writing class radio

This episode is about story structure and all things done well in an essay. LiAnne Yu tells a story about watching TV with her Chinese immigrant parents. As a narrator she brings us into her world--dinners in front of the TV with her parents. She uses detail to reveal character--Mork & Mindy, Sex and the City, and Fox News. She follows the five Cs of story structure: context, circumstance, com...

This episode is about using a character to express the voice of reason. So often in a story, the narrator is in a bind and can’t see clearly. In the story we bring you today, the narrator’s wife says something that opens the narrator’s mind to a different point of view. The narrator went years believing something that might not be true. In this story, he artfully showed us the moment the story he...

Today on our show, we’re talking about how every word in a story matters. We have a story to share that illustrates this point so well. Essayist, teacher, and Writing Class Radio listener Amy Paturel submitted her story called “The Other Love of His Life,” which was originally published in Newsweek, April 2009.  Amy’s story is a great example of how every word must lead to the final conclusio...

This episode of Writing Class Radio is dedicated to George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and all those who have lost their lives in a senseless murder. The story we share with you on this episode is by student and poet Zorina Frey . Last Saturday, May 30, 2020, Andrea gave students a writing prompt and 14 minutes to write about whatever came to mind. Zorina’s response is helping us sit with the sadness, a...

Today on our show, we share a New York Times Modern Love essay we love by Jessica Strawser , editor-at-large at Writer’s Digest . Her essay caught the attention of literary agent Barbara Poelle , an agent with the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and the author of Funny You Should Ask: Mostly Serious Answers to Mostly Serious Questions About the Publishing Industry . Her book is based on her Writer's...

Today on our show, we are talking about what we can’t stop talking about, the coronavirus. Every email, text, call starts with, “How are you holding up?” It’s beautiful and exhausting, so we put out a call for coronavirus stories. We have two stories to share. One is by our own Andrea Askowitz who is still living in Madrid. Madrid is one of the most contagious cities on earth and if you’ve seen he...

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 the story you are trying to tell without being distracting. That obsession can deepen the meaning of the story by giving us a peek into you, the narrator.  Editors get a lot of stories about cancer, dead dogs, aging parents, etc. We’re not sayi...

Today on our show, we’re talking about how writing helps you figure out how you think. And helps you see yourself, specifically your failures more clearly because it’s hard to ignore a pattern when you see it in writing. We share an essay by listener, Karen Debonis who’s story, “Even the Weak Can Weather the Storm” is about what it ultimately took to make her change from being overly agreeable to...

Today on our show, we’re talking to Susan Shapiro about literary citizenship.  A literary citizen is someone who does good things for other literary people like re-tweet their published essays, share insider dos and don’ts, and hook people up with editors. Being a good literary citizen will help you get published because it shows that you know what’s going on in the literary world, helps buil...

On this episode, you’ll hear two stories about abortion, because we believe abortion stories must be told to keep abortions safe, legal, and accessible. If all women who had abortions told their stories, abortion would not be stigmatized, public perception would change, and laws would change.  We put a call out for abortion stories. We received several, all from women who did not regret their...

Today on our show, we’re talking to Lilly Dancyger , an editor at Catapult , among many things. She’s also a freelance editor at Narratively and Barrelhouse Books , a memoir writing teacher, writer, curator of Memoir Monday, and the editor of the just-released anthology called Burn It Down . We talked to her about what she’s looking for in an essay, and how to successfully pitch to Narratively and...

We recorded this show from Miami and Madrid. If you are new to Writing Class Radio, welcome.  Today on our show, we have the brilliant and generous Dani Shapiro , author of five novels and five memoirs, plus thousands of essays and a podcast called Family Secrets. A few years ago, Andrea sat down with Dani and talked about thinking like a writer, repeating themes in writing, figuring out what...

Today our show is going to be a little different because shit just got really real. Three weeks ago, Allison was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer. In this episode, we share the stories we wrote about this situation. We are treating this episode as if we’re in writing class by sharing our own writing and critiquing it, because writing and sharing and then getting and giving feedback is how we...

