Why Authors Write

Mary J Cronin
  • 5.0 (4)
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In candid conversations with bestselling authors, Why Authors Write goes behind the covers to get inside creative minds and find out what propels these authors to keep on writing, from inspiration to publication.   Join Mary J. Cronin and co-hosts Kristie Dickinson, Sara Standon, and Becca Cronin as we dive into the personal backstories that make a writer’s work unforgettable. Follow along on the path that authors travel, from that irresistible spark of an idea, through overcoming frustration and sometimes tear-your-hair out writer's block, to finding the confidence and flow to get a book over the finish line.    We dig deep to ask the questions you are curious about: Where do your best plot ideas come from? Is that villain based on a real-life character? How long does it take you to get from the book’s starting line to publication?  And much, much more.   If you want to find out what inspires your favorite authors to keep on writing, subscribe now so you won’t miss out on a single episode. Looking for more details on your favorite authors and interviews?  Visit Mary’s website: 4QCatalyst for Why Authors Write show notes, author clips and quotes, and previews of future episodes.   

  1. 2d ago

    Julie Dalton on Loss & Hope in "The Forest Becomes Her"

    Julie Carrick Dalton joins Kristie Dickinson on Why Authors Write to talk about her unforgettable and hopeful climate fiction novel, The Forest Becomes Her. Set in Concord, Massachusetts, this literary eco-thriller reveals the unexpected human costs of destroying an old-growth forest for a so-called “eco-friendly” development.  Dalton takes us inside the hearts of three women who take action to reclaim their connection to land, to their bodies, and to their own rage. The book’s unlikely heroines are Polly, Hazel, and Stella—a 13-year-old, a woman in her 30s, and a woman in her 50s.  The loss of the forest forces each to confront their inner selves and commit to seismic external change. In the The Forest Becomes Her Julie Dalton asks us all to confront the implications of climate change with an unexpected twist: What if the forest had agency? What if nature could push back—not with fantasy violence, but with a deep, spiritual, and emotional reckoning? In this episode, Dalton shares how her real-life experiences shaped this novel.  As a 13-year-old, she adored the woods behind her childhood home—naming trees, treating the forest as a best friend—until it was clear-cut without warning. That devastation imprinted deeply enough that she later handed it to her character Polly, whose story begins with a similar loss. Buying and rewilding threatened land in New Hampshire as an adult helped Dalton work through deep feelings of climate anxiety and hopelessness. She has come to believe that preaching climate doom is a disempowering dead end for concerned citizens. Instead, she is choosing to “love the hell out of what’s left” in the natural world.  Julie believes that her novels and other works of climate fiction can act as a “laboratory for climate futures,” giving readers a path to imagine possible worlds and reflect on our shared responsibility for the planet. Dalton also opens up about crafting narratives that honor the constantly transfiguring female body, and our complicated relationship to mortality, from green burials to Emerson’s “Oversoul.”   If you care about our shared future on earth, love the calming majesty of a deep forest, or just enjoy a page-turning eco-thriller, put The Forest Becomes Her on your must-read list!

    22 min

  2. Jun 26

    Benny B. Peterson on "The Maidenheads"

    What if the worst thing you ever did to someone you loved could transform into a long journey toward repair and self-forgiveness? That’s one of the questions that Why Authors Write host Kristie Dickinson explores with Benny B. Peterson, author of The Maidenheads.  Their candid conversation in this episode covers the themes in Benny’s breakthrough first novel of queer coming of age, and the journey that writing it required for the both author and characters. Set between the late-’90s and 2012 Washington, DC, The Maidenheads follows Jamie, a young musician whose intense high school romance and musical partnership with Mari explodes into a catastrophic breakup, leaving Jaimie haunted by guilt and longing. A decade later, drifting and newly pregnant, Jamie decides that seeing Mari play live again may be the answer to everything.  That decision sparks new emotional chaos, conflicting feelings, and Jaimie’s slow, painfully honest reckoning with the harm she’s caused and the person she wants to become. In discussing the challenges of completing this novel Benny shares how the core of the book evolved from early short stories written during their MFA program and a dead-end draft of a futuristic dystopian version into a deeply character-driven, body-centered story. They unpack the meaning of Jamie’s disorienting “Franken feeling” the electric charge of DC’s DIY punk scene, and why writing from the body—pregnancy, sex, heartbreak, and dysphoria—is central to their fiction. Benny shares the debut novelist’s reality behind today's success -- years of doubt, including two earlier, unsold novels, and the fear that they might simply be someone compelled to write whose novels are never published. What motivated them to keep writing through those doubts and early rejections?   Benny’s advice to other writers includes: Let yourself write the “failed” books. Those drafts teach you what you care about and what doesn’t work.Stop writing in hopes of winning broad market approval. Not every book is for everyone; your job is to be honest on the page.Protect your body while writing about hard things. Work in time-limited “containers,” then step away, move, eat, rest.Accept the long game. Benny’s “overnight” success was based on a decade of drafts, an MFA, and deep personal change.

