Write The Book: Conversations on Craft artwork

Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

248 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 22 ratings

A writing podcast for writers and curious readers, featuring interviews with authors, poets, agents and editors. Twice chosen as one of Writer’s Digest Magazine’s 101 Best Website for Writers. Vermont-grown.

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Episodes

Barbara Buckman Strasko - Archive Interview #604 (2/17/20)

February 18, 2020 13:41 - 54 minutes - 74.2 MB

  Interview from the archives with the poet Barbara Buckman Strasko, who has a new collection coming out soon from Word Poetry Books: The Opposite of Lightning. In this interview, we discuss an earlier collection, Graffiti in Braille (Wordtech).  In our conversation, Barbara and I discussed the ways that both graffiti and braille are forms of expression that circumvent some impediment. In the case of graffiti, that impediment might be a lack of authorization. In the case of braille, blindn...

Kathleen Donohoe - Interview #603 (2/10/20)

February 14, 2020 14:23 - 45 minutes - 62.4 MB

A conversation with the author Kathleen Donohoe, whose latest is Ghosts of the Missing (Mariner), a novel that follows the mysterious disappearance of a twelve-year-old girl during a town parade. This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Kathleen Donohoe. Open a favorite poetry collection to a random page, write the first line of the poem you see there, and let that be the starting point for your writing session. Kathleen finds that, even if that first line can'...

Jessica McDiarmid - Interview #602 (2/3/20)

February 04, 2020 19:05 - 59 minutes - 82.4 MB

  Canadian Journalist Jessica McDiarmid, author of Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Atria). This week's Write the Book Prompt is to write a poem, a story, an essay, or a reflection about a person who has disappeared.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro  

Ann Patchett - Archive Interview #601 (1/27/20)

January 29, 2020 17:19 - 50 minutes - 69.5 MB

  An interview from the archives with the author Ann Patchett about her essay collection, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (Harper Perennial).  Recent impeachment coverage has me remembering that, when I was nine years old, Richard Nixon’s impeachment hearings were on the television every afternoon, pre-empting my cartoons. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a child’s perspective on some contemporary political moment. Good luck with your work in the coming week, an...

Cynthia Newberry Martin - Show #600!!! (1/20/20)

January 22, 2020 17:04 - 49 minutes - 68.1 MB

  Cynthia Newberry Martin, whose debut novel is Tidal Flats (Bonhomie Press). This week I’m going to suggest two Write the Book Prompts, both of which were part of my interview with Cynthia. First, think of black and white passions for your characters and write in that direction. See if you uncover something new and interesting that might stay black and white, or might become more layered and complex. See where it takes you. The second prompt was suggested during the interview by Cynth...

Cynthia Newberry Martin - Show #600!!! (1/20/19)

January 22, 2020 17:04 - 49 minutes - 68.1 MB

  Cynthia Newberry Martin, whose debut novel is Tidal Flats (Bonhomie Press). This week I’m going to suggest two Write the Book Prompts, both of which were part of my interview with Cynthia. First, think of black and white passions for your characters and write in that direction. See if you uncover something new and interesting that might stay black and white, or might become more layered and complex. See where it takes you. The second prompt was suggested during the interview by Cynth...

Lisa Moore Ramée - Interview #599 (1/13/20)

January 16, 2020 17:24 - 59 minutes - 82.4 MB

    Lisa Moore Ramée, whose debut middle grade novel is A Good Kind of Trouble (Balzer + Bray). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Lisa Moore Ramée, and was inspired by an exercise that was assigned in the workshop she attended led by Renée Watson. Take your two main characters and put them in direct opposition. Have them fight or argue about something that they really care about. You may or may not end up using the scene, but it will probably help clarify who yo...

Benjamin Percy - Interview #598 (1/6/19)

January 07, 2020 13:52 - 53 minutes - 74.1 MB

Author Benjamin Percy, whose new story collection is Suicide Woods (Graywolf). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider the blueprint exercise that Benjamin Percy mentioned assigning to his students so that they might better understand structure. Choose a favorite story and read it many times, enough that you know it inside and out. Then read it again, taking notes. Try to identify the beats of the story: the way, for example, that setting might relay theme, or dialogue might infor...

