Ted Scheinman

Ted Scheinman is a senior editor at Smithsonian magazine and the author of Camp Austen: My Life as an Accidental Jane Austen Superfan (FSG Originals, 2018).

Twitter: @Ted_Scheinman

Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?

This will sound unbearably pretentious, but: I really love listening to Russian ballet suites while writing fiction. Classical music in general offers structural guidance when you're stage-managing themes and motifs, and in ballet scores, the themes often express character explicitly. So you can sit there, scribbling and listening to Stravinsky, and as you go about marshaling your own themes and characters, you can hear Stravinsky doing the same thing — and because he's Stravinsky, he does it with such a sublime playfulness that you're sort of driven to try to keep up. It's music that makes your chest expand while focusing your mind, and I love it.

What’s your favorite comic strip or graphic novel? 

Torn between Tintin and Calvin & Hobbes. (Unsure why I am drawn to cartoon protagonists who sport such ridiculous cowlicks.)

Favorite non-reading activity?

Playing rock or soul on piano or guitar, if not with a full band then at least with a bassist and drummer.

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

Daily.

Is there another profession you would like to try?

I've long wanted to be a veterinarian, but these days I'm wishing I had trained as a nurse.