A big round of applause to Maggie Shipstead, winner of the £30,000 University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize this year!
The Dylan Thomas Prize is open to any published author in the English language under the age of 30. The award celebrates the legacy of Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas who wrote most of his best work in his 20’s. This prize aims to recognise and support the literary heroes of the future.
[Photo credit: James Davies]
As the largest community of readers and writers in the world, Wattpad is used by many aspiring and professional writers to discover and share stories. Maggie Shipstead is a great inspiration for young writers who hope to be similarly recognized by their literary peers.
Today, we interview Maggie about her writing experience and any advice she has for aspiring writers:
1. When did you first become a writer?
It’s difficult to say—everyone has different notions of what it means to be A Writer. I started experimenting with writing fiction when I was nineteen and studying at Harvard and took a fiction-writing workshop on a whim. Of course, what I wrote was terrible, but the next year I applied to a workshop Zadie Smith was leading. A list of who got in was posted the day before the semester began, and I went and checked and saw I wasn’t on it and sort of thought, “Oh, well. That writing thing was fun while it lasted.” But later someone congratulated me, and it turned out I’d been looking at the wrong list. Zadie’s workshop ended up being important for me because she cut a very inspiring figure—being young and witty and wildly brilliant and all—and was also very tough on everyone’s work. For some reason, being held to high standards had a galvanizing effect on me, and I started to understand that writing was an extremely long and demanding road but possibly one worth investigating. And since then I’ve pretty much been following opportunities wherever I can find them. After Harvard I spent two years doing an M.F.A. at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; then I lived on an island for nine months while I wrote the first draft of Seating Arrangements, and then I was at Stanford University for two years on a writing fellowship. I’ve been tremendously fortunate. I consider myself A Writer these days because writing is what I do and what matters to me, and I think it’s best not to complicate the label.
Continue below for more on eReading, social media, tips for aspiring writers:
2. Which writer has had the biggest influence on your writing?
I couldn’t possibly just pick one! In the context of Seating Arrangements, I would probably have to say John Updike and John Cheever, the great chroniclers of New England WASPs, especially in terms of content and tone. I love how Jane Austen manages to balance sharpness and gentleness in her novels. I’m awestruck by other writers’ dexterity with point of view: Virginia Woolf and Henry Green, for example. As far as contemporary writers, I love Jeffrey Eugenides and Michael Chabon—they’re both marvellous stylists but don’t overprioritize style relative to story and character, which is something I aspire to do as well. There are many more.
3. A lot of writers these days use online communities like Wattpad to find “beta readers” who will give them feedback on their stories. Do you think that this type of reader-writer relationship is helpful for aspiring writers?
Absolutely, assuming you’re able to ferret out readers you trust and respect. I’ve spent a lot of time in writing workshops, and typically in any group of readers there are a couple people who just don’t get or like your writing and a couple people who instinctively understand what you’re trying to do. A teacher of mine called these people “ideal readers.” Ideal readers won’t necessarily love every word you put on paper and constantly praise you to the heavens, but they will appreciate your general aesthetic and be on your side and can offer the kind of criticism that’s really about improvement and not about personal taste.
4. You spent the week with your fellow finalists, visiting schools in Wales to inspire Welsh youngsters and turn the literary spotlight on Wales and its own great legacies. What was your favourite part of that whole journey?
It’s a close race between the time I spent getting to know the other writers and the time we spent in the schools. We met some students in Wales who were so obviously and radiantly smart and insightful and alive that even though our visits were short, I know I’ll remember them for a long time. I was completely charmed. Students who were only twelve or thirteen talked about writing and writers’ mindsets on an amazingly deep and intuitive level. They also wanted to know about growing up in California and what kind of dog I have, and I love anyone who will talk about my dog with me.
[Photo credit: James Davies]
The shortlisted writers shared a house for a week, so there were lots of jokes about Big Brother and about The Hunger Games, but we formed a strong bond. I was the oldest of the group, and the poise and brilliance of the others blew me away. They’re also insanely productive. Chibundu Onuzo is only twenty-one, so she began The Spider King’s Daughter when she was seventeen. Seventeen! She was so casual about it, too. She just said, “Oh, I had a lot of free time at boarding school.” Tom Benn is twenty-four and has already finished two follow-up books to The Doll Princess. Andrea Eames just turned twenty-seven and has published two novels. D.W. Wilson has another book on the way, too. They’re miraculous people, and I hope our paths cross again soon. Just as an aside—I also loved seeing the Dylan Thomas birthplace in Swansea. The house has been beautifully, lovingly restored to the way it was in 1914. Highly recommended to sightseers.
5. How does it feel to be named a rising star of the literary world?
Anything that seems like a positive sign for me being able to continue writing books as my livelihood is an unmitigated good, as far as I’m concerned. But I think it’s in my best interest not to pay too much attention to what’s said about me, good or bad. It’s a mistake to interpret praise or awards as any kind of promise from the cosmos that your path forward is guaranteed. I happened to finish my second novel before Seating Arrangements came out, which was really lucky because I felt like I was writing a first novel for the second time. Now, embarking on a third novel, I’m having to work harder to shut out the secondary chatter and concentrate on writing a good book.
