Episode 352: You Can Do Anything, Magic Skeleton! – Interview with Chuck Wendig

by Gabriela Pereira
published in Podcast

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing someone I have the honor of considering both a colleague and friend, Chuck Wendig.

Chuck is the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers, Star Wars: Aftermath, the Miriam Black thrillers, and the Atlanta Burns books, as well as Zer0es and Invasive, alongside other works across comics, games, film, and more.

He was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and an alum of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and he served as the co-writer of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus. He is also known for his popular blog, terribleminds, and he’s one of the few people I follow on Twitter and actually read what they post. He has also written books about writing such as Damn Fine Story, and today we’ll be talking about his latest book, a collection of inspirational nuggets titled: You Can Do Anything, Magic Skeleton!

In this episode Chuck Wendig and I discuss:

  • The inspiration behind his latest book, which began as a series of tweets.
  • How good writing subverts readers’ expectations in some way.
  • Why you shouldn’t take any one piece of writing advice too seriously.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Chuck Wendig

Chuck Wendig is the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers, Star Wars: Aftermath, the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, and Zer0es and Invasive, alongside other works across comics, games, film, and more. He was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and an alum of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and he served as the co-writer of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus. He is also known for his popular blog, terribleminds, and books about writing such as Damn Fine Story. He lives in Pennsylvania with his family.

You can find Chuck on his website or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

You Can Do Anything, Magic Skeleton!

Chuck Wendig

In the tradition of inspirational pick-me-ups like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Johnny Sun’s G’Morning, G’Night but with a Calvin & Hobbesian sensibility comes this whimsically nerdy spin, illustrated by Natalie Metzger, on motivating folks into getting creative and “DOING THE THINGS.”

For several years, Chuck has crafted hilarious and inspirational thoughts of the day–they might begin with an optimistic salvo, but inevitably and mirthfully detour into the demon-summoning, robot-making, or confirming that humans are actually mythical hybrid creatures. Equal parts inspiring, sweet, and very funny, Wendig’s profane and imaginative galvanizing quips in You Can Do Anything, Magic Skeleton! are sure to amp up readers and motivate them to get things done.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 352

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

Enjoyed this article?