Some authors are auto-buys. This author is one of mine.

In this season finale, I talk with Stephen Graham Jones, the author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and his latest book, Off the Reservation, about the strange, wonderful machinery behind his work. He tells us his writing origin story, which sounds like it could have come straight out of one of his own books, and from there, we get into the nuts and bolts. Stephen writes short stories, novels, novellas, and flash fiction (his favorite form) and shares how each serves a different purpose in his science lab of crafting stories.

He talks about why he genuinely loves getting stuck- because being stuck means he has reached the edge of what he currently knows how to do, and the only way forward is to become a better version of himself. We also talk about writing quickly, disappearing into a book, and how he “writes his way back to the real world” as quickly as he can.

He also shares a few stories of his own, including one involving a hand grinder, a temporary magical ability, an uncanny gift, and a single very strange day. And, naturally, we learn about the exciting role fried zucchini plays in his life.

One of my favorite conversations of the season, and a fittingly wonderful way to end it.

I’ve spent thirteen years inside this trilogy. Jenna has questions.

For this episode, producer Jenna takes the reins. Jenna is the closest thing I have to a sister, my bestie, and the person who has been watching me make these books for a very long time. So, naturally, she has some questions.

With Victorious arriving the day before this episode does, we dive into the strange, sprawling business of writing a trilogy, from knowing when a story is actually a trilogy to figuring out what the middle book is supposed to do. We get into the little things too, like what happens when I get stuck, whether I actually get stuck, and how you carry an entire world around in your head when you’ve been living with it for thirteen years.

We talk about the strange experience of watching a story change as you move through it, how characters and worlds accumulate history, and what it means to finally write the last book in a series that has been part of your life for more than a decade.

It’s a very Jenna-and-me conversation, which means we wander into the weeds, get extremely specific about the writing process, and laugh a lot along the way.

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Credits:

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

This week, I’m joined by Jasmine Guillory, bestselling author of The Wedding Date and her latest novel, It’s Only Dancing, for a deep dive into the nitty-gritty of how she actually makes a book.

Jasmine walks me through her “messy first draft,” where she lets herself put every idea on the page, knowing she’ll come back later to chip away at it, reshape it, and figure out what the story actually needs. During the pandemic, that process even led her to handwrite an entire novel because, at the time, that was the way of writing that felt least scary.

We talk about how she learned to write dialogue, which, spoiler alert, was not simply a magical gift she was born with. We dig into what happens when you give yourself permission to write badly, how finishing a first draft is also a way of getting to know your characters, and why sometimes you have to write your way into understanding what a story is really about.

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Credits

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

Some conversations have a destination. Others are more fun when you just see where they take you.

This week, I’m joined by Ali Hazelwood, bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, and this episode is a bit of a romp. We wander from Star Trek and fan fiction to hyperfixations, the small obsessions that somehow become little anchors of joy, and the realization that what we want to write and what we want to read can sometimes be two completely different things. And maybe they should stay that way.

We talk about what happens when one of your books suddenly steps into the spotlight, and what it feels like to watch that happen while your other books are standing quietly backstage. I also spill a little tea about my own complicated feelings about finishing a trilogy, and we compare notes on the strange afterlife of a book once it leaves your hands.

Ali is, as it turns out, an absolute ray of sunshine. But even rays of sunshine have bad days, and we talk about that too. About the pressure to always be fine, the things that bring us back to ourselves, and why sometimes the best thing you can do is let yourself stare into the eyes of an alpaca.

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Credits

Host:

V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

Confession: it’s fan-girl time.

Scott Hawkins, author of The Library at Mount Char and Blacktail, is one of those writers whose books make me want to corner him and ask, “How did you DO that?” He writes in the evenings after his day job and on weekends, and somehow the stories he’s made in those stolen hours are some of my absolute favorites. I’ve read both of his books, and I have a lot of questions.

A lot of questions.

This conversation is essentially me asking Scott how he makes the magic, while he calmly explains things that seem completely extraordinary to me as though they are perfectly normal.

We also learn that Scott has had enough dogs over the years to make it sound like there has been an entire pack living in his house at various points, which perhaps explains why he was destined to write a book from the point of view of a four-legged friend in the wild.

Mostly, this is a conversation about process, instinct, and what happens when someone’s imagination works in a way that makes you want to keep asking, “But how?” Scott is wonderfully matter-of-fact about his methods. I am perhaps a little less so.

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Credits:

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

Some writing careers begin with a bet, a rom-com, and a very committed friend. 