Benjamin Percy - Interview #598 (1/6/20)

January 07, 2020 13:52 - 53 minutes - 74.1 MB

Author Benjamin Percy, whose new story collection is Suicide Woods (Graywolf). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider the blueprint exercise that Benjamin Percy mentioned assigning to his students so that they might better understand structure. Choose a favorite story and read it many times, enough that you know it inside and out. Then read it again, taking notes. Try to identify the beats of the story: the way, for example, that setting might relay theme, or dialogue might infor...

Abby Frucht - Interview #597 (12/30/19)

January 04, 2020 22:12 - 54 minutes - 74.7 MB

Author Abby Frucht, whose new collection of prose poems is Maids (Matter Press).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was inspired by my conversation with Abby Frucht. In her own book, Maids, Abby followed one poem in which, as a child, she snuggles with her mom at the end, with a poem titled “Spoons,” which does not relate directly to the concept of snuggling or "spooning." And yet, because of the relevant placement of the works in the collection, they somehow do. Abby talked about an exerc...

Jon Clinch - Interview #596 (12/23/19)

December 28, 2019 22:50 - 58 minutes - 80.9 MB

Vermont author Jon Clinch, whose new novel is Marley (Atria). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider the quote from Jon Clinch’s favorite folk musician, the banjo player John Hartford: “Style is based on limitations.” Consider how this idea might apply to your own work, and let it help you decide: what are your strengths and what are your limitations? Are these in fact helping you reign in the scope of your project, or should they? In other words, would it be helpful to focus on ...

Dave Eggers - Interview #595 (12/16/19)

December 21, 2019 12:11 - 30 minutes - 41.8 MB

Writer, editor, and publisher Dave Eggers, whose new book is The Captain and the Glory: An Entertainment (Knopf). Here's a prompt to go along with my interview with Dave Eggers: write a satirical paragraph about a story in the news. This will require doing deep research to find something in our current events that you find outrageous, disgusting, or bizarre. I have faith that you can.  Good luck with it.  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro

Douglas Glover - Interview #594 (12/16/19)

December 21, 2019 11:41 - 44 minutes - 61 MB

  A new interview with the author Douglas Glover about his  collection of essays on literary form, The Erotics of Restraint (Biblioasis).  When Douglas Glover and I spoke, he mentioned that, as he was developing his craft, he would make lists of conflicted situations in a notebook. Then, when he wanted to begin a new project, he'd read through his notebook to find a promising conflicted situation with which to start. He doesn't know what the plot will be as he begins, but he does still alw...

Local Ladies of Horror - A Panel Discussion - Show #593 (12/2/19)

December 10, 2019 17:18 - 55 minutes - 76.8 MB

         The TW Wood Gallery was the venue for a recent panel discussion with three former Write the Book guests about their work writing horror, mystery, and suspense. Miciah Bay Gault, Jennifer McMahon, and Susan Z. Ritz shared their thoughts about the craft of scary stories, and I had the honor of moderating their discussion.  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider a fear, an incident, and a mode of resolution. I’m going to offer ten of each of these for you to match up and w...

Ruta Sepetys - Interview #592 (11/25/19)

November 30, 2019 18:44 - 44 minutes - 61.5 MB

  My guest this week: the author Ruta Sepetys, whose new historical novel is The Fountains of Silence (Philomel Books). This week's Write the Book Prompt is to write about a disempowered person who takes at least a small risk to change his or her circumstance, or to improve the situation of someone else. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro    

Emily Arnason Casey - Interview #591 (11/18/19)

November 19, 2019 19:00 - 46 minutes - 64.4 MB

Vermont Author Emily Arnason Casey, whose debut essay collection is Made Holy (Crux: The Georgia Series in Literary Nonfiction).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Emily Arnason Casey, during our live conversation. It's one she's used in a recent class: write about a place you can't return to. See if you can find an object in that landscape of memory that gives you some direction or shapes your understanding of that place. Good luck with your work in ...

