Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

An interview with the author Karen Joy Fowler , whose new historical novel is Booth , which concerns the family behind one of the most infamous figures in American history: John Wilkes Booth. The book came out last week from Putnam . This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Karen Joy Fowler, who suggests picking one of the great emotions:  fury, joy, envy, terror.  Wri...

An archive interview (from my Radiator broadcast days!) from the archives with New Hampshire author Toby Ball , author of three crime novels published by Overlook Press: The Vaults, about which we spoke in 2010,  Scorch City, which he wrote in 2011, and Invisible Streets  the third in the series and the subject of this conversation. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider the following li...

A new interview with Vermont Author Kathryn Davis , who has a memoir out: Aurelia, Aurélia ( Graywolf Press ).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Kathryn Davis, who teaches a novel writing class, among others. They have undertaken the exercise in that class of writing a “faux” novel. Without overthinking it, come up with a title and ten chapter headings for an a...

Vermont Author and Documentarian Jim Carrier , whose book Charity: The Heroic and Heartbreaking Story of Charity Hospital in Hurricane Katrina came out as an audiobook in 2021. This week's Write the Book Prompt was inspired by my interview with Jim Carrier, whose book Charity tells the story of one hospital in one storm, through the closer detailed narratives of individuals who were caught up in t...

Paula Martinac , author of seven novels. Since we spoke in 2017 about  The Ada Decades ( Bywater Books ), she has published three others. Her latest is  Dear Miss Cushman  ( Bywater Books ). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider the next food item you see - fruit, meat, vegetable, fast food, food on the street, in a gourmet store, at a cafeteria, on your kitchen shelf - and write about...

Vermont author and exceptional literary citizen Nancy Means Wright passed away on January 19 at the age of 95. This week I aired an interview with Nancy from the early days of the show. Many thanks to Seven Days for granting me permission to read their obituary for Nancy on air (with the stipulation that I read it in its entirety).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write a short or maybe ev...

An interview from the archives with the author Rachel Urquhart about her novel The Visionist ( Little Brown ). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to invent a group that has diminished from a large, powerful organization or community to something smaller, with minimal influence. What does this group look like? What happened to change their situation? What characters come to mind when you consider...

Author Caitlin Hamilton Summie , whose new novel is Geographies of the Heart ( Fomite ).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest, Caitlin Hamilton Summie. Consider the following prompt: “I didn’t want to steal it, but I did.” Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit:  Aaron Shapiro 714

Two shorter interviews from the archives: Jojo Moyes , about her book One Plus One ( Penguin ); and Heath Hardage Lee, about Winnie Davis: Daughter of the Lost Cause ( Potomac Books ).  Today’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider this sentence, and either start with it, or let it inform your work: “She’d only been a crossing guard for two days.” Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tu...

An interview from the archives with  Sue William Silverman about her memoir, The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo Saxon Jew ( University of Nebraska). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a fantasized, imagined or real relationship with a star. From Pat Boone to David Cassidy, Britney Spears to Timothee Chalamet, heart throbs have always energized teens. You could write...

A conversation from the archives with Vermont children’s author Elizabeth Bluemle , about her picture book, TAP TAP, BOOM BOOM ( Candlewick Press ). My son and I once experienced a hurricane in Florida. Those of you who know storms might remember Charlie, in 2004. We stayed in a motel in Winter Park–a second-story room with an outside entry that looked out at the parking lot. The storm was fierce...

Interview from the archives with award-winning author Joshua Ferris on his novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour ( Little Brown and Company ). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a visit to the dentist. Your scene, story or poem might involve the patient’s perspective, that of the dentist, the hygienist. Maybe you write about the waiting room, a moment in the parking lot, or the dr...

Vermont Author Joy Cohen , whose debut novel is 37 ( Guernica Editions ).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest Joy Cohen during our conversation. She suggests making two lists: the first, a list of 10 characters. They can be actual people in your life, such as your mom or dad, your best friend, the pharmacist, the mail carrier, people that you know really well or d...

