The 7am Novelist

What do we really mean by “tension” when we’re discussing the story writing process? And how do you know you have it in your work? What writing tools might you use to ensure that you do? We talk about all this and more with author Katrin Schumann. Katrin Schumann ’s latest novel  This Terrible Beauty  has been called "luminous and unflinching," "unputdownable," and "hard to forget." It was chosen...

To paraphrase Henry James: Character Determines Incident; Incident Reveals Character. Writers Katherine Sherbrooke and Lise Haines explore the complicated but necessary relationship between character and event in your story, how to discover that relationship, and how to deepen it as the story progresses. Lise Haines’ fifth novel,  Book of Knives , is just out from Sourcebooks. Rick Moody says of h...

What is the Point of Attack? How does the concept go beyond plot (or deepen it?) as a way for your story to find urgency, either in character, event, image, or language ? Helping us understand this idea in both the short story and novel is writer and teacher Ron MacLean. Ron MacLean  is author of the story collections  We Might as Well Light Something On Fire  and  Why the Long Face?  and the nove...

What is the Inciting Incident? What is it not? How is it tied intrinsically to your protagonist(s) and how do you discover one (or two?) that really works? Fiction writer and celebrated screen writer Devi Snively helps us find the answers. An award-winning screenwriter/filmmaker, modestly published short fiction author and contributor to  Beyond the Bechdel  (a feminist cinema blog), Devi Snively...

What is the Unstable Ground Situation? Why might you need it for your story? How do you find it? What does it have to do with character development and where your story should really start? We talk through these questions with Steven Lee Beeber, fiction and nonfiction author, editor, and longtime writing teacher. Steven Lee Beeber is the author of  The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of...

What is voice? How do you find it for your characters, your book, your dialogue? What mistakes can you make when trying to push the voice of your book or characters too hard or making the voice “too real.” EB Bartels is a nonfiction writer, a former Newtonville Books bookseller, and a GrubStreet instructor, with an MFA from Columbia University. Her writing has appeared in Catapult, Electric Litera...

Frederick Reiken’s discovery of what ailed his creative writing students: the Author, Narrator, Character merge, when the author doesn’t envision an identity, intention, perspective, and range of knowledge about the story for their narrator and character as separate from one another and separate from the author themselves. To help us out with this difficult topic, we’ve got authors who are working...

How to handle multiple perspectives, voices, and even timelines in your writing and not lose your reader (or drive yourself nuts). We have two fave authors helping us out: EB Moore and Mark Guerin. EB Moore , a metal sculptor turned poet,   published a chapbook,  New Eden, A Legacy , then thanks to Grub Street’s Novel Incubator, switched to being a novelist. Her first two books,  Stones in the Roa...

Two of the more unusual point of view choices, but they can be fun (and necessary) all the same: The Second Person and The First Person Plural (or the snobbier term “Royal We”). What are they? Why experiment with them? What effects can they grant you on the page and what might they take away? Special guests David Abrams and Allison Amend help us find out. Allison Amend , a Chicago native and a die...

The omniscient point of view, beloved by 19th century authors and most often found in the western literary canon, but this perspective came under suspicion in the early 1900s, only to recently make a strong recurrence. And it might just be the most difficult point of view to handle. What is third and first person omniscient? What are the best practices behind handling this point of view and why mi...

The pros and cons of writing in the third person limited, likely the most favored point of view. What freedoms might it grant you in terms of language and providing context? How might it hold you back in terms of intimacy? Our guests Linda Schlossberg and Whitney Scharer help us find the answers. Linda Schlossberg received her Ph. D in English Literature from Harvard, where she now serves as Assoc...

First person may grant you intimacy with your character and the reader as well as help you establish the voice of your book, but it can also limit the experience you put on the page. We’re looking at the pleasures and pitfalls of this popular point-of-view choice today with authors Maya Shanbhag Lang and Lauren Acampora. Maya Shanbhag Lang is the author of  What We Carry , named a  New York Times...

Stakes: What your characters can lose and what they might gain in the course of your story, both in emotional and concrete terms. This is the WHY of your story: why we should care, why the character pushes so desperately for what they yearn for, why the writer is interested in writing the story in the first place. Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You , a New...

