Episodes

  • Patrick Ryan, author of BUCKEYE

    Patrick Ryan, author of BUCKEYE
    Sep 8 2025
    One Story Magazine Editor Patrick Ryan cut his teeth on the short story form. Author of the critically acclaimed collections The Dream Life of Astronauts and Send Me, Ryan has spent a career editing masters like Joy Williams, Colum McCann, Alice Munro and Ann Beattie. For forty years, he’s tried his hand at novels, but nothing stuck. Until now. Ryan’s debut novel is Buckeye. The book has already become a Read With Jenna pick (which she calls a “once-in-a-decade epic”). It’s one of those cancel-your-plans, move-into-the-guestroom, forget-about-getting-anything-else-done-for-three-days novels. It is a 450-page wholly immersive book that sweeps across generations and wars and dives deep down into its characters’ lives. It follows two couples in a small Ohio town in the lead-up and aftermath of WWII, how their lives intertwine and the impact of their relationships on the generation that follows, who fight wars of their own. Ryan captures the intimacy of what happens inside people’s bedrooms and inside their own minds as well as what has happened to our nation and the arc of history across the 20th century. He joins Marrie Stone to talk about it. They discuss pacing a novel versus short stories, the research required to render a novel as detailed as this — and how to make it not feel like you’ve done a lot of research — managing characters across generations, how to avoid sentimentality in intimate fiction, what editing writers like Joy Williams and Alice Munro has taught Patrick about writing, and so much more. They also talk about Ryan’s longtime friendship with Ann Patchett (parts of this novel were written in her basement and the book is dedicated to Ann and her husband, Karl), and how that friendship feeds both their work. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on August 20, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Paul Bradley Carr, author of THE CONFESSIONS

    Paul Bradley Carr, author of THE CONFESSIONS
    Sep 1 2025
    Paul Bradley Carr is the author of the new novel, The Confessions. He has written three memoirs about his adventures in and around Silicon Valley. He was the Silicon Valley columnist for The Guardian, senior editor at TechCrunch, and cofounder of PandoDaily. His writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, and National Geographic. He lives in Palm Springs with his family and is the co-owner of The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. Find out more at PaulBradleyCarr.com, and follow him on Instagram. Paul joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about writing female protagonists, outlining, POV characters, how running a bookstore affects his writing, writing with little bits of time, how people really do judge a book by the cover, what sells books, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on August 29, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Michelle Huneven, author of BUG HOLLOW

    Michelle Huneven, author of BUG HOLLOW
    Aug 25 2025
    Michelle Huneven is the author of six novels including Round Rock, Jamesland, Off Course, Blame, Search and — most recently — Bug Hollow. Bug Hollow is a story about the Samuelsons, who lose their 18-year-old son in an accident. The book ripples out from there in a kaleidoscopic way, following the parents, siblings, girlfriend and others into the distant future and around in time to see how their lives play out. It’s told in chapters – or stories – from each character’s perspective. And it’s largely set in Altadena, where Michelle is from. It’s really a love letter to that town that was so devastated by the wildfires this past January (though written well before the fires). While in the process of publishing Bug Hollow, Michelle lost two homes in the fire. She joins Marrie to talk about the book, as well as writing through tragedy and how she might process this event in her work. She also talks about the risks of being a perfectionist as a writer, and what helped her through that challenge. (She recommends this essay by Leslie Jamison). She shares how writing prompts led her to write this novel, the importance of having a trusted reader, the best training she received as a writer, and so much more. After the podcast ended, Michelle shared her 76 favorite writing prompts with us. These are prompts she used to write this novel, prompts she shares with her students, and prompts she uses in her own writing practice. We’re offering those prompts (one per day) over the next 10 weeks to our subscribers on Patreon. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on August 13, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    59 mins
  • Crissy Van Meter, author of CREATURES

    Crissy Van Meter, author of CREATURES
    Aug 19 2025
    Crissy Van Meter’s novel, Creatures (Algonquin Books, 2020), was a Belletrist Book pick, an NPR Book of the Year, a finalist for the WILLA Literary Award, and longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her writing appears in Vice, Guernica, Buzzfeed, and Catapult. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the New School and teaches creative writing at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the founder of the literary project Five Quarterly and the contributing editor for Nouvella Books. She served on the board of directors for the youth-focused literary nonprofit Novelly. She lives in Los Angeles where she is the Head of Books forTeaTime Pictures. Crissy joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about writing climate fiction, naming characters, research, fictionalizing real places, setting, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! Order Barbara’s upcoming short story collection, Pool Fishing. (Recorded on August 15, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    53 mins
  • Richard Curtis, literary agent & digital pioneer

    Richard Curtis, literary agent & digital pioneer
    Aug 11 2025
    Literary agent Richard Curtis was a pioneer in the e-book industry. Having worked in publishing for nearly 50 years, he understands nuances, trends, and the long arc of what makes authors and publishers successful. He adapted his agenting model to accommodate the consolidations of the publishing houses and what those changes meant for agents and writers. He’s written several books on those topics, and authors the popular Substack newsletter, Inside Agenting. But earlier this year, Richard discovered an A.I. tool that shocked even him. NotebookLM, a Google product released in 2023, turns difficult topics into engaging conversations. It can summarize PDFs, websites, YouTube videos, audio files, Google Docs, or Google Slides, and create realistic podcasts about the topic. We tasked it with introducing Richard on the podcast. You’ll hear that introduction, produced in less than five minutes, and what Richard thinks of it. He talks with Marrie about what these A.I. tools mean for writers and publishers, and how writers should be reacting in the moment. He also provides his thoughts on chasing industry trends, how to target the right agent for your work, how technology has always been upending the industry, and what might happen in this next revolutionary round of upheavals. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on July 31, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    53 mins
  • Stefanie Leder, author of LOVE, COFFEE, AND REVOLUTION

    Stefanie Leder, author of LOVE, COFFEE, AND REVOLUTION
    Aug 6 2025
    Stefanie Leder is a TV showrunner and writer whose credits include the MTV teen dramedy Faking It, TBS comedy Men at Work, Netflix’s Boo, Bitch, and the long-running ABC Family comedy Melissa & Joey. She is also a guest lecturer on television writing at the Low Residency MFA at UCR. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she spent a year abroad in Costa Rica and has worked for a nonprofit on Fair Trade Coffee and anti-sweatshop campaigns. Love, Coffee, and Revolution is her first novel. You can also read her award-nominated short story, “Not a Dinner Party Person” in Eight Very Bad Nights; A Collection of Hanukkah Noir, or in the upcoming The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025. Stefanie joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett at Arvida Book Company in Tustin, California, to talk on the patio before a live audience. They talk about bringing out a project after letting it sit for many years, writing for TV, the crossover from scriptwriting to writing fiction, why she plots, structure, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on July 20, 2025) Barbara’s book of short stories, Pool Fishing, will be published on September 16 by Kelp Books. Read more about it and pre-order here. Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    53 mins
  • Ed Park, author of AN ORAL HISTORY OF ATLANTIS

    Ed Park, author of AN ORAL HISTORY OF ATLANTIS
    Jul 28 2025
    Ed Park is the author of the novels Same Bed Different Dreams (2023), a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Personal Days (2008), a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. His fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Bookforum, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. He is a founding editor of The Believer and the former literary editor of The Village Voice, and has worked in newspapers and book publishing. An Oral History of Atlantis is his debut story collection. These 16 stories are utterly original and very funny. Some were written over a period of years, others in an hour. He joins Marrie Stone to talk about the collection and all the dozens of decisions that went into creating these stories. He also talks about his writing career, the things that made the biggest difference in his training, and his advice to writers. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on July 2, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    59 mins
  • Jill Ciment, author of THE BODY IN QUESTION

    Jill Ciment, author of THE BODY IN QUESTION
    Jul 23 2025
    Jill Ciment, author of The Body in Question, was born in Montreal, Canada. She is the author of Small Claims, a collection of short stories, novels, and novellas; The Law of Falling Bodies, Teeth of the Dog, The Tattoo Artist, Heroic Measures, and Act of God, and the memoirs, Half a Life and Consent. She has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, two New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships, the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, and a Guggenheim fellowship. Jill Ciment is a professor emeritus at the University of Florida. She lives in Gainesville, Florida, and New York City. Jill joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk the various aspects of writing, but in particular, Jill’s book, The Body in Question. Warning: There will be spoilers. A couple of months ago Barbara let our Patreon supporters know there would be talk in depth about the book and if listeners hate spoilers, read the book first—it’s a thin novel—and then listen to the show. “I recently spent two weeks in jury duty on a criminal case,” says Barbara, “and during the first week I reread this book in which a criminal case is the B story. The A story is the affair the narrator has with a fellow juror known only by his number until three-quarters of the way through when the case ends.” Jill was on the show when this book came out around 2020. Barbara says, “I loved the book so much and wanted to bring Jill back to talk about the ending.” For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on June 27, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    58 mins