DIY MFA Radio

Gabriela Pereira
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Mar 4, 2020 • 59min

295: Writing an Unlikable but Sympathetic Protagonist — Interview with Claire Waller

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Claire Waller. Claire is a secondary school teacher who works with teenagers with mental health issues. She has had two adult horror novels (Predator X, Nine Eyes) published by Australian indie publisher, Severed Press. FUGLY is her first YA novel. Claire lives with her husband, two daughters, a cat called Hiccup, and various dinosaurs. Her interests include drawing, baking, palaeontology, horror, and roleplaying. In this episode Claire and I discuss: The very personal inspiration for Fugly The toxic love of cruelty online Writing a character that behaves in a problematic way Expectations for negative female characters verses male ones Bringing personal experience to a fictional character Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/295
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Feb 26, 2020 • 48min

294: Self-Publishing a Middle Grade Series — Interview with H.R. Hobbs

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing H.R. Hobbs. H.R. Hobbs (or Heather Hobbs, as I know her) is the Amazon-bestselling author of a series of compassionate and empowering stories for middle-grade readers. Set in a typical middle school, her books address the topics of belonging, friendship, and bullying. A lifelong learner and teacher, Heather started writing in 2015 as a retirement project. Recently, she began taking art lessons with the hopes of illustrating her own children’s books in the future. Heather is the mother to three grown sons and grandmother to three little darlings. She lives with her husband in the small prairie town where she was born and raised. Also, Heather and I have been part of the same mastermind group for just about two years (shoutout to our third group member Angelica!). For those who don’t know, a mastermind group is basically like a critique group but instead of giving feedback on each other’s writing, we brainstorm around each other’s careers and business plans. When Heather and I first met, she was still teaching and she was juggling her writing alongside a busy teaching schedule. In the years since, she has doubled down on her writing and built a strong career as a self-published author (in a niche that isn’t necessarily easy to break into with self-publishing). I have had the benefit of hearing Heather’s insights pretty much every other week for two years and I am beyond thrilled to have her on the show so she can share her insights with the word nerd community. In this episode Heather and I discuss: Choosing between self-publishing and traditional publishing Successfully self-publishing in the children’s market The freedom of self-publishing Delegating tasks and developing a publishing team Building a launch team Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/294
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Feb 19, 2020 • 44min

293: Find Your Creative Focus - Interview with Jessica Abel

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jessica Abel. Cartoonist and coach Jessica is the founder of the Creative Focus Workshop, and author of Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You're Drowning in Your Daily Life, the graphic novel La Perdida, and two textbooks about making comics, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and Mastering Comics. Her book Out on the Wire is about how the best radio and podcast producers in the world use story to keep us listening. Jessica’s latest work of fiction is the Eisner-nominated Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars. She is chair of the illustration program at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In this episode Jessica and I discuss: The inspiration behind Growing Gills The myth of the muse and “right brain versus left brain” The power of time tracking Dealing with external and internal nay-sayers The power of planning and creating your own rules Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: www.diymfa.com/293
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Feb 12, 2020 • 42min

292: World Building in Epic Fantasy - Interview with K.S. Villoso

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing K.S. Villoso who writes speculative fiction with a focus on deeply personal themes and character-driven narratives. Much of her work is inspired by her childhood in the slums of Taguig, Philippines. She now lives amidst the forest and mountains of Vancouver, Canada with her husband, children, and dogs. Her novel, The Wolf of Oren-Yaro is a gripping adventure about a queen, trying to unite her divided kingdom, even though everybody hates her. In this episode K.S. and I discuss: The inspiration behind The Wolf of Oren-Yaro Building on a previous series Creating a deeply flawed character that readers can still root for The interplay between the external and internal journey of the protagonist Meeting genre expectations in a new way Building a world through character Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/292
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Feb 5, 2020 • 38min

291: How to Make Your Story Truly Unique - Interview with Robert Dugoni

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Robert Dugoni. Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon Internationally Best-Selling Author of 17 novels in The Tracy Crosswhite police detective series set in Seattle, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and the Charles Jenkins espionage series. He is also the author of several standalone novels including The Eighth Sister and The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, both #1 Amazon kindle downloads, as well as The 7th Canon and The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post best book of the year. Several novels have been optioned for television series. Robert is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for fiction and many other awards. We’ll be talking about his book A Cold Trail which is out now. In this episode Robert and I discuss: The power of dedicated, daily work Revisiting an old crime in a new book The particular appeal of a small town as a mystery setting The interplay between setting, theme and characters The myth of originality Plus, his #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/291
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Jan 29, 2020 • 51min

