers’ block. I’m sure that it’s a real thing – I just find that, when I’m having a hard time making the words go, it’s less an issue of inspiration and more an issue of ability.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

This might seem obvious, but I love reading. If I can get outside with a good book and some fresh fruit and maybe a glass of wine, I’m the happiest I can be. I also really enjoy cooking, especially for my friends and family.

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’?

This happens one of two ways. Option one: an idea strikes me down like a falling piece of a dead satellite, usually in the wee hours of the morning. Option two: I am stuck for ideas, so I whine and flail at my partner or my agent until they ask me what the thing is that I really want to say. At that point, I can usually put my finger on what’s truly important to me. That’s where most of my ideas come from: the question of what actually matters to me, and how I might explore it in narrative.

Do you find that your process or routine differs for your short-form stories versus your longer form books?

Absolutely! With short-form stories, I don’t usually outline; I typically know what direction the story is going to take, and I let it flow naturally. With long-form books, I outline heavily ahead of time, planning out my chapters and plot beats so I can guarantee that the structure of the piece can support the prose I’m going to apply to it.

What does a successful writing day mean for you? And how do you finish out a day of writing? Do you have a process, or is it just that you know you’ve hit a natural stopping point?

I set incremental deadlines for myself, so if I have a manuscript due on a certain date, I have a spreadsheet that tracks how many words I need to write each day in order to turn that manuscript in on time. Usually, I know I’ve had a successful day of writing if I’ve hit whatever incremental deadline is on my calendar. If I haven’t hit that incremental deadline, I try to be forgiving of myself — I try to remind myself that most of my deadlines are self-imposed — but all the same, I like being able to finish out a day of writing by checking off the item I set out to conquer.

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

I have been enormously influenced by Clive Barker, Erin Morgenstern, Fonda Lee, Tana French, Shirley Jackson.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Read widely: every time I read outside of my genre, outside of my comfort zone, I find myself freshly inspired. Read critically: just because something is unfamiliar, that doesn’t mean it’s good, and that doesn’t mean it’s bad — everything deserves serious consideration. Read for joy: it’s important to remind yourself why you love stories, and why you love reading, so you can remember why you’re writing in the first place.

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