Writers on Writing

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone
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A weekly podcast hosted by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone on the art and business of writing.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    T.C. Boyle, author of NO WAY HOME

    T. Coraghessan Boyle is the author of thirty books of fiction, including The Tortilla Curtain, Talk to Me, I Walk Between the Raindrops, and most recently, No Way Home. He received a Ph.D. degree in Nineteenth Century British Literature from the University of Iowa in 1977 and his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1974. His work has been translated into more than two dozen foreign languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian, Farsi, and Vietnamese. His stories have appeared in most of the major American magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper's, and The Atlantic Monthly, and he has been the recipient of many literary awards, including the PEN/Faulkner and the PEN/Malamud. He lives with his family near Santa Barbara. T.C. Boyle joins Barbara to talk about what he needs to know before he begins writing, how he decides whether an idea fits the short story format or novel, theme, writing multiple point of view characters, concerns that find their way into his work, 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 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. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded March 27, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

    54 min

  2. 20 APR

    Louise Erdrich, author of PYTHON'S KISS

    Louise Erdrich in one of those relatively rare authors who has won both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. She’s authored 19 novels as well as story collections, poetry collections, children’s books and nonfiction. Her first novel, Love Medicine, was the only debut ever to with the National Book Critic Circle Award for Fiction. The Round House won the National Book Award in 2012. The Night Watchman won the Pulitzer in 2021. Her latest story collection is Python’s Kiss. It contains 13 stories, two of which already appear in this year’s The Best American Short Stories and The O’Henry Prize Winners Best Short Stories. Five of them were in The New Yorker. They’re historical fiction, science fiction, ghost stories, love stories. And they’re accompanied by gorgeous artwork from Louise’s daughter — Aza— that only adds to the depth of these stories. Louise joins Marrie Stone to talk about the collection, including playing with points of view, world building, landing the ending, the creation of effective lists, titles, how animals can work in fiction, managing time in a short story, 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 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. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded April 6, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

    59 min

  3. 14 APR

    Dylan Landis, author of LIST OF ALL POSSIBLE DESIRES: A Novel in Stories

    Dylan Landis is the author of three works of fiction in the Rainey Royal Cycle, set in 1970s Greenwich Village: List of All Possible Desires, a novel in stories; the novel Rainey Royal, a New York Times Editors’ Choice; and the novel in stories Normal People Don’t Live Like This. Her work has appeared in O. Henry Prize Stories and Best American Nonrequired Reading, and she has received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in fiction. In a past life she wrote six books on interior design. She lives in Los Angeles. Dylan joins Barbara to talk about writing a novel with standalone stories, how she comes up with her incredibly original similes and metaphors, dramatic arc, revisions, characters that won’t leave us alone, and the four things a reader needs that writers should keep in mind, 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 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. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded April 3, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

    1 hr

  4. 31 MAR

    Allegra Goodman, author of THIS IS NOT ABOUT US

    Allegra Goodman’s new book, This Is Not About Us, is a Late Show With Stephen Colbert Book Club Selection.  Her novels include Isola (a Reese’s Book Club selection and Libby award winner), Sam (a Read With Jenna Book Club selection), The Chalk Artist (winner of the Massachusetts Book Award), and more. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and elsewhere and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories Raised in Honolulu, Goodman studied English and philosophy at Harvard and received a PhD in English literature from Stanford. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award, the Salon Award for Fiction, and fellowships from MacDowell and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Allegra joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about literary fiction, writing in different genres, revision, short stories, how much she knows about her story before going in, readers, 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 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. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded February 20, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

    38 min

  5. 17 MAR

    Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, author of LAKE EFFECT

    Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney is the author of the instant New York Times bestselling novels The Nest (named a best book of the year by People, the Washington Post, and NPR) and Good Company (a Read with Jenna selection). She has been a guest on Today, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and NPR’s All Things Considered. Her work has been translated into more than 28 languages, and The Nest is in development as a limited series with AMC Studios. Cynthia holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She and her husband live in New York City. Her new novel is Lake Effect. Cynthia joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to discuss writing multiple point of view characters, why she based the book in the ‘70s, themes, stucture, naming characters, 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 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. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded February 16, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

    51 min

  6. 7 MAR

    Larissa Pham, author of DISCIPLINE

    Larissa Pham’s writing has appeared in The Nation, the New York Times Book Review, Aperture, Bookforum, Art in America, Granta, the Paris Review Daily, and elsewhere. Her essays and short fiction have been anthologized in Kink (Simon and Schuster, 2021); Wanting: Women Writing on Desire (Catapult, 2023); and Critical Hits, an anthology of writing on video games (Graywolf, 2023). She holds an MFA in fiction from Bennington. She is an Assistant Professor of Writing at the New School. Her debut novel, just published, is Discipline. Larissa joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about plot, narrative tense, the freedom of writing without quotation marks, metafiction, revision, naming characters, themes, 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 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. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded February 6, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

    50 min

  7. 16 FEB

    Reena Shah, author of EVERY HAPPINESS

    Reena Shah is a writer, editor, and teacher. Her work has been featured in the Masters Review, Electric Literature, Joyland, BBC, the American Prospect, National Geographic and the Guardian, among other publications. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Millay Arts, Tin House, and the Fulbright Foundation. She received an MFA in fiction from the Michener Center for Writers, where she won the Keene Prize for Literature. For many years, she was a kathak dancer in New York and India. She now lives on Roosevelt Island, NY, with her family and teaches in a public school. Her debut novel is Every Happiness, the focus of our discussion. Reena joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and they talk about being a writer in training, a short story that led to the novel, complicated friend relationships, the time it takes to finish a novel, having faith in a project while also doubting, the book’s title and cover, reader reviews, 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 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. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded February 6, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

    1hr 6min

  8. 16 FEB

    Mark Haddon, author of LEAVING HOME: A MEMOIR IN FULL COLOUR

    Mark Haddon might be best known for his 2003 breakout novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. But it’s only the tip of a body of work that stretches across genres and artforms. He’s the author of three other adult novels, including The Porpoise and two collections of short stories. Dogs and Monsters came out last year. He’s also written poetry and plays. Before The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark wrote over a dozen children’s books. He’s also an illustrator and visual artist. Out this month is Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour, which gives us access to his amazing mind and provides one roadmap into the creative process (recognizing there are an infinite number of roads). He joins Marrie Stone to talk about his insights into the craft including using constraints to enhance creativity, why he no longer uses flowcharts to map his work, how the flow state in writing differs from visual art, how writers’ childhoods are different, and how he leaned into his writing weaknesses to produce The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He also talks about mental illness and creativity, points of view he won’t touch, 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 February 2, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

    58 min
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About

A weekly podcast hosted by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone on the art and business of writing.

Information

  • Creator
    Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 622498
  • Show Website
    Writers on Writing

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