December 9, 2019
Today’s guest is Juan Pablo Villalobos, author of The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border. Juan Pablo joined me today to talk about the experiences of young refugees, and his approach to compiling their stories. Also covered: using a narrative within non-fiction.
Links for Juan Pablo:
Website
Twitter
Ad Links:
Vellum: Create Beautiful Books
September 2, 2019
Today’s guest is T. Jefferson Parker, the bestselling author of 13 stand alone noir crime novels, as well as three separate series featuring the characters Merci Rayborn, Charlie Hood and his latest, Roland Ford. He joined me today to talk about knowing when it’s time to create a new character, as well as the bittersweetness of leaving an old one behind. Also covered: the importance of setting in fiction, and how to create a place readers want to return to, what has changed in publishing over time, and how to stay invigorated as a writer.
Support the Podcast
Read the Transcript
Links for T. Jefferson Parker:
Website
Ad Links:
Vellum
All the Walls of Belfast by Sarah Carlson
Rachele Alpine Custom Made Teacher’s Guides
October 16, 2017
Today’s guest is Melanie Crowder, author of multiple YA and Middle Grade books, and a fellow 2013 debut. Melanie joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about the pain of rejection, and how to view it as a learning experience that can help you become stronger, the fuzzy area of writing for upper middle grade versus writing YA, and tackling tougher subjects for that audience. Also covered: the power of writing for youth who are ready to change the world, the ability of SciFi and Fantasy to be more subversive than their counterparts, how difficult life can be for today’s youth, and why it’s important to tell their stories.
Melanie's Links:
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Site
Ad Links:
The Captain’s Kid by Liz Coley
September 18, 2017
Mindy McGinnis welcomes Tiffany Jackson, author of ALLEGEDLY. Tiffany talks about setting goals while in the query trenches, and how skills developed working in TV crossed over to writing fiction for Tiffany. She also shares about how a hurricane made her go unplugged and provided the backdrop she needed to produce that first book, and how interviewing girls in the juvenile justice system helped shape Allegedly.
Support Writer, Writer, Pants On Fire:
Monthly Donations
One-Time Donation
Tiffany's Links:
Twitter
Instagram
Site
![Tara Dairman: Pros of Writing Contests]()
July 10, 2017
Today’s episode is being featured on Podbean’s crowd support service. If you like what we do here, please consider supporting the show by visiting https://patron.podbean.com/writerwriterpantsonfire
For a dollar a month you’ll get a thank you from me, Mindy McGinnis, on the blog or through one of my social media accounts. For five bucks you get a shoutout on a podcast episode, and for ten you can pose questions or suggest topics for the end of the month guest-free show. Twenty dollars will get you a Google chat with myself, or if you’re a writer looking to advertise your book, a freelance editor or copyeditor who would like to air your services to the aspiring writers who listen in here, checkout the patron crowd funding services offered through Podbean.
Today's guest is Tara Dairman whose debut novel All Four Stars, about an 11 y/o restaurant critic moonlighting for New York’s biggest newspaper was published in 2014, followed by The Stars of Summer and Stars So Sweet in 2015 and 2016. A new standalone middle-grade novel, The Great Hibernation, will hit the shelves on September 12.
Tara joined me to talk about how a contest helped her gain an invitation to query a closed agency, how to navigate social media when your target audience may not be there, and the question of who you write for when you write middle grade – the kids, or the gatekeepers?
Episode Links:
TaraDairman.com
Publisher's Marketplace
Miss Snark's First Victim
Krista Van Dolzer's Blog
