No Write Way with V. E. Schwab

Some authors are auto-buys. This author is one of mine. In this season finale, I talk with Stephen Graham Jones, the author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and his latest book, Off the Reservation , about the strange, wonderful machinery behind his work. He tells us his writing origin story, which sounds like it could have come straight out of one of his own books, and from there, we get into the nut...

I’ve spent thirteen years inside this trilogy. Jenna has questions. For this episode, producer Jenna takes the reins. Jenna is the closest thing I have to a sister, my bestie, and the person who has been watching me make these books for a very long time. So, naturally, she has some questions. With Victorious arriving the day before this episode does, we dive into the strange, sprawling business of...

This week, I’m joined by Jasmine Guillory, bestselling author of The Wedding Date and her latest novel, It’s Only Dancing , for a deep dive into the nitty-gritty of how she actually makes a book. Jasmine walks me through her “messy first draft,” where she lets herself put every idea on the page, knowing she’ll come back later to chip away at it, reshape it, and figure out what the story actually n...

Some conversations have a destination. Others are more fun when you just see where they take you. This week, I’m joined by Ali Hazelwood, bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis , and this episode is a bit of a romp. We wander from Star Trek and fan fiction to hyperfixations, the small obsessions that somehow become little anchors of joy, and the realization that what we want to write and what w...

Confession: it’s fan-girl time. Scott Hawkins, author of The Library at Mount Char and Blacktail , is one of those writers whose books make me want to corner him and ask, “How did you DO that?” He writes in the evenings after his day job and on weekends, and somehow the stories he’s made in those stolen hours are some of my absolute favorites. I’ve read both of his books, and I have a lot of quest...

Some writing careers begin with a bet, a rom-com, and a very committed friend.  This week, I’m joined by Lisa Jewell, bestselling thriller author of Then She Was Gone and her latest novel, It Could Have Been Her , to talk about the wonderfully serendipitous path that led her to becoming a writer. From the bet that started it all to the unexpected way she found her first agent and the zany route sh...

This week, I’m joined by Rebecca Serle, bestselling author of One Italian Summer and Once and Again , for a conversation that feels a little like a master class in trusting the work. We talk through her process, turn the tables on each other, and swap the Jedi mind tricks we use to keep our brains from getting in the way. Rebecca shares what happens when you refuse to give writer’s block any power...

Some writers write with a single voice. Others carry generations with them. This week, I’m joined by poet and bestselling author Nikita Gill for a conversation about the people, histories, and inheritances that find their way onto the page. She tells me about her Kashmiri grandfather, the first person she ever wrote a story about, and the way she feels she carries her ancestors with her in the ver...

Some writers have always been storytellers. C. L. Clark is one of them. From short stories and novellas to high fantasy novels, they’ve spent a lifetime finding new ways to tell them. In this episode, we discover an uncanny overlap in some of our favorite non-writing pursuits, from fencing and running to growing up as soccer kids with dreams of making it to the World Cup. We wander into the relati...

For the first episode of Season Five, I’m joined by Karin Slaughter, bestselling author of Pretty Girls and her latest, The Secrets We Hide , for a conversation about writing stories that are dark, strange, and unapologetically intense. We talk about the particular experience of being a woman who writes this kind of work, the strange expectations that come with being taken seriously, and what happ...

Some books are a surprise, even to the people who wrote them. For the final episode of the season, Jenna takes the reins and turns the mic on Cat Clarke and me (V.E. Schwab), the two halves of Evelyn Clarke, to talk about our debut novel and the very unexpected path that led us here. We get into the origin story, how a writer who swore she’d never co-write (it me) and another who had stepped away...

Some books reclaim the stories we thought we already knew. This week, I’m joined by Ayana Gray, author of Beasts of Prey and her latest, I, Medusa , for a conversation that begins with origin stories and winds its way through the very particular internet experiences of a millennial upbringing—back when blogs were everything and a place called Twitter still existed. We talk about learning what was...

Some books remind you that fantasy can be brutal, funny, and painfully human all at once. This week, I’m joined by Joe Abercrombie, author of the First Law series and his latest, The Devils , for a conversation about the strange dance between fantasy and the expectations that come with it. We talk about drifting around the edges of genre labels (including the ever persistent “grimdark”) and what i...

