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.
Episodes
Saturday Dec 28, 2019
Saturday Dec 28, 2019
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 your strengths, as you’ve recognized them, and let go of certain goals that are perhaps overambitious, given your limitations?
Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.
Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro
Saturday Dec 21, 2019
Saturday Dec 21, 2019
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
Saturday Dec 21, 2019
Saturday Dec 21, 2019
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 always know the conflict. This week, make a list of conflicts from which you might draw an interesting situation to use in your writing.
Good luck with your work in the coming week, and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.
Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro
Tuesday Dec 10, 2019
Tuesday Dec 10, 2019
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 work with as you like. (You'll see that incidents might also be resolutions in a few cases...) See what comes - maybe something scary! Good luck with your work in the coming week and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.
|
FEAR |
INCIDENT |
RESOLUTION |
|
Animals or insects |
Aggression |
Chemical Resolution |
|
Darkness |
Conversation |
Conversation/Emotional Confrontation |
|
Fire |
Entrapment |
Hiding |
|
Ghosts |
Legal Action |
Noise |
|
Illness |
Prolonged Strife or Conflict |
Running Away |
|
Madness |
Solitude |
Scientific Innovation |
|
A Category of People: Men or Women or Children |
Surprise |
Silence |
|
Responsibility |
Temptation |
Surrender |
|
Thieves |
Threat |
Trickery |
|
Weather |
Trickery |
Violence |
Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro