writing class radio

Today on our show, we’re talking about how to frame a story. Not all publications are looking for the same thing. Actually, all pubs are different. On Writing Class Radio, we look for a change in the narrator or a discovery by the narrator. We want the narrator to reveal something big and vulnerable and important. We want something dramatic to happen. And then we want the narrator to make meaning...

Today on our show, we’re talking about voice in a new way. We always say, write like you speak. That’s one of the most important writing tenets, because if you write like you speak, you’re writing in the most truthful way. If you curse, curse. If you don’t speak in fancy prose, don’t write fancy prose. To hear more about voice, listen to Episode 43: Voices in Your Head , and Episode 44: Voices Car...

Today on our show, we are featuring an essay by former student Sharon Rothberg. Sharon uses a philosophical concept to work out her feelings about the death of her daughter-in-law.  Sharon's use of time and all lingo related to time is masterful. The story structure is also exceptional as is the balanced use of humor and vulnerability. This story really shows how writing helps people fig...

For the month of August, 2021, we’re bringing back four of our listeners’ favorite episodes. Writing Class Radio brings you personal stories and tips on how to write your own stories. This episode originally aired March 3, 2020 on episode 79. Today on our show, we take a look at bringing an obsession into a story. It’s possible to go deep into an obsession that has almost nothing to do with t...

For the month of August, 2021, we’re bringing back four of our listeners’ favorite episodes. Writing Class Radio brings you personal stories and tips on how to write your own stories. This episode originally aired July 31, 2018 on episode 47. In this episode, we examine the popular writing tenet, show DON’T tell. We believe just showing is not only impossible, but detrimental to your story. T...

For the month of August, 2021, we’re bringing back four of our listeners’ favorite episodes. Writing Class Radio brings you personal stories and tips on how to write your own stories. This episode originally aired May 18, 2017 on episode 30. The format for this episode is a little different. Today we’re bringing you a guest teacher, because we think it’s smart to get different perspectives.&n...

For the month of August, 2021, we’re bringing back four of our listeners’ favorite episodes. Writing Class Radio brings you personal stories and tips on how to write your own stories. This episode originally aired April 20, 2017 on episode 29. Allison Langer loves the process of working out her shit and reading it out loud. In class, she can’t hide behind a facade. Andrea Askowitz loves think...

On episode 106, host Allison Langer tells a story about her post cancer hair. Allison’s story was rejected by The Washington Post. Should Allison give up and write something new? Or should she continue to send her story to other publications? Most often, even expertly-written stories get rejected because they’re just not a perfect fit for a particular publication at a particular time. But, how do...

This episode is about teaching the reader/listener something they don’t know anything about. Teaching can be done in two ways. One, by taking the reader into a world foreign to most people and two, by relaying information that’s rarely discussed and possibly unknown to the average person. In the story we bring you today, listener and student Danielle Huggins does both. Danielle has Bipolar Disorde...

This episode is about commitment. Not commitment to love, exactly, but commitment to a concept. Listener Lucie Frost writes a satirical essay where sleep is her lover. She never slips from the concept. Humor writing requires committing to an idea and pushing that idea as far as you can go. Lucie Frost is a humor and satire writer in San Antonio, Texas. She recently retired from a lifetime as a hum...

On this episode, we bring you a story that the narrator has returned to and will probably return to all her life. Everyone has their themes and it’s okay to return to them at different points in our lives. Trigger warning… The story you will hear on this episode documents the loss of a child. If this is a sensitive issue for you, please listen to another episode. Our student and listener Emily Hen...

On this episode, we bring you a story that is not one you hear too often but addresses a very serious situation: breast cancer in men. Kevin Wood shares his essay, A Boyhood Brush with Breast Cancer. This essay was previously published on The Good Men Project. We sat on this story for a few years not because it wasn’t expertly written, but because it lacked an important detail we felt was left out...

This episode is about writing like you speak, which is the best way to tell a true, authentic story. Andrea and Allison discuss why bringing your voice into a written essay makes the story so much better.  You will hear an essay by Anthea Rowan , a writer and listener from Tanzania, Africa. Anthea’s story is about social anxiety. She uses her brilliant British vernacular and charms the listen...