This week, I’m joined by Lisa Jewell, bestselling thriller author of Then She Was Gone and her latest novel, It Could Have Been Her, to talk about the wonderfully serendipitous path that led her to becoming a writer. From the bet that started it all to the unexpected way she found her first agent and the zany route she took into publishing, Lisa’s origin story is almost as good as one of her books.

We talk about the strange difference between writing your first book, when you’re full of dreams, and your second, when suddenly there’s a contract involved. We also surprise ourselves by workshopping an entirely new book idea mid-conversation, before discovering that we are almost exact opposites in the way we approach writing and proceed to gleefully interrogate each other about it.

A conversation about luck, persistence, instincts, and the wonderfully unpredictable ways a writing life can unfold.

Content warning: This episode contains a very brief description of violence that may not be appropriate for all listeners.

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Credits:

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

This week, I’m joined by Rebecca Serle, bestselling author of One Italian Summer and Once and Again, for a conversation that feels a little like a master class in trusting the work. We talk through her process, turn the tables on each other, and swap the Jedi mind tricks we use to keep our brains from getting in the way. Rebecca shares what happens when you refuse to give writer’s block any power, and how letting go of the need to know exactly where a story is going can make room for something better.

We also talk about the strange privilege of getting to do this work at all, and the importance of remembering that “getting to” write is very different from “having to” write. It’s a conversation about trusting yourself, staying curious, and finding a little more joy in the strange privilege of making things up for a living.

And Riley, my Muppet-shaped dog, would like it noted that she was also present for this conversation and contributed several important thoughts from off-mic.

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Credits:

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

Some writers write with a single voice. Others carry generations with them.

This week, I’m joined by poet and bestselling author Nikita Gill for a conversation about the people, histories, and inheritances that find their way onto the page. She tells me about her Kashmiri grandfather, the first person she ever wrote a story about, and the way she feels she carries her ancestors with her in the very way she speaks. We talk about the particular power that comes from writing as a woman and from the perspective of the oppressed, and how stories rooted in the past can somehow arrive in the present at exactly the right moment.

Nikita and I also discover another happy bit of creative kinship: we both must start at the end. We talk about why word counts can be a distraction, and how some days the work is less about producing more words and more about finding the right ones.

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Credits:

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

Some writers have always been storytellers. C. L. Clark is one of them. From short stories and novellas to high fantasy novels, they’ve spent a lifetime finding new ways to tell them.

In this episode, we discover an uncanny overlap in some of our favorite non-writing pursuits, from fencing and running to growing up as soccer kids with dreams of making it to the World Cup. We wander into the relationship between the body and the page, talk about writing rituals (Morning Pages, anyone?), and consider what happens when you let yourself get a little bored and give your mind room to wander.

Because a writing life doesn’t always look like writing. Sometimes the best “writing” happens when you’re doing almost anything else.

Links:

Follow No Write Way on Instagram

V.E. Schwab’s Website

C. L. Clark's Website

Credits:

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

For the first episode of Season Five, I’m joined by Karin Slaughter, bestselling author of Pretty Girls and her latest, The Secrets We Hide, for a conversation about writing stories that are dark, strange, and unapologetically intense. We talk about the particular experience of being a woman who writes this kind of work, the strange expectations that come with being taken seriously, and what happens when you commit fully to a story and see it all the way through.

Karin also lets us into her writing process, which involves a cabin in the woods, a lot of focus, and very little messing around. We talk about the discipline of finishing what we start, even when the work gets difficult, and why sometimes the most important part of writing is simply refusing to stop.

Credits:

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

Some books are a surprise, even to the people who wrote them.

For the final episode of the season, Jenna takes the reins and turns the mic on Cat Clarke and me (V.E. Schwab), the two halves of Evelyn Clarke, to talk about our debut novel and the very unexpected path that led us here.

We get into the origin story, how a writer who swore she’d never co-write (it me) and another who had stepped away from publishing entirely somehow found themselves building a book together. We talk about the craft of collaboration, what it means to stop writing alone and start writing as a team, and the delicate challenge of learning how to share instinct, voice, and control. There were moments it felt impossible, and others where it felt like the story was writing itself.

And because we’re on the other side of it now, we get to laugh. A lot. About the chaos, the growing pains, and the strange, specific problems that only exist when you’re trying to write a single book with two brains. And, fittingly, we never quite figured out how to trap us. We’re a little too unhinged to pin down.

Links:

Follow No Write Way on Instagram

V.E. Schwab’s Website

Credits:

Host: V.E. Schwab

Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice