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Holiday Novels, Food Writing, And Tips For Faster First Drafts

We are so happy to welcome author Amy E. Reichert to the podcast! She has a number of beautiful novels (all featuring wonderful food writing), her latest being Once Upon a December, a holiday romance featuring a magical Christmas market, a steamy romance, and—of course—gorgeous holiday treats. We also talk about food writing and best … Read more

Finding A Home For Your Short Story with Author Anne Elliott

We are thrilled to speak with Anne Elliott—who always makes us feel like we’re in the best kind of MFA—about how structure and movement in your story can create the kind of reading experience that keeps people up all night with your book. Whether you’re pitching, published, or both, this is exactly (we imagine) what … Read more

Script-to-book, Book-to-Film, And All Things IP with Bethany Baptiste & Gigi Griffis

We love this conversation about a part of the industry few writers know about–script-to-book, or when a writer is hired to novelize a project originally designed for the screen. Both Bethany and Gigi have successful projects in this area–Bethany Baptiste is the author of Izzy Hawthorne: Destiny Awaits, a script-to-book project based on Disney’s Buzz … Read more

Genre, Metaphor, Twitter Pitch Contests, and Feminist Werewolf Novels with Author Rachel Harrison

We are so happy to speak with author Rachel Harrison about her new feminist werewolf novel, Such Sharp Teeth! This isn’t horror as you’d normally expect it—the cover is pink, the setting includes Target and Starbucks, and the main character is a twin just trying to get control over her new werewolf tendencies—and her love … Read more

Improve Your Writing In One Hour: Shirin Yim Leos | Thursday, October 20, 8:30pm ET

Like most writers, you probably think you know the humble verb well. But come to this fun, interactive session and you’ll discover a few new ways of evaluating your verbs to achieve explosive improvement in your writing. Participants will discover how to wield verbs to reveal more about character, setting, even aspects of plot—as well … Read more

Who Knows What When: Keeping Track of Characters’ Agendas with Christine Wells

We love this book! You can hear it in our voices, of course, but it’s worth saying again. This is a beautiful and fun historical work—kind of like a female James Bond—and we love the conversation about history and gender roles, building tough worlds but retaining hope, excelling at pacing—and how to write characters who … Read more

How To Keep Readers Interested With Internal Conflict

We’re thrilled to welcome Bobby Finger, whose book, The Old Place, is so full of twists and turns—many of them with internal, past, and multi-layered conflict—that we had a terrible time not spoiling the ending for you! (Yes, you’ll hear several shout-outs that will make sense if you read the book.) We also talk about … Read more