Best Writing Inspiration Podcasts (2024)

1
How Being Fascinated and Daunted Can Drive Your Writing, featuring Edwidge Danticat 38:14

2d ago38:14

38:14

It could be said of this week’s guest that she, like the title of this week’s show, is fascinating and daunting. And that this is a pull toward the things we’re interested in, that we want to dive more deeply into, is the subject of this week’s show. Edwidge Danticat is a powerhouse in the literary world who’s written about immigration and poverty,…

1
Centering Marginalized Characters in Your Fiction, featuring Barbara Ridley 41:30

3h ago41:30

41:30

This week’s episode is inspired by guest Barbara Ridley’s new novel, Unswerving, whose central protagonist is gay and disabled. We explore the dearth of disabled characters in fiction, and hear from Barbara how choosing to write about a character who was doubly “othered” drew critiques that she was perhaps going a bridge too far. This episode exami…

1
Optimism and Pessimism in Book Publishing—Because It’s Always Both, featuring Michael Castleman 47:40

11d ago47:40

47:40

As Write-minded is wont to do, we bring you another tell-it-like-it-is reality bites episode about book publishing. And while the news isn’t all good, it’s also not all bad—and guest Michael Castleman is living, breathing proof that it’s worth it, as long as you’re ready to do the work and understand what you’re getting yourself into. Join us on th…

1
Writing as a Way to Champion People and Causes, featuring Maggie Tokuda-Hall 51:21

16d ago51:21

51:21

This week’s Write-minded is a thoughtful conversation about where writers’ values meet public persona and the writing life. Guest Maggie Tokuda-Hall treats us to her thinking about career, ambition, and why she writes what subjects and characters she writes, and why she doesn’t write for adults. We get into the important topic of what’s at stake wh…

1
Don’t Let Your Comfort Zone Become Your Doom Zone, featuring Joshua Mohr 43:31

1M ago43:31

43:31

A rocking ride through punk influence on prose and story, this interview with guest Joshua Mohr is, more than anything, about pushing your limits and getting out of your comfort zone. In his new book, Saint the Terrifying, Josh does a few things he’s never tried—and he walks us through why that’s been so invigorating, and how it’s pushed his limits…

1
How to Be Compulsively Readable, featuring Anne Lamott 46:24

1M ago46:24

46:24

Anne Lamott joins Write-minded this week to talk about so many things—what she writes about; how she kills her darlings; her process with her early readers and editors; and more. On the question of being compulsively readable, she shares with us some of the ideas from Bird by Bird that have stood the test of time, why to cut your darlings, and how …

1
The Era of Banning Librarians, featuring Amanda Jones 37:14

1M ago37:14

37:14

This week, to draw attention to Banned Books Week and to stand in solidarity with publishers, authors, and all industry professionals who fight to keep diverse voices on library shelves, Write-minded features guest Amanda Jones, an educator and librarian whose book, That Librarian, is necessary reading. Amanda shares her more than two-year journey …

1
The Rejection Episode, featuring Grant Faulkner and Brooke Warner 31:05

2M ago31:05

31:05

This week’s episode is inspired by Grant’s recent rejection journey. Yes, listeners, Grant’s book about rejection has been roundly rejected—so we’re taking an excursion into the world of rejection, how we deal with it, and what some options might be for a book that doesn’t get picked up by a publisher. Grant and Brooke explore their relationship wi…

1
Unclassifiable and Uncontainable: In Celebration of Art That Can’t Be Pinned Down, featuring Brontez Purnell 45:27

2M ago45:27

45:27

This week’s guest, Brontez Purnell, is the kind of writer who’s either hard to pin down, or just won’t be. As such, he’s inspired an episode about who gets to draw outside the lines and why in the realm of book publishing. Whether you love your lane, feel confined by your lane, or insist on busting out of your lane, we invite you to consider what i…

1
Structure and Form, featuring Jane Alison 43:06

2M ago43:06

43:06

We kick off a new season with the brilliant Jane Alison and a wide-ranging conversation about form and structure in fiction and memoir. Brooke and Grant were so inspired by Meander, Spiral, Explode, Jane’s her book about craft and the theory of writing, that this episode is dedicated to the ideas around structure and form that are at the heart of t…

