The Inner Loop Radio: A Creative Writing Podcast

What can memory tell us about the space between fiction and nonfiction? First released in September 2020, author Timothy Denevi shows us how to turn memory into story and to shift our focus from current events to writing in this Inspiration Takeover, a series of mini-episodes with different writers who offer us a little dose of inspiration. Timothy Denevi is the author of Freak Kingdom: Hunter S....

What if you could have quality and quantity in your writing? Or maybe just feel like you can produce freely? Mecca Jamilah Sullivan gives her secret to prolificacy with advice on writing routines, submissions and rejections, and self-care. We get to hear from her novel, Big Girl, now out in paperback, and each of us prepares an application to the generous Society for Cloud Inquiry and Enthusiasm.

Rachel catches up with short story writer, Rion Amilcar Scott, and they talk about visiting historical plantations, squeezing writing between kids and work, and the intrigue of the Titan submersible, all on this month’s episode of Just Checking In, a series of informal chats with some of our favorite writers.

There’s nothing you know better than your own life, right? So why research a memoir? Rachel and Courtney discuss how research can enrich personal stories with John Kropf, author of Color Capital of the World: Growing Up with the Legacy of a Crayon Company from University of Akron Press and The Inner Loop Author’s Corner June spotlight. Plus, a color-coded free-association game!

You want to write, but can’t seem to get started. What if what’s stopping you is you? Poet Joshua Weiner talks about how to get out of your own way when you’re stuck. He shows us what can result when you take critical reading to the next level in this Inspiration Takeover, a series of mini-episodes with different writers who offer us a little dose of inspiration. Joshua Weiner is the author of thr...

The odds of getting a piece published in a major literary publication from the slush pile is less than 1%. So how do you beat the literary odds? Denne Michele Norris, editor-in-chief of Electric Literature and author of the forthcoming novel, When The Harvest Comes, gives us a peek behind the publishing curtain and tells us her journey to a major book deal with Random House. Plus, some pretty shoc...

Rachel catches up with poet and literary activist, E. Ethelbert Miller, and they talk about going to the Grammys, collaborations, life after COVID, and the depressing uniformity of critically-acclaimed literature, all on this month’s episode of Just Checking In, a series of informal chats with some of our favorite writers.

Rachel and Courtney explore the lure and inspiration of mythology and surrealism with Poet Lora Robinson through her poetry collection, An Essential Melancholy, from Akinoga Press and The Inner Loop Author’s Corner May spotlight. Then, Rachel puts Lora and Courtney’s art education to the test with a surrealism matching game!

What if the best poems come when you’re not looking for them? What can a writer do when it’s time to get to work? Poet David Keplinger offers a writing prompt that will trick your mind into that generative kind of spontaneity. We also hear an intimate moment with his mother and a forbidden chair in this Inspiration Takeover, a series of mini-episodes with different writers who offer us a little do...

Rachel and Courtney are back with a new season and a new lease on life… or writing… or whatever… Courtney dishes about her dissertation. Rachel talks about her voracious writing fit at VCCA. We hear a poem from Chet’la Sebree, and some inspiration insight from Lucian Mattison, Cija Jefferson, Melissa Scholes Young, and E. Ethelbert Miller. Plus, Rachel quizzes Courtney on just how well she knows h...

Writers see connections between all sorts of disparate things, but how can we turn that into a unified collection? Poet Jenn Koiter tells us how she found the throughline between grief, breakups, beauty tips, and what it means to be a woman in her latest poetry collection So Much of Everything from Day Eight Books and The Inner Loop Author's Corner April spotlight. Plus, we utilize a topic generat...

The short story. It’s not a condensed novel, nor an expanded poem; it’s its own animal. So, how do you end a short story? With a twist? On a lingering image? In the middle of conflict? Fiction writer Cameron MacKenzie explains the intent behind some of the abrupt endings in his story collection, River Weather, from Alternating Current Press and The Inner Loop Author's Corner September spotlight. T...