    24 min

  3. Jun 19

    Ellery Adams on "Invasive Species"

    Prepare for a thrill; Invasive Species is the first ever horror novel from mystery author tEllery Adams. It turns out that she story on her own life! In this episode of Why Authors Write, host Mary J. Cronin sits down with Ellery Adams to dive deep into her chilling, genre-bending novel Invasive Species—a Long Island sea-monster story that explores mothers, daughters, power, and what happens when sisterhood fractures. Set in a rural, water-bound Long Island community in the early 1980s, Invasive Species blends Desperate Housewives, Stranger Things, and mythic folklore into a terrifying tale featuring a reclusive neighbor, Mrs. Smith, a hungry sea creature, and teenagers who see the truth long before the adults do. Ellery shares how this “pink-tentacled horror story” is also one of her most autobiographical books, rooted in a real Mrs. Smith from her childhood and a neighborhood ruled by gossip, isolation, and the sea. Mary and Ellery explore: Author inspiration & themes – how a mysterious neighbor, coastal life, and 1980s gender expectations shaped the story.Sisterhood vs. monsters – why the scariest characters might not be the creature, but the women who turn on each other.Teen heroes & libraries – how Stephen King, coming-of-age stories, and 80s library culture inspired the book’s young protagonists and the Icelandic housekeeper, Una.Ellery’s writing process – from 1,000-words-a-day discipline and coffee-shop drafting to using massages and walks to break through the “muddy middle.”Surviving rejection and failed series – how Ellery rebuilt her career multiple times and became a full-time working author.Real-talk advice for writers – querying in the slush pile era, building armor against criticism, and pursuing passion projects that don’t fit the market.If you love horror with heart, character-driven mysteries, or candid writing advice from the bestselling author of over 40 mystery novels, this episode is the thrill  you’ve been looking for!

    32 min

  4. Jun 12

    Anthony Tardiff on AI and "The Final System"

    Anthony Tardiff spent over ten years writing The Final System, a thriller in which AI is on the brink of either saving humanity from chaos or dooming us to servitude.  Has today’s AI tech turned his powerful fiction into a real life dilemma? In this mind-expanding episode of Why Authors Write, host Mary J. Cronin sits down with debut novelist Anthony Tardiff to dig into the origins and implications of his gripping novel, The Final System. Recently selected as an Amazon Prime First Read, Tardiff’s novel offers a uniquely convincing and dystopian look at a society attempting to restore stability using the world's most advanced cyber system after a massive technological breakdown. Tardiff, a university librarian specializing in information literacy, shares the fascinating 18-year journey of bringing this book to life. Originally conceived in 2008, the manuscript required extensive revisions over the years as real-world advancements in agentic AI and ChatGPT continually threatened to overtake his plot. Listeners will get an inside look at the demanding reality and unexpected joys of traditional publishing. Tardiff opens up about the decade he spent working with his agent in search of a mainstream publisher, surviving a "ground-up" rewrite that shifted his first draft from a young adult novel to a complex, multi-perspective adult thriller, and finally landing a contract. Only to be told he had to cut his manuscript down by nearly 40,000 words. He also shares a glimpse into his creative process—powered heavily by coffee shops and his wife’s unwavering encouragement—and explains how he spent his initial book advance executing final revisions in Hawaii. In his advice for aspiring novelists, Tardiff speaks passionately about why writers should resist the temptation to use AI as a writing shortcut, how to define artistic success on your own terms, and what it truly means to build a lasting literary legacy. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about how human creativity wins -- even in the era of AI, the enduring love of writing, and the power of revision.

