Dialog

This week Federico and John conclude season one of Dialog with a discussion of what they learned from each of their guests. Despite vastly different backgrounds, there were several themes that ran throughout our interviews with John Gruber, Frank Turner, John August, Carrie Patel, and Pierce Brown. To wrap up season one, we revisit getting started as a writer, the impact and use of social media, influences and idea generation, getting past writer’s block, and the roles of hard work, luck, and privilege in succeeding. Thanks for listening. See you next season.

This week Federico and John conclude their conversation with New York Times best-selling author Pierce Brown, the creator of the Red Rising series of novels. In the second part of our two-part interview, we talk about Brown’s writing process, the usefulness of typewriters and deadlines, the challenges of writing dialogue and multiple points of view, Iron Gold, Dark Age, and the tools used to write the Red Rising series.

This week Federico and John talk to New York Times best-selling author Pierce Brown, the creator of the Red Rising series of novels. In this first part of a two-part interview, we talk about what the release of a new book is like, how he got started writing, the themes and influences behind the Red Rising series, the business of writing, social media, and interacting with fans.

This week Federico and John conclude their conversation with video game narrative designer and novelist Carrie Patel. In this installment, we cover where Patel finds inspiration, planning a novel, her writing process, the benefits of having a publisher, balancing writing and a full-time job, and more.

This week Federico and John are joined by video game narrative designer and novelist Carrie Patel. In this first part of our conversation, we explore narrative design in games Patel has worked on at Obsidian Entertainment, including Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds, which is coming to consoles and PC in October.

This week Federico and John conclude their conversation with screenwriter John August about Fountain markup syntax, his apps, Highland and Weekend Read, writing sprints, Courier Prime, and creating scripted podcasts.

This week Federico and John are joined by screenwriter John August to talk about his work on films like Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlie’s Angels along with his Arlo Finch trilogy of novels.

This week Federico and John conclude their conversation with musician and songwriter Frank Turner with a discussion of the democratization of the creation, access, and distribution of music and other media, the role of hard work and luck, the songwriting process, when to listen to feedback and from whom, editing your work, the role of technology in songwriting, and the state of albums today.

Federico and John are joined by musician and songwriter Frank Turner to talk about getting started, the transition from post-hardcore band Million Dead to an acoustic solo career, songwriting, the music industry, evolving your work and staying relevant, being productive on tour, the advantages and pitfalls of social media, and fans.

For part two of a two-part conversation, Federico and John are joined by John Gruber of Daring Fireball and The Talk Show to talk about independent writing in 2019, staying relevant, reputation, the role priorities play in defining your writing voice, the impact of podcasting on writing, Markdown, and more.