Behind the Prose

Liz Pryor, author of the new memoir Look At You Now, kicks off season two of Behind the Prose. In this episode, I interview Liz with one of my new interns, associate producer and co-host Sarah Lorish. If you don't feel like you can write a book and get it published after you listen to this, then listen to it again. The feeling is bound to surface.

Check out the season two debut of Behind the Prose below or subscribe to Behind the Prose on iTunes to make sure you get every episode. Read the full show page on Behindtheprose.com.

Also, pick up Liz Pryor's book through my Amazon link and you'll help keep Behind the Prose on the air.

CHECK LIZ'S BIO AND THE FULL SHOW PAGE ON BEHINDTHEPROSE.COM.

Write This Way: How to Find and Develop a Niche in Your Writing, A Roundtable Discussion

Writers are an eclectic group of people and often have a range of interests. This roundtable discussion, moderated by Keysha Whitaker, explores whether writers should clarify and narrow their interests to develop a personal brand and gives advice on how to develop their own beats. The roundtable features writers Jason Bittel, Kristina Marusic, and Shannon Reed.

Jason Bittel writes about weird animals for a living. Beautiful animals. Intelligent animals. Animals that eat the eyeballs of other animals. You can find his read his work at Slate, Fast Company, National Geographic News, onEarth Magazine, and Smithsonian Magazine. In another lifetime, he trapped wild boars for the federal government. Follow him on Twitter (@bittelmethis) or visit his website: www.bittelmethis.com

Kristina Marusic is a freelance journalist focusing on stories related to LGBT equality, feminism, food politics, social and environmental justice, and the 2016 presidential election. Her reportage and first-person essays have been featured in Slate, Women's Health, AfterEllen, the Advocate, Creative Nonfiction, Flyway and others, and she formerly worked as a full-time staff writer for MTV News. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of San Francisco and is at work on a memoir. Follow her on Twitter (@KristinaSaurusR) or visit his website: www.kristinamarusic.com/

Shannon Reed writes monthly for The New Yorker's "Shouts and Murmurs" department and is a frequent contributor to McSweeney's Internet Tendency. Other credits include the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Narratively, Guernica, Kweli Journal, the Glassblock, Poets & Writers, and many more. She is at work on her first novel.

Ask an Editor Panel moderated by In Fact Books Associate Publisher, Ellen Ayoob. The panel features Hattie Fletcher, Creative Nonfiction’s own managing editor, and editors Jessica Bylander and Geeta Kothari.

Get an insider’s view—our panel of editors answers your questions about the revision and editing process. Learn how pieces change in revision with an editor's help, and how you can apply these guidelines to your own work. 

Hattie Fletcher has been the managing editor of Creative Nonfiction since 2004 and is the co-editor, with Lee Gutkind, of True Stories, Well Told: from the First 20 Years of Creative Nonfiction Magazine.

Geeta Kothari is the nonfiction editor of the Kenyon Review. She is a two-time recipient of the fellowship in literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the editor of ‘Did My Mama Like to Dance?’ and Other Stories about Mothers and Daughters. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in various journals and anthologies, including The Kenyon Review, Massachusetts Review, Fourth Genre, and Best American Essays. In 2004, she received the David and Tina Bellet Award for Teaching Excellence. In addition to teaching in the undergraduate program, Geeta also directs the Writing Center at the University of Pittsburgh.

Jessica Bylander is a senior editor at Health Affairs and editor of the journal’s "Narrative Matters" section of health policy narratives. She also contributes reported pieces to the journal. Prior to joining Health Affairs, she was a reporter covering the medical technology industry for “The Gray Sheet.” Previously, she worked at Dickinson College. She is a playwright and writes frequently for the Washington Post Express. She studied writing and journalism at Johns Hopkins University and Northwestern University.

Last year Creative Nonfiction Magazine and Behind the Prose teamed up to bring you special excerpts from the amazing 2016 Creative Nonfiction Writers’ Conference (CNFWC).  (Remember Lee Gutkind’s feature panel on how Law and Order teaches story structure to creative nonfiction writers?)

