Writing Stories

Send us Fan Mail Elle Everhart tells the story of Hot Summer . Along the way, Elle covers:  Hinge  A particular kind of single parenting experience The most dangerous writing app Writing as a way to try on alternative selves  Collaborating with agent and editor on a contracted second book  Romance novels Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin  (My dog Pretzel makes an appearance.) Buy Hot Summer here....

Send us Fan Mail Aida Zilelian tells the story of All the Ways We Lied . Along the way she discusses: - writer's block - the value of touchstone texts and poetry - agents (the good, the bad, and the why) - how to know when to let go of a project - the Armenian genocide - The Stranger by Camus - Anjali Singh (agent) - book coach Karen Clark - The Goldfinch and The Corrections Find out more abo...

Send us Fan Mail Elizabeth Hilborn tells the story of her memoir Restoring Eden. Along the way she covers: Moving from scientific writing to memoir Notes and research for nonfiction Honey bees, pesticides, and environmental degradation Mindfulness and writing Jill Rothenberg - editor Dinty W Moore and the river of the story Find out more about Dr. Elizabeth Hilborn here Buy Restoring Eden here  Th...

Send us Fan Mail Ananda Lima tells the story of CRAFT: Stories I Wrote for the Devil . Along the way she covers:  The importance of giving yourself permission to play  Craft talk (and the implicit values therein!)  Remembering your opinion is valid  Great editing moves Latinx in publishing   Black Lawrence Press Sewanee Writers' Conference Restless Books New Immigrant Writing Prize Find out m...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Barrie Miskin tells the story of her memoir  Hellgate Bridge. Along the way she covers: Sarah Perry Inferno by Catherine Cho  Writing about mental illness Writing about motherhood Helpful writing coach moves (including the 'mmmm, I kinda don't get it' move) Writing about traumatic experiences  Find out more about Barrie here Buy Hellgate Bridge here...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Shze-Hui talks about The Story Game .  Along the way, she covers:  Evaluating agent responses to your manuscript Women and anger  How to know when a book is done  Recognizing the limits of our knowledge  The generative power of getting stuck and the creation of new forms  Book tour  Writing about family  Tin House  **The Story Game was actually finished in Oct &ap...

Send us Fan Mail Lucas Mann tells the story of Attachments: Essays on fatherhood and other performances . Along the way he covers: Writing when you have a newborn Trying for a balance between personal essay and cultural criticism False dichotomy of smart writing and embodied writing The perception that books about fatherhood don't sell When your publisher doesn't respond to the manuscrip...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Michelle Tea tells the story of SLUTS , from Dopamine Press . Along the way, she covers: Starting Dopamine Press Anthologies as fundraisers Starting and ending anthologies Perceptions of 'sluttery' and our culture's relationship to pleasure An iconic '90s San Francisco sexual experience Assimilationist and anti-assimilationist queerness Beth Pi...

Send us Fan Mail Hannah Sward tells the story of Strip .  Along the way, she covers:  - A publishing journey full of false summits - Publishing without an agent - Querying agents - Why not to be a writer - That you should not be afraid to write the shittiest s**t - Natalie Goldberg and Writing Down the Bones - Jill Schary Robinson - Family responses to memoir - Publishing with a small indie  Torto...

