Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the “knowledge without the college.” You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also receive Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode I discuss:

• Two competing philosophies on failure from Yoda and Samuel Beckett.
• How these two highly-quotable figures are actually not all that different from each other.
• What it really means to make a commitment to the work and to your writing.
• Why it’s so important to embrace imperfection and accept potential failure.

Link to Episode 478

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 478: Lesson 3 – Embrace the Power of Iteration appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 June is Young Adult, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Scott Gates and I discuss:

• Truth in a first-person narrative, especially when the protagonist is unreliable.
• The traditions of travel literature and including Classical structures in modern literature.
• How to balance writing and the research rabbit hole so you can maintain your momentum.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Scott Gates

Scott Gates is the author of Hard Road South, published by Blue Ink Press. He is a magazine editor and a second-generation communicator for rural electric cooperatives. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Auburn University and a Master of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Scott grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and currently lives in North Carolina with his wife and three kids, where he enjoys a slower pace of life and reliable barbecue options. He and his brother share perspectives on Southern culture at incidentalist.com.

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

Gone, the Redeemer

Thomas Sparkman wasn’t looking for trouble. He never could have imagined being on a wanted poster, let alone becoming a notorious gold robber hunted in two states. But when Thomas sneaks off the Cuban front of the Spanish-American War with his sights set on returning to his pregnant wife in California, his path takes a series of unexpected turns. He’s joined on his journey by a mysterious mercenary, a runaway circus sideshow performer, and an Apache guide and her infant son.

As the group traverses the American West, they cross paths with rogues, loners, and hired guns—some searching for their own form of redemption, some working to stop him dead in his tracks. Thomas and his travel companions must stay two steps ahead of their pursuers, outwitting them at every turn, or Thomas may never see home 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 414

(Right-click to download.)

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 414: The Travel Novel, the Unreliable Narrator, and Forgotten Slices of History – Interview with Scott Gates appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 May is Short Stories, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Amy Lea and Lori discuss:

• Why representation matters and how the romance genre is helping lead the charge. 
• How to use family dynamics to develop layered characters.
• Millennial identity and what they have changed about the dating scene.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Amy Lea

Amy Lea is a Canadian bureaucrat by day and contemporary romance author by night (and weekends). She writes laugh-out-loud romantic comedies featuring strong heroines, witty banter, mid-2000s pop culture references, and happily ever afters.

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

Set On You

Contemporary Romcom – A gym nemesis pushes a fitness influencer to the max in Amy Lea’s steamy debut romantic comedy.

Curvy fitness influencer Crystal Chen built her career shattering gym stereotypes and mostly ignoring the trolls. After her recent breakup, she has little stamina left for men, instead of finding solace in the gym – her place of power and positivity.

Enter firefighter Scott Ritchie, the smug new gym patron who routinely steals her favorite squat rack. Sparks fly as these ultra-competitive foes battle for gym domination. But after a series of escalating jabs, the last thing they expect is to run into each other at their grandparents’ engagement party.

In the lead-up to their grandparents’ wedding, Crystal discovers there’s a soft heart under Scott’s muscled exterior. Bonding over family, fitness, and cheesy pick-up lines, she just might have found her swolemate. But when a photo of them goes viral, savage internet trolls put their budding relationship to the ultimate test of strength.

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!

(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 409: Social Media Influencers and the Millennial Romance Novel – Interview with Amy Lea appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 May is Short Stories, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Jessi, Marie, and I discuss:

• What qualities make for a successful co-writing partnership and how to decide whom to work with.
• How to bounce back from early mistakes and why you aren’t always one mistake away from ruin.
• The importance of interrogating the “why” behind your vision for your book and your career.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers.

About Jessi Honard and Marie Parks

Jessi and Marie have been co-writing speculative fiction since 2009, and their 2022 contemporary fantasy debut, Unrelenting, was a finalist in the 2020 Book Pipeline Unpublished Manuscript contest. 