Some books feel like a rom com written in a minor key. This week, I’m talking with Ashley Winstead, author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and her latest, Future Saints . We chat about the idea that first drafts are just secret monsters, something you have to let out just to learn their shape. Ashley tells me about the sticky note she kept on her laptop that read, “no one will ever see this,” a sma...

Some stories are portals. Some storytellers are too.  This week, I’m joined by T. L. Huchu, author of The Edinburgh Nights series, for a conversation that feels a little like falling down a rabbit hole together. T. L. often interviews me when my tours bring me through Edinburgh, so this time we flipped the script, and as always, time behaved strangely around us. We talk about bookstores as cathedr...

Some books tilt the world just slightly off its axis and dare you to find your footing. This week, I’m joined by Mona Awad, author of Bunny and Rouge , whose stories feel at once unsettling and luminous. We talk about the poem she once wrote for a class, one her teacher loved so much it terrified her into dropping the course, and how that early moment shaped her relationship with risk and praise....

Some books arrive as love stories and leave you thinking about much more. This week, I’m joined by Kennedy Ryan, bestselling author of Can’t Get Enough and Before I Let Go, for a conversation that feels less like an interview and more like gabbing with a very wise bestie. We talk about the fragility of success, the realities of moving between traditional and self-publishing (and why she’s done bot...

Some books feel like an escape hatch you didn’t know you needed. For the first episode of Season 4, I sat down with Matt Dinniman, author of the wildly popular Dungeon Crawler Carl series and his latest novel, Operation Bounce House . Matt calls himself a “psycho pantser” (affectionately), and he lives up to the title, walking me through a writing process that’s as wild and inventive as his storie...

Plot twist—I’m the guest this week. And there’s no one I’d rather hand the reins to than my BFF (and producer of this podcast), Jenna. We get into the details of my writing process—from early research to finding the right title—and talk about the kinds of fantasy I’m drawn to, and why. We explore how setting functions as a character in my stories, the balance between realism and the fantastical, a...

This week, we summon Laura Steven, author of The Exact Opposite of Okay and Our Infinite Fates , for a thoughtful and refreshingly frank conversation. She walks us through the slow-burn nature of her creative process, opens up about the very real highs and lows of life in publishing, and reminds us that believing in yourself can be its own kind of survival skill. It’s a deep dive into persistence,...

This week marks a first—we’re summoning two authors at once! The powerhouse writing duo Christina Lauren (yes, they of the swoony romance bestsellers) joins me for a conversation that’s equal parts craft deep dive and master class in creative friendship. We talk about their ever-evolving writing process, the magic of knowing you don’t have to be good at the same things to make something great, and...

SWOON ALERT! This week, we summon Tia Williams, bestselling author of Seven Days in June and A Love Song for Ricki Wilde . We dive into her writing process and why every new book begins in her Notes app (because once that laptop’s open, it’s real ), the tricky art of writing middles (think chicken that looks done until you cut in and find it’s still pink), and how she finished her first novel befo...

Sharpen your pencils (and maybe your swords) —this week, we summon Brandon Sanderson, bestselling author of Mistborn , The Stormlight Archive , and the expansive Cosmere universe. He shares how he kept writing draft after draft (maybe even a dozen or more) before selling his first novel, the secret stash of stories he hid behind a painting as a kid, and why staying sharp in revision is one of the...

Ever wonder what taxidermy, a giant metal chicken, and a collection of haunted dolls have in common? This week, we summon Jenny Lawson—aka The Bloggess, bestselling author of Let's Pretend This Never Happened and Furiously Happy —to talk about her one-of-a-kind creative journey. We dive into the cozy chaos of her writing process (including a surprisingly mathematical notecard system), the diff...

What comes after the end of the world? This week, I sit down with Veronica Roth, the bestselling author of Divergent and Poster Girl , for a conversation full of laughter, layered craft talk, and a few surprises. We dig into her love of outlining (yes, multiple outlines!), how she lets story lead the way—without starting from plot or character—and why she believes bold choices make for better writ...