Write The Book

An interview from the archives with Sue William Silverman about her memoir, The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo Saxon Jew (University of Nebraska). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a fantasized, imagined or real relationship with a star. From Pat Boone to David Cassidy, Britney Spears to Timothee Chalamet, heart throbs have always energized teens. You could write from a fan’s perspective, a star’s, that of an agent, a producer, a chauffeur. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 713  

A conversation from the archives with Vermont children’s author Elizabeth Bluemle, about her picture book, TAP TAP, BOOM BOOM (Candlewick Press). My son and I once experienced a hurricane in Florida. Those of you who know storms might remember Charlie, in 2004. We stayed in a motel in Winter Park–a second-story room with an outside entry that looked out at the parking lot. The storm was fierce and loud. We lost electricity and the room went dark, but outside the winds were furious and sounded like the world would end. The eye arrived, and with it an eerie silence. Hotel guests all stepped out of our rooms and stood leaning on the metal railings, looking down at the parking lot, talking, eventually feeling a kind of rapport that comes with facing the unknown. When the winds picked up again, we all went back inside our darkened rooms, feeling like we knew the neighbors who surrounded us, if just a little bit. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a weather incident bringing people together, as the

Interview from the archives with award-winning author Joshua Ferris on his novel, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (Little Brown and Company). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a visit to the dentist. Your scene, story or poem might involve the patient’s perspective, that of the dentist, the hygienist. Maybe you write about the waiting room, a moment in the parking lot, or the dreaded chair itself. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 711  

Vermont Author Joy Cohen, whose debut novel is 37 (Guernica Editions).  This week's Write the Book Prompt was generously offered by my guest Joy Cohen during our conversation. She suggests making two lists: the first, a list of 10 characters. They can be actual people in your life, such as your mom or dad, your best friend, the pharmacist, the mail carrier, people that you know really well or don't know at all. They could include fictional characters from movies or books. Just make a list of ten. Then make a list of ten activities such as going for a bike ride, attending a funeral, eating breakfast... anything active. Then put the papers away. A few days later, before you read the two lists, randomly pick out two numbers. Maybe three and seven. For your exercise, you'll take character number three and put that person in situation number seven, and then write about that. Joy finds the people in her classes enjoy this prompt and come up with great scenes and scenarios.  Good luck with your work in the coming w

Poet A.E. Hines, whose debut collection is Any Dumb Animal (Main Street Rag). A new prompt for the week comes from A.E. Hines, and touches on something we discussed during the interview you just heard: Write a poem that explores duality, by comparing and contrasting two topics that are generally considered opposites. For example:  Where is the light in the darkness?  Or, pick one or multiple things that are considered hard, and describe them as soft. Describe a moment of gratitude in the midst of grief.  Or love that led to great loss.  Again, it doesn’t matter where you start, just pick a pair of opposing ideas, and brainstorm a list of comparisons. Then arrange them into a poem and see where this experiment takes you. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 709

A new interview with Swiss Author Peter Stamm, whose latest story collection is It's Getting Dark (Other Press). Peter Stamm generously suggested a  Write the Book Prompt for today’s show. Go to the cemetery and see what the stones tell you about the people who are buried there. You’ll learn from the stones themselves, but also from their names and dates, from details occasionally listed on the stones, from any flowers left at the graveside. You’ll be surprised by how much you might learn about those who went before us. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 708  

Wendy Sanford, author, editor, and a founding member of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. Her debut memoir is These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class (SheWrites Press).  On Wendy Sanford’s website you can go to a page titled Meet Mary Norman: Leading the way for women in New Jersey corrections work 1968-1993. On that page are a series of events that shaped Mary Norman’s life and the people she worked with. These are interesting stories that highlight her contributions. For example, when she was punished for her belief in prisoner rehabilitation, she turned what was meant to be a demeaning demotion into a training program to teach pre-release inmates how to prepare for next steps, filling out work applications, dressing for interviews, things like that. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to go to that site and read about Mary Norman and her work. Then, if you are moved to do so, write a poem, story, or essay about whatever comes to mind. Maybe you could write about one o

Author and Journalist Jonah Lehrer, whose new book is Mystery: A Seduction, A Strategy, A Solution (Avid Reader Press). This week’s Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Jonah Lehrer: Read a detective story and look for the false clues planted in the first five pages, or in Act I, depending on the work. In a Poe story or a Conan Doyle, there are so many missed leads, and you forget about them once you know the ending. But to create the surprise, a lot of work needs to be done. There are many mechanics involved in setting up that surprising twist. And studying the stories or novels of others can help us learn about those mechanics. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 706

A conversation from the archives with the author Anne Lamott about her book Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son (Riverhead), which concerns being a grandparent. I myself became a Nana (again) last week, and so I've uploaded this interview without re-recording the intro and outro. Please excuse this lapse. I'm busy helping out.  This week's Write the Book Prompt is to write some memory of your own grandmother, grandfather, or perhaps another person who filled that role for you if you never knew your grandparents. I myself only knew one of the four, but I had a couple of great aunts who loved and fussed over me, and they were wonderful forces of good in my life.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music credit: Aaron Shapiro 705

Award-Winning Nigerian Author Uwem Akpan, whose debut novel is New York, My Village (Norton).  This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about a time that your own success or advancement was stymied by bureaucracy, as visitors to America can be stymied by the process of trying to get a visa. Was your experience further complicated by some kind of prejudice or racism? If not, how might that have changed things for you? Was your goal a matter of life and death, professional success, or merely convenience? Consider what it might be like to walk in someone else’s shoes, for better or for worse, in that same situation, and write.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 704