What are Secondary Characters? How do you develop them? And how do you keep them from taking over your books? For thirteen years, Nancy Crochiere wrote a humor column about family life for Massachusetts newspapers, then published a collection of those columns titled  The Mother Load . She has worked as a development editor for various educational publishers and has written essays for  The Boston G...

Backstory. The killer of many a novel. But the complexity of today’s world and its many voices makes more demand on backstory than ever, so what to do? Listen in to debut novelists Aube Rey Lescure and Shilpi Suneja to hear how they solved this knotty problem in the process of writing and revising their first books. Aube Rey Lescure is a French-Chinese-American writer. She currently works as the D...

One of the best ways to develop your characters is to figure out their attitude to others and the world, from the way they enter a room to how they cut their steak (or refuse steak altogether). Listen in to our discussion about what informs our characters’ sense of themselves and others from writers Margot Livesey and Courtney Maum. Margot Livesey grew up on the edge of the Scottish Highlands.  Sh...

Weaknesses, flaws, misbeliefs, wounds, all our characters have them, so how do you get them on the page? How do you write character change? And how do you write about a character whose lesson learned needs to be more nuanced, particularly for characters who don’t have much power to begin with? Then the lesson may be more about the idea that they don’t have to adjust to broken world at all. Meghana...

Writers Steve Almond and Kate Racculia discuss observer vs. participant characters, being too nice to your character, the role of the narrator, and the dreaded Author/Narrator/Character merge. Steve Almond  of a dozen books, including “Candyfreak” and “Against Football,” which were NYT Bestsellers for about four seconds. His new novel, All the Secrets of the World , has been optioned by 20th Centu...

Ilan Mochari is the author of the acclaimed debut novel  Zinsky the Obscure  which earned rave reviews from Publishers Weekly ,  Kirkus ,  and Booklist. Boston’s NPR station named it one of 10 “Good Reads for the Summer.” Ilan’s short stories, poems, and essays have been widely published, appearing or forthcoming in  McSweeney’s , Salamander, Solstice ,  Hobart ,  Juked ,  J Journal ,  Slate ,  Va...

Author and educator Dariel Suarez talks about the larger social and publishing concerns that could be holding you back, while trying to refocus yourself on the work in front of you. And apparently the great Jami Attenberg was writing about the exact same idea today! Here’s Jami’s take: Dariel Suarez  is the Cuban-born author of the novel  The Playwright’s House  and the story collection  A Kind of...

Today we hear from writers Tracey Palmer and Belle Brett about how they keep writing, keep their love for their projects, and how “work” is more than just generating pages Tracey Palmer is professional writer and editor, and founder of  Palmer Communications . She completed Grub Street’s Novel Incubator program in 2016 and serves as co-editor and writer for the group’s blog,  Dead Darlings . She’s...

How to get yourself in the right place to write, and how to use what you already have on the page to find your way forward, with authors Grace Talusan and Jessica Keener. Grace Talusan is the author of The Body Papers, which won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing and the Massachusetts Book Award in Nonfiction. Her writing has been supported by the NEA, the Fulbright, US Artists, th...

Join us as we explore other ways to get writing on the page, plan only what you need, and keep you creative. Jane Roper Jane Roper is the author of a memoir,  Double Time: How I Survived–and Mostly Thrived–Through the First Three Years of Mothering Twins , and a novel,  Eden Lake . Her new novel,  The Society of Shame , will be published by Anchor Books in April, 2023. Jane’s writing has appeared...

Today our guests discuss why they consider themselves “plotters,” how they go about plotting their books, how they try to keep it loose and easy and discover new material and insight as they go, and methods for making the process visual and physical. Anjali Mitter Duva Anjali Mitter Duva is an Indian American writer, editor, and dancer who was raised in France. She is he author of FAINT PROMISE OF...

Today’s guests talk about writing by the seat of your pants (ie., how to float on pure creativity and still come up with a book) Lissa Franz Lissa Franz holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Boston University and is a graduate of the Grub Street Novel Incubator program. She is the 2015 recipient of the PEN New England Discovery award for fiction. Her latest novel, A SHORT HISTORY OF THE...