I’m working on a short story in which the main characters travel a great distance in a short amount of time. They also experience a variety of different landscapes. My aim is to quickly acclimate the reader to each new place through the narrator’s perspective using sensory details. So my question is this: besides “show,… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today I am so excited to have author D.P. Lyle on the show! In his writing career, Doug has received a Macavity and Benjamin Franklin Silver Award and has been nominated for a gazillion others including, but nowhere near limited to, the Edgar, Agatha, and Silver Falchion. He is the author… Read more »
We’ve already talked about how characters, plot, and conflict are frequent sources of literary themes. But one building block of storytelling that we haven’t covered yet is setting. It’s as important as the other three “blocks,” using location, time period, and other elements to play a pivotal role in the external conflict and the protagonist’s… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Ann Kidd Taylor to the show! Ann first broke onto the literary scene in 2009 with the New York Times bestselling memoir Traveling with Pomegranates, co-written with her mother, Sue Monk Kidd. She returns this summer with her debut novel, The Shark Club, which… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of hosting Karen Dionne on the show. Karen was the first author I ever interviewed on DIY MFA Radio, and is now the first author that I’ve brought back for a second solo interview because she’s just that awesome. In this episode we discuss Karen’s novel… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today I am thrilled and delighted to be speaking with author Amor Towles about his latest book A Gentleman in Moscow. If you’ve ever struggled with world-building, this book is a master class on how to navigate the multiple layers of setting and that’s what we talk about this interview today…. Read more »
As we all know, in writing there are so many different elements to juggle: characters, plot, pacing, description, voice, dialogue…and that’s just the start. It’s not uncommon for a few storytelling elements to be shoved to the back of the stage as we write, but today I want to talk about one that really shouldn’t… Read more »
Hey there, Word Nerds! I’m so excited to share this interview with you today. I’ll be talking to Linda Fairstein about the world she built in her famed “Alex Cooper” series. Linda is a former Manhattan prosecutor and New York Times bestselling author. Her books are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than… Read more »
Hello and welcome to another episode of DIY MFA Radio! Today is an extra special episode because I’ll be interviewing a fabulous author and my good friend: Kathryn Holmes. We’re going to be talking about how to create a setting that feels real to the reader, a subject you’ll find she knows a lot about. Kathryn Holmes… Read more »
Establishing the setting is one of the toughest elements of storytelling for me. I have always struggled with it. Painting that picture, or turning what I see in my head into words, has taken me a lot of time, study, and practice. So when I had the idea to write a story where two people… Read more »
