The Craft Lab for Writers Podcast

There’s an oft-repeated piece of craft advice about endings: slice them off early. But what if you haven’t yet found the story’s final punch? Let's look at stories that do the opposite of ending early. In fact, they keep on ending. These are stories that end twice. The double-ending is a second punch that the writer gets to strike. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other...

What happens in a story's opening? If you ask me, the atomic material of the story should be present from the very start, and the work of the story is to combine those atoms into a variety of narrative molecules. You’re constructing a periodic table just for this story. What can you build from there? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bo...

Last time, I talked about choosing books based entirely on whether I find the prose laminated (it pushes me out) or permeable (it lets me sink in). What causes a piece of writing to be laminated—that is, it may have a beautiful sheen, but it keeps me on the outside? This week, I explain what laminated writing is. Listen in to learn how to avoid the readings that will inscribe bad habits in your ow...

Ask any writer how to improve, and they’ll probably say one thing: Read. Abundantly, widely, constantly. But what are you reading? How do you choose the work that’s worth apprenticing yourself to, both because it’s a worthy teacher and because it’s specifically inspiring to you at this moment in your writing life? My method is to separate the laminated from the permeable . What does that mean? Lis...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit craftlabwriters.substack.com How do we make ourselves want to write our work? In Part 1 of this podcast, I discussed the problem of getting stuck partway through a project—especially a project that we want to finish. We think it’s worthy, but something internal is getting in the way. How to get past that block? This week, I’m giving som...

*White Lotus Spoilers ahead* Mike White loves a Chekhov’s gun. (The storytelling principle that says: If you put a gun on the mantle in Act I, it has to fire by Act III.) He's given us Chekhov’s blender and at least three handguns. But the best of them all is Chekhov’s knife , from Season 1. It’s also the most instructive. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscrib...

How do we make ourselves want to write our work? The question may sound silly. Of course we want to write our work. All we want is the time to write our work! But there often comes a point when you get stuck. The ending won’t come right; or we’ve had a gust of energy for the start of a story, and then it ebbs; or we’re adding words, but listlessly, with a nagging sense that what we’re doing now is...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit craftlabwriters.substack.com How do you keep going as a writer? Part 1 covered my first-order answer: you re-inspire yourself, day after day. You find the fire for the work that is totally divorced from the current age, the current literary or publishing landscape, the current zeitgeist. From there, I promised more about the concrete cr...

How do you keep going as a writer? When I was starting out, keeping-going was the easy part. It’s harder now. And yet when I turn to the page, I find myself writing with as much joy as ever, and with a good deal more appreciation. It didn’t come easily. There were years when the discouragement was just too big. Which brings me to What About the Baby, Alice McDermott’s craft book *This podcast is a...