    34 min

  5. Jun 5

    Emily Franklin on "Love & Other Monsters"

    In this episode of Why Authors Write Emily Franklin, the best-selling author of "Love and Other Monsters," discusses her compelling reimagining of the summer when Shelley Byron, Mary Shelley, and forgotten stepsister Claire Clairmont were together. The conversation delves into the mystery of Frankenstein's origin story the extensive research Franklin did to understand the erasure of Claire Claremont from that story, and the emotional and powerful themes explored in the book. "Why would Mary Shelley write her own stepsister out of the story?" Franklin asks. That omission motivated her to narrate the incidents in Love & Other Monsters from Claire’s perspective.  She reads through all of Claire's personal journals and finds that any mention of the summer of 1816 is missing from the record.  Some journal pages had even been cut out, entire leaves were removed, and the surviving material was tampered with. To write Clairmont back in, Franklin becomes a literary detective, triangulating Claire’s story through the writings of Byron, Shelley, and Mary Shelley to fill in the details that might have been too damaging to their reputations to leave in the record. Emily also shares insights into her writing process, book tours, and advice for aspiring writers. Highlights and Insights Reimagining History through Years of ResearchWirting Frankenstein and the Erasure of Claire ClaremontWhen Great Writers Do Bad ThingsEmily's Writing Process & Productivity SecretsAdvice for Aspiring Writers

    30 min

  6. May 29

    Susan Donovan Bernhard on "Westerly"

    Susan Donovan Bernhard joins Why Authors Write host Sara Stanton to reveal the story behind Westerly, her just-published novel, tracing its roots in rural Ireland and the personal and historical currents that shaped it.  Their conversation uncovers the messy realities of writing about family secrets, shifting definitions of identity, and 50 years of misdirection and well-intentioned decisions with terrible consequences. Susan shares how the idea for "Westerly" came to her in during a family trip to Ireland.  A wrong turn in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland led her to the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, a former Irish Red Cross site that sheltered German children after World War II.  The image of young children transported from their war-torn homes to a foreign country came to her so powerfully that Susan stayed in the car while her husband and son went hiking.  She opened her laptop and started writing the first scene of what would become Westerly.  From there, these two fictional girls “that appeared by the roadside” refused to let her go. The complex family story that emerged from this powerful vision ook Susan seven years to complete. She talks candidly about wishing she could be better organized instead of relying on taped-together timelines and notebooks, and the challenges of tracking her characters' evolution over the decades.  Faye and her daughters, Maeve and Molly form the emotional core of the book and tell their stories from multiple points of view as Susan reveals the heart-breaking reality of an ordinary family trying, sometimes imperfectly, to be good to one another despite life-changing secrets, trauma, and the pressures of expectation. Looking forward, Susan teases the novel she is just starting, describing it as a story compressed into three days with a different tonal palette and, she hopes, a quicker path from draft to finished book. The episode closes on a note of encouragement for writers: acknowledging that publishing is a tough industry makes it essential for authors to enjoy the  flowers they find in the writing process itself. Susan defines success as finishing a chapter, holding the published book in your hands, and hearing from readers whose life your work has touched. Insights and Highlights --How a vision of children on an Irish roadside inspired Bernhard to abandon a draft novel to write Westerly. - Crafting Faye, Maeve, and Molly as distinct emotional lenses on family, trauma, and expectation  - Portraying an ordinary family trying to be “good” while carrying a life-changing secret  - Balancing historical truth with fictional invention and ethical responsibility  - Susan’s reflections on success, book launches, and the power of reader feedback - A preview of her next novel, and how her writing process may (or may not) change

    27 min

  7. May 22

    Kyleigh Leddy on "Worse Than Strangers"

