Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for January is Career Shifts, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Mary Robinette Kowal and I discuss:

• How she wrote a mash-up of old Hollywood glamour and a futuristic space setting.
• Why it was important to use fluid pronouns in this novel and what she learned writing it. 
• What she has learned over the course of writing ten books and how to reset.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal is the four-time Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award-winning author of The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, the Lady Astronaut Universe, and The Spare Man. She is a cast member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette is a professional puppeteer, and she also performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Goodreads.

The Spare Man

Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling—and keep the real killer from striking again.

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 443

(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!

The post Episode 443: Writing Diverse Characters via Nuanced Shifts in Language – Interview with Mary Robinette Kowal appeared first on DIY MFA.

Today I am delighted to have Dan Grant on the show!

Dan is an author with a background in electrical engineering who has always loved the world of stories and intriguing tales, especially suspense and thrillers that weave science, medicine, or technology into the fabric of the drama.

As a licensed professional engineer he’s had the unique opportunity to work with a variety of medical and technological projects and to get behind the scenes at military facilities. And as you read his debut thriller, The Singularity Witness, you can definitely see how his engineering background has filtered into the narrative to form a broader storytelling tapestry.

Dan is currently hard work on his next thriller entitled Thirteen Across, as well as the next book in his Singularity series.

Now listen in as Dan and I chat about his awesome debut The Singularity Witness, and how to balance hard science with the fast pace of thrillers.

In this episode Dan and I discuss:

• How to use research for a science based thriller without info dumping.
• Showing your story’s world through the perspective of an outsider.
• How to add depth to your characters without slowing down the plot.
• Worldbuilding in a unique setting grounded in today’s reality.
• Choosing the path of self publishing.

Plus, Dan’s #1 tip for writers.

About Dan Grant

Dan has always loved the world of stories and intriguing tales, especially suspense and thrillers that weave science, medicine, or technology into the fabric of the drama.  His debut thriller, The Singularity Witness, released in October of 2018.

He is a licensed professional engineer with degrees from Northern Arizona University: a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and a masters’ in college education and English with an emphasis in creative writing.

His engineering endeavors have provided unique opportunities to work with a variety of medical and technological applications, and get behind the scenes at military facilities. Those experiences add threads to conspiracies and form a broader storytelling tapestry.

Dan lives in Colorado and is working on his next thriller, entitled Thirteen Across. And Thomas Parker and Kate Morgan will be back in The Singularity Transfer.

To connect with Dan check out his website at dangrantbooks.com.

The Singularity Witness

What happens when a radical technology ushers in an ominous future? Abduction and murder are just the beginning.

When a clandestine research lab disposes of its test subject and kidnaps a U.S. Senator to protect its secrets, those events trigger a federal investigation. The covert program requires the services of Thomas Parker, a Princeton University professor and cutting-edge neurologist, to deliver their breakthrough achievement. And FBI Special Agent Kate Morgan needs Parker to help her infiltrate the secret lab.

They discover that no sacrifice is too great for a cause that unravels the mysteries of the mind. and changes the world. Neurological singularity becomes an uncharted frontier and a new precipice for scientific achievement.

Together, Parker and Morgan are faced with the dilemma of advancing the revolutionary technology in order to solve the senator’s abduction, save the singularity witness and others, and survive.

“What if” medical and biological research scenarios are placed against a tapestry of science, medicine, technology, and conspiracy. Who is the singularity witness?

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 239

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play 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!

The post Episode 239: Science and Intrigue in Thrillers — Interview with Dan Grant appeared first on DIY MFA.