Poet A.E. Hines , whose debut collection is Any Dumb Animal ( Main Street Rag ). A new prompt for the week comes from A.E. Hines, and touches on something we discussed during the interview you just heard: Write a poem that explores duality, by comparing and contrasting two topics that are generally considered opposites. For example:  Where is the light in the darkness?  Or, pick one or multiple th...

A new interview with Swiss Author Peter Stamm , whose latest story collection is It's Getting Dark ( Other Press ). Peter Stamm generously suggested a  Write the Book Prompt for today’s show. Go to the cemetery and see what the stones tell you about the people who are buried there. You’ll learn from the stones themselves, but also from their names and dates, from details occasionally listed on the...

Wendy Sanford , author, editor, and a founding member of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective . Her debut memoir is  These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class ( SheWrites Press ).  On Wendy Sanford’s website you can go to a page titled Meet Mary Norman: Leading the way for women in New Jersey corrections work 1968-1993. On that page are a series of events that shape...

Author and Journalist Jonah Lehrer, whose new book is Mystery: A Seduction, A Strategy, A Solution ( Avid Reader Press ). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Jonah Lehrer: Read a detective story and look for the false clues planted in the first five pages, or in Act I, depending on the work. In a Poe story or a Conan Doyle, there are so many missed leads, and you forget ab...

A conversation from the archives with the author Anne Lamott about her book Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son ( Riverhead ), which concerns being a grandparent. I myself became a Nana (again) last week, and so I've uploaded this interview without re-recording the intro and outro. Please excuse this lapse. I'm busy helping out.  This week's Write the Book Prompt is to write so...

Award-Winning Nigerian Author Uwem Akpan , whose debut novel is New York, My Village ( Norton ).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a time that your own success or advancement was stymied by bureaucracy, as visitors to America can be stymied by the process of trying to get a visa. Was your experience further complicated by some kind of prejudice or racism? If not, how might that...

Vermont Author Michael Freed-Thall , whose debut novel is Horodno Burning ( Rootstock ). Consider this Write the Book Prompt, inspired by my conversation with Michael: try using history as a frame from which to hang your characters in writing a story, poem, essay or longer piece. As you work, be sure you are accurately rendering the historical period, researching the industry, technology, customs,...

Vermont Author Melissa Perley , whose 2019 book The Violin Family ( Rootstock ) was recently named a winner in the Children’s Category of the 2021 Indie Reader Discovery Awards. Here's a musical Write the Book Prompt: listen to a piece of music and try to describe it in your work. It's harder than it sounds!  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or...

A conversation from the archives with Vermont author and former president of Vermont College of Fine Arts , Thomas Christopher Greene , about his novel The Headmaster's Wife ( Thomas Dunne ).  On Friday, at a football game in Burlington High School's stadium, community members were treated to a very special halftime show featuring many students and teachers appearing in drag. According to The Wash...

Award-winning author Donald Antrim , whose new memoir is One Friday in April: A Story of Suicide and Survival ( Norton ). In presenting his viewpoint that suicide is a disease, Donald Antrim experiments early in the book with a presentation of labels and names for mental illness. As you heard in the interview, this list begins, “Depression, hysteria, melancholia, nervousness, neurosis…” and goes o...

Award-winning director and playwright Lisa Peterson , who has penned a translation of Hamlet for the Play on Shakespeare project, a series published by ACMRS Press. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to choose a piece of your work and try to translate it for a different audience than it was originally intended. Change the language so that it might have made sense three hundred years ago. Or put...

Award-winning author Ruth Ozeki , whose latest novel is The Book of Form and Emptiness ( Viking ). In our conversation, Ruth mentioned that she has to dig really deep to find her characters and fully understand them. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider a character you are working on; perhaps someone you don’t fully understand yet. Ask yourself these questions about this character:  Wh...