DIY MFA Radio

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Gillian McDunn

Gillian is the author of the middle-grade novels Caterpillar Summer and The Queen Bee and Me, These Unlucky Stars published by Bloomsbury Children's Books. Caterpillar Summer was selected for the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, and landed on Kirkus Reviews and Parents magazine Best Books of the Year lists. Her favorite thing is spending time with her family. She also loves traveling, board games, and learning about the world we live in.

We'll be talking about Honestly Elliott, a middle grade novel about a big-hearted boy trying to find the way to his best self.

• How she created a dynamic depiction of neurodiversity in a novel for middle grade readers.
• What children can learn from cooking and how it applies to other life skills.
• Why middle school is an intense time for learning about adult dynamics.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/399

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing JK Ellem.

Jack is the author of the Amazon #1 US & UK Best Selling book, Mill Point Road, A Winter's Kill, and the No Justice Series. He was born in London and spent his formative childhood years reading infamous British comics like Action and 2000 AD. He has no agent, no publicist, and no huge publishing house behind him. Yet in 3 short years since he wrote his first thriller novel, he's become an Amazon #1 Bestselling Thriller Author in both the UK and the US in 6 crime fiction categories.

Today we're discussing his Ravenwood series (which I read and loved) and how to create mystery and suspense in multiple point of view novels.

• How a wrong turn and a gated community inspired his Ravenwood series.
• Why he chose to break the rules of POV and how he pulled it off.
• Creating questions that get the reader involved in the mystery and control the pacing.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/398

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Isaac Fellman.

Isaac is the author of Dead Collections, as well as The Breath of the Sun (published under his pre-transition first name), which won the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for queer science fiction, fantasy, and horror. By day he is an archivist at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. Today we're talking about his latest book, Dead Collections, which will be out on February 22 (so, in less than one week!).

• How he used his day job as an archivist as a metaphor for his characters.
• Why you should consider writing fanfiction to develop your writing skills.
• His approach to exploring bigger topics in his writing and why he finds the challenge fun.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/397

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ryan Dalton.

Ryan is an author, singer, voiceover artist, amateur chef and lover of all things geek. He's also the author of the young adult and middle-grade books including the time travel mystery series, the Time Shift trilogy. Today we'll be discussing his latest novel, This Last Adventure, a middle-grade story about the bond between a teenage boy and his grandfather, how that boy copes with his grandfather's memory loss, and what it means to live a life worth remembering.

• Why he wrote This Last Adventure as a middle grade story, as opposed to YA.
• How he created a sense of hope when his amorphous antagonist was undefeatable.
• Writing group scenes and what to include and what to leave out to make each character distinct.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/396

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Alana Quintana Albertson.

Alana is a Latina bestselling romance author whose books have hit the top of several different charts. She has written thirty books and landed a three-book deal for the Latinx romantic comedy series, Love and Tacos. The first book in the series, Ramón and Julieta, has just been released and it has been optioned for television.

Like Ramón from her book, Alana has an impressive educational pedigree, with a Masters of Education from Harvard and a Bachelor degree from Stanford. And, like Julieta, she's a natural leader who is passionate about the things she loves. She's the former President of Romance Writers of America's Contemporary Romance, Young Adult, and Chick Lit chapters and she founded the non-profit dog rescue, Pugs N Roses.™

Today we're talking about her latest book, Ramón and Julieta, which happens to combine three of my favorite things: rom-coms, tacos (and other great food), and of course, Shakespeare references.

• What inspired her to turn Shakespeare's tragedy into a rom-com and how she pulled it off.
• How she kept raising the stakes for her characters, while keeping it realistic.
• Using world building to convey deeper elements of culture and community in her story.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/395

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Alana Quintana Albertson.

Alana is a Latina bestselling romance author whose books have hit the top of several different charts. She has written thirty books and landed a three-book deal for the Latinx romantic comedy series, Love and Tacos. The first book in the series, Ramón and Julieta, has just been released and it has been optioned for television.

