Inside Writing

In season three, episode one of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with author Malinda Lo and agent/author Eric Smith. They discuss how to get involved in the writing community on social media, how their careers have benefitted from social media, and how to get started, no matter where you are in the writing process.

Links mentioned in the show:

Malinda Lo's website: https://www.malindalo.com/

Malinda's Fiction books: https://www.malindalo.com/fiction

And her nonfiction books: https://www.malindalo.com/nonfiction

Malinda's newsletter: https://loandbehold.substack.com/

Malinda's social media accounts:

Eric Smith's website: https://www.ericsmithrocks.com/

Eric's books: https://www.ericsmithrocks.com/books-by-me

Eric's newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/thesebooksmademecry

Eric Smith's social media accounts:

And Gotham links:

In season two, episode thirteen of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with comics editor at The Rumpus Brandon Hicks and writer-illustrator Teresa Wong. They discuss how good of an artist you have to be to make comics, what comes first between words and pictures, and what style means in comics and cartoons.

Links mentioned in the show: 

Teresa’s website: https://www.byteresawong.com/

We talk at length about Teresa’s comic “This Is Not A Feel Good Movie”: https://believermag.com/this-is-not-a-feel-good-movie/

Her book, Dear Scarlett: The Story of My Postpartum Depression is also discussed: https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/D/Dear-Scarlet

And Teresa’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/by_teresawong/

The Rumpus comics: https://therumpus.net/sections/comics/

Brandon Hick’s posts on The Rumpus: https://therumpus.net/author/brandon-hicks/

We talk about his comic “Like A Kid Again”: https://therumpus.net/2020/10/like-a-kid-again/

Brandon’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonhickscomics/

Brandon also has a book forthcoming from Humorist Books (https://www.weeklyhumorist.com/books/) called Seven Easy Steps To Go To Hell. Check it out this February!

Also, there were some questions asked about Graphic Novels. We did an episode specifically about Graphic Novels in season 1, and that can be found here—

YouTube: https://youtu.be/0Rd2NNks57w?list=PLIOByuSHCqP7V9mSsoqU5FojJys2LsvYi

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4gKWyCCtcny8jMSaJVPgIf?si=CPkl3SE1SSqUpNeAGpA8DQ

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/inside-writing/episodes/Inside-Graphic-Novels-eh48k7

In season two, episode twelve of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Hard Times Bill Conway and writer Meredith Dietz. They discuss what material makes for the best satire, when it's okay to satirize something, and how to be the judge of your own humor.

Links mentioned in the show:  

The Hard Times: https://thehardtimes.net/ 

Meredith's website: https://www.meredithdietz.com/ 

Meredith mentions the Onion Book Of Known Knowledge: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/the-onion/the-onion-book-of-known-knowledge/9780316133265/ 

Both panelists mentioned Poking A Dead Frog: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313460/poking-a-dead-frog-by-mike-sacks/ 

To submit to The Hard Times:  https://editors.outvoice.com/bill-conway 

Connect with the panelists on social!  

And you can find host Josh Sippie on Twitter as well: https://twitter.com/sippenator101 

Gotham Writers Twitter: https://twitter.com/gothamwriters 

To sign up for the next episode of Inside Writing: https://www.writingclasses.com/classes/description/inside-writing

In season two, episode eleven of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with F(r)iction editor Dani Hedlund and writer Robert Repino. They discuss how to create in a boundless universe, how to keep one foot in reality, and what steps to take to get published.  

Links mentioned in the show:  

F(r)iction Magazine: https://frictionlit.org/  

Brink Literacy Project: https://www.brinklit.org/  

Robert Repino's website: https://robertrepino.com/  

And his books—

Robert mentioned a piece by SFWA about world-building: https://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/04/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/

In season two, episode ten of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with Brevity editor Dinty Moore and writer Alysia Sawchyn. They discuss what experiences make for the best flash nonfiction, what really matters in a work of nonfiction, and where to send it when it's ready. 

