Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

Emily Forland - Interview #331 (1/26/15)

Literary Agent Emily Forland, of the Brandt Hochman Agency in New York. 

This week’s  Write The Book Prompt is to imagine what life might be like for an agent or an editor -- perhaps one with whom you’ve had interactions -- and write a scene from that person’s perspective. Write with empathy as you imagine that person’s job and circumstance.

Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.  

Tari Prinster - Interview #330 (1/19/15)

Cancer survivor, yoga teacher and author Tari Prinster, whose new book is Yoga for Cancer:  A Guide to Managing Side Effects, Boosting Immunity, and Improving Recovery for Cancer Survivors

For this week’s Write The Book Prompt, I’m going to name several yoga poses (some that I found in Tari's book) and suggest that you write using these pose names as prompts. You can write about yoga, or you can be looser with your associations, and go wherever these pose names take you:

• Cactus clap
• Crane
• Dirty t-shirt
• Downward facing dog
• Frog
• Gather and hold
• Hero pose
• Half Lord of the Fishes
• Locust
• Mountain
• Neck stretch
• Pigeon
• Seated cat and cow
• Slumber party
• Step back see saw
• Twist extension
• Warrior 3

Good luck with this exercise and please listen 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). 

Sharon M. Draper - Interview #329 (1/12/15)

Award winning author and educator, Sharon M. Draper, whose latest YA novel is Stella by Starlight, published by Simon and Schuster. On the day of the interview, Sharon learned that Time Magazine had chosen her last book, out of my mind, as one of the 100 best children's books of all time. (She was in a pretty great mood, and we had a fun conversation.)

This week’s  Write The Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Sharon M. Draper. You actually already heard her offer it; write every day, and write descriptions and scenes with specific detail. Look out the window. What does the sky look like, what do the trees look like? Not near a window? Write about something else near where you are: a person, a room, anything. Focus on descriptions and being specific in your descriptions. 

Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.  

Cathy Ostlere - Archive Interview #328 (1/5/15)

Archive interview with Cathy Ostlere, Canadian Author of the memoir Lost and the recent YA novel in verse, Karma.

This week’s  Write The Book Prompt is to write about a friend you’ve known for a very long time, but imagine meeting that person now, instead of all those years ago. Would you have as much in common? Would you encounter each other in a very different way? What might happen?  

Good luck with this exercise and please listen 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). 

William Lychack - Archive Interview #327 (12/29/14)

An interview from the archives with Vermont author of fiction and poetry, William Lychack, whose books are The Wasp Eater and The Architect of Flowers.

This week's prompt is to write about New Year's Eve. It can be a true story, fiction, good, bad, epic, disastrous. Poem, story, essay - you decide! 

Good luck with this exercise and please listen 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).