Episodios

  • Elizabeth McCracken, author of A LONG GAME: NOTES ON WRITING FICTION

    Elizabeth McCracken, author of A LONG GAME: NOTES ON WRITING FICTION
    Jan 12 2026
    Elizabeth McCracken is the author of nine books across several genres — novels, short story collections, autofiction, and now a craft book about writing. Her novel, The Giant’s House, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1996. Thunderstruck & Other Stories won the Story Prize in 2015 and was longlisted for the National Book Award. She’s appeared in five editions of The Best American Short Stories. And she has taught fiction off and on (mostly on) since 1989 including at the University of Iowa, where she also received her MFA. She's retiring from the University of Texas in Austin this year. Ann Patchett once said that Elizabeth was the only person she allowed to read her manuscripts as she was writing them. We discuss a great interview Elizabeth and Ann did back in 2005 that can be found here. A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction is out and she joined Marrie to talk about it. Basically, if this podcast were a book, we would hope it might look something like Elizabeth’s book — full of insights, wisdoms, anecdotes, and advice on craft, but sometimes second-guessing itself, contradicting itself, and understanding that all the “rules” we hear about art are meant to be broken. It gave us endless things to talk about. 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 December 19, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    57 m
  • Marrie Stone’s BEST OF 2025

    Marrie Stone’s BEST OF 2025
    Dec 29 2025
    Last year, I compiled my first-ever “Best Of the Year” show. It was such fun to make, and received such a great response from listeners, that I decided to make it an annual tradition. While I could only include a handful of authors from the past year, this episode provides a fun Whitman’s Sampler of the kinds of conversations available in our archives. Listen as Adam Johnson, Wally Lamb, and Chris Whitaker tell us where their stories come from. Laila Lalami teaches us to read like a writer. Amy Bloom and Bruce Holsinger offer their thoughts on revision. Patrick Ryan (via Ann Patchett) shares his insights about how to write war scenes with authority, and Richard Russo talks about the moral dilemma of using the people in our lives for material. Authors in this episode include Jess Walter (So Far Gone), Wally Lamb (The River is Waiting), Richard Russo (Life and Art), Amy Bloom (I’ll Be Right Here), Laila Lalami (The Dream Hotel), Joan Silber (Mercy), Chris Whitaker (All the Colors of the Dark), Adam Johnson (The Wayfinder), Patrick Ryan (Buckeye), Bruce Holsinger (Culpability), Eric Puchner (Dream State) and Colum McCann (Twist). The Jane Smiley essay that Laila Lalami refers to can be found here. And Joan Silber’s book about how to use time in fiction can be found here. For nearly 28 years, Writers on Writing has delivered MFA-level advice from some of our world’s most accomplished living authors – all without the hefty price-tag. We’ve grown only by word of mouth and rely only on listener support. So, if you like what you hear, help us spread the word! 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 in December 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    1 h y 9 m
  • Nicholas Boggs, author of BALDWIN: A LOVE STORY

    Nicholas Boggs, author of BALDWIN: A LOVE STORY
    Dec 22 2025
    Nicholas Boggs is the New York Times bestselling author of Baldwin: A Love Story, the first major biography of the iconic figure in more than three decades. He is the recipient of a 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant and fellowships from the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the Scholars-in-Residence program at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Gilder Lehrman Center and Beinecke Library at Yale, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as residencies at Yaddo and MacDowell. Most recently he was the 2024-2025 John Hope Franklin Fellow at the National Humanities Center. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he received his BA from Yale and his PhD from Columbia, both in English, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from American University. He now resides in New York City. Nicholas joined Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about his path to writing nonfiction, what moved him to write a biography of James Baldwin, how he went about structuring the book, perseverance versus talent, research, how his background in music influences his writing, surprises in writing the Baldwin biography, writing what you don’t know, and more.To learn more about Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You will 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. If you’d like to contact us, email writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on December 19, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    47 m
  • A. Muia, author of A DESERT BETWEEN TWO SEAS

    A. Muia, author of A DESERT BETWEEN TWO SEAS
    Dec 15 2025
    We’ve been following A. Muia and her writing journey for several years. She’s been a longtime listener of the podcast and supporter of the show. We chatted in 2022 about getting an agent, the frustrations of the publishing industry and how to break into it, and all the things talented writers who have a strong manuscript but few publishing contacts encounter when trying to get their work published. Basically, most of us. A Desert Between Two Seas published in September. It’s a novel told in 14 linked stories set in 19th century Baja California, Mexico. It won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and, as a result, was published by the University of Georgia Press. It was also a finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction Award and is a 2026 Top Pick for the Southwest Books of the Year. All this, ultimately, was done without an agent. She joined me on the podcast to talk about all this because I find her experience so relatable. It gave us much to talk about in terms of selling a book without an agent, the experience of publishing with a university press, winning literary prizes, marketing your work, what she wishes she knew then that she knows now, how she’ll approach her next project, and much more. We also talked about publishing in literary journals and how she targeted the literary journals she did, as well as the most useful writing advice she’s received. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. She shares even more advice and insights there. 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 November 25, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    1 h y 1 m
  • Tod Goldberg, author of ONLY WAY OUT

