The Secret Library Podcast

Ben Percy began Writing With a Love of (Fictional) Wooly Underpants I knew I had to have Ben Percy on the show because I kept mentioning his book, Thrill Me, and it's argument that genre fiction and literary fiction have a lot to learn from each other. Ben and I talk about how he began to study writing with a great love of fantasy and science fiction only to be told he wasn't allowed to write eith...

Jasmin Darznik knew she had to tell her mother’s story first. On this episode, we discuss Jasmin’s second book, and her first novel. After the smash success of The Good Daughter, Jasmin turned to fiction in order to tell the story of Iran’s most famous woman poet. Forugh Farrokhzad’s short life takes her through many of the same heartbreaking obstacles that Jasmin addressed in her memoir, along wi...

Before Me Before You sold 8 million copies, Jojo Moyes wrote three books that didn't sell at all. Jojo Moyes wrote three books that the publishers rejected before she was published at all and 8 novels over 10 years before she had a hit. Listen up to this incredible conversation to learn why she wouldn't change a thing. Her perspective on the beauty of great success that happens slowly is one you'l...

Danielle Lazarin didn't realize she'd written a Feminist Collection of Stories.   What struck me about Back Talk was how real the people inside the pages felt. Reading through the book, I was a bit surprised at how the critics had hailed it as a feminist collection, because it felt first and foremost like a collection of stories about women acting the way women actually act. But then it hit me, th...

Sometimes the hardest part about writing is having the guts to get started. In a time where it has never been easier to publish a book with indie publishing on the rise, I still hear from person after person afraid to take on the title of "writer" for themselves, sometimes even after publishing several books. The statistics have reported that 4 out of 5 people would like to write a book, but far f...

Paula Priamos is no stranger to suspense.   She spent her childhood in courtrooms thanks to her father's career as a defense attorney. She learned the language and the pacing of this world and dove into the underworld connected to the law when she wrote her first book, a memoir about her father's life and death called The Shyster's Daughter. In her second book, Inside V, Paula moves to fiction to...

Chloe Benjamin is equally adept at creating myths and busting them. The Immortalists has enjoyed a tremendous amount of buzz, listed as one of the most anticipated books of 2018 on more than one list. This is the kind of buzz usually reserved for debut novels or novels from household name authors. Chloe is, instead, a second-time author following a first novel that sold well, but on a more modest...

Cecil Castellucci has been writing for young people for over fifteen years, has published a stack of books and writes an ongoing comic book through an imprint with Marvel. She knows the world of YA and gave me the lowdown on that world in this incredible conversation. We talk about her latest book, Don't Cosplay With My Heart, which I loved and read in a single sitting. I expect you will, too. We...

Joanna Penn is a prosperous writer. Yes, you read that correctly. I wanted to begin the New Year with an episode guaranteed to inspire. Once I connected with Joanna, I knew she was the one to share with you first in 2018. Not only is she day-job free, Joanna Penn makes a solid six-figure income from writing and travels extensively to places that fascinate her to research her books.   Before you gl...

Anu Partanen never planned to move to the United States. She was very happy living as a journalist in Finland until she fell in love with an American, and ended up moving to NYC so they could marry and be together. Once moving here, Anu became even more aware of the advantages her home country had provided: universal high-quality health care, childcare, maternity leave, elder care, and on and on....

Everyone has heard the classic trope write what you love. In some cases, I have felt a bit bullied by this concept. "How am I supposed to know what I love most?" I have wondered. I think the best thing you can do to figure this out is to listen to this conversation with Mark Frauenfelder and listen to how he followed what was fascinating to him and wrote books and articles about these things along...

A journalist and author of numerous non-fiction books on the Middle East, Malu Halasa has just published her first novel, Mother of All Pigs. Born in Oklahoma, her Jordanian Filipina heritage gave her a unique perspective from the beginning. After growing up in Ohio, she attended Barnard College in New York and now lives in London. From this vantage point, she's taken on the fascinating world of t...