Alice Lichtenstein - Interview #590 (11/11/19)

November 12, 2019 16:11 - 55 minutes - 76.1 MB

Alice Lichtenstein, whose new Pulitzer-nominated novel is The Crime of Being (Upper Hand Press).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Alice Lichtenstein. She has found it fun to assign her students a prompt she calls “ekphrastic fiction.” Ekphrastic writing is written in response to a work of art. Alice recommends googling Edward Hopper, many of whose paintings are clearly narrative in nature, and letting his work inspire your writing. Often his works exhibit a sin...

Kim MacQueen Interviews Cinse Bonino - #589 (11/4/19)

November 10, 2019 13:43 - 47 minutes - 65.4 MB

Guest Host Kim MacQueen interviews local author and teacher Cinse Bonino about her new book on creativity, One Key See, One Key Do (Onion River Press). This week’s Write the Book Prompt comes from Cinse Bonino’s new book, One Key See, One Key Do, and it’s about noticing things we usually miss. Pick something at random to notice. You could choose to intentionally pay attention to all the doorknobs and handles you encounter today, or perhaps notice all the buttons on people’s clothing. Take ...

Christine Coulson - Interview #588 (10/28/19)

October 29, 2019 16:42 - 52 minutes - 72.2 MB

Author Christine Coulson, whose new novel, Metropolitan Stories (Other Press), was inspired by her time working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We have three Write the Book Prompts this week, all sparked by my conversation with Christine Coulson: First, challenge yourself to write from the perspective of an inanimate object. Animate it. Think about how it might feel, if it could express thoughts about its current situation. Next, rather than exchanging work on the page, try sharing ...

Jane Alison - Interview #587 (10/21/19)

October 22, 2019 10:55 - 53 minutes - 73.8 MB

Author Jane Alison, whose latest is Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative (Catapult).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Jane Alison, who led a workshop recently that was studying Grace Paley’s story “Distance.” A phrase in the story includes the words, “the picture in the muck under their skulls…” Jane loved this line. She says we all have such pictures “in the muck under our skulls” - those moments that have formed or deformed us, that haunt...

Gary Kowalski - Archive Interview #586 (10/14/19)

October 20, 2019 15:16 - 52 minutes - 72.7 MB

Interview from the archives with Author Gary Kowalski, about his 2012 book Goodbye, Friend: Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet (New World Library). This week's Write the Book Prompt is to write about an unexpected interaction with an animal to which (to whom?) you have no personal ties. Good luck with your work in the coming week and please listen next week for another prompt or suggestion!  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro  

Sydney Lea - Interview #585 (10/7/19)

October 20, 2019 13:34 - 57 minutes - 78.6 MB

New interview with Author, Poet, and former Vermont Poet Laureate Sydney Lea, whose new poetry collection is titled Here (Four Way Books).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write a villanelle. Syd Lea and I discussed his poem, “Old Lessons,” during our conversation, and he then explained what the poem’s form consists of. But here’s a recap, thanks to the Poetry Foundation (where you can also find examples): "The villanelle is a French verse form consisting of five three-line stanzas...

Carol Anshaw - Interview #584 (9/30/19)

October 01, 2019 14:22 - 42 minutes - 58.5 MB

A new interview with Carol Anshaw, author most recently of Right After the Weather (Atria).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Carol Anshaw. As we discussed during our conversation, Right After the Weather does concern violence, and it includes scenes of violence. Carol suggests tackling this in the coming week; attempt to write a violent scene. Have you ever done this before? What do you find hard about it? What comes easily? How do you approach the material? Do...

