Drunken Pen Writing Podcast

We had wayyyy too much fun recording this episode. We start things off with a quick conversation about the appropriate size for cupcakes. After that, we get into the heart of things and break down 50 of the best fantasy characters from books, movies, and TV shows. Spoiler alert, there are a lot, and we mean A LOT, of characters left off of the list we found. But we still think there were some soli...

We're back with a new season of A Murakami Minute! This go around we're reading and discussing Haruki Murakami's short story collection, The Elephant Vanishes. In today's episode, we talk about the first two stories in the collection, The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday's Women, and The Second Bakery Attack. We discuss how the first story is a part of Murakami's most famous novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chroni...

Caleb opens things off with his one-second Fellowship of the Ring review and an update on how his novel is coming along. After that, we get into a discussion about the importance of character motivation in storytelling. We talk about how important character motivations, character goals, and overcoming obstacles are to telling a good story. There are some examples of well-known characters and their...

We start things off by discussing some of the recent backlash (and praise) we got for our Blood Meridian Book of the Month episode. After that, we get into the topic at hand, which is something we love talking about. For a long time, we have traveled similar roads on our individual reading journeys. But recently we have finally split. Caleb has gone down a hard fantasy road, and Spencer has decide...

WARNING: This episode deals with discussions of violence and sexual assault. It's been some time since we last did a Book of the Month episode. So for the month of October, we felt it would be fitting to cover the ultra-violent novel, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. We do our best to give our honest opinion of this highly regarded piece of literature. Though, we might be a bit too honest! We di...

Caleb kicks things off by reading a poem suggested by a listener of the show. After that, we cover a list of awesome (and one that's not so awesome!) books that are perfect for people who enjoyed the new Netflix show Squid Game. Check out our work at www.drunkenpenwriting.com Follow us on Twitter @drunkpenwriting On Instagram @drunkenpenwriting And like us on Facebook @drunkenpenwriting

We start things off with some brief Lord of the Rings talk. Then we get into the thick of it with a list of awesome Celtic mythological creatures put together by our friends over at The Irish Road Trip . There are 31 creatures in total and some are really messed up! Check out all the Halloween submissions going on at www.drunkenpenwriting.com for some good reads. You can also follow us on Twitter...

We're talking about monsters! More specifically, what makes a good monster, what our favorite monsters are, and what is truly scary about fictional monsters.  Check out our work at www.drunkenpenwriting.com Follow us on Twitter @drunkpenwriting On Instagram @drunkenpenwriting And like us on Facebook @drunkenpenwriting

Caleb starts the podcast off with some good news! Then everything goes terribly downhill from there. We were supposed to cover the ten scariest short horror stories, but Caleb seems to have forgotten how to read and botches the entire thing. Not all is lost though. There are plenty of laughs and near rage quits throughout the show. Plus, a critical breakdown of the article we read. Check out our w...

In this episode, we take a look back at our humble beginnings and reminisce about the simpler times when we first started writing. We discuss how far we've come, the things we've learned, and some of our future plans. We also talk about the good ol' days of Drunken Pen Writing and the DPW Podcast: how we started, the troubles we've had, and how much we've improved upon things. Check out our fictio...

We're talking about themes! That's right, we're taking a deep dive and discussing how to write themes for your story. We go over ways to come up with themes, the most common themes used, and the types of themes that show up in our work. Speaking of our work, you can check out our stories at www.drunkenpenwriting.com You can also follow us on Twitter @drunkpenwriting On Instagram @drunkenpenwriting...

We start things off by talking about Stephen King's newest horror story. Then Caleb decides for some reason to give us his best Paul Bearer impression. After all that nonsense, we get into a list of some of the best horror manga out there. You can check out the list with accompanying artwork at https://www.rightstufanime.com/post/top-10-horror-manga You can also check out our fiction at www.drunke...

