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Write Through The Roof | For writers who want to improve their writing
By Madeleine D'Este | interviewing writers and authors about their writing craftSociety & CultureEducationArtsBooks
Write Through The Roof | For writers who want to improve their writing episodes
- #56 – Alex Harrow – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 56 – Alex Harrow – queer SFF author‘As I edited it, it just got queerer and queerer.’
Episode 56 – Alex Harrow – Show Notes- A secret closet pantser who also loves index cards and Scrivener – ‘dots connector’
- Daily writer but not all writing is at the keyboard
- Agile method of writing in sprints
- Trinity of drinks – coffee, tea and water
- English as a second language influenced the approach to writing from a ‘voicey‘ perspective
- Need to see more queer characters as protagonists.
- Found families and enemies to lovers
- Good critique partners are essential
- Moderator of #queerspec Twitter chat
- The ever-expanding ‘To Be Read’ pile
- Classic fantasy, Seanan Mcguire, Xan West, RoAnna Sylver
- Interrupting cats
- Getting in touch with non-readers. Understanding what stories touch people
- Empire of Light inspired by the need for more queer protagonists in sci-fi and fantasy
- Queering up your bookshelves.
- Upcoming projects include an alternate history set in post war Dresden – queer Agent Carter
‘Not all writing happens at the keyboard’
‘I wrote this book out of spite’Links- Alex Harrow
- Alex on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
- Empire of Light
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32 min - #55 – Orna Ross – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 55 – Orna Ross – poet, novelist & non-fiction writer“Formally practising with free writing gives you all sort of training as a writer but also as a human being.”
Episode 55 – Orna Ross – Show Notes- Wanting to write fiction when writing non-fiction and vice versa
- Write for the first couple of hours each day
- Writing full time led to procrastination
- Coffee. Never tea.
- Themes of conversations around difference.
- Self-awareness – free writing – writing fast, raw, exact & easy with no end-game
- Meditate for 15 minutes, then free writing for 15 minutes, review once a week
- Closed Facebook group
- Creatives need to stay open to change
- There are no short cuts to becoming a good writer
- Ezra Pound, Yeats, George Eliot – Middlemarch, modern poetry movement – rap, performance, slams, in the pub & in the street, Instagram poetry
- Keepers – inspirational poetry collection. Self-published as a low-risk experiment but began to question assumptions
- Non-fiction project – Go Creative nine book series for creative business people
- Trying a different approach to launch – once target for pre-orders is reached, the book is launched
- Agility in independent publishing
“Writing as a stolen pleasure.”
“Coffee is the fluid of the devil.”
Links
- Orna Ross
- Alliance of Independent Authors
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36 min - #54 – Sandra Ireland – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 54 – Sandra Ireland – writer of tartan gothic“I like to be scared when I’m writing.”
Episode 54 – Sandra Ireland – Show Notes- Morning writing – not as creative in the afternoon
- Goal of 500 words per day
- Ritual of two cups of tea and one cup of coffee in favourite mug
- Dark, creepy with a heavy dose of menace, toxic relationships
- Landscape as a starting point for writing – sense of place to inform writing
- Manipulating people’s fears and shadow sides.
- Not just scaring the reader, not just horror but writing about what personally scares you. Vulnerability and readers not knowing what is imagination and what is true.
- Currently writing non-fiction about the folklore surrounding the Mill (setting of Bone Deep). The words coming out faster with non-fiction.
- Fiction as a therapy – creative release.
- Giving herself the permission to be creative.
- The tribe with the right vibe – people who understand to bounce ideas off.
Be careful who you share your writing with.- Brontes, Benjamin Myers – The Gallows Pole, Julie Myerson – The Stopped Heart
- A resurgence of gothic writing – perhaps as a reaction to current events
- Bone Deep – inspired by work as a tour guide in a water mill. At times the mill felt unwelcoming. Modern story with a strand of an old folktale (Border Ballad).