    Tod Goldberg, author of ONLY WAY OUT
    Dec 9 2025
    Tod Goldberg is the author of the new novel, Only Way Out, published by Thomas & Mercer. He’s also the New York Times bestselling author of 16 books including the acclaimed Gangsterland quartet. His short fiction and essays appeared widely and have been selected in Best American Mystery & Suspense and Best American Essays. Tod is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, where he founded and directs the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts. Tod joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about writing a multiple point of view novel and how his ensemble of characters came together, setting, backstory, writing dialogue, outlining, word quotas, influences, and 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 November 28, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    1 h y 1 m
  • Megha Majumdar, author of A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF

    Megha Majumdar, author of A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF
    Dec 1 2025
    Megha Majumdar’s A Burning came out in 2020. It was an instant NYT bestseller and was nominated for a number of prestigious awards, including the National Book Award, and was named one of the best books of that year by a number of media outlets. Her latest, A Guardian and a Thief, is enjoying perhaps even more success. It was a finalist for the National Book Award and was Oprah’s pick for October. Like A Burning, A Guardian and a Thief is set in contemporary India (this one in the near-distant future). And, like A Burning, Megha allows us to fall in love with her characters and then puts them on a painful collision course. This time, the climate crisis has accelerated a famine in Calcutta which is forcing good people to act desperately and sometimes violently. Megha joins Marrie Stone to talk about it. They talk about structuring a “ticking timebomb novel,” and telling a story over the course of seven days. They discuss incorporating backstory without losing forward momentum, and how to make even minor characters full and rich portraits. And they talk about endings, the art of surprising inevitability, and striking the right emotional tone. She also shares her favorite current read: Loot by Tania James. All this and so 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 November 20, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    53 m
  • Eric Beetner, author of REAL BAD, REAL SOON: A Carter McCoy Novel

    Eric Beetner, author of REAL BAD, REAL SOON: A Carter McCoy Novel
    Nov 25 2025
    Eric Beetner has been hailed as “the new maestro of noir,” by Ken Bruen and LitReactor said he’s “The 21st Century’s answer to Jim Thompson.” He has written more than 30 novels and his 100+ short stories have been featured in over 35 anthologies, including Palm Springs Noir, the Akashic anthology I edited that includes a story of Eric’s, one of my favorites. Along the way he’s been nominated for two International Thriller Writer awards, a Shamus, Derringer and four Anthony awards. He’s won none of them, he jokes. Eric joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about his most recent novels, the Carter McCoy series: Real Bad, Real Soon and The Last Few Miles of Road. They discuss why he likes to write trilogies— a third Carter McCoy is coming; why he chose to write a good guy who commits crimes, kind of a Dexter in Wisconsin; why he writes what he doesn’t know; outlining; how it’s vital to know the beats of a story; what becomes a novel and what becomes a short story; and 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 November 21, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    55 m
  • Adam Johnson, author of THE WAYFINDER

    Adam Johnson, author of THE WAYFINDER
    Nov 17 2025
    Adam Johnson won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 for his novel, The Orphan Master’s Son. He won the National Book Award in 2015 for his story collection, Fortune Smiles. He also authored Parasites Like Us and Emporium. Every novel and story is unlike anything that’s come before it. His latest, The Wayfinder, is no exception. Set over 1,000 years ago in the South Pacific, it weaves together the stories of two families and two islands and their opposing views of the world. Adam joins Marrie Stone to talk about how he’s not only expanded the idea of what a novel can do, but reimagined it entirely. He talks about how oral traditions of storytelling informed the creation of this book and the massive amounts of research necessary to write it. He talks about what forces shaped the writer he’s become, and the many insights about story he shares with his students (Adam teaches in the Wallace Stegner Fellowship program at Stanford). This conversation contains a wealth of insights into craft, process, and storytelling. It also includes a passage from the book which Adam reads and dissects for the listener. (Warning: the passage contains difficult material. Listener discretion is advised.) 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 November 11, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)
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    1 h y 4 m
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