Writers Drinking Coffee

Jordan makes movies. He started acting in commercials and showing up for casting calls, then discovered that he really liked directing. The next step involved him needing scripts, so he started adapting short stories into scripts – then just writing his own. All perfectly logical, right? Making movies is fun! … Continue...Episode 101 – Short movies with Jordan Heron

Paul Attaway is a new author who published his first book this last fall. He talks about his writing process, how to decide what the book is actually about – namely, a family drama with a murder. He approached writing his first book with a hybrid approach of plotting and organic growth based on the inter-relationship of characters. … Continue...Episode 100 – Interview with Paul Attaway

What’s in your notebook? The WDC crew all keep a little notebook of some fashion – although there’s discussion over moleskine, spiral notebooks, electronic Notes. Having a notebook in hand or in easy reach can help keep those nifty ideas from flitting back out of your brain by trapping them in ink or electrons. And then there’s refining the idea… … Continue...Episode 99 – Notes and Notebooks

David Drake picked up writing, so he says, as a therapy for his time spent riding tanks around Vietnam and Cambodia. But what started as short stories ended up as a brilliant and far-reaching career that explored historic fantasy, horror, sci fi, and everything in between. Whether you love Roman legions, Byzantine politics, or Space Opera that combines the spirits of each, Drake has something for you – all his characters are exquisitely human and complex. … Continue...Episode 98 – Interview with David Drake

In which we celebrate our own Chaz’ new book coming out in May 2021. Formerly only found if you were a Patreon member, now you can buy Three Twins at the Crater School in book format. Based on the concept of boarding school storylines from England, these posit a habitable Mars and a race to colonize the moons and planets in a steampunk Ethership universe. … Continue...Episode 97 – Chaz Brenchley’s Crater School Girls on Mars

Carol Wolf says “If you point a camera at someone and ask them what they know about how to live your life, they tell you amazing, inspiring, and moving stories.” What is the lived experience? We continue our discussion from last week talking about the importance of telling your own (and other people’s) life stories with Carol’s film making experience, with some digressions for shark mating habits and propaganda. … Continue...Episode 96 – Video Biographies with Carol Wolf

There are so many people who talk about writing down family memoirs. We interviewed Jill Phillips, who has completed her first novel of non-fiction memoirs to talk about her process, her journey, and her recommendations for anyone thinking it’s time to start writing their own family stories. She describes how to start and set yourself up for success, deliberations on whose truth to go with, and other important decisions a memoir will need to make. … Continue...Episode 95 – Memoir Writing with Jill Phillips

Exploring topics in gay romance, and emotive expression open for men – and how reading novels outside your own experience act like empathy boxes of learning and understanding. Aleksandr’s character-driven approach to storytelling combines with research to create vivid stories and hot gay romance. They also have some excellent advice for writers on maintaining separation from a day job while avoiding misrepresentation of your identity. … Continue...Episode 94 – Interview with Aleksandr Voinov

Nancy has found a unique way of conquering the general zeitgeist of creativity challenge with meditation and poetry to unlock new creativity. We discuss colonialism, and the challenge of looking at discovered civilizations (on earth, in space, wherever) through a lens of diversity instead of the old models, and what might happen when we start to do that even more. … Continue...Episode 93 – Interview with Nancy Jane Moore

Bruce helps advance the question what the term “literary” means. Is it a commercial label? Is it a publishing market category for how to put similar books together in a bookstore? Class distinction or participation is one way to look, but so is technical accomplishment. In any case, learning to write seems a noble (and spiritual) way to squander your time as well as a social network, and Bruce has been amazing over a long and fruitful career as both a writer and educator. … Continue...Episode 92 – Interview with Bruce Holland Rogers