6. What do you think of the gradual shift to eReading and self-publishing in the past few years?
I don’t have an innate animosity toward either. Or, honestly, an affinity for either. I don’t happen to own an e-reader, but I see their appeal—portability, affordability, the potential for multimedia. My feeling is that they won’t replace books anytime soon but that people are already differentiating between the kinds of books they want hard copies of and the kind of books they’re content to just have in an e-version. There’s also the perk that no one can see what you’re reading on an e-reader. (Hello, Fifty Shades of Grey?) Of course, I think it’s essential that ebooks be priced fairly for authors and publishers, but generally anything that encourages reading and knits reading culture into modern culture is a positive development. Self-publishing I’m more sceptical about. Certainly there are some phenomenal self-publishing success stories, but those writers have eventually ended up with traditional book deals. For me, the thought of publishing my work before I’ve had editorial feedback is horrifying. I trust and rely on my agent and my editor at Knopf to help me identify problems in my writing; we all want it to be as finished as it possibly can be before it’s sent out into the world. Some people perceive the publishing world to be closed to outsiders, but I don’t think that’s true. In my experience, agents and editors are very open to work from unknown writers—they just have to like it. They also have to think it will sell, but that’s a basic economic truth, not a nefarious plot to suppress art. Also, the publicity and marketing machinery within publishing houses does exponentially more to promote books than I ever could on my own.
7. Many writers, like best-selling Canadian author Margaret Atwood, use social media to connect with fans and promote their new works. Are you active in social media?
I am, yes. These days, especially as a young novelist starting out, you’re expected to help out your publisher by establishing some sort of online presence. That way, if someone reads about you or your book, they can find out more about you through mediums like Facebook and Twitter. I’ve been on Facebook since early 2003, so that’s a platform I’m especially comfortable with.
8. What advantages or disadvantages do you think writers these days have, compared to years ago when Internet use wasn’t as prevalent?
It’s a mixed bag. The internet is a massively powerful tool as far as word of mouth, of course, and I’m generally pro-communication. The number and variety of channels available now for getting the word out about a given book and for people to recommend books are extremely helpful, if overwhelming. Some bloggers have done a great job establishing themselves as wise readers, and they have large followings of people who trust their taste.
As far as disadvantages, the internet can be an echo chamber for negativity, whether or not it’s well-founded, and I’m not convinced that systems like the Amazon star ratings are helpful on balance. Sometimes readers wage weird one-star wars against certain books, even for things that are outside an author’s control, like pricing. It’s so easy to go on the internet and anonymously say something cruel or uninformed. Browsing for books on the internet is still imperfect, too. Communities are forming where people direct each other toward books they might enjoy, but I still like to go into bookstores and look at the covers and stumble upon writers that way. I’m not sure there’s a digital replacement for that yet, and I suspect that’s part of why the internet is tough on mid-list books. I have no complaints about the way things went for my particular book, but, in general, big bookselling websites tend to promote bestsellers so heavily that they drown out good books by people who don’t necessarily churn out four a year with teams of minion-writers. I have qualms about accessibility, too. It’s wonderful to hear from strangers and friends who have read the book and enjoyed it, but keeping up with social media and being as friendly and open as I want to be can also be a drain on time and energy. I don’t know how writers with very big followings manage. I imagine they eventually have to sort of absent themselves from the whole cacophony, but then they run the risk of being criticized for being aloof. Seems tricky.
[Photo credit: James Davies]
9. How do you plan to continue your writing career after receiving such a prestigious award?
I’m really looking forward to getting back to work. I spent a lot of the summer promoting Seating Arrangements and writing short pieces for websites and things like that, and then I spent October deciding to abandon a novel I’d started. My editor has promised me notes on my second book (which I finished last spring) around the end of the month, so I’ll be busy revising soon. And I have a seductively new and shiny novel idea (to borrow a phrase from Andrea Eames) to replace the one that died on me. I feel purposeless when I’m not fully engaged with writing a book or a short story. I like to be free enough to get into a daily work routine. The Prize is such an honor, but I’m going to have to put Dylan’s little bronze head on a shelf and get on with things.
10. What advice can you give to young writers on Wattpad who aspire to be as successful as you one day?
Read. That’s always the first thing. Read as widely and diversely as possible, and not just fiction. I probably read more nonfiction than fiction, partly because I’m more forgiving and relaxed toward its style and also because I pick up all kinds of interesting tidbits that eventually get incorporated into my work. Be rigorous about your writing and never be self-congratulatory or complacent. But! At the same time, don’t be so hard on yourself that you become paralyzed. Everything is a work in progress. You can’t expect first drafts to be perfect (or even readable, sometimes), and you can’t expect the first story you write to be as good as the twentieth or fiftieth. No piece of writing, even if it goes through a million drafts, will ever be perfect, actually, so it’s better to do your absolute best and then give yourself permission to move on and not look back.
Find out more about the Dylan Thomas Prize on their website!