A pencil, a ball point pen, and a quill sitting in lounge chairs drinking coffee; Title: Writers Drinking Coffee

Episode 92 – Interview with Bruce Holland Rogers

Bruce helps advance the question what the term “literary” means. Is it a commercial label? Is it a publishing market category for how to put similar books together in a bookstore? Class distinction or participation is one way to look, but so is technical accomplishment. In any case, learning to write seems a noble (and spiritual) way to squander your time as well as a social network, and Bruce has been amazing over a long and fruitful career as both a writer and educator. … Continue…Episode 92 – Interview with Bruce Holland Rogers

A pencil, a ball point pen, and a quill sitting in lounge chairs drinking coffee; Title: Writers Drinking Coffee

Episode 91 – A Psychological Model for Character Building

In this episode, Dave, Chaz, and John briefly discuss character development using the “Big Five” model of personality before haring off on a number of predictable tangents. Also in this episode: everything Dave knows about factor analysis and psychological modeling (tl;dr: psychology is squishy); what Chaz doesn’t know about “Aspects of the Novel:” by E.M. Forster (quite a bit, and seemingly proud of it); and John reminds Chaz to panic about being replaced by a computer. Also: MFAs are a dodgy proposition; the academic wing of the Tolkien industry; Freud sucks (Dave again); and how pantsing yourself into a corner is like failing to solve a Sudoku. Finally, a plea: “plotting” is fine, but can we please find an alternative to “pantsing”?! … Continue…Episode 91 – A Psychological Model for Character Building