- The key struggle for writing students is a lack of confidence. One technique is forcing students to share their work.
- Upcoming – The Mill (non-fiction) and The Unmaking of Ellie Rook
- Residencies – productive but sometimes lonesome
“Write about what scares you.”
“It’s a basic human drive to be creative.”
Links- Sandra Ireland
- Sandra on Twitter
- Sandra on Facebook
- Sandra on Instagram
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29 min - #53 – Vanessa Garcia – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 53 – Vanessa Garcia – novelist, playwright & journalist“Write the scenes you want to write.”
Episode 53 – Vanessa Garcia – Show Notes- Sesame Street writers room
- Intersperse long projects with shorter projects
- Playwriting is collaborative with the director and scenes devised in the moment
- Writing whenever you can.
- Cuban coffee – cafecito
- Obsessed with Cuba – overcoming economic and familial embargoes. Obsessed with erased stories for refugees. Motherhood.
- Write the scenes you want to write. Don’t worry about bridges connecting the scenes.
- Discipline. Time carved out for writing and sharing your writing
- Hiding away from writing advice
- Using spreadsheets for interactive theatre – audiences following different stories happening at the same time
- Reinaldo Arenas, Leonardo Padura, TV shows ‘I’m Sorry’,’Broad City’ and kids TV.
- Amparo – inspired by a call from a marketing company then turned into an experiential theatre work. The story of the family who created the real Havana Club Rum.
“Storytelling and then story selling.”
“There’s writing coming out of TV which is just as literary.”
Links
- Vanessa Garcia (website)
- Vanessa Garcia (Twitter)
- Vanessa Garcia (Instagram)
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27 min - #52 – Kirsten Imani Kasai – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 52 with Kirsten Imani Kasai – writer, academic & editor“I like grit and blood and meat in my work.”
Episode 52 – Kirsten Imani Kasai – Show Notes- Pantser at heart using an outline as a roadmap but allowing serendipity
- Novels allow layering
- Tea – Yorkshire Gold with vanilla cream or port and red wine
- Writing described as dark and weird
- Exploring love, romance, illness, death, spirituality and metaphysics
- A different slant on romance – short story ‘Bleat’
- Influence of growing up in a religious family – biblical imagery and spiritual cannibalism
- Accepting valid criticism – lyrical writing and ‘purple prose’ – limiting adjectives
- Allowing time to get a critical eye on own work
- Challenges with current work ‘Girlstown’ mixing visual elements, fiction and non-fiction
- Cindy Crabb ‘Things That Help’ 90s zines, Angela Carter, Octavia Butler, Helen Zahavi – Dark Weekend
- House of Erzulie inspired by recurring dreams of a gothic house. Researching gothic literary elements. Triptych – three narrators across time. Epistolary structure and mirroring different POVs
“Too much structure hinders the creative process.”
“The first draft is work but also play.”
Links- Kirsten Imani Kasai
- Instagram – Mehetabelly
- Magical Word Editing Company
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28 min - #51 – Hester Fox – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 51 with Hester Fox – artist & writer of gothic historical fiction“A love letter to New England set at this beautiful house.”
Episode 51 – Hester Fox – Show Notes- Not necessarily writing every day but doing things ‘writing-related’ every day
- Tea, snack, cosy-up with the cat or coffee shop ambience
- Conversion from pantser to plotter
- Dark, gothic with a happy ending – strong female relationships and romantic love
- Embracing the darkness as an exposure therapy
- Making every word count
- Critique partners – sharing chapter by chapter. Feedback and accountability.
- Cadence and rhythm in a first draft – making notes to keep the momentum going
- 19th-century authors – Jane Austen, Dickens, Hardy. More recent – Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, Susanna Kearsley, Simone St.James, Josh Malerman
- Historic homes in New England and day job as inspiration for The Witch of Willow Hall. Interacting with objects and houses on a daily basis
- Second novel – The Widow of Pale Harbour – 1840s Maine during Poe-mania and a gender-flipped retelling of Beauty and the Beast
“Juicy relationships set against a dark background.”
