Would you please tell us a little about your writing process?
I still have a day job as a lawyer, so I don’t have the luxury of writing full time. Yet. I have to take time where I can get it. Luckily, I am also self-employed, so my boss doesn’t mind if I take some time during the day to write. I made a commitment to myself some years ago that the first productive thirty minutes of each day would be spent writing. That isn’t to say that I get up early or write before everyone else wakes up. It’s that the first thirty minutes of ‘work’ time are writing. Then, when I’m at the first draft stage, I just plow forward. I keep reminding myself that a first draft is supposed to be terrible. If I edited as I went, I’d never be finished. The first draft is the vomit draft. I just spill it out all over the page. No one but me ever reads the vomit draft. It’s usually awful, with giant plot holes you could drive a truck through and sentences that barely make sense. When it’s finished, I read it over and make some basic edits. Then I put it away for a few months and let it marinate and work on something else. I need some time apart from it to gain perspective. Then I start editing.
How do you believe a writer improves? Practice? Mentors? Reading everything? Attending festivals?
All of the above. But most of all by being willing to be critiqued. I’ve been in so many writing groups where constructive criticism is given, and the person hearing it just gets defensive. I think that’s one advantage having been a lawyer for over thirty years has given me. I have worked in such an adversarial environment. In the legal world, people cry, scream at me, call me names, cuss at me, and whatnot on more or less a daily basis. To be an effective trial lawyer you have to develop a very thick skin. So when someone is criticizing my work in a constructive way, and I know they’re trying to help me be a better writer, I love it. I start out with editors telling them that I want them to be direct—I tell them that so long as they aren’t calling me a m—ther f—er we’ll be good. Find people who are insightful writers and editors, find people who understand the mechanics of writing and are willing to critique your work and if your gut bucks up at what they’re saying ask yourself, “Is this my ego getting angry, or do they really have a good point?”
What motivated / motivates you to write?
The same thing that motivates me to breathe. I wasn’t aware it was optional.
Do you enjoy writing?
One of my most-told bad jokes about being a lawyer is that the answer to every question you ask a lawyer is “It depends.” Unfortunately, that’s the answer to this question as well. It depends. When I’m in the flow of a story, there is no greater high. It feels god-like to create fully-formed human beings with stories you can manipulate. I love waking up in the middle of the night with the perfect solution for a knotty plot problem. When I come up with the perfect turn of phrase to describe what’s going on I may as well have turned on the endorphin firehose. On the other hand, there are days when I stare at the computer and type one letter at a time thinking that the thought that anyone would ever be interested in any of the drivel that I am painstakingly ekeing out onto the page is the most egotistical load of crap anyone has ever dreamed up and I’m better off shouting into a paper bag and setting it on fire. So yeah. Depends on the day.
What is the role of the writer in society?
To hold up a mirror to it. I believe sincerely that 90% of the world’s problems stem from our failure to consider things from someone else’s perspective. Stories require you to do that. Most of my story ideas begin with the thought, “What makes him tick?” or “What was she thinking?” and then I write a story to find out. Stories allow us to see the world through other people’s eyes which increases empathy and understanding.
What do you find most inspiring?
Eavesdropping. If you’re ever feeling blocked, just go to a public space, buy yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and listen. Stories are everywhere and people are fascinating. My theory is that if you don’t want me to hear what you’re saying, you shouldn’t be speaking loudly in a public space. Random quotes and out of context sentences should make your imagination fly. If that doesn’t work, or if no one is saying anything interesting, play a game my son and I call “He’s a gigolo.” You can play solitaire or if you’re with someone fun and creative, you can play with them. Pick a person near you (but not near enough to be within earshot) and make up their backstory. It forces you to be observant. Are their clothes new or old? Fashionable or out of date? Colored or drab? Do they stand upright or slump? Is their hair carefully coiffed or messy? What’s the expression on their face? All of these things can go into the backstory portrait you paint for this perfect stranger. It can be hilarious when you play with a friend, and if you follow the rabbit trail far enough, you can build a whole story from it.
Lori B. Duff is an attorney in Loganville, Georgia. A two-time winner of the Georgia Bar Journal’s annual fiction competition, she is also the author of the Fischer at Law series published by She Writes Press. A leader in multiple fields, she is a past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a past president of the Georgia Council of Municipal Court Judges.