Professor, Symposium by the Sea founder, debuts new books on craft of writing

Dean Nelson, the founder and director of Point Loma Nazarene University’s journalism program, has interviewed some of the greatest writers around. The task has become part of his job description through PLNU’s annual Writer’s Symposium by the Sea.

Now, after 30 years of sitting down with the likes of Alice Walker, Ray Bradbury, Cornel West, Susan Orlean and many more, Nelson has compiled their insights into two books that make their debut this month.

“Talking to Writers: The Craft of Nonfiction” and “Talking to Writers: The Craft of Fiction” are Nelson’s attempts to answer the questions of aspiring authors through the words of the writers they might aspire to emulate.

“There’s no spoilers to this book. It’s a book on becoming a better writer, using the actual voices of these great writers to be your instructor,” Nelson said.

For the last five years, Nelson has been mulling over transcripts of his interviews, picking out themes to delve into, like how these accomplished writers deal with rejection and where they found the encouragement to continue writing.

When he first started this project, it was intended to be one book. His editor decided the book was too long, so they split it into two, one highlighting fiction and the other, nonfiction writers.

Nelson followed in the footsteps of writers who inspired him as he went about deciding how the books should be crafted. He said that for these books in particular, he worked to follow George Plimpton’s style of interviewing writers for the publication he co-founded, The Paris Review.

“I’ve read those reviews for years and I’ve tried to mirror the back and forth that he did in those ‘Paris Review’ interviews with writers, so that we could actually get into the craft of their writing,” Nelson said.

“I wasn’t as interested in the writer’s personal story as I was in, ‘How did they get where they got?’ and ‘How do they do what they do?’”

Warwick’s in La Jolla is hosting Nelson’s book launch for both versions of “Talking to Writers” at 7 p.m. Monday. 

There will be another event on Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. in the San Diego Writers, Ink location at Liberty Station, where La Playa Books will sell copies.

Another edition of the Writer’s Symposium by the Sea is coming too. The 31st annual event will take place Feb. 23-27 with Judy Woodruff, Jamaica Kincaid and George Saunders as the featured writers.