Like Ramón from her book, Alana has an impressive educational pedigree, with a Masters of Education from Harvard and a Bachelor degree from Stanford. And, like Julieta, she's a natural leader who is passionate about the things she loves. She's the former President of Romance Writers of America's Contemporary Romance, Young Adult, and Chick Lit chapters and she founded the non-profit dog rescue, Pugs N Roses.™

Today we're talking about her latest book, Ramón and Julieta, which happens to combine three of my favorite things: rom-coms, tacos (and other great food), and of course, Shakespeare references.

• What inspired her to turn Shakespeare's tragedy into a rom-com and how she pulled it off.
• How she kept raising the stakes for her characters, while keeping it realistic.
• Using world building to convey deeper elements of culture and community in her story.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/395

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sue Campbell.

As founder of Pages & Platforms, Sue is the mindset and book marketing coach writers look to when they are ready to honor their dreams, share their work with the world, and maximize the impact of their words.

She has helped hundreds of writers—from newbies to bestsellers—transform their mindset around marketing, and her clients have achieved some pretty epic goals. From exponentially increasing their email lists and book sales, to landing articles in prestigious publications or doing guest spots on popular podcasts, Sue has helped many writers realize their full potential as authors.

Today, Sue and I will be talking about mindset, in particular the harmful stories we creative folks tell ourselves, so we can carve out the creative life we've always known we were meant to have.

• False stories writers tell themselves about marketing and why it isn't as scary as you think.
• How to shift your thoughts about marketing—Sue shares some exercises to help!
• Why getting hard feedback early on is actually advantageous for you later on.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/394

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing William Germano

Bill is professor of English at Cooper Union, where he served as dean of the faculty of humanities and social sciences for more than a decade. During an earlier career in publishing, he served as editor-in-chief at Columbia University Press and as vice-president and editorial director at Routledge.

His previous books on writing include Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (third edition, 2016) and From Dissertation to Book (second edition, 2013).

He has also written Eye Chart, a book about how we test vision, for Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series (2017), and The Tales of Hoffmann, a study of Powell and Pressburger's 1951 opera-film.

Most recently he has co-authored, with Kit Nicholls, Syllabus: The Remarkable, Unremarkable Document That Changes Everything (Princeton UP, 2020) and his latest book on writing, On Revision: The Only Writing That Counts, which we'll be talking about today.

• When you should start from scratch and why it's a great technique for your writing.
• What skill all writers need to master and how it will improve your writing and revising.
• Why he believes that if something is worth writing, it's worth revising as well.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/393

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Leslie Vedder.

Leslie Vedder is a queer ace author who loves fairytale retellings with girl adventurers and heroes! She grew up on fantasy books, anime, fanfiction, and the Lord of the Rings movies and met her true love in high school choir. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in creative writing and currently lives in Colorado with her wife and two spoiled house cats.

When she's not reading or writing, you can find her watching anime and sci-fi shows, walking in the woods and pretending they're enchanted forests, or playing old video games. She always collects all the Skulltulas in Zelda and all the Dalmation puppies in Kingdom Hearts.

Her debut YA novel The Bone Spindle released in January 2022.

• What genre inspired her and helped her keep a fast pace throughout her novel.
• Why she loved blending science and magic and how her characters approached each.
• How she approached varying levels of character relationships—both romantic and friendship.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/392

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ashanti Anderson.

Ashanti Anderson (she/her) is a Black Queer Disabled poet, screenwriter, and playwright. Her debut short poetry collection, Black Under, is the winner of the Spring 2020 Black River Chapbook Competition at Black Lawrence Press. Her poems have appeared in World Literature Today, POETRY magazine, and elsewhere in print and on the web.

• How being an overthinker influences her poetry and the messages she wants to share.
• Why setting clear boundaries helps her guide the conversation around her writing.
• When she turns to prose poetry and why she thinks it defies hard and fast craft rules.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/391