This year, if you couldn't join us in Pittsburgh, PA from May 27 – 29, we hooked you up with the chance to listen live via a special Behind the Prose episode.

Here is an excerpt from the master class Structure for Longform Nonfiction presented by Lee Gutkind.

Whether you’re writing a memoir, a journalistic book, or a longform essay or article, this class will explore options for structure in longer works.

 

ABOUT LEE GUTKIND

Lee Gutkind is the founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction and a professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University. Even before he was spotlighted in Vanity Fair in 1997 as “the Godfather behind creative nonfiction,” he was the genre's most active advocate and practitioner. He has written and edited nonfiction books about subjects as varied as motorcycle subculture, child and adolescent mental illness, baseball umpires, veterinary medicine, and organ transplantation. His most recent book is You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: The Complete Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction—from Memoir to Literary Journalism and Everything in Between.

Interviews with

Erik Deckers, humor writer, author, and resident #60 of The Kerouac ProjectGeoff Binge of The Kerouac Project

If you’ve ever wondered how to write an alternating point-of-view historical novel with prose that wields similes like samurai swords, then Kim Brooks’ second appearance on Behind the Prose is for you.

Brooks graces the virtual studio a second time to discuss her debut novel The Houseguest, out on April 12, 2016 on Counterpoint Press. (Her first time here featured a candid chat on her work at Salon as the personals essays editor.)

I enjoyed The Houseguest because I was completely enchanted with the characters and their perspectives. I have no idea how she kept all those storylines together (“Good editing,” she says in the interview) but I’m amazed and inspired. She confirms the magic of fiction that I began to uncover over the last year, starting with my interview of Natalie Baszile’s and her book Queen Sugar and she unknowingly confirmed the method acting theory of writing that Scott Alexander Hess broke down.

For full show details, visit www.behindtheprose.com

For full show page, visit www.behindtheprose.com

Jacki Skole is an award-winning journalist and adjunct professor of communication. She

launched her journalism career at CNN, first as a news writer, then as a producer in the network’s documentary unit; she’s also produced programs for Animal Planet and HGTV. Jacki has taught at La Salle University, Rider University, and Raritan ValleyCommunity College.

Kim Brooks is the new personal essays editor at Salon, a baton passed on to her from Sarah Hepola. I met Kim (virtually) after I interviewed Sharisse Tracey who had an essay published in Salon. Oh, and by the way, Sharisse Tracey just had another piece published on Yahoo! Parenting - "Why I Moved Out of State and Didn't Take My Children With Me."

I recorded this interview with Kim in November, but due to several issues (see last podcast for update), I’m just bringing it to you.

Nevertheless, it’s right on time! It’s a new year and you’ve got twelve months to land a clip in the “Life” section of Salon, and if you listen to this interview and read some of the column's essays, I’m pretty sure you can do it.

Listen below to this show (or read the transcript) and you’ll learn:

One of the most important decisions a writer can makeThe type of work that catches her attentionHow Salon’s personal essays differ from other outletsThe best way to end an essay

After you finish, go write that personal and maybe provocative piece.

Happy 2016 Prosers!

We've been rocking for almost a year now! Check out the very first Behind the Prose with essayist Tavonne Carson.

I'm kicking off 2016 with two great episodes. Today's show features reporter Jessica Contrera who works at The Washington Post. She talks reporting and writing in this episode recorded live with students at Penn State Berks.  In two weeks, you'll get an interview with Kim Brooks, Life Editor at Salon.

Jessica discusses her new  job and how she crafted an award-winning story about a hometown Waffle House.  (You can also read the transcript.)

If you're in the New York City area on Friday, make sure you go to Susan Shapiro's SECRETS OF PUBLISHING PANEL. You know Sue. If you don't, you should. Meet her and other great writers and editors on Friday,  January 15, 7-8:30 p.m. at The Strand Bookstore (12th and Broadway). The event features author Judy Batalion and her debut memoir White Walls: A Memoir about Motherhood, Daughterhood, and the Mess In Between. Admission is either a copy of White Walls or a $15 gift card to The Strand.