Writers on Writing

Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven and Diana Wagman, author of Life #6 join Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about their current novels, revision, social media, agents, and more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: July 8, 2015

In a special episode devoted to children's literature, Academy Award winner William Joyce joins co-host Marrie Stone to discuss his latest children's book-cum-memoir, Billy's Booger.  He talks about rejection, perseverance, creativity, and his advice to young writers.  In the second half, Caldecott Medal winner Dan Santat joins to discuss his award-winning book, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend.  He talks about the Caldecott process, inspiration, homage, and the balance of visuals against test in children's literature.  Download audio. (Broadcast date: June 24, 2015)

Dan Pope, author of Housebreaking joins co-host Nicole Nelson to talk about the challenges of using shifting points of view with temporal overlaps, developing complex characters, and writing compelling dialogue. Then John Mutter, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Shelf Awareness, on the heels of that website's tenth birthday, explains the role of Shelf Awareness in the book-selling marketplace, shares the site's origin story, and talks about the process of deciding which books get reviewed and who reviews them. Download audio. (Broadcast date: July 1, 2015)

Short story writers Austin Bunn, The Brink, and Thomas Pierce, Hall of Small Mammals, join co-host Marrie Stone.  They discuss setting, character, titles, building the arc of a collection, and more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: June 17, 2015)

Mary-Beth Hughes, author of The Loved Ones talks to Nicole Nelson about finding her way into her novel, using sensory detail to further the narrative, and drawing from her earlier career as a modern dancer (with the Merce Cunningham studio in New York) to tell her stories. Then Lauren Acampora, author of The Wonder Garden, talks about how her false start with a novel led to this book of inter-connected short stories that she had a blast writing, how growing up in the suburbs and later choosing to live there as an adult has influenced the tales she is drawn to, and how she finds the humor in reactions from readers who don't read flap copy, thanks to a blog post by Rebecca Makkai about online reader reviews. Download audio. (Broadcast date: June 10, 2015)

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Noreen Ayres, author of The Juan Doe Murders, and Terry Masear, author of Fastest Things on Wings, talk with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about their new books. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: May 27, 2015)

Essayist Michael Paterniti, author of Love and Other Ways of Dying, joins Marrie Stone to discuss writing tragedy, how he finds doors into human emotion, what makes a compelling essay, and creating the narrative voice in nonfiction.  In the second half, Marian Palaia discusses her novel, The Given World.   She discusses Vietnam, creating fictional characters from real people, the common pitfalls of new writers, and how her MFA transformed her work. Download audio. (Broadcast date: April 29, 2015)

Debut novelists Nayomi Munaweera, author of Island of a Thousand Mirrors, and Aline Ohanesian, author of Orhan's Inheritance, join Marrie Stone to discuss writing as an exhile, the power of personal history, the effects of war and genocide on future generations, and how to make the political stories personal.  Download audio. (Broadcast date: April 22, 2015)

Seth Greenland, author of I Regret Everything: A Love Story, published by Europa, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his new novel, writing in the opposite gender's point of view, living twice (through your characters) and much more.  Download audio.  (Broadcast date: May 13, 2015)

Novelist Peter Heller, author of The Painter, joins Marrie Stone to talk about the power of place, the importance of art, and how to create compelling characters.  In the second half, debut novelist Rebecca Scherm discusses her book, Unbecoming. Download audio. (Broadcast date: March 18, 2015)

Mary Norris, author of Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, talks to Nicole Nelson about how being so focused on the details because of her copy-editing job made her appreciate the work of her editor for this book in helping her craft chapters with a beginning, middle and end; what it's like to be in charge of the "comma shaker" at The New Yorker; and how knowing the grammar behind the use of "me" in some contexts can, between her and us, help writers make the correct choice. Then Christie Watson, author of Where Women are Kings, joins the show to talk about how she discovered the voice of her main character, Elijah, how the novel changed as she worked through nearly a dozen drafts, and how important it is for writers to silence their inner critic and keep on writing. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: May 6, 2015)

Beth Kephart, author of Handling the Truth (Gotham), talks about writing memoir. She's the author of five memoirs, is a National Book Award Finalist, and a moving writer.  If anyone knows about the memoir form, it's Beth. Download audio. (Broadcast date: Oct. 16, 2013)

Jacob Rubin , author of the novel The Poser, talks to Nicole Nelson about the value of re-reading, how his protagonist Giovanni emerged from his work on a short story, and the comfort of rituals when writing (and in life). Then Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, discusses finding the right first chapter, how studying The Brothers Karamazov helped her map the story of her novel, and the importance of submitting to--and not resisting--the revision process. Angela and Barbara DeMarci-Barrett will be at the LA Times Festival of Books.  Angela's panel is Sunday, April 19 at 3:30 (Fiction: The Past in Our Present Hoffman Hall ) Barbara DeMarco-Barrett will moderate Fiction: Perfectly Flawed Sunday, 12:30 p.m., Annenberg Auditorium. Download audio.  (Broadcast date: April 15, 2015)

Pulitzer prize winning poet Stephen Dunn, author of Lines of Defense, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about crafting poems, including writing from your own POV or using a persona, revision, the best training for a poet, and more. Download audio. (Broadcast date: April 8, 2014)