Bad Lit Friends

Bad Lit Friends
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  • Updated Weekly

Bad Lit Friends is a writing podcast that barely knows what it's doing. And that’s the point. Hosted by fiction writers Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty, this show is equal parts craft discussion, existential despair, ego massage, and wildly unsolicited hot takes. Each episode blends honest conversations about the creative process, the publishing industry, and the messiness of trying to create highfalutin art, with hot-and-occasionally-right takes, and a dash of internet drama. If you've ever felt like you're writing into the void, you're not alone — grab a seat, bring your worst draft.

  1. 2d ago

    The Author Industrial Complex, Part 2

    We're back with Part 2 of The Author Industrial Complex, a series that was totally planned and not just us having too many feelings and very little discipline! This week, we discuss how to balance serving your readers without losing your mind or your voice (you can only choose one, so choose wisely); pen names for fun and profit*; why romance writing is for everyone; ARC reviewer entitlement; and how writing about an awful person does NOT equal endorsement despite whatever some rando on Threads named Monica may accuse you of. (Seriously Monica, that is not what Nabokov was writing about.) Plus in Hot Goss: an update about the fake literary agency that turned out to be a book marketing campaign powered by unfeasible amount of AI. Gross. Very gross. So gross. No one was harmed in the making of this episode except our faith in humanity. Again. *Bad Lit Friends does not guarantee any profits from your writing. No backsies, no giveses, so there. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠  Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠  Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠ Show notes: Meagan's underappreciated Woodward and Bernstein moment on Bluesky about the literary agency that wasn't: https://bsky.app/profile/thecrumpet.bsky.social/post/3mlm6epvbyc2w

    1h 5m

  2. May 22

    The Emotional Craft of Fiction Writing

    This week, Meagan is away, and Kirk is joined by fantasy author Anne Wells for an in-depth conversation about the emotional craft of fiction writing: how to bring all the feels instead of just pelting readers with plot points and explosions for 300 pages. We talked about interiority, emotional layering, flawed characters, trauma done well versus trauma...um...not done well, and why you should give readers a chance to breathe (hint: so you can emotionally destroy them again.) Also discussed: horror novels, Soviet bowling alleys, Studio Ghibli, Heath Ledger’s Joker, and the deeply cursed YA Tough Girl archetype. Anne breaks down how she approaches emotional arcs in her own writing, including the challenge of balancing dread, wonder, longing, and fear. Kirk mostly uses this as an opportunity to realize he now has to go back and rewrite all his books. Again. No Hot Goss this week (booooo!) but you're gonna love us anyway! Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠  Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠  Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠⁠⁠ Show notes: Go visit Anne's website and sign up for her newsletter so you can get her free short story! https://aewells-writes.com And give Anne a follow on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/a.e.wells.writes/ Books: Craft books: The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass Story Genius by Lisa Cron Kirk's recommended horror reads: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter American Rapture by C. J. Leede Anne's recommended Fantasy read: Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

    1h 11m

  3. May 15

    The Author Industrial Complex

    This week we're talking about all the ways authors are pulled in opposing directions: branding, marketability, genre expectations, comp titles, platform anxiety, and the increasingly cursed reality that writing a book also requires becoming a product. We unpack the push-pull between art and commerce, why publishing wants your book to be both completely original and exactly like three recent bestsellers, and the emotional consequences of trying to stay authentic while also remaining marketable. And in Hot Goss: a querying writer decides to get a little too creative, and we remind everyone that a query letter is, in fact, a professional document. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠  Threads: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠  Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠⁠

    54 min

  4. May 8

    BLF Court Is Now in Session: Archetypes on Trial

    Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! The Court of Bad Lit Friends is now in session, and the defendants have been waiting a looooong time for their day of reckoning. In this episode, we don our very snazzy judicial robes and put character archetypes on trial, because after five thousand years of showing up in every story ever told, it's time to ask some tough questions. Are these archetypes still earning their keep, or just showing up for a paycheck? Are they so trite and ubiquitous that they need to be escorted from the building post haste? The BLF tribunal will decide and while the quality of mercy is not strained, not every ruling will droppeth as the gentle rain. The verdicts may surprise you. Or not. You know what we’re like by now. Plus: Hot Goss takes a hard right turn into territory we cannot fully explain that will become immediately obvious when you listen to the episode. What we will say is this: some aesthetic choices are not defensible in a court of law or anywhere else. No further questions; the prosecution absolutely rests. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠  Threads: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠  Instagram: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends Website: ⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠ Show notes:  RMFW Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards – submissions open through May 25, 2026: https://www.rmfw.org/colorado_gold_rush_literary_aw.php Romancing the Stone trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LX2zfbF0Rs The Pirate and the Pagan by Virginia Henley – the book Meagan was convinced had a main character named Rogue, but it’s not, it’s Ruark, and Meagan probably needs to take some Prevagen: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/886620.The_Pirate_and_the_Pagan

    1h 9m

  5. May 5

    By the Pricking of Our Thumbs: On Writing Villains

    Description: This week, we’re talking villains: the delicious ones, the flat ones, and the ones you love to ruin your main characters' lives with. We get into what separates a villain from an antagonist, why your best bad guys need motives beyond “mwahaha” and twirly mustaches, and how to make them compelling. We also talk about why the most interesting villains are usually just your protagonist flipped inside-out (gross). We also unpack their own resident monsters, and why sometimes the real villain is, as ever, capitalism. In Hot Goss: the deeply suspect Manning Literary Agency, its eerily static TikTok “agent,” and the increasingly plausible theory that Nigel Carlisle is involved in a water-wasting, energy-sucking, environmentally-unfriendly AI-powered romance. We have questions. Rude questions. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We’re glad you’re here, even if none of us know what we’re doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠ Threads: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠⁠ Show notes: Meagan has a $20 off coupon code for Dabble to share! Check show notes. https://app.dabblewriter.com?referralCode=8XMRGP2P  The Manning Literary Agency: Google it, we can't bring ourselves to actually link it. The Hamspsterdance song: https://youtu.be/6WpMlwVwydo The Pikes Peak Writers: https://pikespeakwriters.org/ Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference: https://www.rmfw.org/conference_homepage.php BLF After Dark: https://badlitfriends.com

