Member Spotlight: Susan Isla Tepper

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing was the first attempt at more than just the most basic communication in our earliest civilizations. Even then people had this urge to share or explain something to their primitive community. There is great beauty in that. Down through the ages it evolved into art and literature. Today, with the encroaching censorship that is attempting to darken our creativity, it’s more important than ever to keep writing and keep the arts alive and thriving.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I don’t get writer’s block. And I don’t say this in any sort of bragging way. I wake up with words thrumming in my mind that usually begin a poem or a story. Often waking from a dream is the catalyst for a new piece. I write pretty much in the same way that I eat. It’s necessary to my existence. I’m sorry I don’t have a remedy except to say that something must be getting in the way of the creative process when people experience writer’s block. One tip just hit me: when I take a long walk lots of ideas for my current project come into my mind. So maybe being in nature in this benign way would be helpful to other writers.

What is your favorite time to write? I always start my day writing. It’s been like that for over twenty years unless there is some emergency. The only time I don’t write is when I travel. I think it’s because I’m soaking up a new place and I find the world so fascinating. I began as a TWA flight attendant at 19. It was my first time out of the country. I was mesmerized. Often my travel experiences are given over to characters in my novels. Not intentionally. They seem to pop up at certain times in the story and fit well so I use them. I say: Use everything at your disposal. When you revise, you can decide to keep something or let it go. But always be true to your characters and plot.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? “Don’t be less so others can be more.” That came from a very famous writer. In other words, don’t hold back anything that is pushing to come out, don’t tape shut the mouths of your characters. I’ve written dialogue that stunned me so much that I’ve sat back in my chair with my mouth open. But I left it in the story. And it’s what made the story so dangerous and memorable. It was my first Pushcart Nomination.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? Not AI. That really disturbs me a lot. I started writing when we were mailing out our submissions. Today it’s great to be able to hit a button and over it goes. That certainly has increased our chances of being published because we don’t have to wait months / years to hear whether the work has been accepted. That’s a big boon for our times.

Susan Isla Tepper’s Hair of a Fallen Angel is out now with ‎Spuyten Duyvil Publishing.