Send us Fan Mail Crystal Hana Kim tells the story of The Stone Home . Along the way she covers: - Focus when drafting  - When she shares her work with her agent - What questions she is interested in exploring in her work - The best book publication/baby making timeline ever - Strategies for creating a propulsive narrative - Reasons for not translating or transliterating particular words in a text...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Stephanie Clare Smith tells the story of Everywhere the Undrowned .  Along the way, she covers:  Bellevue's Nonfiction Contest Great Circle Books (whose series editor Marie Mutsuki Mockett is the author of The Tree Doctor and an upcoming guest on this podcast!)  University Presses Dismantling the fantasy parent in our heads and going back to care for our chil...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Estelle talks about her book, Writing That Gets Noticed . Along the way she covers: Beauty editor road trips Selling a book with an 'exclusive' A ballsy move to try if one editor accepts your pitch for a short piece and another rejects ASJA 'backlist' vs. 'frontlist' what if you aren't satisfied with your book cover a 'book-...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Annell López tells the story of I'll Give You A Reason . Along the way, she covers: Full-time high school teaching while full-time MFA Affordances of short story collections Generating ideas by asking what if the opposite happens  Feminist Press and the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize Drown by Junot Diaz     More of This World or Maybe Another by Barb John...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Clare Beams tells the story of The Garden . Along the way we cover: Managing the 'type A' part of your brain Selling a partial Doing what you don't know you can do Letting go of a manuscript that didn't sell (that you worked on for 8 years) NEA grant How to know when something is done Getting writing time  when you have small children and a glo...

Send us Fan Mail Nicole Haroutunian tells the story of Choose This Now . Along the way, we cover... - Her first book Speed Dreaming - Agent troubles - Rewriting a novella as a chapter - Creating a novel from stories - Having a book die on submission - When you lose your job and your agent at the same time your city goes into COVID lockdown - Pre-publication anxiety - An awesome editing move by Joh...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Sarah Rose Etter tells the story of RIPE ,  Along the way we cover:  Writing around a full-time job 75,000 words in a month The importance of having a good team behind you Difficulties and benefits of being edited The horrors of being on submission Kent Wolf ,  Carmen Maria Machado , Two Dollar Radio , and Scribner  Careerism and the unreliability of Hollywood  Ge...

Send us Fan Mail What Writing Stories is and is not. (A good listen if you are considering being a guest on the show.) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit writingstories123.substack.com

Send us Fan Mail Listen for all the goodies coming up in Season 2 of Writing Stories!! (And subscribe so you don't miss them!)  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit writingstories123.substack.com

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Deborah Jackson Taffa talks about her debut memoir Whiskey Tender. Also discussed: Weaving historical research into memoir Turning an essay collection into a memoir Turning down an offer to publish after working on manuscript for years 'Overdue' edits  Preempt Becoming an orphan manuscript Getting a review in the Washington Post Natasha Trethewey Brigid...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Chin-Sun Lee tells the story of Upcountry .  We cover:  Writing from an image you can't shake  Being 'on submission' (your agent is submitting your manuscript to editors) for years Unnamed Press  Having your book go to auction between independent and university presses  Why you should always check your spam folder Book tour  Getting blurbs Cults  Ka...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mary Beth O'Connor tells the story of From Junkie to Judge: One Woman's Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction We cover:  How to protect yourself when writing traumatic memories  Choosing and hiring a developmental editor  Publishing odds  Airport books Pitching agents at a conference panel Self publishing versus traditional publishing Seeing your book on Ama...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Cassie Premo Steele tells the story of Beaver Girl . We cover: - Asking for help - Characterization - Snowflake method - Querying hundreds of agents - Long COVID - Dirty realism - Writing animal characters with the first person in adult fiction - The importance of small presses - Anxiety Press and Outcast Press Also in this episode: Brianna continues to mispronoun...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Jacinda Townsend talks about her award-winning books Saint Monkey and Mother Country .  Along the way we cover:  Fiction writing as coping mechanism  Being the only Black kid at a fundamentalist Christian school in rural Kentucky Agent-seeking, scarcity model, and dating When you and your publisher disagree on the book's major theme Graywolf press  Answering...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I talk with Rachel Yoder about her debut novel Nightbitch.   Along the way we cover: Fun, art, pushing the boundaries of story, and permission to find your own work  What it's like when your publisher folds before you publish your book  How writing a book within a book can be useful for a busy parent writing in short periods of time.  How safe isn't alwa...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I talk with Sue Shapiro about American Shield , Barbie , and her broader publishing journey. We cover: Co-authoring and Jungian astrologists   How "every book breaks your heart in a different way" Erika Jong and Howard Fast (and the self-published book that became a  famous movie) Letting your emotions tell their own story Barbies, failure, and reinventi...