In this episode of Why Authors Write, Mary Cronin talks with historical novelist Virginia Pye about why she likes to write about private lives and intimate relationships pressured by public upheaval and change.  Virginia shares her secrets for completing complex storylines, and talks about how she transformed decades of publisher rejection into a series of bestselling books.

The conversation moves from the appeal of historical settings and portraying memorable characters surviving in times of crisis  to heartfelt, real-life advice about organizing complex storylines, wrestling with rejection, and wondering how to transform an unpublished manuscript into your first blockbuster book.

Here’s what we cover:

• The real-life events in Richmond, Virginia, in the summer of 2020—protests after the murder of George Floyd and the removal of Confederate monuments—that inspired  her latest novel, Marriage and Other Monuments.
• Virginia's advice that novelists should research by curiosity, not perfectionism, and avoid getting lost in historical “rabbit holes.”
• The long road from “aspiring writer” to multi-book author: five unpublished novels completed before her debut best seller finally arriving
• How she “fillets” her unpublished novels—reusing characters, relationships, and scenes from earlier manuscripts to create stronger new books.
• Why she now feels she can relax into her identity as an author, write and revise with joy, and meet readers and fellow writers without feeling she has something to prove.
• Encouraging, candid advice for writers with “books in the drawer” about
  • assuming you have more than one book in you,
  • maintaining self-respect in a tough marketplace,
  • embracing small presses and literary communities, and
  • staying connected to the joy of the work itself.

Two Big Insights

• Historical settings provide a rich backdrop for exploring societal change and its impact on relationships.
• Persistence and evolution are key aspects of a writer's journey, leading to growth and success.

Chapters

• 00:00 Exploring Historical Settings
• 06:17 The Writing Process and Inspiration
• 15:34 Character-Driven Plot Development
• 22:04 Completion and Publication of a Book

Why do some stories fit perfectly into 15 pages, while others insist on becoming novels? In this episode of Why Authors Write, bestselling author Daphne Kalotay pulls back the curtain on deciding when an idea demands a novel, and when a short story is the perfect fit.

Daphne traces her path from writing early short stories to expansive, multi‑timeline novels like Russian Winter, and explains how she now “sees” an idea and knows whether it belongs in 20 pages or 400. She describes the elements that will likely require a full-length novel; complex subplots, a wide cast of characters, and threads that demand more space.  In the next sentence, Kalotay emphasizes the compressed power of short stories, where a single line of dialogue or a brief exchange can unlock an entire character.  Satisfyingly, she shares her hard-won experience and advice on what it takes to master both genres and writing styles.

We also delve into her latest short story collection, The Archivist, highlighting the stories and characters she feels closest to. Daphne unpacks the deeply personal family story that inspired a feisty, 99‑year‑old Hungarian protagonist modeled on her grandmother in the opening story, and talks about why she added the last‑minute, first‑person piece “A Guide to Lesser Divinities,” with its brash, funny narrator, as a nod to Grace Paley and to the rich possibilities of voice in short fiction.

Taking a step back from her published work to the challenges of completing a novel, Daphne opens up about the doubt that still overtakes her midway through completing a new book.  She describes the feeling of being lost in a tangle of timelines, places, and plot threads, or realizing a book has veered away from her original vision. Besides reassuring new authors that this is a normal phase, she talks about the practical toolkit she uses to find her way back, from creating retrospective outlines and using Scrivener to “see” what she’s already built, to treating the book like a jigsaw puzzle she can rearrange. Just as importantly, she shares the psychological strategies that keep her going: reminding herself she’s navigated this dark middle before and finished three complex novels, and holding in mind the readers who are waiting for the next book and whose emails give her the resolve to press on.

Whether you’re an aspiring writer, a short story fan, or simply curious about how long narratives and short stories take shape, this conversation offers an honest, generous look at the creative process behind both short stories and novels—and why experienced, best-selling authors often alternate between these two genres.  Find out how  Kalotay powers through the low points when doubts overtake her, and persists in writing her way to the final word.

Daphne Kalotay’s experience, mastery of both the short story and the novel formats, and her advice to authors at all stages of their publishing journey provide fascinating insights into the creative process along with practical techniques for authors navigating between different genres and storytelling formats.