Archer Mayor - Interview #583 (9/23/19)

September 24, 2019 18:28 - 51 minutes - 70.9 MB

Vermont Author Archer Mayor just published his 30th Joe Gunther novel, Bomber's Moon (Minotaur). Blood Moon, Super Moon, Blue Moon, Harvest Moon, Bomber’s Moon. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to come up with a new type of moon, and write about a night on which it rises.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro  

Sandra A. Miller - Interview #582 (9/16/19)

September 20, 2019 00:20 - 1 hour - 82.8 MB

Sandra A. Miller, author of Trove: A Woman's Search for Truth and Buried Treasure (Brown Paper Press).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Sandra A. Miller. Read the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “What If You Slept?” And then use the lines as your prompt for this week: What if you slept And what if In your sleep You dreamed And what if In your dream You went to heaven And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower And what if When you awoke You had that flow...

Poppy Gee - Archive Interview #581 (9/9/19)

September 12, 2019 13:45 - 46 minutes - 63.2 MB

    Interview from 2013 with Australian Author Poppy Gee. We discussed her novel, Bay of Fires (Reagan Arthur; Back Bay Books subsequently published the paperback.) This week's Write the Book Prompt is to consider Poppy Gee’s character, Sarah, whose reckless behavior has cost her so much. Write about someone’s reckless behavior. Depending on who your character is, reckless might look very mild or outrageous. How does it affect the person’s experience and life? What might come next as a re...

Miciah Bay Gault - Interview #580 (9/2/19)

September 02, 2019 21:10 - 47 minutes - 65.7 MB

  Vermont Author Miciah Bay Gault, whose debut novel is Goodnight Stranger (Park Row Books). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to try your hand at the exercise that brought Miciah to find the first line of Goodnight Stranger, a trick that was suggested to her by former WTB guest Juliana Baggott: Try summing up your novel in the first sentence, and see what happens. When she was the editor of the journal Hunger Mountain, Miciah set the authors of one issue this task, which comes from ...

Moira Crone - Archive Interview #579 (8/26/19)

September 02, 2019 17:28 - 1 hour - 83.2 MB

  Archive Interview with Moira Crone. We discussed her 2012 novel, The Not Yet (Univ of New Orleans Press). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to begin with one of the following phrases, and write from where it leaves off: After he dove into the water… Through the haze and beyond the line of tractors, he saw… When she found the watch in her sister’s top dresser drawer… Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: ...

Kathryn Davis - Interview #578 (8/19/19)

August 25, 2019 13:34 - 52 minutes - 71.6 MB

Vermont Author Kathryn Davis, whose new novel is The Silk Road (Graywolf Press).  As she mentioned during our interview, one goal that Kathryn Davis had in writing The Silk Road was moving fluidly through time. She said, “The way you experience living is often like you’re sitting in this kitchen but there’s some part of you that is somewhere else, and … it’s also temporally dislodged. We’re not as organized as beings as we like to think we are.” This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to cons...

Lori Gottlieb - Interview #577 (8/12/19)

August 20, 2019 11:48 - 28 minutes - 39.4 MB

Guest host Kim MacQueen interviews writer and psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed (Mariner Books).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to try writing something in the second person. You can take a piece you’re actively working on, employing another POV narration, and simply use this as the opportunity for an exercise. Or attempt a new story, essay, or poem in the second person. Electric Literature h...

Tony Whedon - Interview #576 (8/5/19)

August 07, 2019 13:27 - 29 minutes - 40 MB

  Vermont Author and Musician Tony Whedon, whose essay collection Drunk In the Woods (Green Writers Press) was recently nominated for the Vermont Book Award. I announced this week's "official" Write the Book Prompt after the broadcast's first interview, with Megan Price, but here's another: find a recording of John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" (which Tony mentions in one of the poems read in this interview). Here's one. Play it. Turn it up, play it again. Don't like jazz? Don't be ridiculous. ...