    1h 2m

  6. Apr 25

    (Mostly) Good Lit Friends: In Conversation with Regina Robbins

    Kirk is at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference this week, so Meagan has done the only possible thing and invited her best friend since college, playwright/screenwriter/cultural critic/general force of nature Regina Alexandra Robbins to come hang out. And hang out they do, in a conversation about writing across forms, making an actual career out of this whole storytelling thing, the deeply unhinged world of the Yale English Department in the early-to-mid 90s, Wuthering Heights (obviously), VC Andrews (also obviously), and the miniseries Lace. And in Hot Goss: what happens when readers decide fiction should function as a mirror at all times? Regina and Meagan have thoughts and they are correct. Kirk has not been replaced. We checked. (Apologies for the occasionally funky sound issues, which Dennis from Riverside was most decidedly UNHELPFUL in helping us fix. Dennis, you may be a good person but your future is not in customer support.) Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠ Threads: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠ Show notes: Regina’s website: www.reginarobbins.com Regina on TDF Stages! /www.tdf.org/author/regina-robbins/ Regina (as Robin Monica Alexander) on Popdose: /popdose.com/author/robin-monica-alexander/ Regina at Time Out New York: https://www.timeout.com/profile/regina-robbins Gigi's Gen-X Singalong (cultural meditations and whatnot from the first decade of the 21st century): https://genxsingalong.wordpress.com/ Lefferts House (where the provisionally-titled Sugar Shock will be staged this September): https://www.prospectpark.org/visit-the-park/places-to-go/lefferts-historic-house/ Important cultural moments discussed: 1939 Wuthering Heights (Oberon and Olivier): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EAbYjIGNGw 1987 TV miniseries version of Flowers in the Attic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwtcpYQeCho LACE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvZKJBIeArM

    1h 6m

  7. Apr 17

    Algorithmically Yours: How BookTok Ate Reading

    This week we throw BookTok on the pyre. Meagan sacrificed her wholesome cats and makeup tutorials algorithm just to research this episode for you, dear listener. Now it's shadow daddies and Colleen Hoover. You’re welcome! And on Hotgos, we take a swing at Amazon, so we fully expect our packages to be thrown onto the roofs of our domiciles for the foreseeable future. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠ Threads: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠

    56 min

  8. Apr 10

    Interview with Author Isaac Grijalva

    This week we're talking to author Isaac Grijalva about his debut novel 6 ½ Days in the City, an LGBTQIA contemporary novel about a bisexual, burnt-out EMT who's finally confronting trauma and healing during a life-altering NYC vacation with friends. Isaac shares his experience self-publishing, writing authentic queer representation, balancing EMT work with getting ready to attend medical school (!!!) AND writing, and how he tackles the uncomfortable parts of writing (yes, we're talking about spice, AGAIN). Plus: the importance of found family, panic disorder representation, and why humor really does belong in smutty scenes. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠ Bluesky: ⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠ Threads: ⁠@badlitfriends⁠ Instagram: ⁠@badlitfriends⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠ Website: ⁠badlitfriends.com Show Notes: Isaac’s website: https://isaacgrijalvabooks.com/. Buy 6 ½ Days in the City there!  Or if you prefer: https://www.amazon.com/6-1-2-Days-City-ebook/dp/B0F89S9WSG or https://bookshop.org/p/books/6-1-2-days-in-the-city-isaac-grijalva/f46d5f9762f99161?ean=9798994059234&next=t  Isaac’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@readingwithisaac123 Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@isaactaylorsversion99  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isaacgrijalvabooks (author account) and https://www.instagram.com/isaactaylorsversion99/ (personal account) Isaac’s reel we talked about around 55:20: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTgbOT4Elfj/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Isaac-Grijalva/61586260524231/#  Stuff we talked about: A Little Bit of Blue - Michelle Alese: https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-little-bit-of-blue-michelle-alese/b4ba101d4b1d9690?ean=9798227978158&next=t  Happy Place - Emily Henry: https://bookshop.org/p/books/happy-place-emily-henry/a3f04cca363ff4ec?ean=9780593441190&next=t  The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower-stephen-chbosky/c9bc8abd70dbc67b?ean=9780671027346&next=t  Great Big Beautiful Life - Emily Henry: https://bookshop.org/p/books/great-big-beautiful-life-reese-s-book-club-emily-henry/57d8b57f547bfb34?ean=9780593441299&next=t  We’re hoping GetCovers will give us cash for promoting them but we’re not counting on it! Getcovers.com

    1h 8m
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5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Bad Lit Friends is a writing podcast that barely knows what it's doing. And that’s the point. Hosted by fiction writers Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty, this show is equal parts craft discussion, existential despair, ego massage, and wildly unsolicited hot takes. Each episode blends honest conversations about the creative process, the publishing industry, and the messiness of trying to create highfalutin art, with hot-and-occasionally-right takes, and a dash of internet drama. If you've ever felt like you're writing into the void, you're not alone — grab a seat, bring your worst draft.

Information

  • Creator
    Bad Lit Friends
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Bad Lit Friends
  • Show Website
    Bad Lit Friends

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