Marie is a fantasy, sci-fi, and horror author who landed in New Mexico after traveling full-time in an RV for years. Her writing uses speculative fiction to dive into topics like social justice, the environment, and the power of friendship. Jessi Honard is a speculative fiction author, business owner, and professional coffee inhaler. Her work leans into the power of imaginary worlds as a conduit to exploring common struggles of identity, belonging, and trust. 

Together, they’ve run a successful copywriting agency since 2010. Jessi lives in the Bay Area of California with her partner, Taormina, and Marie lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with all the dogs.

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

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

And you can check out their book on its website or follow it on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Unrelenting

A glowing symbol painted on a crumbling wall. Sentient smoke that chokes and burns. An ancient magic, long hidden from the world.

Unrelenting Is a contemporary fantasy novel set in the modern-day and featuring an LGBTQIA+ main character on the hunt for her missing sister. The search leads her to something far more sinister than a typical missing persons case—a carefully-guarded plot tied to powerful, age-old magic.

Bridget’s most important job has always been protecting her younger sister, Dahlia. But as adults, Dahlia pushes her away, determined to live her own life 

Then, Dahlia vanishes. When her car is found submerged in the river, the authorities tell Bridget to prepare for the worst. Nine months later, everyone has given up hope. Everyone except Bridget.

When a former classmate of Dahlia’s comes forward with a new lead, Bridget takes matters into her own hands. She ignores the dismissive detective’s warnings and launches her own amateur investigation.

The search leads Bridget to something far more sinister than a typical missing persons case—a carefully-guarded plot tied to powerful, age-old magic. To uncover the truth of what happened to her sister, Bridget must confront this dangerous world, even if it means putting her own life on the line.

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!

(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 408: Using the “Loop Method” to Co-Write Your Novel, an Inside Look at the Writing Process – Interview with Jessi Honard and Marie Parks appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 April is Picture Books, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Leslie Johansen Nack and I discuss:

• Why she leaned into fiction for this project as opposed to writing a biography.
• Her research process and how she chose which scenes to fictionalize.
• How she balanced writing about the public and private personas of her characters.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Leslie Johansen Nack

Leslie Johansen Nack’s debut, Fourteen, A Daughter’s Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival received five indie awards, including the 2016 Finalist in Memoir at the Next Generation Indie Book Award. She lives in San Diego and enjoys sailing, hiking, and reading. 

Before she started writing, she raised two children, ran a mechanical engineering business with her husband, took care of her aging mother, and dreamed of retirement when she could write full-time. She did everything late in life, including getting her degree in English Literature from UCLA at age thirty-one.

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

The Blue Butterfly, A Novel of Marion Davies

New York 1915, Marion Davies is a shy eighteen-year-old beauty dancing on the Broadway stage when she meets William Randolph Hearst and finds herself captivated by his riches, passion, and desire to make her a movie star. Following a whirlwind courtship, she learns through trial and error to live as Hearst’s mistress when a divorce from his wife proves impossible. A baby girl is born in secret in 1919 and they agree to never acknowledge her publicly as their own. In a burgeoning Hollywood scene, she works hard making movies while living a lavish partying life that includes a secret love affair with Charlie Chaplin. In late 1937, at the height of the depression, Hearst wrestles with his debtors and failing health, when Marion loans him $1M when nobody else will. Together, they must confront the movie that threatens to invalidate all of Marion’s successes in the movie industry: Citizen Kane.

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!

(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 407: Public vs. Private Personas: Crafting a Novel Based on Historical Figures – Interview with Leslie Johansen Nack appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 April is Picture Books, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode GG Kellner and I discuss:

• How she created the web of complex character relationships and the framework for her novel.
• Why you need to face your fears in order to open yourself up to the possibilities of life.
• The relationship between cause and effect in history and its impact on the future.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About GG Kellner

GG Kellner is a writer, an artist, a poet, and an educator. Her major focus over the last few years is the completion of her book Hope, A History of the Future in which she envisions a world seven generations into the future in which we have solved some of the major social, political, and environmental crises of our time. Gayle G. Kellner lives on an island in the Salish Sea in a home that has been in her family for five generations. She spends most of her time writing, reading, working on artistic interests in painting and sculpture, and walking the beaches and forests of her island home with her dog. 