Megan Price - Interview #575 (8/5/19)

August 07, 2019 12:31 - 30 minutes - 42.5 MB

  Vermont author Megan Price, who will soon publish another in her wildly popular Vermont Wild series (Pine Marten Press). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write a story, poem, or essay that concerns wildlife or nature, and maybe has a funny aspect to it. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion! Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro

Denise Mina - Archive Interview #574 (7/29/19)

August 03, 2019 17:47 - 47 minutes - 65.8 MB

2013 interview with Award-Winning Scottish Crime Novelist Denise Mina. We discussed her then-new novel, Gods & Beasts (Hachette). Her latest, just out this spring, is Conviction (Mulholland).  This week's Write the Book Prompt has to do with the history of our broadcast date: July 29. On that date in 1981, Prince Charles married Lady Diana. Their wedding, even more than those of their sons, was the international event of the century. Around 3,500 guests were in attendance at the St. Paul's...

Susan Z. Ritz - Interview #573 (7/22/19)

July 23, 2019 15:58 - 47 minutes - 64.8 MB

Vermont Author Susan Z. Ritz, whose debut novel is A Dream to Die For (SheWrites Press). In our live in-studio conversation, Susan generously shared the following, which is now this week's Write the Book Prompt:  Pick up a box of buttons or bows or pieces of jewelry and choose two that are somehow different from each other. Think about the people who might wear or use these things. Write a scene where they meet somewhere - perhaps a café or park - and hold a conversation that begins: "Whe...

Eric Zencey - Archive Interview #572 (7/15/19)

July 22, 2019 17:59 - 58 minutes - 79.8 MB

An interview from the archives with Vermont Author Eric Zencey, who passed away on July 1st after a battle with cancer. Eric's books included Virgin Forest: Meditations on History, Ecology, and Culture (University of Georgia Press); Greening Vermont: The Search for a Sustainable State, coauthored with Elizabeth Courtney (Vermont Natural Resources Council/Thistle Hill); and The Other Road to Serfdom and the Path to Sustainable Democracy (University Press of New England).  This week’s Write ...

Chris Tebbetts - Interview #571 (7/8/19)

July 10, 2019 13:54 - 44 minutes - 61.7 MB

Vermont Author Chris Tebbetts, whose latest novel is Me, Myself, & Him (Delacorte Press).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Chris Tebbetts. He, in turn, first heard about this one through the writer Matt de la Peña, who suggests writing letters to yourself from your characters, explaining what you’re getting right or wrong about them.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit:...

T. Coraghessan Boyle - Interview #570 (7/1/19)

July 03, 2019 16:55 - 53 minutes - 72.9 MB

Award-Winning Author T. Coraghessan Boyle, whose latest novel is Outside Looking In (Ecco).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, TC Boyle. Sometimes he finds his stories through newspaper clips. But because news stories are journalism, he says, we don’t know the why or how of them, just the what. With students, he’ll suggest finding a one-paragraph story in the newspaper and trying to inhabit it to find out why and how. He jokes, Man Bites Off Own Nose, ...

Sara Collins - Interview #569 (6/24/19)

June 25, 2019 18:51 - 52 minutes - 72.2 MB

Debut author Sara Collins, whose new novel is The Confessions of Frannie Langton (Harper). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Sara Collins.  An older woman is angry  that a pair of teenagers keeps collecting rocks and shells from the beach on which she lives. Write a scene in which she confronts them for the first time. She never tells them why it distresses her so much nor do the teenagers tell her why it's so important to them to collect the shells, ...

Heidi Diehl - Interview #568 (6/17/19)

June 18, 2019 19:44 - 43 minutes - 60.2 MB

Author Heidi Diehl, whose debut is Lifelines (HMH).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Heidi Diehl. Think about an event or a time that has been important in your character’s life but does not appear in the pages of your story. Write two versions of what happened. One should be 3-5 sentences, and one should be a full-fledged scene, spanning a couple of pages. If the outcome sparks something that feels important to include, than you should of course use...

Ali Benjamin - Interview #567 (6/10/19)

June 13, 2019 15:02 - 21 minutes - 29 MB

New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award Finalist Ali Benjamin, whose new novel for young readers is The Next Great Paulie Fink (LBYR). Write the Book Prompt: In her new novel, The Next Great Paulie Fink, Ali Benjamin includes short interviews between her narrator and some of the other characters to provide clues about who Paulie Fink was and where he might have gone. Consider writing an interview between two or more of your own characters, to find out what they are thinki...

