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Let's Deconstruct a Story

By: Kelly Fordon
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  • Summary

  • Let's Deconstruct a Story: A podcast for the story nerds! Aspiring writers need to understand the components of a good story before they can write one. Choices of POV, plot, setting, and tone are crucial. In each episode, I'll be interviewing a writer about one of their own stories, which will be available for listeners to read for free on my website before they listen. www.kellyfordon.com.
    Kelly Fordon
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Episodes
  • "Let's Deconstruct a Story" featuring Sheila Kohler

    "Let's Deconstruct a Story" featuring Sheila Kohler
    May 15 2024
    Hi Everyone, We're a little late with this episode and it's all my fault! As I mentioned in my May 1st blog post (sign up here for updates), for the first time in four years, I conducted an amazing interview with Sheila Kohler and forgot to hit record on Zoom. Sheila--the most gracious person on Earth--forgave me for wasting 45 minutes of her time and agreed to re-record the episode. Thank you to Sheila for sitting down with me twice! After I recovered from the shame, I realized this might be a great boon for readers. I loved Cracks—the short story, the novel, and the movie! You will find links to all three below. It was fascinating to talk about Sheila's adaptation from short story to novel and to hear about the making of the movie and the decision to set the movie in England rather than South Africa. I hope you have had time to read the short story and the novel. What did you think of the movie? Let me know if you have any follow-up questions or comments. I would love to hear. Here are the links: Content Warning: Sexual Assault Cracks, the short story, by Sheila Kohler Cracks, The Novel by Sheila Kohler, available at Bookshop and Amazon. Cracks, The Movie In other news... I am taking a sabbatical from the podcast this summer to rest, regroup, and figure out what direction to take this show in in the future. I love doing it, but every now and then, I think it's a good idea to reevaluate and hone in on what has been valuable and what parts need to go. My first guest in the fall is Tim Tomlinson. Although I will be talking to him about one of his short stories, he has a new book coming out this month. It looks terrific! Check out kellyfordon.com for a picture of the cover and publication information from Nirala. Cheers! Kelly Sheila Kohler Bio: Sheila Kohler was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the younger of two girls. Upon matriculation at 17 from Saint Andrews, with a distinction in history (1958), she left the country for Europe. She lived for 15 years in Paris, where she married, did her undergraduate degree in literature at the Sorbonne, and a graduate degree in psychology at the Institut Catholique. After raising her three girls, she moved to the USA in 1981, and did an MFA in writing at Columbia. In the summer of 1987, her first published story, “The Mountain,” came out in “The Quarterly” and received an O.Henry prize and was published in the O.Henry Prize Stories of 1988. It also became the first chapter in her first novel, “The Perfect Place,” which was published by Knopf the next year. Knopf also published the first volume of her short stories, “Miracles in America,” in 1990. Kohler has won two O.Henry prizes for “The Mountain” 1988 and “The Transitional Object” 2008. She has been short-listed in the O.Henry Prize Stories for three years running: in 1999 for the story, “Africans”; in 2000 for “Casualty,” which had appeared in the Ontario Review; and 2001 for “Death in Rome,” a story which had appeared in The Antioch Review. “Casualty” was also included in the list of distinguished stories in The Best American Short Stories of 2001. In 1994 she published a second novel, “The House on R Street,” also with Knopf, about which Patrick McGrath said, in “The New York Times Book Review: ” “Sheila Kohler has achieved in this short novel a remarkable atmosphere, a fine delicate fusion of period, society and climate.” In 1998 she published a short story, “Africans,” in Story Magazine, which was chosen for the Best American Short Stories of 1999, was read and recorded at Symphony Space and at The American Repertory Theatre in Boston and was translated into Japanese. It was also included in her second collection of stories,” One Girl,” published by Helicon Nine, which won the Willa Cather Prize in 1998 judged by William Gass. In 1999 she published her third novel, “Cracks,” with Zoland, which received a starred review from Kirkus, was nominated for an Impac award in 2001, and was chosen one of the best books of the year by Newsday and by Library Journal.” Cracks” also came out with Bloomsbury in England, was translated into French and Dutch, and will come out in Hebrew. It has been optioned six times by Killer films and Working Track 2. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, 2009, and at the London film festival and came out here in the summer of 2010 and is now on Netflix. It is directed by Jordan Scott, with Eva Green in the role of Miss G. In 2000 Kohler received the Smart Family Foundation Prize for “Underworld,” a story published in the October “Yale Review.” In 2001 she published her fourth novel,” The Children of Pithiviers,” with Zoland, a novel about the concentration camps during the Vicky Period in France in Pithiviers and Beaune la Rolande. In 2003 she was awarded a fellowship at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Institute to work on a historical novel based on the life on the ...
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    40 mins
  • Keith Hood and Kelly Fordon discuss “THE PROGRESS OF LOVE” by Alice Munro