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. You can also visit her book’s website.

Hope, A History of the Future 

Engaging, playful, and thought-provoking, Hope, a History of the Future is a seven-generation–spanning novel that envisions a future world of peace, justice, and verdant sustainability that could arise out of today’s world crises. 

Based on both scientific projections and historical and legal precedence, this novel bridges the fact/fiction divide and will leave readers grappling with questions of destiny, responsibility, and the possibility for hope in a future world. 

As the various members of the Denzell family explore a history book from the future that has fallen out of time and space and into their home, they gradually uncover, with the help of a mystical cat, the story of Gabe, Mia, Ruth, and a girl without a name—a saga of adventure, endurance, mystery, and hope.

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!

(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 406: Using History to Write About the Future and Change the Present – Interview with GG Kellner appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 April is Picture Books, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Claire Stanford and I discuss:

• The meaning of happiness, its relationship with social media, and how that plays out in her novel.
• Why she classifies her novel as literary fiction as opposed to speculative.
• How she navigated writing a novel about a character who is strongly opposed to change.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Claire Stanford

Claire Stanford’s fiction has appeared in Black Warrior Review, The Rumpus, Third Coast, Redivider, Paper Darts, and Tin House Flash Fridays, among other publications. Her work has received fellowships and grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, and the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences.

She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in English at UCLA, where she studies science fiction/speculative fiction, narrative theory, and novel theory. Born and raised in Berkeley, she lives in Los Angeles.

Her debut novel, Happy for You, will be published April 19, 2022.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

Happy for You

Four years into work on a still-unfinished philosophy dissertation, and anticipating a marriage proposal from her long-term boyfriend, Evelyn Kominsky Kumamoto feels stalled. Meanwhile, all around her, everyone else seems to be getting on with their lives: her corn-fed, relentlessly optimistic boyfriend, Jamie, has no hesitation about committing to a shared future, and even her reserved father is energized by a new relationship—his first since her mother’s passing.

Looking for a change, Evelyn accepts a job as a researcher at the third-most-popular internet company, where her team is tasked with developing an app that will help users quantify—and augment—their happiness. Confronting Silicon Valley’s norm-reinforcing algorithms and predominantly white culture, she struggles to find belonging: as a biracial person, as an Asian American, and as a person who doesn’t know how to perform social media’s vision of what romantic partnership, motherhood, and womanhood should look like. But when an unexpected development in her personal life upends her assumptions about the future, Evelyn must embark on a journey towards authentic happiness all her own.

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!

(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 405: Change vs. Stasis: Character Development in Literary Fiction – Interview with Claire Stanford appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 April is Picture Books, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Jody Hadlock and Lori discuss:

• The research process and how to blend primary and secondary sources.
• Why finding the right point of view is so important to the writing process.
• What role context plays in writing about the past and how to integrate it into your plot.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Jody Hadlock

After studying journalism at Texas A&M University, Jody Hadlock was a television news reporter and anchor in Bryan-College Station, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; and San Antonio, Texas. She now lives near Fort Worth with her husband. For several years Jody served on the board of directors of North Texas Special Needs Assistance Partners (SNAP), a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities live the fullest lives possible in their communities. The Lives of Diamond Bessie is her first novel.

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

The Lives of Diamond Bessie

Inspired by a true story….

Pregnant out of wedlock, sixteen-year-old Annie Moore is sent to live at a convent for fallen women. When the nuns take her baby, Annie escapes, determined to find a way to be reunited with her daughter. But few rights or opportunities are available to a woman in the 1860s, and after failing to find a respectable job, she resorts to prostitution in order to survive. 