290: Writing a Sequel Decades Later - Interview with Samuel Shem

Hey there word nerds!  Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Samuel Shem, a novelist, playwright, and activist. He is a Professor in Medical Humanities at NYU School of Medicine, and Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. His novels include The House of God, Fine, Mount Misery, In the Heart of the Universe, and The Spirit of the Place (which won two national "Best Literary Novel" awards in 2008 and 2009). He is coauthor with his wife, Janet Surrey, of The Buddha's Wife, and the award-winning Off-Broadway play Bill W. and Dr. Bob, about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, and also We Have to Talk: Healing Dialogues Between Men and Women. Also, just a quick heads up, we have a teeny bit of explicit language towards the end of the interview. Due to the nature of the discussion I decided not to bleep anything out, but I wanted to let you know in case you have small children in the room or you, yourself, are not comfortable with explicit language. In this episode Samuel and I discuss: The desire that inspired the novel  Putting parts of yourself into a novel Fictionalizing true things Writing -- or not writing -- for a specific audience The necessity of character change How computers depersonalize medicine  Writing a sequel that still stands alone Plus, his #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/290
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Jan 22, 2020 • 43min

289: Stitching Together Multiple Timelines - Interview with Constance Sayers

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Constance Sayers talking about her debut novel, A Witch in Time, which is forthcoming in February. A finalist for Alternating Current’s 2016 Luminaire Award for Best Prose, her short stories have appeared in Souvenir and Amazing Graces: Yet Another Collection of Fiction by Washington Area Women as well as The Sky is a Free Country. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She received her master of arts in English from George Mason University and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts in writing from the University of Pittsburgh. She attended The Bread Loaf Writers Conference where she studied with Charles Baxter and Lauren Groff. Currently, she is a media executive at Atlantic Media (publisher of The Atlantic).  She lives in Maryland and is the co-founder of the Thoughtful Dog literary magazine.  In this episode Constance and I discuss: How a painting inspired A Witch in Time Blending together multiple storylines into a cohesive narrative Managing pacing with different storylines Balancing writing and researching Novel-writing lessons from writing short stories Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/289
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Jan 15, 2020 • 48min

288: Find Your Community - Interview with Janae Marks

Hey there word nerds!  Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Janae Marks! Janae is an award-winning children's book author living in Connecticut. She has an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School, and is an active member of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Her debut is the middle grade novel,  From the Desk of Zoe Washington, which we’ll be discussing today. Janae also happens to be one of my dearest writing besties. She’s known me since before DIY MFA was even a twinkle in my eye, like back when it was still just a “crazy idea” I was kicking around on my personal blog. She and I were also in the same thesis critique group so she has seen my writing in all its many forms: from the good, to the bad, to the… what the heck were you thinking, Gabriela? One of my favorite things—one of the things that brings true joy to my heart—is when I get to introduce my favorite people to the word nerd community. I’ve known Janae for a long time; I know how much of her heart and soul she’s poured into this book and I am so excited for the world to discover Zoe Washington and this sweet, heart-felt middle grade novel. Without further ado, welcome Janae! It’s so great to have you here. In this episode Janae and I discuss: How Serial and Making a Murderer inspired From the Desk of Zoe Washington Aging a character down from YA to middle grade Weaving serious, real-world issues into a middle grade story Balancing parenting and writing Different types of writing friends and communities Finding a community-focused writing conference Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/288
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Jan 8, 2020 • 46min

287: Character Dynamics in an In-Depth Scene Analysis - Interview with Kiley Reid

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Kiley Reid! An Arizona native, Kiley Reid is a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was the recipient of the Truman Capote Fellowship. Her short stories have been featured and are forthcoming in Ploughshares, December, New South, and Lumina. With the latter publication, her short story won first place in the 2017 Flash Prose Contest. In Summer 2018, Kiley attended the Cuttyhunk Island Residency as the recipient of the Paul Cuffee Scholarship. Such a Fun Age is her debut novel, and the film and TV rights have already been acquired. In this episode Kiley and I discuss: How the idea of awkwardness and ownership inspired Such a Fun Age Using the imbalance of three characters to create a charged scene Creating complex and multi-faceted protagonists An in-depth analysis of a pivotal scene Using external and internal wants to deepen characterization Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/287
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Jan 1, 2020 • 51min

286: An Inside Look at a Romantic Suspense Series - Interview with Marie Force

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Marie Force. Marie is the New York Times, USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than seventy contemporary romances, including the Fatal Series. Thirty of her books have been New York Times bestsellers, and she has sold more than nine million books worldwide. Today we’ll be discussing book #15 in the Fatal series—Fatal Accusation—and the craft of putting together a romantic suspense series. In this episode Marie and I discuss: How a news story inspired the Fatal series Building a romance series around one couple The difference between romance with suspense and romantic suspense Managing writing multiple series at once Balancing indie and traditional publishing Plus, her #1 tip for writers For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/286

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