Dear Writer
Summary: Dear Writer is a weekly podcast about the experiences of two aspiring authors, from setbacks to successes, and all that goes on in-between. In her other life, show host Ashley Lindsay is a chemist, working in the fields of sustainability and innovation in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. And her co-host Sarah Anderson is an operating room nurse, residing in Calgary, Canada. But on evenings and weekends, we're bloggers at Linderson Creations. Podcasters on Dear Writer. And first and foremost, aspiring authors.
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- Artist: Linderson Creations
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Podcasts:
On our author spotlight this month we were delighted to talk to Melissa McTernan. Melissa is a paranormal/fantasy romance author based in New York. She has three novellas published by small presses: Missing Maren, Through the Fairy Ring, and Secret Family Recipes for Love and Butter Cookies. Her new self-published book, Bewitched By My Best Friend came out last month. We had an inspiring conversation with Melissa about her books, her writing process, and her road thus far.
On another culturing creativity episode, we immersed ourselves once again in genre. But this time, we focussed on how to find the genre that suits you best. To some, it seems like an obvious answer. But we discussed how this affects your writing and your confidence, particularly as a new writer if you're not sure where to start.
On this craft episode of Dear Writer, we talk about how to craft the perfect villain, and the many reasons why the villain is so central to the plot of your novel.
On this talking shop episode, we focussed on two academic articles. Sarah discussed an article titled, "'I've Learned I Need to Treat My Characters Like People': Varieties of Agency and Interaction in Writers' Experiences of Their Characters' Voices", by John Foxwell, Ben Alderson-Day, Charles Fernyhough, and Angela Woods. Ashley reviewed an article called "Hideous Progeny - Examining how the failings of science and technology have informed a range of dystopian texts", by Paul Taylor-McCartney. You can find both articles here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810019304155 https://www.nawe.co.uk/DB/current-wip-edition-2/articles/x16-hideous-progeny-by-paul-taylor-mccartney.html
We ventured into the realms of Academia once more to bring you two new and interesting resources about writing. Sarah explored ideation, and the processes of the brain when an idea is sparked, in the article "You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat" by Arne Dietrich. Ashley reviewed "Malcolm Cowley on the Four Stages of Writing: Lessons from the First Five Years of The Paris Review" by Maria Papova. You can find both articles here: http://www.textjournal.com.au/speciss/issue13/Dietrich.pdf https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/04/05/malcolm-cowley-four-stages-of-writing-paris-review/
On this culturing creativity episode of Dear Writer we tried out and discussed a writing exercise called, "Exploding A Moment". This wonderful exercise helps with developing detailed description in your creative writing. You can find instructions on how to do this exercise here: https://wr.english.fsu.edu/College-Composition/The-Inkwell/Details-and-Descriptions#Exploding%20a%20Moment:%20Developing%20Details
On this special author spotlight episode, we had four of our previous guests back to talk about the progress they've made since we first interviewed them. This author spotlight featured Dan Saunders, M.H. Woodscourt, Kaitlyn Legaspi and Emé Savage in four fifteen-minute mini interviews. Keep an ear out for more Returnees later this year.
On this Culturing Creativity episode we experimented with Blackout Poetry. We discussed what it is, how to create it and how we found the experience.
On this craft episode of Dear Writer, we talked about how to create realistic relationships between characters, and why this aspect of character creation is important.
On this talking shop episode, Sarah reviewed an inspiring poetry book, 'Newspaper Blackout' by Austin Kleon, which described and demonstrated the unique form of blackout poetry. Ashley discussed an article by the name of 'Summoning Ghosts and Releasing Angels: Challenging the Tyranny of the Blank Page' by Amina Alyal and Oz Hardwick. You can find the article here: https://www.nawe.co.uk/DB/current-wip-edition-2/articles/summoning-ghosts-and-releasing-angels-challenging-the-tyranny-of-the-blank-page.html
We welcomed Kendall Coppola to the author spotlight this month. Kendall Coppola is a New Zealand author, based in Auckland. He loves creative projects; writing novels and screenplays, videography, and photography. His debut book, 'Two Years till Thursday: true stories from a truly hopeless romantic', came out in December 2021. When he isn’t writing or working on creative projects, Kendall loves to play piano, skateboard and watch films.
This week we threw ourselves headfirst into the topic of self-doubt and Imposter Syndrome. In this episode, we expose our own insecurities and talk about how to manage these feelings as a writer and an author. We also discussed our separate working lives and the lessons we've learned through our day jobs.
On Dear Writer this week we took on the task of defining genre—what it is and how it's useful to writers. We looked at the importance of genre from both the reader and the writer experience. Knowing the function of genre can help you to craft and sell a mesmerizing story.
On our talking shop episode this week, we have two new resources to review. Sarah talked about another grammar book: 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' by Lynne Truss. Ashley's choice for this month was a book called 'Writing for Emotional Impact' by Karl Iglesias.
On this author spotlight episode, it was a pleasure to welcome Kat Winters onto the show, to talk about her writing experiences. Kat is an American writer born and raised in California, and writes to give people hope, featuring diversity and inclusivity in her novels. We immensely enjoyed talking to Kat and learning about her book, 'Free Me.'