As a highly sought-after demi-mondaine, Annie—now Bessie—garners many expensive gifts from her admirers and eventually meets and marries the son of a wealthy jeweler, a traveling salesman with a gambling problem. With her marriage, she believes her dream of returning to proper society has finally come true. She’s proven wrong when she suffers the ultimate betrayal at the hands of the man she thought would be her salvation. But Bessie doesn’t let her story end there. 

Set against the backdrop of the burgeoning women’s rights movement, The Lives of Diamond Bessie is a haunting tale of betrayal and redemption that explores whether seeking revenge is worth the price you might pay.

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 404

(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 404: How to Turn Historical Figures into Characters for Your Novel – Interview with Jody Hadlock appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 March is Magic, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Rob Hart and I discuss:

• Why naming characters is important and where he found the names for these characters. 
• How to write an unlikeable character that your readers will actually like.
• Using storytelling to shine a light on bad things that are happening in the real world.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Rob Hart

Rob Hart is the author of The Paradox Hotel. He also wrote The Warehouse—which sold in more than 20 countries and was optioned for film by Ron Howard—as well as the Ash McKenna series, the short story collection Take-Out, and Scott Free with James Patterson.

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

The Paradox Hotel

An impossible crime. A detective on the edge of madness. The future of time travel at stake. From the author of The Warehouse. January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder.

Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing’s simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights” to the past.

Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion—and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls.

None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see.

On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. Because the U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology—and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.

January is sure the timing isn’t a coincidence. Neither are those “accidents” that start stalking their bidders. There’s a reason January can glimpse what others can’t. A reason why she’s the only one who can catch a killer who’s operating invisibly and in plain sight, all at once.

But her ability is also destroying her grip on reality—and as her past, present, and future collide, she finds herself confronting not just the hotel’s dark secrets but her own.

At once a dazzlingly time-twisting murder mystery and a story about grief, memory, and what it means to—literally—come face-to-face with our ghosts, The Paradox Hotel is another unforgettable speculative thrill ride from acclaimed author Rob Hart.

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 403

(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 403: Setting as Character in Speculative Fiction – Interview with Rob Hart appeared first on DIY MFA.

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 March is Magic, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Brian Leung and I discuss:

• How to turn a real life event into a novel, especially when you are close to the event.
• Bringing out the emotional truth of a story and remaining true to the characters.
• Why it can be tricky to write first person narratives and how to make them sound distinct.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Brian Leung

Brian Leung is the author of the novels Lost Men, Take Me Home, and Ivy vs Dogg: With a Cast of Thousands!. His short-story collection, World Famous Love Acts, won the Asian American Literary Award and the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. Born and raised in San Diego County, he is a Professor of Creative Writing at Purdue University as well as Core faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts. All I Should Not Tell was published by C&R Press in Spring, 2022.

You can find them on his website, or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

You can also check out Brian’s article on DIY MFA, #5onFri: Five Tips for Finding the Kind Genius Writer in Your Mad Genius Writer.

All I Should Not Tell

In All I Should Not Tell, Conner Grayson, fourteen, wants nothing more than to see, Cudge, his intensely abusive step-father destroyed. He considers it a blessing for himself and his younger, too-innocent, brother, Sammy, when the man disappears, though he’s convinced that his mother has done something unspeakable to her husband. With Cudge gone, there’s no threat of exposing Conner’s deepest secret, his love for Mark, another boy in Orgull, a fictional river town outside of Louisville. But almost immediately, Mark disappears as well.  Flash forward two decades. Conner remains tortured about his past, including the apparent suicides of his biological father and his brother. But, he has found a certain level of happiness with the family he’s built with his wife, Lamb, as well as his boyfriend, James. It’s complicated. When Cudge’s octogenarian father shows up from California to investigate Cudge’s long ago disappearance, Conner spirals into a series of unwise decisions culminating in discoveries about his past that may destroy his current family. It might be there’s only one person who can pull him from the wreckage.

You can order Brian Leung’s book, All I Should Not Tell, via this C&R Link.

Link to Episode 402

(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 402: Writing About Difficult Subjects with a Distinct First Person Voice – Interview with Brian Leung appeared first on DIY MFA.