Highlights and Insights

• Deciding when an idea will be the perfect fit for a short story vs a novel
• Character development and powerful turning points in short stories
• The swampy middle; how Daphne overcomes her mind-novel doubts
• Learning to love the revision stage of writing
• Advice for aspiring writers -  Advocate for your book every day!

Chapters

• 00:00 Exploring Different Genres
• 08:05 Creating Unforgettable Characters
• 19:07 Overcoming Doubts and Embracing Revisions

In this episode of Why Authors Write, Mary J Cronin sits down with best-selling maritime historian Eric Jay Dolin to explore the larger-than-life shipwreck and survival story that inspired “Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery and Survival at the Edge of the World.” Set against the backdrop of the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812, Dolin's book follows Captain Charles Barnard of the American sealing vessel Nanina, who is betrayed and marooned — twice — by the survivors he knows best.

We learn how rapidly civilization gives way to survival at all costs when a ship captain saves fifty stranded British castaways — only to have his vessel seized as a war prize and his crew taken prisoner.  In drawing back the curtain on a shocking historical episode, Dolin’s book raises questions about human nature, and how far hardened, shipwrecked men will go to stay alive.  He skillfully rachets up the tension in this story of betrayal, improbable survivals, and one very good dog hanging on at the edge of the world.

Dolin opens up about what drew him to this long-forgotten story as he reflects on the allure of bringing an incredible series of disasters to life.  He talks about the challenges of chronicling a cast of flawed, morally compromised people caught up in a historical moment.  

What does it mean when the story’s questionable heroes and darkest villains make their way home from unimaginable disasters, resume their normal lives, and are quickly forgotten?  From the thin line between obscurity and historical legacy, to retaining one's moral compass in the struggle for survival, Dolin explains his commitment to presenting just the facts when recounting despicable behavior and misguided heroics, so that his readers can judge history through their own lens.

Chapters

• 00:00 Dolin’s affinity for forgotten histories and maritime disasters
• 09:12   Staying true to the facts of unsavory characters and unforgivable acts
• 15:55   Attractions of bringing forgotten episodes to life
• 24:08 Making a living as a nonfiction writer – rewards and challenges

What happens when a novel refuses to follow a straight line - and the author asks her readers to meet her halfway? In this episode of Why Authors Write, host Mary J. Cronin talks with award-winning Leah Hager Cohen about the creative journey that inspired To & Fro, a riveting story of parallel worlds and two heroines who cross the time barrier to meet midstream.  Leah describes how she set out to recount a mystical heroine’s timeless journey, but hit a wall of doubt and frustration that forced her to pause writing. Months later, a contemporary heroine called her to tell a different story. Soon these contrasting characters revealed their shared quest and gradually intertwined with one another, meeting in the middle of To & Fro in a moment that feels both mysterious and inevitable.

At the heart of both narratives are children on the threshold of adolescence, asking timeless questions: How did I get here? Who made me? To what extent do I make myself?

For Cohen, these questions are deeply connected to the creative act itself. Writing fiction means embracing uncertainty and listening closely to what emerges from the imagination.

“One of the mysteries involved in making art,” she says, “is not trying to have mastery over one’s imagination, but listening to what issues from it.”

Rather than controlling every aspect of the narrative, Cohen strives to listen.
“My role has to do with listening with humility,” she explains. “These characters are fictional, but when I’m writing they become very real to me.”

The novel’s unusual ending reflects that philosophy. Instead of offering a tidy resolution, To & Fro leaves space for readers to participate in meaning-making—mirroring Cohen’s belief that stories are ultimately about relationships between writer and reader.

In this thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation, Cohen reflects on the courage it takes to write without knowing where the story will lead.

For readers and writers alike, this episode offers a rare glimpse into the inner life of a novelist—and into the beautiful, powerful, and mysterious uncertainty that fuels creative writing. It delves into the imaginative storytelling process and the power of open-ended narratives.