Sandra Scofield is like a warm hug from writing itself. For ages, I've loved Sandra Scofield's The Scene Book with its reassuring composition notebook cover and its practical advice about writing great scenes. When I learned that Sandra had a new book about writing coming on, I knew I had to have her on the show. Her latest, The Last Draft, tackles that tricky topic of revision and polishing your...

David Rocklin found a novel in a photograph. While researching his first novel about the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, David Rocklin was struck by an image she had taken of the Prince of Abyssinia. The image wouldn't let him go and despite his hesitation and fear in taking on such an enormous topic, he wrote his second novel, The Night Language, anyway. I am loving discussing how people inc...

Lisa Cron is a woman on a mission: she wants to help you write your story so that your reader is glued to the page from the moment they pick up the book. She's going beyond plotting versus pantsing to a new level of story analysis. We dive into the WHY of your story, and what you hope to achieve by telling it. Lisa is not about the slow exploration and wandering through story options; she wants yo...

There are genres and then there are subgenres. One of the things I love about speaking with writers across all types of books is learning about the complicated world their books inhabit. In this case, Piper Huguley writes historical black romance, and this sits inside the romance novel world, but in a completely new way. I was so moved talking to Piper about how she focuses on an era that has been...

Since writers can be a fearful bunch, I️ wanted Fran Krause on the show as soon as I️ saw his work. He decided to explore an idea he had to illustrate irrational fears. He started out with his own, but before he finished drawing them, people began submitting theirs. Now-as he puts it- many fears later, his latest book from this project is out. I️ love this project because reading about these fears...

Steven Tagle wants every writer to know about the Fulbright.  A few episodes ago, when Patricia Park was on the show, she mentioned something that made my ears perk up: that she had researched the portion of her book that took place in Korea by applying for and receiving a Fulbright Scholarship. For my listeners abroad: You DON'T have to be a US citizen to apply.      In this episode we explore th...

It's almost November and you know what that means... No- not Thanksgiving- NaNoWriMo! What does that mean, you might ask? It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it is a crazy 30 days where writers all over the world try to write a 50,000 work draft in one month.  Just last week, I was in New Orleans with a bunch of amazing people, including  Episode #33 Kate Newburg  and  Episode #39 Tash...

Victor LaValle writes good stories. My husband has been devouring his catalogue of novels with a singular force.  "This is so good," he announces from his side of the bed. The last few months, when he makes this kind of statement, it has been from inside the world of Victor LaValle. Not only has his fiction seduced Barry, but LaValle has also created a series of comics. The man crush was inevitabl...

Yes, you read that right. On Tuesdays, Scott O'Connor shows up at my house along with a band of students.    It really is the most incredible good fortune. When I was offered the chance to host a novel writing workshop this summer, of course I said yes. Get to talk about writing with a bunch of fellow writing nerds in my own house every week? Yes please. And, even beyond that, to learn with a teac...

Patricia Park is one of the few writers I know up to taking on Jane Eyre. I'm not talking about talent. As well you know, there has been no end of that among the guests on the show. I am talking about the kind of willpower that lead her to spend ten years exploring every nook and cranny of the world of her novel, Re Jane. To give you a preview, this exploration involved winning a Fulbright to go a...

I wish I had been smart enough to come up with Joe Fassler's book idea. As a fellow interview lover, Joe has been writing the column By Heart for the Atlantic long enough to amass a who's who of interview subjects. You know, people like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Elizabeth Strout, Michael Chabon, Emma Donoghue, Mary Gaitskill... the list goes on. His topic? What piece of writing inspired you enoug...

Paul McVeigh wrote a story in an afternoon that took twenty years. How is that possible? We gather images over time, trying to figure out how they fit together. Paul had pieces of a story that didn't quite fit until suddenly, they did. And then the story came out almost all at once in a single sitting. How do you know when it's time to write a story? And how do you know when to give up on an idea?...

Gabriela Pereira doesn't think you NEED to get an MFA.   However, need and want are two different things. An MFA grad herself, Gabriela realized that many writers struggled with the dilemma of whether to MFA or not to MFA and took her own grad school experience and created a template so others could get all the benefit of the degree with none of the loans, debt and stress that can come along with...