When we erase words that have been written, is it destruction or creation? For erasure poems, it can be both. Poet and Poetry Editor of Barrelhouse Magazine, Dan Brady, recreates erasure poetry by adding layers of erasure over his own words, creating texture and depth in the poems of his latest collection, SubTEXTS from Publishing Genius Press and The Inner Loop Author's Corner August spotlight. P...

Can a poem’s meaning be distinguished from its form? When is a form serving the poet and when does it work against them? And how can we tell the difference when writing a poem? Poet and The Inner Loop Author's Corner June spotlight Danielle Badra talks about how she works with form in her poetry collection entitled “Like We Still Speak,” and how different forms helped her to convey the inexpressib...

In this episode we kick off a new season of The Inner Loop Radio with a discussion of short fiction. Are short stories special, or are they relics of a bygone literary era? Has “flash fiction” replaced the short story? Our Author’s Corner featured writer Andrew Bertaina joins us to talk nuts and bolts, and about his recently published short story collection, One Person Away from You. Andrew sticks...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words does it take to capture a mood and what is it worth? The Inner Loop Author’s Corner November spotlight, Sean Felix, manages to capture the urgency and surreality of both insomnia and the magical city of Paris in his self-published poetry collection Did You Even Know I Was Here? And he explains why that urgency translated to the publishing proc...

Publishing a book is a long and unpredictable process that can seem opaque to new writers. Tope Folarin, author of A Particular Kind of Black Man, takes us on his journey from winning the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing to landing a book deal to being awarded the 2021 Whiting Award for Fiction. We laugh at the Oscar-style ceremony in which he won his first prize, and then cry when we hear his...

By writing something, do you make it real? Inevitable? In what ways do authors conjure stories from both the past and the future? Meg Eden, author of Drowning in the Floating World and The Inner Loop Author's Corner October spotlight, joins us in an exploration of how writers grapple with omniscience and blindness on the page, especially in the wake of disaster. And of course, no episode would be...

Small presses are closely connected to local talent in a way the big five could never be. Poet Courtney LeBlanc dishes on the hows and whys of starting a new press. She tells us how Riot In Your Throat Press was born and published her latest poetry collection, "Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart” - The Inner Loop Author's Corner September spotlight. Plus, Rachel and the Courtney’s explore local lit t...

Whether it’s for setting, cultural information, or character development, research is essential to works of fiction. Best-selling author, Lauren Francis-Sharma, offers us her favorite resources, methods, and tricks to avoid procrastination when tackling a well-researched novel. Plus, Lauren, Rachel, and Courtney team up to uncover some unexpected novels that were actually based on true events… hin...

In larger bodies of work, how can we use time and place to develop characters? Whether choosing a setting for a novel or deciding what details of an era to highlight in nonfiction, every detail should drive the story forward. The Inner Loop Author's Corner August spotlight: Zak Salih shares how time and place works on many levels in his latest novel, "Let’s Get Back To The Party." Plus, Courtney,...

Listen as three writer-friends get real weird, but also talk about the tangible and intangible benefits of having friends who are writers. Rachel Coonce, Courtney Sexton, and Daniel Knowlton discuss the value of being connected to a literary community, but not without a lot of laughing... and some potty jokes. Plus, we trace writing communities back through the centuries and uncover some of the le...

Writing often helps us process traumatic experiences, but how do we turn that into a piece of art worth sharing with a broader audience? The Inner Loop Author's Corner July spotlight: Megan Alpert, author of The Animal at Your Side, joins us to discuss how we can find joy in creating something beautiful out of pain. Plus, how have some of our favorite authors coped with their own pain? We introduc...

Our heroes stick with us long after their stories have ended, but how do you create memorable characters? Melissa Scholes Young, author of The Hive, joins us to discuss research, empathy, and just how significant something as simple as eating an apple can be. Plus, we each try to introduce you to a new character without using adjectives or adverbs.

Courtney and Rachel discuss what it means to be "good" on so many levels -- writer, person, heroine -- with The Inner Loop Author's Corner June spotlight: Elizabeth Deanna Morris Lakes, poet and author of "Ashley Sugarnotch and The Wolf." How do you know when a piece is good? How do you incorporate play and experimentation in poetry and prose? And how do you recognize cycles of abuse, so you can b...