Typecast: A Show About Writing

Los Angeles Times editor Steve Padilla returns with our most practical episode yet: A sentence-level writing seminar, covering topics from verbs and physical descriptions to leads and endings. This episode will be useful to anyone who puts pen to paper — for school, for fun, or for a living.

Jeff Barker began his career as a newspaper reporter in his hometown San Diego. In 2006, he left journalism to join the re-election campaign for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, eventually becoming his head speechwriter. Today, Barker leads his own writing consultancy, penning speeches and op-eds for politicians and Fortune 500 executives.

In the late '90s, Dan Wilson found success with his alternative rock band Semisonic and their radio hit "Closing Time." He's since become one of music's most sought-after songwriters, composing for Adele, Dixie Chicks and Taylor Swift. The Grammy Award-winning musician joins us to discuss his approach to songwriting.

Ricky Gervais is the writer, director and star of the seminal British comedy The Office. He also created Extras, Life's Too Short, and his latest television series is Derek, now streaming on Netflix. Ricky joins Kevin to talk about his comedy writing process.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Buzz Bissinger is the author of Friday Night Lights, named one of the best sports books ever written by Sports Illustrated. He's a contributor to Vanity Fair, The Daily Beast, and his new book is Father's Day. Buzz joins Kevin in studio to talk about the reporting process for Father's Day, and the best writing advice he's ever received.

In 2006, Los Angeles Times editor Steve Padilla gave a brownbag lunch writing workshop at the Chicago Tribune newsroom. That session, called "Writing Diagnostics," was so well-received that the recording continues to be requested by Tribune journalists today. Steve has graciously allowed us to air the workshop on Typecast. Newspaper-centric but applicable for all writers, this hour-long episode is not to be missed.

Sarah Vowell is a humorist, historian and animated superhero. She's the author of "Assassination Vacation," "The Partly Cloudy Patriot" and a longtime contributor to public radio's "This American Life." You may recognize her voice as Violet Parr from Pixar's "The Incredibles." Sarah joins Kevin Pang in studio to talk about her writing lair, humor as writing device, and the two things she turns to whenever writer's block strikes.

Susan Orlean writes about taxidermists, bullfighters, hairdressers, clowns, animals, famous people and suburban 10-year-old kids. A staff writer for The New Yorker, Orlean is the author of The Orchid Thief, Saturday Night, her latest book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. Susan and Kevin talk about recognizing story ideas, writing about animals and people with obsessions, and the best writing advice she's ever received. 

Ben Montgomery and Michael Kruse are the one-two punch of narrative journalism at the Tampa Bay Times. Between the two, they've been honored as Pulitzer finalists and American Society of Newspaper Editors Awards winners. They are founding members of Gangrey.com, a website devoted to good writing and narrative storytelling.

Joshua Jay is one of magic's most-innovative thinkers and acclaimed performers. He's a columnist for MAGIC magazine and the author of "Magic: The Complete Course" and "Joshua Jay's Amazing Book of Cards." Joshua joins us in studio to talk about the parallels between creating magic tricks and the writing process.