DIY MFA Radio

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sophfronia Scott.

Sophfronia is a novelist and essayist whose work has appeared in Time, People, O: The Oprah Magazine, as well as many other outlets. Her first novel, All I Need to Get By, was nominated for best new author at the African American Literary Awards and Sophfronia was hailed by Henry Louis Gates Jr. as "one of the best writers of her generation."

She is a prolific writer whose work spans both fiction and nonfiction, and her other books include Unforgivable Love, Love's Long Line, and This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World, which she co-wrote with her son Tain. Her essays "The Legs On Which I Move" and "Why I Didn't Go to the Firehouse" are listed in the Best American Essays series. Her next book is The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton, and is out now from Broadleaf Books.

The recipient of a 2020 Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, Sophfronia holds degrees from Harvard and the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is currently director of Alma College's MFA in Creative Writing, which is a low-residency grad program based in Alma, Michigan.

This interview is a little bit of a departure from our usual subject matter of authors talking about their latest books and instead Sophfronia and I will be doing a deep dive on MFA pedagogy. As you know, the DIY MFA philosophy is not anti-MFA, and we strive to complement what MFA programs are already doing quite well. And, of course, when I build new curriculum for DIY MFA, I draw from my own experiences as a MFA student, along with several other sources as well. I am beyond thrilled to have Sophfronia on the show to talk about writing, MFA programs, and a writer's education.

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• How her background in journalism, ghostwriting, and her desire to coach other writers inspired her to pursue an MFA.
• What a low residency MFA program can prepare you for as a full time career writer and the logistics and benefits of attending one.
• Why reading and building community are imperative to the DIY MFA experience as well as a writer's life and growth.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/351

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Simon Stephenson.

Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Simon is a writer and screenwriter now living in LA (with stop-overs in London and San Francisco along the way).

His first book was the memoir Let Not The Waves Of The Sea, about losing his brother Dominic in the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. It won Best First Book at the Scottish Book Awards in 2011. His most recent novel, Set My Heart To Five, was released in summer 2020 and this is what we'll be discussing today.

• His method for writing a "mis-topia" future and how that differs from a dystopia.
• Why writing a character without feelings allows you to explore feelings more.
• What role movies played in developing his protagonist and the plot.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/350

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jeremy Hance.

Jeremy is writer and freelance environmental journalist, who also happens to cohabitate with mental illnesses. He has named his OCD Steve and his depression goes by the name of Malachi. He is the author of the memoir Baggage: Confessions of a Globetrotting Hypochondriac.

As a journalist, Jeremy is passionate about wildlife conservation, climate change, forests, animal behavior, and indigenous people and many other topics. His work has appeared in Mongabay, the Guardian, HuffPost, Ensia, YaleE360, Sydney Morning Herald and others. His story on the Sumatran rhino was chosen for the 2019 edition of the Best American Science and Nature Writing.

Jeremy has traveled to over 30 countries on five continents and considers himself ridiculously lucky to have spent time with singing rhinos, dinosaur mammals, and angry clown fish. He is graduate of Macalester College with a major in English and minor in History as well as the Great Books Master's Degree program at St. John's College. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife, daughter, and pooch. When he's not writing, he enjoys time with friends, cups of tea, long hikes, longer naps, even longer novels, and playing Dungeons and Dragons.

• How he juggled writing about travel, mental illness, and nature in one book.
• Why he chose to write his memoir thematically as opposed to chronologically.
• What myths he hoped to dispel by writing so openly about his mental illness.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/349

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Cox.

Michelle is the author of the multiple award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Howard series. She also writes Novel Notes of Local Lore, a weekly blog dedicated to Chicago's forgotten residents. Her books have been praised by Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and more. It's highly possible that Michell may have once lived in the 1930s and, since time travel has yet to be invented, she has resorted to writing about the era as a way of getting herself back there. She is a lover of board games, period dramas and big band music. Also, marmalade.

• How her experiences working in a nursing home influenced her novel.
• Her method for writing societal issues revolving around wealth, women's roles, and mental health.
• Her decision to use She Writes Press and what sets them apart from traditional and self-publishing.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/348

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing the award-winning author and my friend, Leanna Renee Hieber.

Leanna is an actress, playwright and the author of thirteen Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy novels for adults and teens. Her books have been published by Tor and Kensington Books and they include the Strangely Beautiful saga, the Magic Most Foul trilogy, the Eterna Files trilogy and The Spectral City series.

She is a four-time Prism Award winner and a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. Leanna's short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and her books have been translated into many languages. She also has a forthcoming serialized work with Scrib'd as well as a project with Serial Box.