“Making every word pull its weight in a sentence.”
Links- Hester Fox
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24 min - #50 – Cathi Stoler – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 50 with Cathi Stoler – award-winning crime writer“When I was younger I wanted to be a spy.”
Episode 50 – Cathi Stoler – Show Notes- Writing crime as a pantser
- Not a plot spreadsheet but a character spreadsheet
- Real dialogue and real-life crimes – identity theft, fraud, violent crime and how people are affected
- Eavesdropping
- Crime writing conferences in the USA – Malice Domestic, Bouchercon, International Thriller Writers Conference
- Taking classes and getting your character’s details right
- John LeCarre, Ian Fleming, Sue Grafton, Alison Gaylin, Meghan Abbott, Catriona McPherson
- Technology, social change and crime writing
- Bar None
“You’re not going to commit a crime but you like to read about it.”
Links- Cathi Stoler
- Cathi on Twitter
- Cathi on Facebook
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26 min - #49 – Rosalie Morales Kearns – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 49 with Rosalie Morales Kearns – feminist fiction writer and publisher“Do you write every day?” “I wish!”
Episode 49 – Rosalie Morales Kearns – Show Notes- Novels give a chance to explore characters and a long history
- Life getting in the way of writing every day
- Hot chocolate and milkshakes
- Magic realism and fabulism
- Connections – how they are formed and how they affect people
- Being conscious of the choice of what to show ‘in scene’ or summarise
- Example of The Frog Prince.
- Tools to play with during revision
- Trying to be more organised in plot outlines
- Creating a synopsis of your novel to highlight potential plot issues
- Charlotte Bronte, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Angela Carter,
- Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
- Kingdom Of Women – inspiration
- Historical saga and dealing with the balance of research
“There’s no single right way to do it.”
“Don’t over think it in the first draft.”
Links- Rosalie Morales Kearns
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34 min - #48 – Icy Sedgwick – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 48 with Icy Sedgwick – blogger and writer of dark fantasy, gothic horror & westerns“I couldn’t write po-faced literature if I tried.”
Episode 48 – Icy Sedgwick – Show Notes- Flash fiction can be more challenging and more fun than novels
- Writing something every day but not necessarily fiction
- Fun, entertaining, whimsical pulpy adventure. Standing up against wrongs, taking on bullies or oppressive regimes
- Westerns – rabid fan base
- Improving dialogue
- The balance between ‘write what you know’ and ‘making stuff up.”
- Plotting while keeping it fresh
- Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Oscar Wilde, JK Rowling
- The Stolen Ghost inspired by a childhood trip to Glamis Castle. Took 11 years to finish.
- Being a hoarder and recycling ideas
- Finishing Book 3 of dark fantasy series
“Coffee as black as possible. As nature intended.”
Links- www.icysedgwick.com
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27 min - #47 – Grant Faulkner – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 47 with Grant Faulkner – NaNoWrimo Executive Director & writer“One part writing boot camp, one part rollicking party”
Episode 47 – Grant Faulkner – Show Notes- Length of project depends on the story idea. Balancing fiction and non-fiction to better inform both styles of writing
- Plantser
- Writing most days – experimenting with 15 minutes per day
- Themes – trying to look behind the veil and transgressions
- Writing regularly – showing up and writing every day is the key
- Active reading
- Discipline, creative momentum, confidence
- Trying something new by telling a story through unsent letters
- Lydia Davis, James Salter, Denis Johnson, Elena Ferrante, Leonard Cohen, Roland Barthes
- Pep Talks for Writer – 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo
- Vulnerability, Creative Community, Writers Block, Playfulness, Improvisation
- Vomit versus Gush
- Grant issues Madeleine a challenge
“Every writer should experiment with their creative process.”
“A goal and a deadline is a creative midwife.”
Links- Grant Faulkner
- Grant on Twitter
- NaNoWriMo
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23 min