We had an inspiring and far-ranging conversation with feminist economist Myra Strober about her new memoir, Sharing the Work:What My Family and Career Taught Me About Breaking Through (and Holding the Door Open for Others). We examined differences between memoir writing, fiction, and academic writing, and how Myra used theme as a filter to shape and cut her memoir. We talked about changing names, asking for permission, and sharing the work ahead of time with the people who are in it; uses of summary and scene and the balance between the two; tight writing and loose writing; memory versus invention in scene and especially in dialogue, and the unexpected relationship between truth and guessing. We delved into the economics of being a writer, and into writing habits or the lack thereof, and into time as a character. Literacy and its far-ranging impacts came up, as did dream writing, writing in dreams, and writing in the middle of the night.

LINKS:

Ellen Sussman

Diane Middlebrook/ her biography of Anne Sexton

Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse

Y Tu Mama Tambien

Bill Clegg Did You Ever Have a Family?

MryaStrober.com

Sharing the Work:What My Family and Career Taught Me About Breaking Through (and Holding the Door Open for Others)

Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival--everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.

The hosts:

Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.

Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.

We broke open the traditional publishing/ self-publishing dichotomy in this conversation, having the most exciting discussion on platform building, purpose, marketing and creativity that maybe we’ve ever had. Nina straddles traditional publishing and self-publishing, doing well in both. Here, we really dig into those worlds and where they meet, where they part, and how they can work together. Nina showed us how to pitch fiction and non-fiction, what it really means to build reach and visibility as an author, and how to get inspired to do it. We even put her on the spot by getting her to pitch her novel-in-progress to us, which she did beautifully. And she gives us her top advice for authors, regarding changing your attitude and embracing all aspects of a writing life. Don’t miss this episode!

LINKS:

Her forthcoming book Creative Visualization for Writers: An Interactive Guide to Life

How to Blog a Book

Create a Winning Pitch

The Author Training Manual

Fuse Literary

San Francisco Writers Conference

Ninaamir.com

http://BooksByNinaAmir.com

Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival--everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.

The hosts:

Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.

Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.

It was an honor and a joy to sit down (virtually) with Jabari Asim and talk about just how a man with five children and a big deal job manages to be so productive across so many genres. Hint: write in your head when you can’t sit down; write on trains, write by hand, start in the middle, and marshall what you might consider a “not great attention span” into a tremendous breadth of work--fiction, non-fiction, plays, poetry, children’s books and journalism, with a past stint in screenwriting. He advocated a “noncommittal investigation” as a useful approach to writing about potentially explosive topics, and talked about the “counter-narrative work” that a lot of writers of color, women, gay writers, etc. do, how to break from the master narrative and the ways it’s about power, not race. Other rich threads of conversation include: the three readers he keeps in mind as he’s writing, listening to your characters and developing them, using omniscience and cinematic techniques in the novel, plot, the separation of politics and art, theme, visualizing your published book, and balancing humility and editing. He had great advice as an editor for those submitting to magazines and journals, and more great advice on writing children’s books. This is an episode not to miss!

Links:

W.E.B. Dubois

Jim Harrison

Jim Harrison in Esquire

Toni Morrison

Edward Jones

Joyce Carol Oates

Leon Forrest

Richard Wright

Richard Wright Haiku

Marsha Hayles - Breathing Room

Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Henry Dumas

Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival--everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.

The hosts:

Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.

Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.

Best-selling author of three novels and two story collections, Ann Packer sat down with us to talk about writing for herself on her own schedule, about two different kinds of revision, about having a sense of the emotional shape of a book before she begins. We discussed the differences between a novel and a collection of short stories, even when the stories are linked, and about the process of organizing a collection. We got into what fuels your stories, and the distinction between story and plot, the importance of writing freely in a first draft, the timing for readers and what they can offer the writer and the creative process--and what they can’t. We talked about what she knows before she starts, and what she discovers on the way. Other topics include point of view, self-confidence, publishing, luck, reader revelations v. character revelations, and fear of flying (the actual thing, not Erica Jong’s book).

The Children's Crusade

Songs Without Words

Mendocino and Other Stories

Swim Back to Me

The Dive from Clausen's Pier

Links Discussed:

SFO's Fear of Flying Clinic

Alice Munro

Book Writing World Classes

Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival--everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.

The hosts:

Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.

Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.

When is the Work Complete? Setting, Creative Process, and Freedom in Art and Writing

Adam Wolpert is a painter who blogs beautifully about the creative process, and our conversation began by looking at the moment when you're shifting out of a big a long extended project and finding the next one--something writers certainly face as well. This led into an exploration of the powers of creative constraints, of setting limits on your projects--and the unexpected and deep freedom that produces. Come Out of Your Artist’s Closet! We talked about the kind of breakout work you might hold yourself back from doing because it doesn’t fit your “brand” or the vision the world has of the work you do. We talked about nature and culture, self and connection, and fame: desire for immortality or a backstage pass?  We dug into setting--the use of landscape in painting and in storytelling and the ways that what settings gives us is the observer rather than or as much as the observed. We talked about the art world, diversity and intimidation, and the dangers of comparing yourself to “the masters.” We discussed metrics for judging when the work is done, and ways to look at the work that give you distance and perspective on it. And we talked about the process of writing a blog that captures the authentic process of creativity.

Links Discussed:

 Esalen

Adamwolpert.com

India, by Stanley Wolpert: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520260320

A New History of India, by Stanley Wolpert: http://www.amazon.com/New-History-India-Stanley-Wolpert/dp/0195337565/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464908114&sr=1-3&keywords=stanley+wolpert

All Stanley Wolpert books in print:

Fear of Flying Course at SFO

Link to SF MOMA: 

Jeff Koons Michael Jackson balloon art: 

The Bonnard  show at the Legion of Honor: 

Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival--everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.

The hosts:

Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.

Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.