Vermont Author Michael Freed-Thall, whose debut novel is Horodno Burning (Rootstock). Consider this Write the Book Prompt, inspired by my conversation with Michael: try using history as a frame from which to hang your characters in writing a story, poem, essay or longer piece. As you work, be sure you are accurately rendering the historical period, researching the industry, technology, customs, and events of the period.  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 703

Vermont Author Melissa Perley, whose 2019 book The Violin Family (Rootstock) was recently named a winner in the Children’s Category of the 2021 Indie Reader Discovery Awards. Here's a musical Write the Book Prompt: listen to a piece of music and try to describe it in your work. It's harder than it sounds!  Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 702  

A conversation from the archives with Vermont author and former president of Vermont College of Fine Arts, Thomas Christopher Greene, about his novel The Headmaster's Wife (Thomas Dunne).  On Friday, at a football game in Burlington High School's stadium, community members were treated to a very special halftime show featuring many students and teachers appearing in drag. According to The Washington Post, and yes, this was covered by The Washington Post, the idea came from Andrew LeValley, an English teacher and alliance adviser at the school. He is quoted as saying, “I was just really hoping to give our students — who are both out and the students that were in the stands who are not out — a moment to shine and feel loved, and know that there is a place for them in public schools.” I loved reading this story, both the spirit behind the event and the support with which the performance was met. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to write about someone who wears clothing that is new to them and perhaps makes a

Award-winning author Donald Antrim, whose new memoir is One Friday in April: A Story of Suicide and Survival (Norton). In presenting his viewpoint that suicide is a disease, Donald Antrim experiments early in the book with a presentation of labels and names for mental illness. As you heard in the interview, this list begins, “Depression, hysteria, melancholia, nervousness, neurosis…” and goes on for nearly two pages. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to use a list of words in an interesting way to make a point. Perhaps you are writing about the foliage season. Might it be interesting to present a running list of trees and bushes that offer brilliant color in the fall: maple, oak, elm, hackberry, white birch, larch, tamarack, hazelnut. What could you do to make such a list both interesting, as poetic sound, and evocative? How might you then transition back into your text to continue making your point? Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music

Award-winning director and playwright Lisa Peterson, who has penned a translation of Hamlet for the Play on Shakespeare project, a series published by ACMRS Press. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to choose a piece of your work and try to translate it for a different audience than it was originally intended. Change the language so that it might have made sense three hundred years ago. Or put it into words you could read to a child. Change it to appeal to someone from a different culture. If you are bilingual, translate it into another language. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 699

Award-winning author Ruth Ozeki, whose latest novel is The Book of Form and Emptiness (Viking). In our conversation, Ruth mentioned that she has to dig really deep to find her characters and fully understand them. This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to consider a character you are working on; perhaps someone you don’t fully understand yet. Ask yourself these questions about this character:  What does he or she want? (And from here on, I’m going with she, to make life easier…) Has she had it before and lost it, or does she want something she has never had or achieved? What will happen if she does not get what she wants?  Will this affect anyone else?  Does she care about affecting anyone else?  Where does she come from?  What situation or life does she come from? What matters to her?  Who or what is keeping her from getting what she wants?  Does she know that this person or situation is to blame?  How does she feel about this person or situation?  What is she willing to do to change the situation?  Does she s

Vermont Author and former WTB Co-Host Gary Miller, whose new nonfiction book for students and their teachers is There's No Way to Do It Wrong!: How to Get Young Learners to Take Risks, Tell Stories, Share Opinions, and Fall in Love with Writing.  Gary generously offered us one of his many writing prompts to use for a Write the Book Prompt today. And that prompt is to begin with the sentence, “They told me, but of course I didn’t listen.” See where it takes you. Write for seven minutes. And there is no way to do it wrong! Good luck with your work in the coming week and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.  Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 697

Vermont Poet Ralph Culver, whose new collection is A Passable Man (Mad Hat Press). In his poem, "Tableau," Ralph Culver writes about one person sharing a space with two other versions of himself, presumably over time (though this is never stated overtly). For a Write the Book Prompt, try experimenting with a similar moment that captures multiple expressions of one person - perhaps three ages, three states of mind, or three memories. Whatever strikes you as interesting. Good luck with this, and please tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion. Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 696

Interview with the poet Maggie Smith, whose new collection of poems, is Goldenrod (One Signal). This week’s Write the Book Prompt, suggested by my guest, Maggie Smith, is based on the work of Joe Brainard, who wrote the book I Remember. The book is essentially prose poetry, and each line begins with the words “I remember.” Maggie says that the idea is that if you do that over a couple of pages in a big rush without editing yourself or self-censoring, or even trying, you may find yourself connecting ideas you might not have otherwise. She says to consider “first thought, best thought,” and then use the material to mine through for new poems and projects. This same book was recommended in an earlier prompt suggestion from Lauren Fox, so I’m betting it’s a great exercise to try! But to put another spin on it, since Lauren also mentioned this for a prompt and perhaps you’ve already tried it, I’ll additionally suggest that you try writing lines that begin with the words “I miss…”  Good luck with your work in the c

An interview from the archives with the author Jessica Hendry Nelson, who has a new book out - co-authored with fellow former Write the Book Guest Sean Prentiss: Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writer's Guide and Anthology, just out from Bloomsbury. During this interview, we talked about her memoir, If Only You People Could Follow Directions (Counterpoint). This week’s Write the Book Prompt is inspired by the title of my guest’s memoir, If Only You People Could Follow Directions. Write a list of simple directions concerning how to do something - how to change a tire, how to make pasta, how to tape a room before painting it - and then expand on that list, making it into an essay that has deeper meaning. Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.   Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro 694