Jane Green - Interview #566 (6/10/19)

June 13, 2019 14:49 - 34 minutes - 46.8 MB

Bestselling Author Jane Green, whose latest is the friends we keep (Berkley). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to think back on a relationship that once meant something to you, but is no longer a part of your life. Whatever happened to that friend, cousin, teacher, neighbor? What might you have expected? Imagine a life for that person and write about it. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro

Kurt Kirchmeier - Interview #565 (6/3/19)

June 06, 2019 12:14 - 32 minutes - 45 MB

Kurt Kirchmeier, author of the novel The Absence of Sparrows (Little Brown for Young Readers). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Kurt Kirchmeier. Write a scene or a short story from the perspective of someone whose life is profoundly changed by an intimate encounter with nature. And to make it more personal, write it in first person. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music: Aaron Sha...

Karol Jackowski - Interview #564 (5/27/19)

June 01, 2019 21:29 - 50 minutes - 69.7 MB

Guest host Kim MacQueen interviews Karol Jackowski, author of Sister Karol's Book of Spells, Blessings & Folk Magic (Weiser Books).  This week's Write the Book Prompt is to try your hand at writing a spell. Some of the spells in Sister Karol's book include Spell To Become a Peacemaker, Get Well Spell, Good Luck Spell, Anxiety Gone Spell, Thanksgiving Spells and Blessings. If you were to write a spell, what would it be for? Think about how you would go about it. Think about what would be ...

Meg Wolitzer - Interview #563 (5/20/19)

May 26, 2019 14:57 - 26 minutes - 36.2 MB

New York Times–bestselling author Meg Wolitzer, whose novel The Female Persuasion (Riverhead Books) is now in paperback.  For a new Write the Book Prompt, write a scene in which two characters meet for the first time. The main character has long idolized the other from a distance. In the scene, have that other person let down your main character in some way.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro ...

Rachel Howard - Interview #562 (5/20/19)

May 25, 2019 17:55 - 39 minutes - 54.4 MB

Author Rachel Howard, whose debut novel is The Risk of Us (HMH).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest Rachel Howard, and I can’t wait to try it. She says that it’s a somewhat arbitrary structure she came up with when she was teaching undergraduate creative writing at Warren Wilson College: Write a lyric essay about one of the three great forces of life: sex, death, or love.  The essay should never name whether it is about sex, death, or love, or use the wo...

Catherine Cusset - Interview #561 (5/13/19)

May 17, 2019 20:29 - 53 minutes - 74.1 MB

  Catherine Cusset, author of Life of David Hockney (Other Press).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Catherine Cusset. When we remember something that we've shared with another person - a story or incident - very often, two very different stories might emerge from the two perspectives. Memory is not reliable, and so different people will remember events differently. With this in mind, write the same event or story from the perspectives of two people w...

Steven Wingate - Interview #560 (5/6/19)

May 08, 2019 19:01 - 49 minutes - 67.4 MB

Author Steven Wingate, whose new novel is Of Fathers and Fire (Univ. of Nebraska Press - Flyover Fiction).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously suggested by my guest, Steven Wingate. He calls it “The Endless Sentence,” and it is designed as both a loosening up exercise and a means of exploration. It requires only a timer and your favorite writing implement (analog or digital). You simply set your timer for five minutes and start writing, and everything is allowed except one si...

Michelle Demers - Interview #559 (4/29/19)

May 01, 2019 16:53 - 53 minutes - 74.1 MB

Vermont Poet Michelle Demers, whose new collection is Green Mountain Zen (Blue Light Press).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Michelle Demers, who has a large staple of writing books from which she pulls exercises for herself and her classes. The exercise, titled "The Word Hoard," appears in The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing, by David Morley. Morley writes, “You should try to do this exercise every day, not only to keep your writing mind l...

Guests

Ann Patchett
1 Episode
Dave Eggers
1 Episode
Denise Mina
1 Episode
Jane Green
1 Episode

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