Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

Jim DeFilippi - Archive Interview #219 (11/19/12)

Rebroadcast of an interview with author Jim DeFilippi, whose latest book is Limerick Malfeasance, a collection of over two-hundred original limericks. Lately, I'm interested in revision exercises. So this week's Write The Book Prompt is to flip to the middle of a project you're working on and read one page: any single page. Take notes. Try to divorce yourself from the rest of the content of the project, if it's a long one, and just focus on what you see happening on that one page. Look for mistakes, but perhaps more importantly, look for larger issues. Is your voice evident on the page? Is your narrator's voice in evidence? Are any characters who show up there behaving in a consistent manner with your ideas about how they should behave? Is the project's overarching purpose or vision in evidence on the page? Take notes, think about what you see right there in front of you, and see what ideas that might give you about what is or is not working with the piece as a whole. Maybe it will help. Good luck with this prompt and tune in next week for another. Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several former South Burlington High School students, now alums).

Joan Wickersham - Interview #218 (11/12/12)

Interview with National Book Award Finalist and Author of Fiction and Memoir, Joan Wickersham. Her latest book is The News From Spain, published by Knopf. This week's Write The Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Joan Wickersham. When she teaches, she often encourages her students to read Tim O'Brien's extraordinary story, The Things They Carried, from the collection by the same name. After reading the story, which is, in fact, a long list in itself, make your own list. In fact, make a list of lists. What are some ideas for structuring a story in the form of a list? Here are a few ideas I've come up with: a grocery list, a packing list, a to-do list, a category on Craig's List! Come up with a few of your own. Then pick one of those ideas and see if you can write a story using that list form as a structural device, or just for inspiration. Good luck with this prompt and tune in next week for another. Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several former South Burlington High School students, now alums).

Ann Hood - Archive Interview #217 (11/5/12)

Award-winning fiction writer Ann Hood, in an interview from 2010 about her novel The Red Thread, published by W. W. Norton & Company. It's election week, as I'm sure most of you are painfully aware. When I was a child, voters weren't allowed to wear any campaign buttons into the voting booth. I have a vivid memory of walking with my parents into the building where they would both vote a second time for Richard Nixon. The lobby of this building was absolutely littered with campaign buttons, removed by voters and thrown on the ground before they entered the school gymnasium where they would cast their ballots. I still have a Nixon Agnew button that I picked up that night while I waited for my parents to vote. This week's Write The Book Prompt is to use a memory from long ago about an election or a vote: it doesn't have to be a presidential election, and it doesn't have to come from a time when you were any certain age. Just whatever comes to mind. Recall it, write about it, and tomorrow - if you haven't already - please do vote. Good luck with this prompt and tune in next week for another.