Tools, not rules. For writers, by writers.
We had the absolute joy of sitting down with Charlie Jane Anders, the author of the book we’ve focused on for our last four episodes (All the Birds in the Sky). We talked with Anders about POV, tone, and how she played around with humor —partly by occasionally using an omniscient…
This is our final episode before we have Charlie Jane Anders on the podcast to talk about her writing process next week! Today we’re talking about intention by analyzing thematics, the author’s intent, and the way Anders uses tone and tradition to express the core ideas of the book. We…
If you still want to read All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, you can purchase it here! We are looking today at the lens of when. But we’re not going to look at time periods—instead, we’re going to examine flashbacks and foreshadowing. “All the Birds in the Sky” takes…
If you still want to read All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, you can purchase it here! Today we’re talking about places and place-moments. We’re looking at how Anders uses context, details, and relationships to create a deep, familiar, and authentic reading experience for us, even if we’ve…
Last season we took different works to represent different concepts. But this season, we’re looking at a single work— All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. So, for the next five episodes, we’re going to look at how Anders’ novel is deploying all of the lenses we’ve talked about this…
Throughout this season, we have been doing a series of episodes that feature different metaphors for writing. Today, we’re talking about raising children and what it can teach us about our own writing practice. It’s common knowledge that parents want their children to grow up to be happy and successful.…
Téa Obreht is a short story writer and novelist. Her debut novel, The Tiger’s Wife, won the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction, and was a 2011 National Book Award finalist and an international bestseller. In our conversation, we focused on revision and character consciousness. Téa talked to us about the difficulty…
This year, we’ve been looking at writing through various different lenses. In two weeks, on August 24th, we’ll begin a 5-part deep dive into these lenses through a specific book: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. There will be many spoilers in these episodes, so please read the…
Tone is one of those words people use in many different ways when talking about fiction. On today’s episode, our hosts break down what it means, how we use it, and how it can be a tool in the writer’s toolbox. We dive into the myriad emotional shades of tone,…
Every story has been told. Okay, maybe not, but most stories have a tradition/ influence/ history/ genre/ style that they draw upon, even if only slightly. How do you know what traditions you’re bringing to your work, and how can you use them to make your story both resonant and…
