The Other 51

Brian Moritz
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The Other 51

Writing advice? We've got that. A podcast that gets your favorite writers to spill their secrets. Every episode is a new writer: comic artists to Broadway scribes, sports reporters to authors.

  1. OCT 25

    Who Are These Women? with Jennifer Ashley Tepper

    “What’s the book that I would write if I had time?” Jennifer Ashley Tepper joins us for a deep dive into her upcoming book, “Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy That the History Books Left Out.” Jennifer, a Broadway historian, producer and 2022 Tony Honore (!!!), talks about how she came to the idea of writing about 300-plus women writers, dating back to the 1700s, who have written musical theater. She talks about how she started to write the book during deep isolation in Covid - but really started writing it even earlier than that. How do you do historical research during a worldwide shutdown, and how do you research people who have been left out of the history books? Jennifer talks about how online library resources and newspaper archives were so useful, and how restrictions can be helpful to a creative person. Jen and Brian talk about what stories get left out of the history books, how work that addresses the experiences or perspectives of women (or other marginalized communities) during a past era might be seen as dated, and how cast recordings are a kind of unintentional gatekeeping. If something’s out of print, it’s like it didn’t exist. Rabbit holes include Toni Tennille’s long-forgotten environmental musical, which was produced by Roger Ailes, and watching TikToks on Instagram like a grown up. “To get to finally share these stories with people is thrilling to me, because so many of them are untold Broadway stories that deserve to be told.”

    30 min

  2. OCT 10

    Let's Find Out Together with Stuart Turton

    “I’ve got this crazy idea, it would be Agatha Christie meets Lost. They were like ‘how are you gonna pull that off?’ and I was like ‘I have absolutely no idea.” Stuart Turton joins Brian to talk about the writing of his New York Times bestseller, “The Last Murder at the End of the World.”  Stuart talks about how this was the hardest book he’s ever written, why it was so hard, and how he had to throw a full 130,000-word draft away and start over. He talks about how he knew things weren’t working and the changes he made that changed everything. Turns out, he killed the wrong person.  Stuart and Brian talk about the unintentional symbolism of the fog, the beauty of the mourning lanterns, why Stuart hates red herrings, and how the constraints of writing a mystery novel are like a game of chess to him. “That’s the thing that you started with, that was your premise, that was your holy grail, and that's the reason you started writing this book. But it's not working. So have courage and toss it.”

    34 min

  3. SEP 27

    We Wrote a Book with Matt Zimmerman and Lauren Burch

    “After 190 episodes talking about other’s people writing, I finally get to talk about something I wrote!” Brian is joined by Matthew Zimmeran and Lauren Burch, and the three of them talk about their new textbook, Introduction to Sports Journalism.  We talk about how Matt started the project and how/why he asked us to be a part of it. We talk about our different writing styles and methods, how Brian’s writing habits give Lauren anxiety, and how our three voices turned into one cohesive book. We also talk about the challenges of balancing theory with the need for practicality, and how we to tried to balance writing something as permanent as a book about such a fast-changing industry. Anyway, I’m super proud of the book and so proud that I got to do it with friends of mine.

    41 min

  4. SEP 13

    Solving That Puzzle with Joe Posnanski

    “I feel like my place as a writer is sort of that place between what happened and the mythology of what’s happening.”  Joe Posnanski joins Brian for a deep dive into his new book, Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments.  Joe talks about how he started with a list of more than 300 football moments and the process of whittling those down. It’s an honest and super nerdy discussion about how early drafts of the book weren’t working, what Joe did to work through those struggles, and how writing about The Drive unlocked the book for him Joe also talks about how we was able to write a collection of essays while maintaining a central theme, how the Don Beebe-Leon Lett play is the perfect example of why we love football, and what kind of athlete “Brian Moritz” would be.  “For me as a writer, the moment where the book came alive for me was when I started to think of it as a football game … every play is its own little universe in football.”

    35 min

  5. AUG 22

    Take it Deeper with Tyler Dunne

    “I think those fans deserve the truth. They don't need to be pandered to, they don't need to be misled.” Tyler Dunne, the man behind Go Long and the best NFL feature writer working today, joins Brian to talk about Sean McDermott, Zay Jones and so much more.  Ty talks about the aftermath of his Sean McDermott series, how the coach and the team responded to that explosive series and reached out to him and how he’s now credentialed by the Bills. Tyler talks about the conversation he had with McDermott at the NFL Combine and what it felt like to walk into that meeting.  We then do a deep dive into his feature on Zay Jones that won him a first place award in the APSE National Writing Contest. Tyler talks about his tools for gently steering a conversation in an interview, how to handle the elephant in the room, and the value of doing extra reporting beyond the main interview. He also discusses how he protects his own mental health when writing and reporting heavy features, and how these stories make him want to be a better person. “It's a people business, it's a human business, and you just want to have conversations and you just want to treat people like human beings.”

    39 min

  6. MAY 10

    A Book on Ya Ya with Jenn Billinson

    Dr. Jenn Billinson from Nazareth University joins Brian for a deep, deep dive into Cowboy Carter, The Tortured Poets Department, and the role of music writing in today’s media world.

    44 min

  7. APR 18

    Caution is Kindness with Jen Moritz

    “When in doubt, choose not to harm somebody.” Jen Moritz, senior editor and inclusive language specialist at (and Brian’s wife) joins us to talk about inclusive language. What is inclusive language? So glad you asked! Jen defines the term for us, and also describes how she got interested and involved in this area of editing. She tells us how the pandemic influenced her interest in inclusive language, how editing for inclusive language is an extension of her “Grammar Tingle” and what she does when that is activated by word or phrase, and how inclusive editing can help connect us back to our humanity in an increasingly digital world. We also go down a rabbit hole about the phrase “rule of thumb” and what to do when people think you’re wrong but you’re actually right. Other rabbit holes include dragon smut, fairy smut, banned books and Maintenance Phase. Also, as far as we can tell, “flying by the seat of your pants” is not problematic. As a phrase, at least. “You will always be learning. You will never have perfect language and perfect representation. You’re just doing your best.”

    34 min

  8. APR 11

    BONUS Episode: AP Style and obesity

    Next week, our regularly scheduled episode with Jen Moritz will be out. We’ll be talking all about inclusive language. However. Early in April, the Associated Press announced updates to its style book. Including new guidance on writing about “obese, obesity and overweight” We, um, we have some thoughts. And so, a bonus episode. Enjoy! And be sure to listen to our non-bonus episode with Jen next week. This was largely inspired by the work of Maintenance Phase.

    20 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Writing advice? We've got that. A podcast that gets your favorite writers to spill their secrets. Every episode is a new writer: comic artists to Broadway scribes, sports reporters to authors.

Information

  • Creator
    Brian Moritz
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2024
  • Episodes
    200
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Brian Moritz. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Other 51

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