The 7am Novelist

Today we have another of our roundtables and we’re focusing on voice: What really is voice? How does a writer create it? Change it? How do we differentiate between the writer’s voice and that of the narrator or character? When is voice too writerly or too uninspired? And how is it different from style? We’ll talk about these questions and a whole lot more with our four authors: Juliet Faithfull, S...

Good morning everyone. Today’s short episode is dedicated to Charles Coe , who passed away suddenly this weekend. His death is a shock to a lot of us. He was a beloved poet, educator, arts advocate, and friend to many many writers and creatives across New England and beyond. Charles helped our group Writers for Democrat Action raise funds for Kamala Harris the fall before last. As part of the even...

We’ve got one of Boston’s best literary citizens with us, Jessica Kent. She’s the founder of Literary Boston , a website that covers the local literary community, marketing advice for authors, and a chance to take your own literary history tour. Today, she’ll be sharing with us a list of ways for you to connect to your literary community and be a stronger literary citizen. We’ll also talk her effo...

Today, I’m thrilled to be speaking to Janet Rich Edwards , whose debut novel, Canticle , will be released in December. I’ll be interviewing her for that release on the stage at Porter Square Books in the Seaport on December 3. Today we’ll be talking about how she handled four points of view and how language conveys class and gender as well as her characters’ assumptions about how the world works....

Today, I’m talking to author Nicole Graev Lipson about where fiction ends and truth begins and how she searched for answers about being a mother among her literary forebears, without being too heavy-handed with her allusions or assuming too much from the reader. Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life . —Simone Weil Watch a recording here. This audio/video version...

Today we have another of our roundtables and we’re focusing on one of the hardest things for an author to get right: world building. Because this issue is so complex, I’m doing two world building roundtables, one for writers working on historical fiction and today for writers who are trying to establish place in a location that the reader might not know about, either in the real world or in the sp...

Today, we’ve got a very special guest, the person I cofounded the GrubStreet Novel Incubator program with and who is a beloved teacher and writer in the Boston area, Lisa Borders . Lisa’s latest novel, Last Night at the Disco , was released on October 7. We’re talking about using an unreliable narrator, character liability, and how our dear late agent, Esmond Harmsworth, helped her with the novel’...

Today, I’m talking to writers Whitney Scharer and Sonya Larson about an exciting new writing conference they’re starting up in the Boston area, the TBR conference which will be held this coming January 17th. For more info about the conference and to register, click here . Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or o...

Today, we’ve got the wonderful Lauren Aliza Green, author of The World AfterAlice , and she’ll be talking to us about practicing rewriting over revision and how to do it while the world seems to be falling apart. Lauren will also be talking about how she continues her writing community even after a big move abroad. Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed...

Today we have another of our roundtables and we’re focusing on one of the hardest things for an author to get right: world building. Because this issue is complex, I’m going to hold two world building roundtables, one for writers trying to establish place in either a speculative work or a work that takes place in a non-U.S. location, and this one today about world building for historical fiction....

Today, I’m talking to author and book-seller Josh Cook about book bans, the beloved community space of bookstores, and what he thinks authors should know about book selling. Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform. I don’t charge for subscriptions, but if you’d like, you can supp...

Today, we’re talking to the wonderful Jyoti Chand who will be discussing the inspiration behind her YA graphic novel, Fitting Indian , why the story needed to be told, and how she built a vibrant online community where she is known as Mamajotes through authenticity and vulnerability. Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast versio...

Today, I’m lucky to get a chance to talk to Zee Carlstrom about their debut: Make Sure You Die Screaming. Zee practices a special kind of brainstorming for their projects, bringing together disparate styles, genres, ideas in a way they learned from the advertising world in order to make something fresh and new and avoid the regurgitating effects of AI on all of our creative pursuits. Interested in...

In our roundtable today, we’re focusing on the question: How does your book invite a reader’s interest, both intellectually and emotionally? What might that look like? What methods might an author use? And we’ve got four incredible writers joining us for the discussion: Nancy Crochiere, Janet Rich Edwards, Christine Murphy, and Hesse Phillips. Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is av...

Today, I enjoy talking to Beth Castrodale about her latest: The Inhabitants, an award-winning novel that brings new twists to one of my favorite sub-genre settings—a haunted house. And we discuss her efforts to bring Small Press Books and their authors more attention through her longtime project, the review website known as Small Press Picks . Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is av...

Today, I’m talking to author and art historian Libby Buck, whose first novel Port Anna, was released in July from Simon & Schuster. Libby is going to tell us how her art historian background helped her write her novel… and how it might help you. We’re also going to talk about the importance of museums as a vital source of community building and how they allow us to join together “in awe.” Watch a...

Today, we’ve got an incredible community organizer joining us, the co-founder of the London Writers' Salon , Matt Trinetti , and he’s going to tell us all about it. Want more from LWS, check out Writers' Hour Magazine . Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform. I don’t charge for...

Today we have the first of our roundtables and we’re focusing on the mysterious (or not so mysterious) REVERSE OUTLINE. What is it? Why might you want to do it (or not?) And what methods are the most helpful. And we’ve got four incredible writers joining us to round out our discussion: Desmond Hall, Christine Murphy, Patricia Park, and Hesse Phillips Watch a recording here. This audio/video versio...

Today, I’m talking to Karen Dukess fresh off of hearing that her latest novel, Welcome to Murder Week , has hit the USA Today bestseller list. We discuss how writing groups and writing retreats, including DIY ones, got her there and why the best advice is sometimes: “Just Keep Going.” Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for one week. Missed it? Check out the podcast versi...

Today, I’m talking to Nova Ren Suma who found herself at a crossroads in her career and her long-chosen genre while working on her latest book Wake the Wild Creatures . Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for only a few weeks. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite podcast platform. I don’t charge for subscriptions, but if you’d like, you can s...

Today, I’m happy to be talking to Stephanie Elizondo Griest about her search for community in the process of writing her latest book: Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life. It was released on June 10. It’s a book that sees art as inheritance, dissent, devotion, revenge, celebration, and more. In the end, it asks: Is the all-encompassing qu...

Today we’re focusing on the idea of trying to get beyond the usual character development tricks in our writing. What does it really take to get a flesh and blood character who captures our imaginative on the page? And we’ve got four incredible writers joining us for the discussion: Allison Amend, Rachel Barenbaum, Julie Carrick Dalton, and Andrea Meyer. Watch a recording here. This audio/video ver...

Today, we’re talking to Alison Langley whose debut novel, Ilona Gets a Phone , has at last been released in the U.S . Alison and I discuss the methods she used to convey Hungarian history without leaving her characters behind and how that history rings a warning bell for today. Catch Alison and me at the Parkside Bookstore this Wednesday, July 9. Watch a recording of our interview here. This audio...

Today, I talk to esteemed editor and writer Christine Pride about her experience co-writing with novelist Jo Piazza, going it alone with two tricky timelines, and opening her home to women in need. Her latest book is All the Men I’ve Loved Again. Watch a recording here. This audio/video version is available for only a few weeks. Missed it? Check out the podcast version above or on your favorite po...

It’s simple: Come late, stay early, join however many days you like. We start at 7am EST with a prompt, turn off our mics to write together, come back at 8:20am to talk about how we did, sign off at 8:30, and repeat. It’s all about accountability, shutting out distractions, and getting things done. And it’s all free. "In 90 minutes you get camaraderie, accountability, a habit! And that habit compe...