    In this sparkling, summer-themed episode of Why Authors Write, host Kristie Dickinson sits down with Kyleigh Leddy, author of the memoir The Perfect Other and her debut novel Worse Than Strangers, for a deeply honest, hopeful conversation about creativity, the healing, almost magical power of writing from the heart, and the challenges of making a living as an author.   Kyleigh shares how she craved an escapist fiction project after writing "The Perfect Other" and ended up plotting "Worse Than Strangers" during a single stressful corporate meeting. Set on Nantucket and inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the novel follows Rose and Lily Gardner, a mother-daughter duo whose close, funny, and emotionally rich relationship is rooted in Kyleigh’s own bond with her mom. She talks about what it means to “write the version of a place only you can see,” and how her adjacent-to-local view of Nantucket allowed her to show both the glossy beach-read side and its quieter, more introspective depths.   As a licensed therapist and writing instructor, Kyleigh recently helped to design a new Boston College graduate program that combines creative writing with psychological humanities. Kyleigh explores the intersection of psychology and storytelling—how concepts like theory of mind, mental health, and self-knowledge naturally live on the page. She also opens up about creative self-doubt, rejection, and how she has learned to reframe failure as redirection. From the line, “There’s nothing more irresponsible than ignoring a dream,” to her belief that writing contains a kind of magic that can manifest change in our lives, Kyleigh offers both practical insight and soulful encouragement to aspiring authors. Kristie also digs into Kyleigh’s experience with adopting productive writing tools (hello, Scrivener), her strategy of developing multiple income streams, and why play—not rigid discipline—is at the heart of sustaining a long-term writing life.   Highlights & Insights How a bad corporate day birthed a Nantucket beach novelTurning lived experience into layered, fictional charactersBlending mental health, psycho-education, and character-driven fictionNavigating self-doubt, rejection, and “investing in luck”Practical talk: money, advances, and building sustainable income as a writer

    25 min

  8. May 15

    Jessica Keener on Evening Begins the Day

    Why Authors Write host Mary J. Cronin welcomes Jessica Brilliant Keener to discover why emotional betrayal and broken trust were issues that haunted her while writing Evening Begins the Day. Keener shares how her interest in fractured family relationships, marital infidelity, and the complexity of human motives became the emotional core of this book. Rather than lean on clichés about leaving a relationship or drawing a line, she digs into the complicated reasons people hurt each other deeply, then stay connected for better or worse. A turning point in writing Evening Becomes the Day was Keener’s discovery of the counting of the Omer, a 49‑day spiritual practice from Jewish tradition that she integrated into lives of all her characters in revising the story. She recounts a moving real-life encounter involving her son and a young man named Nate, whose simple act of generosity led her to discover this ritual of reflection and healing. Keener explains how the counting of the Omer became a “lightweight but profound” framework that unites the novel’s characters, from teenagers to deeply wounded adults, without ever becoming heavy-handed or dogmatic Mary invites Jessica to open up about her writing process and the strategies she relies on to complete her novels.  Keener’s discipline includes sitting down to write 500 words, five days a week with no excuses. That routine, however, doesn’t prevent period of self-doubt and agonizing decisions to throw out big sections of her manuscript and start over when early drafts go off track.  She wraps up her reflections on authorship with generous, hard-earned advice for writers at every stage of plot development and publication, including the importance of surrounding yourself with people who truly want your work to thrive. Insights Exploring themes of broken trust and betrayalPower of a religous ritual in a secular settingWrestling with self-doubt and permission to "make a mess" on the pageWriting routine and process Chapters 00:00 Exploring Broken Trust and Betrayal05:28 Writing Routine and Process12:58 Transition to Book Promotion

    21 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

In candid conversations with bestselling authors, Why Authors Write goes behind the covers to get inside creative minds and find out what propels these authors to keep on writing, from inspiration to publication.   Join Mary J. Cronin and co-hosts Kristie Dickinson, Sara Standon, and Becca Cronin as we dive into the personal backstories that make a writer’s work unforgettable. Follow along on the path that authors travel, from that irresistible spark of an idea, through overcoming frustration and sometimes tear-your-hair out writer's block, to finding the confidence and flow to get a book over the finish line.    We dig deep to ask the questions you are curious about: Where do your best plot ideas come from? Is that villain based on a real-life character? How long does it take you to get from the book’s starting line to publication?  And much, much more.   If you want to find out what inspires your favorite authors to keep on writing, subscribe now so you won’t miss out on a single episode. Looking for more details on your favorite authors and interviews?  Visit Mary’s website: 4QCatalyst for Why Authors Write show notes, author clips and quotes, and previews of future episodes.   

Information

  • Creator
    Mary J Cronin
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Mary J Cronin
  • Show Website
    Why Authors Write