A woman of many talents, she tours the country performing the one-woman show By the Light of Tiffany: A Meeting with Clara Driscoll, and is also a licensed ghost tour guide for Boroughs of the Dead in New York City. Leanna has been featured in film and television on shows like Boardwalk Empire and Mysteries at the Museum. Her website is a treasure trove of writing resources and you'll find the link (along with more info about Leanna) on the show notes page of this episode.

Find out more about Leanna on her website and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Etsy, and Facebook.

• How it's important to be nimble when something like a pandemic or something else unexpected upends your schedule and projects.
• What certain historical events and aspects of the turn of the century show up in her found-family Fantasy narrative Dead Ringer.
• Why it was important to have discussions with her editor about how to determine stylistic writing choices and how things should end when writing a serial.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/347

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Cynthia Leitich Smith.

Cynthia is a New York Times bestselling author known for her award-winning children's and YA books. She writes both realistic contemporary stories and fantastical narratives, and most recently, she won the American Indian Youth Literature YA Award for Hearts Unbroken published by Candlewick.

Today we'll be discussing one of her most recent projects: Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for kids, a middle grade anthology published by Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperChildren's where Cynthia is the author-curator. In addition to her work in publishing, she is also on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a citizen of Mvskoke Nation and makes her home in Austin, Texas.

• How the lack of Native representation in Middle Grade books inspired Cynthia's writing and the impetus for Heartdrum.
• What elements are important to include when writing specifically for Middle Graders and how MG is distinct from YA.
• Why it's important to create an inclusive feeling of a "we" not "me" book within diverse literature.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/346

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ellie Cypher.

Ellie Cypher grew up in Northern California, received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavior from UC Santa Cruz and got her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of California Davis. She has lived and worked all over the world from New Zealand to Tasmania to the United Kingdom.

When she is not writing, you can find her spending her time caring for all manner of creatures great and small, dreaming about traveling, drinking too much coffee or generally wandering about the beautiful Smoky Mountains with her husband and eleven-year-old black lab.

Today we'll be discussing her debut novel, a YA fantasy titled The Girl from Shadow Springs.

• How the first line is usually what pops into her head first and inspires her to write the book.
• Why the arctic wilderness was the perfect backdrop for her novel as it has "a sense of being alone in a void...massive expanse and insular isolation".
• What part language, vernacular, and modulation of voice play in stretching the boundaries of the speech characters use and building the world around them.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

For info and show notes: diymfa.com/345

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sharon Harrigan.

Sharon is the author of the new novel Half, which has received accolades from places like Booklist, Publisher's Weekly, Foreword Reviews, and the New York Journal of Books. She earned her a B.A. from Barnard College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University. She is also the author of the memoir Playing with Dynamite and she teaches at WriterHouse in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she lives with her family.

• What it means to come of age and how her novel Half addresses that.
• Why it is important to assess what type of point of view to use for a project.
• How to use voice as a bridge between the writer and the reader.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/344

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Tim Waggoner.

Tim is a critically-acclaimed author of over fifty novels and seven short story collections. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's also the author of a comprehensive book on writing horror called Writing in the Dark.

His novels include Like Death, which is considered a modern classic in the horror genre, and the popular Nekropolis series of urban fantasy novels. He's written tie-in fiction for Supernatural, Grimm, the X-Files, Doctor Who, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien, and Transformers, among other properties, and he's written novelizations for films such as Kingsman: the Golden Circle and Resident Evil: the Final Chapter. His articles on writing have appeared in Writer's Digest, The Writer, Writer's Journal, Writer's Workshop of Horror, and Where Nightmares Come From.

In 2017 he received the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction, and he's been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award, the Scribe Award, and the Splatterpunk Award. His fiction has appeared several times in the Year's Best Hardcore Horror, and he's received numerous Honorable Mentions in volumes of Best Horror of the Year. In 2016, the Horror Writers Association honored him with the Mentor of the Year Award. In addition to writing, he's also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

• Where different kinds of horror writing fit in relation to other speculative genres.
• How psychology plays into the crafting of a horror story.
• Why horror is not just plot and what it's really about instead.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/343

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Julie Carrick Dalton.

As a journalist, Julie has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, Electric Literature, and other publications.

She contributes to Dead Darlings, Writer Unboxed, and The Chicago Review of Books. A Tin House alum and graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator, Julie holds a master's in literature and creative writing from Harvard Extension School. She is passionate about climate fiction and is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of the climate crisis.

A Mom to four kids and two dogs, Julie is an avid skier, hiker, and kayaker. She also owns a small farm in rural New Hampshire, which is the backdrop for her debut novel, Waiting for the Night Song.

• How Julie initially wrote her story, the parts she omitted to get to the heart of it, and how she used Scrivener to put it all back together.
• What made one of Julie's childhood friendships so significant that it inspired the plot of the story.
• Why Climate Fiction is an important, budding genre that Julie believes needs fostering.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/342