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Writers on Writing episodes
- Novelist Julie ClarkJulie Clark, author of the new novel, The Lies I Tell, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about how she found her way to the domestic thriller genre, why she finds female con artists fascinating, her revision process, how she finds time to teach full-time and get her writing done, and so much more.
Julie Clark is the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight. It has earned starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, and the New York Times has called it “thoroughly absorbing.” It’s been named an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads Pick, and a Best Book of 2020 by Amazon Editors and Apple Books. Her debut, The Ones We Choose, was published in 2018 and has been optioned for television by Lionsgate. She lives in Los Angeles with her two sons and a golden doodle with poor impulse control.
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(Recorded in June, 2022)
Support the show on Patreon.com/WritersonWriting!
Music and sound design by Travis Barrett
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com33 min - Eric Nguyen, author of "Things We Lost to the Water"
Eric Nguyen's debut novel, Things We Lost to the Water, was one of President Obama's favorite books of 2021. It's recently out in paperback.
Eric joined Marrie Stone to talk about understanding his own history through the lens of fiction, how he came to know his characters, writing about a well-known city in a new light, how bilingualism serves his fiction, and so much more.If you're a regular listener or like this episode, check out our new Patreon page,
where we offer weekly writing tips and prompts, as well as othergoodies for our listeners.
Thanks for listening!Download audio.
(Recorded on June 24, 2022)
Music and sound design by Travis Barrett
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com
Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com
Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com1 hr 3 min - Novelist Erica Ferencik, Girl in IceErica Ferencik, author of Girl in Ice, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about her new novel, creatures that can freeze and thaw out alive, why she's a plotter, writing the book she wished existed, and more.
Erica Ferencik is an award-winning novelist who writes adventure novels featuring women who brave not only internal struggles but face extreme challenges in their environment: remote forests, steaming jungles, and desolated ice scapes. To research GIRL IN ICE, (Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster), she explored the desolate iceberg-packed fjords of Greenland.
Download audio.
(Recorded in June 2022)
Music and sound design by Travis Barrett
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com
Visit our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/writersonwriting1 hr 9 min - Alexis Schaitkin, author of "Elsewhere"
Alexis Schaitkin joins Marrie Stone to talk about her latest novel, Elsewhere (to be published by Celadon on June 28, 2022).
The speculative fiction story explores the perils and pleasures of motherhood, how mothers judge one another, how women can often disappear into motherhood — and into aging — and how sometimes they can find themselves again. The setting is evocative and the issues are profound.
Schaitkin shares several backstories behind the novel, including the inspiration for this hauting fictional village, her many attempts to find her way into the story, how she let go of her expectations for the novel, and how she once again managed a large cast of characters. For novelists, there's mounds of advice for character development and structure. For speculative fiction writers, there are insights for creating effective rules for your world. For Schaitkin's fans, there's fun backstories on how she constructs her novels and the themes she remains interested in exploring.
Schaitkin's first novel, Saint X, was a NYT Notable Book of 2020 and is being adapted into a miniseries by Hulu.
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(Recorded on June 9, 2022)
Music and sound design by Travis Barrett
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com
Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com
Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com1 hr 1 min - Novelist, Steve Almond, All the Secrets of the WorldSteve Almond, author of All the Secrets of the World (Zando, 2022) joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to discuss his new novel and why he wanted to write a social novel, how it took him five tries to get it right, and much more on the process of writing. Steve is the author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His recent books include William Stoner and the Battle for the Inner Life, which is about reading and writing and the struggle to pay attention to our lives, and Bad Stories, a literary investigation of the 2016 election. For four years, Steve hosted the New York Times Dear Sugars podcast with Cheryl Strayed. His short stories have been anthologized widely, in the Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Erotica, and Best American Mysteries series. His new book is a novel called All the Secrets of the World.
Download audio.
(Recorded on May 27, 2022, via Zoom audio)
Music and sound design by Travis Barrett
Check out his typewriter compositions at Just My Type on Spotify
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com
Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com
Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com
Find us on Patreon.com/writersonwriting
1 hr 7 min - Jess Walter, author of collection "The Angel of Rome"
Novelist and short story writer Jess Walter joins Marrie Stone to talk about his latest collection, The Angel of Rome. Jess is the author of seven novels (including The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins), two collections of
short stories, and a non-fiction book. He is the recipient of the EdgarAllan Poe Award (Citizen Vance), and was a finalist for the National Book Award (The Zero).Walter talks about assembling the collection, choosing these 12 thematic stories out of 40 or 50 choices. He discusses effective humor, the difference between sentiment and sentimentality, and how to avoid cliches and stereotypes. He also talks about his ability to access elderly characters, writing a Gen X collection while not identifying completely with Gen X, and so much more.