This episode features an extreme mother story by Diana Kupershmit who is honest and vulnerable. Diana tells the truth about a very tough decision she and her husband made when their daughter Emma was born with a severe disability. Diana reads her story and then Andrea and Allison discuss the brilliant writing and why is it important to be gut wrenchingly honest. Diana’s essay was previously publis...

This episode is about secrets, a mom/daughter relationship, and donor-conception, a subject that hit both Andrea and Allison in the heart. When Amanda Serenyi’s friend gets pregnant using donor sperm, Amanda freaks out because she herself was donor-conceived and her mother kept this a secret until she was 33.  When Amanda first submitted this essay, Allison loved it and Andrea was reluctant t...

Are you writing like crazy but just can’t seem to push the send button on your submissions? Today on our show, Writing Class Radio student Margery Berger tells us what’s been holding her back. Margery Berger has told a story on this podcast before. On Episode 46: An Object is Not Just an Object she told a stunner about her obsession with her scale.  Margery has been in class with us for 3, ma...

Today’s episode is about two things. 1. A great way to tell a relationship story is to choose a subject or activity that’s dear to the person you’re writing about. Then, describe that activity. 2. Stories are puzzles. There’s a false binary idea that writers are creative and therefore not good at math. We disagree. You have to tap into both sides of the brain to create good stories because there’s...

We asked you, our listeners, to send in your unfinished essays. We didn’t mean first drafts. We meant those essays you’ve been working on forever that you can’t get to the bottom of. Today on our show, we bring you an unfinished essay by listener Julie Schoelzel, a writer from Keene, New Hampshire. We hope to offer Julie insights into figuring out what she’s come to say and how to finish her essay...

Today’s show is about transformation. How does the narrator change? How does the narrator grow? You’ll hear a story by Autumn Hudson , an elite body tattoo artist, who went from dropping out of school, to drug addiction, to fulfilling her dream of becoming a tattoo artist. Autumn’s story exemplifies a narrator’s transformation. Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger....

On today’s episode hosts Andrea and Allison say goodbye to a shit year. They each took the prompt: Bye Bye 2020. Andrea got nothing and explains that the story she kept coming to--about her daughter having a rough time--is a story she’s not yet prepared to tell. Nothing else felt honest.  Allison writes about her last chemo treatment on January 9, 2020. She was ready to move on from cancer fo...

On today’s episode you’ll hear a story that takes a bad situation and finds the good. We don’t love sappy happy endings, but honest happy endings are the best, especially when they bring joy to the world. Jamie Katz got married on her balcony during lockdown and was greeted with some pleasant surprises. Her story also shows how much can be told with very few words.  Writing Class Radio is co-...

Today’s episode is the last in a series called Home. Writing Class Radio helped produce a documentary with Chapman Partnership, a homeless center in South Florida, exploring the meaning of home. Our documentary will air on PBS, date (tba). On this episode, you will hear a story by Marvin Jenkins, a past student, poet, Boeing employee, and dad. Marvin lost his home after he wrote an explicit text m...

Today’s episode is part of a series called Home. Writing Class Radio helped produce a documentary to help end homelessness for Chapman Partnership, a homeless center in South Florida. On this episode, you will hear a story by writer Tiffanie Drayton who takes an idea that most Americans hold about our country and turns it on its head. Typically, people come to America to seek asylum. But, Tiffanie...

Today’s show is part of a series called Home. Writing Class Radio helped produce a documentary to help end homelessness for Chapman Partnership, a homeless center in South Florida. We put out a public call for submissions for stories about home. The call brought so many different and fascinating takes. Thank you to all the people who submitted stories.  In our series, you’ll hear a story abou...

Today’s show is the first in a four-part miniseries called Home. Writing Class Radio helped produce a documentary to help end homelessness for Chapman Partnership, a homeless center in South Florida.   We put out a public call for submissions for stories about home. The call brought so many different and fascinating takes on home. Thank you to all the people who submitted stories. ...