Insights and Highlights

• Listening to characters with open minded humility frees Leah to create
• World-building is grounded in a deep relationship with fictional characters
• “Why am I here” and “Where am I going” are universal questions that drive the storyline in To & Fro
• Leah hopes her readers will feel empowered to create their own next chapter in her book

Chapters

• 00:00 The Genesis of Two Narratives
• 08:06 Exploring Universal Questions
• 14:27 Building Explicit Connections
• 19:57 The Culmination and Conclusion
• 25:03 The Porous Membrane Between Two Fictional Worlds

Chapters

• 00:00 The Genesis of Two Narratives
• 08:06 Exploring Universal Questions
• 14:27 Building Explicit Connections
• 19:57 The Culmination and Conclusion
• 25:03 The Porous Membrane Between Worlds

In this episode of Why Authors Write, award-winning author Christopher Castellani talks about what happens when he gives up on controlling the story line and simply listens to his characters.  We hear about the mysterious voices that inspired Last Seen, and how Chris mixed fact and fiction to get to the heart of the relationship between Tennessee Williams and Frank Merlo in Leading Men.

Last Seen, a darkly original, genre-defying work emerged from the real-life mystery of the so-called "Smiley Face Killers," whose alleged victims, young men found dead in icy rivers. "I really got caught up in the stories of these young, college-age men," Castellani recalls. "I went down the rabbit hole... reading all sorts of things about this supposed group."  He learned that the conspiracy theories were bogus – and realized he wasn’t interested in writing true crime stories.  To find another path, he gave voice to the dead.

Last Seen is no conventional thriller. Told from a purgatorial beyond — four young men narrating their own stories after death, communicating with each other and reaching back toward the people they loved — the novel evolved slowly, through false starts and years of frustration, until Castellani heard a voice: "I am one of those boys they keep finding in the river." "It sounds a little woo-woo," he says, laughing, "but I kind of followed that voice."

In contrast, his prior novel Leading Men was inspired by the relationship between Tennessee Williams and his working-class Italian American partner Frank Merlo — a man Castellani describes as central to Williams's greatest creative period. "While they were together for 15 years or so, that was the period in which Williams wrote the majority of his great plays. And then after Frank died, he never had another big hit." Castellani opens up about the audacious choice to write the text of a fictional "lost" Tennessee Williams play within the novel.  He created a pivotal character in Anya, whose outsider perspective finally unlocked the Williams-Merlo dynamic for him.

Castellani reflects on his instinctive, non-outlining creative process, shares why he is still excited about the film option of Leading Men even after waiting for years for production, and ends with a tantalizing preview of his novel-in-progress, a comic Italian American coming-of-age story.

A deeply candid conversation about craft, obsession, grief, love, and the peculiar courage it takes to follow character voices you didn't expect to hear.

Chapters

• 00:00 How listening to his characters shapes the plots of Last Seen and Leading Men
• 05:35 Finding love, humanity, and humor in dark story lines
• 11:16 How a new book idea rescued Chris from doubts about Last Seen
• 19:38 Mixing fact and fictional  characters in Leading Men
• 25:36 Advice for celebrating a film option offer by giving up ownership

In this fantasy-focused episode of Why Authors Write, host Sara Stanton sits down with scientist, “eldritch monster,” and award‑winning author Premee Mohamed to talk about how she turns visions, dreams, and chronic illness into vivid speculative fiction. From eerie fairy‑tale forests to post‑collapse Alberta, Premee unpacks how she builds worlds where magic, climate disaster, and parasitic fungi all feel unsettlingly real.

Premee shares the origin of her dark fantasy novella The Butcher of the Forest, born from a haunting dream of a skull‑lined stone room and the question of whether children should pay for their parents’ sins. She traces how that vivid nightmare expanded into a full story shaped by 80s fantasy films, Shakespearean dream logic, and Latin American magical realism about colonialism—plus the urgency of writing fast enough to preserve a fragile, “dreamy” tone.

Describing how her Annual Migration of Clouds work became a trilogy, she shares her motivation for writing the original stand-alone story, and setting it in a climate‑ravaged future Alberta where a mysterious parasite called CAD blurs the line between illness and identity. Premee discusses how the series began as a quiet, standalone novella about a young woman with a chronic condition, and how her editor convinced her to grow it into a trilogy that explores other communities, perspectives, and hard choices in a broken world. Along the way, she talks openly about chronic pain, climate anxiety, and the bittersweet feeling of saying goodbye to characters she loves.

All through this engaging conversation, Premee shares insights into her rapid writing process, the inspiration that drives her, and her journey as an author. From discussing her unique approach to crafting titles to exploring themes of climate fiction in her series, Mohamed provides a deep dive into her creative world. She reflects on the emotional connections formed with her characters and the challenges of writing a series, while also teasing her upcoming full length novel Wickhills, as a cross between a spy novel and Gormenghast, set in a magical urban landscape that will be published in September 2026.