For more information about Jess Walter, upcoming events, and more visit his website here.
We also invite you to check out our new Patreon page, where we offer weekly writing tips and prompts, as well as other goodies for our loyal listeners. This week's tip was inspired by this conversation.
Thanks for listening!Download audio.
(Recorded on June 2, 2022)
Music and sound design by Travis Barrett
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com
Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com
Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com1 hr 3 min - Novelist Jeffrey FleishmanJeffrey Fleishman, author of the brand new novel, Good Night, Forever (Blackstone), and Barbara DeMarco-Barrett talk about setting your book where you live, side characters, crime fiction and social issues, and so much more.
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Jeff Fleishman is foreign and national editor at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, he was a senior writer on film, art and culture. A 2002 Nieman fellow at Harvard University, Fleishman was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing. A longtime foreign correspondent, he served as bureau chief for The Times in Cairo and Berlin, and was previously based in Rome for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has been a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and a finalist for the Center for Public Integrity’s Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting. He is the author of three novels: “My Detective,” “Shadow Man” and “Promised Virgins: A Novel of Jihad.”
(Recorded on April 27, 2022.)
Music and sound design by Travis Barrett
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com58 min - A.J. Jacobs, author of "The Puzzler"
Immersion journalist A.J. Jacobs returns to the show to talk with Marrie Stone about his latest book, The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life. Along the way he shares mounds of writing advice, including the importance of approaching your work with a curious mindset, how finding a toehold in your writing can help you expand, how constraints lead to creativity and so much more.
A.J. also shares why, after all his many books, the writing process is still difficult and how he overcomes his resistance. Check out this essay for a sneak peek into that conversation.
Beyond the great writing advice, A.J. also shares his infectious love for puzzles and the many wonderful backstories and interviews behind the writing of this book. Geeks, puzzlers, and writers alike will take much away from this conversation.
Download audio.
(Recorded on May 4, 2022)
Music and sound design by Travis Barrett
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com
Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com
Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com1 hr - Gary Phillips, One-Shot HarryGary Phillips, author of One-Shot Harry, is my guest. Gary has been a community activist, labor organizer and has published various novels, comics, short stories as well as editing several anthologies including Orange County Noir (which is how we met; I have a story in the Akashic anthology) and the award-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. Violent Spring, first published in 1994 was named in 2020 one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He was a senior story editor on FX’s Snowfall, about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central where he grew up. His newest novel is One-Shot Harry, which has been receiving quite a bit of love from the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. On the show we discuss why he set his novel in the early 60s, loglines, creating a photographer protagonist, and so much more. Download audio. (Recorded on May 5, 2022) Music and sound design by Travis Barrett Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com Find Writers on Writing on Patreon and become a Patron!57 min
- Robert Kerbeck, author of Ruse: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall StreetRobert Kerbeck joins Marrie Stone to talk about his memoir, Ruse: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street. From corporate espionage to uncomfortable encounters with O.J. Simpson, Kevin Spacey and others, Kerbeck weaves an incredible tale of deception and redemption, peppered with Forrest Gump-like brushes with fame. Kerbeck shares both his incredible story, as well as mounds of writing advice and publishing wisdom—from the benefits of reading plays to insights on how to market your book after publication. Memoir writers will take away insights on how to treat chapters as short stories, the benefits of writing short and tight, how writing groups can help your career, the critical role of networking and more. Download audio. (Recorded on March 11, 2022) (Podcast on May 9, 2022) Visit our Patreon page here for additional benefits. Music and sound design by Travis Barrett Barbara DeMarco-Barrett: www.penonfire.com Marrie Stone: www.marriestone.com Travis Barrett: https://travisbarrett.mykajabi.com1 hr 4 min
About Writers on Writing
From the publisher's feed
Writers on Writing is a weekly podcast hosted by author Barbara DeMarco Barrett and co-host Marrie Stone, on the art and business of writing. More on the show, writers, and writing is at www.writers-on-writing.com.
Use this archive to search for an episode or to browse the episode history.