We start the episode off by talking money! More specifically, what greedy things we would do if we suddenly acquired one billion dollars. After that, we talk about the top horror books you should read. We cover a few lists and give some of our recommendations.  Check out our fiction at www.drunkenpenwriting.com Follow us on Twitter @drunkpenwriting On Instagram @drunkenpenwriting And like us on Fa...

"I'd rather read a book that I'm offended by than read one that I'm bored by." We start the episode off by discussing our recent trip to Ann Arbor where we attended this year's Astronomicon. After that, we discuss red flag fiction, what that means, and what it means for content creators like writers.  At some point, we also dive into a conversation about the public school system, where we think it...

We get a little weird during the opening as we're joined by Ashleigh Hatter, but then we get into a very interesting conversation about the work of Stephen King. We discuss a bit about the differences between his past work and current work, as well as his editing choices (or lack thereof) as of late.  Then we answer the big question: should Stephen King retire? Also, be sure to check out a bonus t...

Spencer opens the episode by telling us about his recent theater-going experience. After that, we talk about some of the best Pittsburgh authors you should read. We also discuss regional slang and what accents we think are especially terrible. Check out our fiction at www.drunkenpenwriting.com Follow us on Twitter @drunkpenwriting On Instagram @drunkenpenwriting And like us on Facebook @drunkenpen...

Spencer opens things up with an unusual scenario. After that, we discuss the controversy with Kevin Smith and his take on Masters of the Universe. This leads us into a conversation about working or writing new stories for established properties and franchises.  There's a lot of talk about comics and comic book characters, as well as movies and TV shows. You can check out our fiction (and Caleb's s...

We kick off the episode by discussing the Irish language and some real Irish fiction. We discuss the legendary Irish writer Máirtín Ó Cadhain and his most famous novel, "Cré na Cille" or "The Graveyard Clay" as it's known in English. The focus of the episode, though, is on the ten best Samurai novels. We also talk a bit about classic samurai movies, some Japanese history, the Japanese language, an...

We start things off by discussing our lack of productivity. After that, we get into some raunchy Jane Austen talk. That's right! We discuss why guys should read what people often consider to be "lady books" and things get pretty wild in the studio.  Check out the article on the website . You can also follow us on Twitter @drunkpenwriting On Instagram @drunkenpenwriting And like us on Facebook @dru...

Caleb starts the episode off by giving his review of Quentin Tarantino's first novel, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. After that, we get into all kinds of book-related topics like meeting girls at the bookstore and the magical nature of used bookstores. We end things in the best way we know how, by bitching about the weather and our lame town.  If you want to check out our work, head on over to www...

We start things off by talking about Amazon Kindle Vella and what that could mean for indie authors. Then we get into the meat of things as Caleb covers one of his more ridiculous articles. Despite the title, there is a lot of great information on passive versus active voice, why you should mostly write in active voice, and instances where passive voice is actually the better option. We end the ep...

Well, we've reached the end of Haruki Murakami's short story collection, First Person Singular. We discuss the final story of the same name and give our overall thoughts on the collection. We also talk a bit about Murakami's writing style and the next Murakami collection we're going to cover for the podcast.

Spencer opens things up with his quick review of H.G. Wells' book "The Invisible Man." After that, we discuss what we're currently reading, and then we go deep into the weeds with some Joe Rogan smack talk. We talk about his recent interview with Quentin Tarantino, the Bruce Lee controversy from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and why we both stopped listening to the JRE Podcast.  We end things by...

In this episode, we discuss butts! Mainly, we're talking about the next story in Haruki Murakami's First Person Singular short story collection which just so happens to have a poem about the beautiful butts of baseball players. This "story" called The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection is a biographical piece written by Murakami and deals with his love of baseball and the poetry he wrote at basebal...

We open the podcast with a conversation about book hoarding and why we feel the need to keep books we have no intention of ever reading again. Why not give them away!? After that, we get into the topic of reading and how it can alter your writing habits. Does reading too much take precious time away from your writing? Does what you read have an impact on how or what you write? We end the episode w...