Highlights and Insights
Premee Mohamed's writing process varies depending on the project.
Titles are often a last-minute challenge for her.
Her novella 'The Butcher of the Forest' was inspired by a dream.
She aims to create stories that feel like fairy tales with deeper themes.
The 'First Thousand Trees' series explores the intersection of chronic illness and climate disaster.
Mohamed's background in science influences her writing, especially in speculative fiction.
The emotional connection to her characters is significant in her writing process.
Her upcoming novel WickHills is set in a magical future urban landscape.
She emphasizes the importance of exploring universal questions in her stories.

Chapters

00:00 Why and How Premee Mohamed Writes Fantasy
02:57 From Dreams to Storylines - Writing Process and Style
06:13 The Butcher of the Forest: Inspiration and Themes
11:56 Exploring Climate Fiction in The First Thousand Trees
18:08 The Journey of Writing a Series
24:07 Preview of the spy+magic novel WICKHILLS -coming in September 2026

Bestselling author Annie Hartnett talks about channeling her real-life anxiety during a period of  family disasters into the darkly humorous novel, 'The Road to Tender Hearts.'  She discusses her style of blending magical realism, improbable events, and tragic episodes into a compelling, character-driven story and reveals that in Tender Hearts, the book’s flawed hero is based on her own father.  Annie shares her technique for creating difficult-to-like characters that still appeal to readers.  Hartnett also reflects on the misery of writing a first draft and the motivational tricks she uses to keep on writing in the face of self-doubts and distractions.  

Chapters

00:00 Annie Hartnett and The Road to Tender Hearts
01:03 Origin Story – Channeling Disaster and Anxiety into 'The Road to Tender Hearts'
05:01 Finding Humor inside Tragic Events
08:22 Crafting Flawed Yet Lovable Characters
13:16 Putting Family Members into Starring Roles
15:43 First Draft Misery and Tips for Writing Through Doubts
21:00 The Evolution of Annie's Writing Journey
25:24 Embracing Magic and Magical Realism

Takeaways

Anxiety as a motive force for creative expression.
Revealing flaws gradually to build empathy for difficult characters.
When the flawed hero is based on your father
Every writer has their unique process and struggles.
Magic in storytelling can serve as a metaphor for deeper emotions.
The first draft is about exploration, not perfection.

Evolutionary biologist Jonathan Losos​​ talks about ​his lifelong love affair with cats, and discoveries about the private language ​of meows that t​hey use to communicate with humans. He reflects on the challenges and rewards ​o​f writing popular science books, and how his research for The Cat's Meow actually changed his own perspective the future of feline evolution.​ 

Takeaways

• ​Why Jonathan decided to write popular science books
• The private language of cats
• The evolution of new cat breeds
• The future of feline evolution

Chapters

• 00:00 ​A​ Lifelong Love Affair with Cats
• 06:00 The Private Language of ​M​eows
• 13:56 ​From Wildcats to Family Members
• 20:12 The Future of Feline Evolution​ - Why Cats Will Survive

Elizabeth Graver talks about why and how she transformed her family's own history of immigration, abandonment, remarriage, and survival into a gripping, unforgettable novel. She shares the challenges of transforming painful sometimes dark, family episodes into a universal story of family secrets and abiding love. In Elizabeth's own words, learn how Kantika changed her understanding of her immigrant family, her Jewish heritage, and her own identify as a writer.

Takeaways

• How one family's history became a universal survival story
• Balancing integration and identity

Chapters

• 00:00 The Transformation of Family History into a Novel
• 06:17 Challenges of Fictionalizing Family History
• 17:06 Understanding Rebecca's Journey
• 25:13 The Impact of Family Photographs
• 31:41 Lasting Impressions of Rebecca

Launch co-hosts introduce 'Why Authors Write' and share the questions they want to dig into in future episodes about bestselling authors' motivations and writing process. Mary Cronin, Kristie Dickinson, and Becca Cronin delve into the diversity of book backstories, the genres they love, and author favorites.

Takeaways

• Exploring the behind-the-scenes of authors' lives
• Understanding the process of writing and publishing a book

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Why Authors Write Podcast
• 05:32 Exploring Different Book Genres
• 11:06 Vulnerability and Support in the Writing Process