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Episodes
Writers talk craft, agent hunt, query trenches, publishing industry, and more. Hosted by Mindy McGinnis.
Episodes
Sep 11, 2017
Sep 11, 2017
30 min
Host Mindy McGinnis is joined by Jeff Zentner, author of the William C. Morris Award winning and Carnegie Medal longlisted book The Serpent King (2016). Jeff shares about how his love of music led him into a career as a novelist, drawing inspiration from people in real life to populate the pages of your fiction, and how to effectively write the opposite gender.
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Sep 4, 2017
Sep 4, 2017
38 min
Guest Madeleine Roux, New York Times Bestselling Author of the ASYLUM series, joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about the neglect of genre fiction in the educational setting, her unique method of garnering an agent, the ever-present disdain of YA, the pressure of following up a New York Times Bestselling series, and the pain of having a project close to your heart not find its audience.
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Jul 17, 2017
Jul 17, 2017
42 min
Today’s guest is Jody Casella, author and a former high school English teacher. Her YA novel Thin Space received a starred review from Kirkus. She blogs, reviews books, speaks at libraries and schools, and teaches workshops at the Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio. She is the Regional Director of the Ohio Central/South region of SCBWI. Jody joined host Mindy McGinnis to talk about MFA’s, querying as an already published writer, the benefits of joining SCBWI - the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators - and how attending book festivals geared for readers can also be beneficial to writers.
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Jun 26, 2017
Jun 26, 2017
40 min
Today’s guest is Jessica Strawser, editor of Writer’s Digest, and author of ALMOST MISSED YOU, which was named to the March 2017 Barnes & Noble Best New Fiction List. Jessica joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about how her career in journalism led to a position at Writers Digest, and how that informs her fiction writing, as well as her novel, ALMOST MISSED YOU, which deals with miscommunication in relationships, the all-encompassing love of motherhood, and the question of if we truly know our significant other.
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Jun 19, 2017
Jun 19, 2017
40 min
Author Tiffany McDaniel, an Ohio native whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and buckeye woods of the land she knows, joins host Mindy McGinnis. She is the winner of The Guardian's 2016 "Not-the-Booker Prize" for her debut novel, The Summer that Melted Everything. The novel is a current nominee for the Lillian Smith Book Award, and a finalist for the Ohioana Literary Award and the Women's Fiction Writers Association Star Award for Outstanding Debut. Tiffany talks about eleven years of rejection, making sure that human emotion and characters trump the setting, being a female author who prefers to write dark themes, and the cons of using technology in your manuscript.
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Jun 5, 2017
Jun 5, 2017
40 min
Michelle Gagnon, author of the Kelly Jones mystery series, the YA tech-thriller Persefone trilogy, as well as her newest, a Jane Eyre retelling titled Unearthly Things, joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about the process of acquiring an agent, the hard truth about discovering your agent is a bad fit after the fact, and the unique differences in screenplay writing versus fiction. Also covered: jumping from adult to YA audiences and reading Jane Eyre as an adult and discovering that Rochester is… kind of a creeper.
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May 22, 2017
May 22, 2017
41 min
Barbara Claypole White author of The Unfinished Garden, The In Between Hour, The Perfect Son and Echoes of Family joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about finding inspiration for her fiction in real life, writing through personal tragedy and how to write characters with mental illnesses.
Links:
Barbara's Site, Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram
May 15, 2017
May 15, 2017
37 min
Guest historical fiction author Alyssa Palombo speaks with host Mindy McGinnis about her novels, The Violinist of Venice and The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence. Alyssa also shares about querying a novel that wasn't ready yet, immersing herself in the time period of her characters, the shifting standards of beauty from age to age, and how to balance blogging and writing fiction.
Links:
Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents
May 8, 2017
May 8, 2017
41 min
Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire welcomes Kurt Dinan, author of the YA novel, DON’T GET CAUGHT, which was recently nominated for YALSA’s Teen Top Ten. Kurt joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about how querying is like taking a stick in the eye every day, and how writing short stories helped him be a better novelist. Also covered: how mashups not only help pitch a book, but can also help the author find a key to unlocking their project, as well as the specific struggles of writing humor, and every writer’s worst enemy – procrastination. Lastly, Mindy tries very hard to wheedle him into using social media more, and they talk about things you didn’t know were poisonous, as well as their porn names.
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May 1, 2017
May 1, 2017
8 min
The April 2017 roundup summarizes the guests and topics for the month, and host Mindy McGinnis shares her advice on how to write - and not write - physical character movement.
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