David Welsch Archives - Writers Drinking Coffee

Episode 178 – Dr. Alan Wu Reads Us A Story

In this episode, Dr. Alan Wu reads to us a story about a real-live toxicology case study. It’s fascinating to delve into the world of doping and toxicology reports – and for all your writers out there, understanding HOW doping and discovery works can make the difference between a really good story and something that makes doctors, nurses, or scientists roll their eyes. From doping to posthumous blood screens and “toxicology” reports, enjoy gaining some insight on how laboratories really work, and gain a cautionary tale on the topic of sports doping. … Continue…Episode 178 – Dr. Alan Wu Reads Us A Story

Episode 177 – Interview with Dr. Alan Wu

Dr. Alan Wu is a professor of lab medicine at UCSF and the Lab Director at San Francisco General Hospital. He’s written over 500 peer-reviewed papers in scientific and medical journals – and now is taking that factual background experience and creating forensic procedural fiction with an emphasis on scientific accuracy. With an eye toward the world learning more about proper lab work and methodology, and not unconscious of the effect House and Bones have had on TV, he has published his own book of speculative science fiction short stories – Mind Portal. If you love science, time travel, and “What If” speculation, you’ll love it! … Continue…Episode 177 – Interview with Dr. Alan Wu

Episode 172 – Make the Adventure you want to play in: GM talk with Norman Lutes

In which we discuss how to write – and run – good role-playing games with Norman Lutes (He/him). GMing and game writing have a lot in common with good story writing. For example: Reading is to writing as playing is to GMing.
And: “What do you start with? A story? A setting?” …smacks of Plotting vs Pantsing or Game-mastering is a combination of critical path project management and storytelling in the fireside tradition or Writing a game is like writing software – spend the majority of your time planning for exceptions and errors.
And: Spoon-feeding vs. player involvement: it’s a balance or You can lead players back to the path if they go astray. But you need to have done some world-building, or at least world-stealing. Don’t forget to file off the serial numbers or If you ask your players for their characters’ backstories, don’t be surprised if they’re not interested when you fold it into the story.
Bonus: Role-playing via email: The story, backstory, player’s interests, and world-building all come together. AND it’s self-documenting! … Continue…Episode 172 – Make the Adventure you want to play in: GM talk with Norman Lutes

Episode 166 – An Interview with Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr.

Dr. Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr. has written a book on the fascinating topic of jazz, and the perspective of musicologists as their approach to studying black music history has changed through the years. His new book Who Hears Here? is a collection of essays that celebrates the history of jazz and performers through the ages, using the thoughtful lens of modern perspective on race, sexism, regionalism, and more. The contemporary era of black music inquiry is a thoughtful one that must examine implications of race, sex, politics, world history and movement, and sociology, and his essays on the topic as well as his approach are a delight. … Continue…Episode 166 – An Interview with Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr.

Episode 155 – Interview with Don Fike

You’ve heard of people diving into all kinds of projects during Covid. Meet Don Fike, who actually wrote a novel over the last two years. We ask Don how he did it. Also, the most brilliant book club in North San Diego County, if not the world. … Continue…Episode 155 – Interview with Don Fike

Episode 151 – The Art & Business of Writing with Chris Jones

Chris Jones started his career as a sports writer, who branched out into other journalism, then editing, and wrote one of the best books we love on the business end of your writing career. Chris writes the truth: There is no 3-minute montage that works to make you a bestselling author. And his biggest lesson from 20 years of professional writing is that you have to go all business once you submit it. … Continue…Episode 151 – The Art & Business of Writing with Chris Jones

Episode 150 – Space Tourism with Sam

SpaceMan Sam, a proud advocate and expert on Space Tourism, talks with Dave and John about Adventure Tourism and book writing. He provides a lot of good information both historical and looking forward about upcoming travel opportunities, and explains the need for a Good Zero Gravity Cocktail glass. His book writing advice is surprisingly simple. … Continue…Episode 150 – Space Tourism with Sam

Episode 141 – Interview with Adrianne Grady

In this episode, we interview Adrian Grady, who we know as a singer, and learned about as a songwriter, author, publicist, consultant, and other roles and titles in the Creative field. She gives excellent advice to artists and creators of all types and describes some of the philosophy behind her new book, and the genre of sexpunk. Check out her music and writing, and her stories here! … Continue…Episode 141 – Interview with Adrianne Grady

Episode 135 – Outdated Tech References

What technologies have changed in the modern era that make older stories seem quaint, or even to the young, incomprehensible? Jeannie, Dave, and author Berry Kercheval sit down to talk about how descriptions and tech can become outdated with time – sometimes in a way that’s funny, and sometimes in a way that renders the description unrelatable in the modern world. Or maybe they were impossible to start with. “Zoom and enhance so we can read that handwritten address on the sticky note!” Yeah, no. … Continue…Episode 135 – Outdated Tech References

Episode 133 – The Noir Snap Brim

In the shadows of both the beeriest and brightest cities in America lurk crime and corruption. One well dress civilized man wearing a snap brim fedora fights against the forces of evil. Who is this man?

David S. Pedersen has written some wonderful noir detective stories, and been short listed for the Lambda awards. He is an amateur architect, and doesn’t know why they are called snap brim fedoras either. These, and other questions are discussed in episode 133 of Writers Drinking Coffee. … Continue…Episode 133 – The Noir Snap Brim