    Keith Hood and Kelly Fordon discuss “THE PROGRESS OF LOVE” by Alice Munro
    Apr 1 2024
    Hi Everyone, This month, we are discussing “The Progress of Love” by Alice Munro. I’m joined on the podcast by Keith Hood, One Story’s 2024 Adina Talve-Goodman Fellow. Keith read the version of the story available in Alice Munro’s collection (1st person POV) and I read the New Yorker version. I suggest reading both as we had a great discussion about POV and narrative distance and Alice Munro’s decision to switch POV. Please find the stories here: The Progress of Love from Alice Munro’s collection or her Selected Stories is available for purchase on Amazon or Bookshop. The New Yorker Version typed by Kelly is available at kellyfordon.com for the month of April, with possible typos. After April, please purchase a subscription and support good writing at The New Yorker here. As always, I’d love to hear any suggestions for upcoming guests and/or possible stories for review. We always appreciate ratings, reviews, or donations (see the donation button on this page). If you have any ideas, comments, or additional insights into this story, please message me on the Let’s Deconstruct a Story Facebook Page. I’d love to add additional comments to this page (below) so check back over time for more insights. I hope you enjoy the show! Kelly Let’s Deconstruct a Story on Apple Let’s Deconstruct a Story on Spotify ARTICLES AND BOOKS REFERENCED IN THIS PODCAST “Switchback Time” by Joan Silber“The Long-Clock Story” by Amy GustineThe Mookes and The Gripes thoughts on “The Progress of Love.”Tantalizing Silences: Articulating Pain in “.The Progress of Love” The Erotics of Restraint: Essays on Literary FormDouglas Glover (Author Guest, Keith Hood: Mostly true stuff even though not true of me. A Google search reveals that someone who shares Keith Hood’s name is a Compliance Director in Hoboken, NJ, a Senior Military Advisor in Washington D.C., and Managing Director of Warner Financial Services in the UK where a different Keith Hood established a thriving photographic business. Other Keith Hoods have experience in the medical field as dentist, periodontist, plastic surgeon, and ophthalmologist. A Keith Hood MD has written numerous articles in medical journals including, “Hematomas in Aesthetic Surgery.”(Again, I’m not that Keith Hood although I’ve written lots of short stories and essays (see Publications) but I’ve never written any medical articles. I don’t even have a college degree. I have never been a male or female prostitute, an operas singer or athlete. Despite rumors to the contrary, I have never been a staff writer for Star Trek: The Next Generation (although I tried my damnedest). Countless LinkedIn profiles say of various Keith Hoods that he is “an all-around splendid person.” For more on this Keith Hood, visit his website ⁠here. ⁠ Podcast Host Kelly Fordon: Kelly Fordon’s latest short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her 2016 Michigan Notable Book, Garden for the Blind (WSUP), was an INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press, 2019), was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. It was later adapted into a play by Robin Martin and published in The Kenyon Review Online. She is the author of three award-winning poetry chapbooks and has received a Best of the Net Award and Pushcart Prize nominations in three different genres. She teaches at Springfed Arts in Detroit and online.
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    1 hr
  • "Let's Deconstruct a Story" featuring Cara Blue Adams

    "Let's Deconstruct a Story" featuring Cara Blue Adams
    Mar 1 2024

    Hi Everyone,

    I'm thrilled to host Cara Blue Adams today on the podcast. We talked about her stellar short story, "Vision," available from Joyland Magazine. I met Cara years ago at the Kenyon Writers Workshop (which I highly recommend by the way...) so it was great fun to reconnect on the podcast.

    Cara's work was recommended by Vincent Perrone, who is a part owner of the co-op bookstore, Book Suey, in Hamtramck, MI, so he joined us for the podcast as well. See his bio below, and please consider buying from Bookshop or even directly from Book Suey to support local bookstores!

    Enjoy the show and see you on April 1st!

    Kelly

    Cara Blue Adams is the author of the interlinked story collection You Never Get It Back (University of Iowa Press, 2021), named a New York Times Editors’ Choice and awarded the John Simmons Short Fiction Prize, judged by Brandon Taylor, who calls it “a modern classic.” The collection was shortlisted for the Mary McCarthy Prize and longlisted for the Story Prize. Over twenty-five of her stories appear in magazines like the Granta, The Kenyon Review, Epoch, American Short Fiction, and Electric Literature, and her nonfiction appears in Bookforum and The Believer.

    She has received the Kenyon Review Short Fiction Prize, the Missouri Review William Peden Prize, and the Meringoff Prize in Fiction, along with a 2018 Center for Fiction Emerging Writer fellowship and selection as a Pushcart Prize Notable. She has also received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the VCCA, the Lighthouse Works, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

    Cara earned a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Smith College and an MFA from the University of Arizona. Originally from Vermont, she has lived in Boston, Tucson, Montreal, Maine, South Carolina, and Baton Rouge. She is a former coeditor of The Southern Review. Currently, she is an associate professor in the MFA program at Temple University and lives in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley.

    Purchase Cara's book at Book Suey (link above) or Book Shop or Amazon.

    My co-host:

    Vincent James Perrone is the author of the poetry collection, Starving Romantic (11:11 Press, 2018), the microchap, Travelogue For The Dispossessed (Ghost City Press, 2021), and a contributor to the anthology, Collected Voices in the Expanded Field (11:11 Press, 2020). His recent and forthcoming work can be found in Pithead Chapel, New Flash Fiction Review, TIMBER, Storm Cellar, and A Common Well Journal. Vincent lives in Detroit where he teaches at Wayne State University. He reads for Conduit and is a member-owner of the co-op bookstore, Book Suey.


    #shortstories

    #creativewriting

    #joylandmag

    #kenyonreview

    #booksuey
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    44 mins
Literature & Fiction
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