Today on our show, we’re talking about how to create a scene and why scenes matter. We often bring up the writing tip show AND tell. The scene is the show. It’s the action. It’s where we put dialogue and show character. Scenes are the moments we remember. For more on show and tell, listen to Episode 47: Show and Tell . You’ll hear one of Andrea Askowitz’s stories, where she fights with her son abo...

This episode contains content about a suicide attempt. Today on our show, we’re talking about a container, which is a cool way to structure a story. It’s a method to tell your entire story while you are contained in a place or period of time. For example, on a plane, in a meeting, or an afternoon at a hair appointment. The goal is for the narrator to take the reader or listener along in the m...

Today on our show, we’re talking about how to write about the unbelievable. Things like UFOs, mediums, and talking to the dead. In the story you’ll hear, our narrator hears a voice from beyond. In this episode, like many past episodes, we also get into the concept of likeable narrator. If you want more on likeable narrator, listen to these episodes: Likeable Narrator--Be the Biggest Asshole in the...

Today on our show, we’re talking about how to end a story when the situation is ongoing. You’ll hear an essay by the Brazilian born Miami writer, Camile Flosi Araujo . Camile brings us into her world, which changed dramatically for her when she got into a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. She made a startling discovery, not that she’s pissed about the accident, although she...

Today on our show, we’re talking about metaphors and how they work in a story. We share a story by Elizabeth Newdom whose story is shaped around a metaphor. Elizabeth’s essay first appeared in Motherwell , an online magazine that tells all sides of the parenting story.   We called the editors of Motherwell, Randi Olin and Lauren Apfel , a badass editing duo and talked to them about their tag...

Today on our show we’re talking about perseverance, a quality important if you want to be a writer, a runner, or someone successful at crafting the dreaded college essay. What makes your essay stand out to publishers and to college admissions directors is the situation and the story. They want to see the loss or the win, because that’s what allows others to connect with your story. They also want...

Today on our show we’re talking about bragging, specifically on the dreaded college essay. How do you brag yourself up without sounding like a total $#&%$#? (We’re PG for the high schoolers...as if). The answer is, you have to be willing to get vulnerable and reveal your ugly side, then you can brag all you want. Allison has been working with high school students all over the country on their...

Do you know how sometimes when you’re reading a story you feel like the story slows down in a critical moment? Maybe the narrator describes the people in a room or the birds on a tree nearby. Maybe there’s a flashback to a memory. In that moment, the reader becomes hyper aware and hopefully totally drawn in. Today on our show we’re talking about slowing down and expanding a moment. A moment in a s...

In class, sometimes we ask people to close their eyes and smell sunblock, or freshly baked bread. Sometimes we play a Beatles song or have students squeeze Play-Doh. Sometimes we throw out a word like pussy. Then, we ask students to write about the first thing that comes to mind. All of these prompts inspire stories. Today on our show we’re talking about how inspiration for stories can come in a w...

Today on our show we’re talking about pitching to publications, what to include in a query letter and all the homework you need to do before you pitch to an editor. Writer Baylea Jones shares her pitch and her story. We speak with Ravishly editor Erin Khar about what it was like to receive Baylea’s pitch, as well as why she chose Baylea’s story. Erin will also discuss the basic how-to’s for submit...

Details matter. Details bring the reader/listener into a world they may know nothing about. They help us trust the narrator. The more specific the details; the more universal the story. In this episode we bring you a story by Inessa Freylekhman . She’s a Feng Shui expert, speaker, spiritual counselor and author. Inessa uses details well throughout her story, but there is one specific detail that e...

On this episode, we talk about procrastination. We also talk about speaking directly to the reader from a place of experience. And giving advice, which is really hard in a story and in life. If you're willing to be vulnerable, you can do it. We’re starting with a story by Jenni Berrett called You Aren’t Lazy--You’re Just Terrified: On Paralysis and Perfectionism. Jenni is a columnist at Ravishly ,...