Links mentioned in the show:

Brevity Magazine: https://brevitymag.com/

Brevity's "Where To Publish Flash Nonfiction": https://brevitymag.com/where-to-publish-flash-nonfiction/

The Best Of Brevity: https://rosemetalpress.com/books/the-best-of-brevity/

Alysia Sawchyn's website: https://alysiasawchyn.com/

Alysia mentioned a piece in Brevity about aging, "Some Childhood Dreams Really Do Come True" by Beth Ann Fennelly: https://brevitymag.com/nonfiction/some-childhood-dreams-really-do-come-true/

Alysia mentioned a piece she wrote in Hobart called "Seven Mournings": https://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/seven-mournings

Alysia's book of essay, A Fish Growing Lungs: https://burrowpress.com/product/fish/

Dinty Moore's memoir Between Panic and Desire, which came up a few times in discussion: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/bison-books/9780803229822/

Alysia mentioned the book Several Short Sentences About Writing, by Verlyn Klinkenborg: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/93789/several-short-sentences-about-writing-by-verlyn-klinkenborg/

In season two, episode nine of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with Apex editor Lesley Conner and writer Lavie Tidhar. They discuss how much thought to put into world-building, what the reader needs to know about the world in the story, and how to sell stories, no matter the genre.

Links mentioned in the show:

Lavie Tidhar's website: https://lavietidhar.wordpress.com/

Lesley Conner's website: https://www.lesleyconner.com/

Apex Magazine: https://apex-magazine.com/

In season two, episode eight of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with Fractured editor Tommy Dean and writer K-Ming Chang. They discuss how to navigate the limited word count of flash fiction, manipulating the three-act structure, and how to know if what you're writing is any good.  

Links mentioned in the show:  

From K-Ming, here's a link to her personal website: https://www.kmingchang.com/ 

She mentioned the story Black Jesus and Other Superheroes, which can be found here: https://lithub.com/black-jesus/ 

She also recommended a few books:

House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros:

Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen, by Marilyn Chin:

From Tommy, here's a link to his personal website: https://tommydeanwriter.com/ 

And the link to his literary mag, Fractured: https://fracturedlit.submittable.com/

Lastly, Tommy mentioned Literistic: https://home.literistic.com/

In season two, episode seven of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with Hobart editor Aaron Burch and writer Nina Boutsikaris. They discuss how to get to the point of an essay, the differences between personal essay and memoir, and how to make your essay better in revision.  

Links mentioned in the show:  

From Nina, here's a link to her personal website: http://www.ninaboutsikaris.com/ 

From Aaron, here's a link to his personal website: https://www.aaronburch.net/ 

as well as links to the two literary magazines he's editor of— 

Hobart: https://www.hobartpulp.com/

Here's the Tim Krieder essay, "Reprieve," Aaron mentioned a couple times: http://thenervousbreakdown.com/tnbnonfiction/2012/09/excerpt-from-we-learn-nothing-by-tim-kreider/  

And here's a pretty great interview with him: https://www.apr.org/post/essayist-breaks-free-conventional-relationships-because-i-love-you  

Here's Aaron's chainsaw essay I mentioned a couple of times: https://jellyfishreview.wordpress.com/2019/08/05/no-longer-there-by-aaron-burch/  

And then some favorite ongoing columns on Hobart:

There were also a lot of questions about what quote from Barry Lopez we kept referring to, so here it is:   “It is, I think, the rarest of leisure to refine one's time of deep thought or light regard into the shape of the personal essay -- a story comprised of found fact, of analyzed emotion, of fictive memory.”

In season two, episode six of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with Panorama Editor-in-Chief Amy Gigi Alexander and writer Cullen Thomas. They discuss how to pry the universality from a travel piece, the difference between commercial and literary, and what a good pitch looks like.  

Links mentioned in the show:  

Panorama: http://www.panoramajournal.org/ 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/28/travel-writing-hugh-grant-booksellers 

https://matadornetwork.com/notebook/what-ad-execs-should-know-about-travel-writing/

In season two, episode five of Gotham Writers' Inside Writing, host Josh Sippie conducts a panel discussion with Barrelhouse assistant editor Lilly Dancyger and writer Kenji Jasper. They discuss how to write memoir that appeals to the masses, how to navigate the emotion attached to memoir, and what the creative process looks like.  

For more on Lilly Dancyger's recent memoir: https://bookshop.org/a/1925/9781951631031 

For more on Kenji Jasper's referenced memoir: https://www.amazon.com/House-Childress-Street-Memoir/dp/0767916794