Good Writing Podcast

Happy (belated) Halloween, Good Writing subscribers! In today's episode, we discuss Shirley Jackson's 1959 gothic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House.
What makes this "psychological ghost story" work so well? Subjectivity. The characters tell us their subjection version of the events, which leaves the reader to fill in the gaps with maximum spookiness.
Plus, we discuss a sentence that Ben called "a literary kickflip" and a terrifying walk that Emily is nominating for most romantic moment of 1959.
Emily recommends Abandon Me
Ben recommends (with caveats) the 2022 movie The Whale
Good Writing is a podcast where two MFA friends read like writers and lay out craft ideas for fellow writers to steal. Co-hosted by Emily Donovan and Benjamin Kerns.
Twitter: @goodwritingpod 
Email: goodwritingpodcast@gmail.com

Dune is a weird book. Some might even say, a bad book. Emily does on this episode, and so does Ben (sort of). Herbert’s prose style is definitely stilted, but what Ben and Emily get into on this episode is the absolutely strange choice he’s made to write the entire thing in third person omniscient, and they try to figure out how thinking works in fiction.
Ben recommends Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said
Emily recommends One Hundred Years of Solitude
Good Writing is a podcast where two MFA friends read like writers and lay out craft ideas for fellow writers to steal. Co-hosted by Emily Donovan and Benjamin Kerns.
Twitter: @goodwritingpod 
Email: goodwritingpodcast@gmail.com

We love insights and character motivation on this podcast! 😤 But we also like scenes that move the story forward.
This week, we discuss the hilarious Milk Fed by Melissa Broder (2021) and how she introduces a therapist character who feels realistic while still creating all of the insights that we expect when a character goes to therapy.
A link we promised to include in the show notes: Listen to Danez Smith read their poem “Dear White America”
Good Writing is a podcast where two MFA friends read like writers and lay out craft ideas for fellow writers to steal. Co-hosted by Emily Donovan and Benjamin Kerns.
Twitter: @goodwritingpod 
Email: goodwritingpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode of the Good Writing Podcast, Ben and Emily discuss what it means to write an image that by no right can actually be seen.
Good Writing is a podcast where two MFA friends read like writers and lay out craft ideas for fellow writers to steal. Co-hosted by Emily Donovan and Benjamin Kerns.
Twitter: @goodwritingpod 
Email: goodwritingpodcast@gmail.com

It's been 6 months of podcasting! Ben and Emily review some of their favorite prompts and exercises from the past 25 episodes of the Good Writing Podcast.
Listen to the full episodes clipped here:
Brett Biebel - On Compactness, Objects and Perfection with Josephine Rowe
How to Write with Yourself as the Subject - Megan Boyle’s Liveblog
Real Settings That Mess With Your Characters from Kristen Arnett & Patricia Lockwood
The Best Sentence in Pride and Prejudice
 
Good Writing is a podcast where two MFA friends read like writers and lay out craft ideas for fellow writers to steal. Co-hosted by Emily Donovan and Benjamin Kerns.
Twitter: @goodwritingpod 
Email: goodwritingpodcast@gmail.com

This episode of the Good Writing Podcast deals with the ethics that the writer must grapple with when writing, especially when that writing deals with people from the so-called real world with the help of Melissa Febos' parables.
"A Big Shitty Party" by Melissa Febos.
Good Writing is a podcast where two MFA friends read like writers and lay out craft ideas for fellow writers to steal. Co-hosted by Emily Donovan and Benjamin Kerns.
Twitter: @goodwritingpod 
Email: goodwritingpodcast@gmail.com