1
New Ways of Thinking About Memoir, featuring Maggie Smith and Shze-Hui Tjoa 56:28

2M ago56:28

56:28

For our final summer round up of our favorite shows, Write-minded chose Maggie Smith and Shze-Hui Tjoa, highlighting two bright lights in the Memoirsphere who are elevating the genre and showcasing new ways of thinking about memoir. It’s an exciting time to be a memoirist and a memoir reader, and if you missed these two interviews the first time ar…

1
Fiction Outliers, featuring Rainbow Rowell and Isabel Cañas 51:11

3M ago51:11

51:11

In celebration of the kind of fiction readers love but the industry doesn’t always know what to do with comes two past episodes honoring fan fiction and gothic fiction, respectively. Revisiting these episodes is a reminder of the vast world of fiction outside the narrow confines of upmarket or commercial or historical fiction. Our two past guests, …

1
Self-Exposure and Writing the Story You Have to Write, featuring Javier Zamora and Susan Kiyo Ito 48:03

3M ago48:03

48:03

In this second week of Write-minded’s August mashups, we bring back the heartfelt interviews with Javier Zamora and Susan Kiyo Ito, both of whom spoke so honestly and supportively about writing and sharing stories they’ve carried with them their entire lives. Javier’s harrowing journey from El Salvador to the US border when he was just nine years o…

1
Wisdom from the Publishing Trenches, featuring Lisa Leshne and Kathleen Schmidt 48:16

3M ago48:16

48:16

Every August Grant and Brooke share their summer plans and writing aspirations and hopes and fails, along with some mashups of their favorite interviews of the year. Write-minded kicks off this best-of series with two beloved industry experts—agent Lisa Leshne and publicist Kathleen Schmidt. There’s real wisdom and straight-talk in these conversati…

1
Getting Reinspired after Failed or Abandoned Book Projects, featuring Paolo Bacigalupi 48:20

3M ago48:20

48:20

Most writers either have or will have a failed or abandoned book project—or two, or three, or four—over the course of their lifetimes. The more you write, the more crisis moments you’ll face. It can be hard to come back from those moments, which is why this week’s episode with Paolo Bacigalupi is so encouraging. He shares with us his journey back f…

1
Being a Voice for Causes That Matter, featuring Naomi Klein 1:01:59

3M ago1:01:59

1:01:59

This week’s episode airs Brooke in conversation with Naomi Klein at this year’s Bay Area Book Festival. While this interview does not hew to Write-minded’s effort to offer weekly doses of inspiration for writers, Brooke and Grant decided to make this available both because our listeners requested it and because we admire the work Naomi Klein is doi…

1
How Secrets Fuel Memoir Writing, featuring Margaret Juhae Lee 40:03

4M ago40:03

40:03

Secrets come in all forms, big and small. We inherit secrets, carry the secrets of others, and struggle with the burden of all they hold and how they sometimes fester within us. This week’s episode with guest Margaret Juhae Lee explores the difference between people who want to keep the past buried and those who want to set it free. We explore inte…

1
On the Awards We Receive and the Rewards We Make, featuring Jayne Anne Phillips 45:59

4M ago45:59

45:59

This week’s guest, Jayne Anne Phillips, is a Pulitzer prize-winning author for her latest book, Night Watch, which gives Write-minded an opportunity to muse about awards—why they matter, what we make of them and do with them, and where we might find awards from things we seek out in addition to those we receive. Join us for this wide-ranging litera…

1
How Big Questions Inform Fiction, featuring Rachel Khong 43:42

4M ago43:42

43:42

This week’s Write-minded centers questions, and how questions guide writers, drive fiction, and unearth important stories. Guest Rachel Khong shares how the big and provocative question of who’s a “real American” informed her new novel and why she writes without an outline. We also talk about ambition and drive, why novelists have to grapple with p…

1
Breaking New Ground in Memoir, featuring Shze-Hui Tjoa 44:24

4M ago44:24

44:24

Write-minded is celebrating memoir as an evolving form this week, tackling the difference between imaginative writing in memoir and writing in memoir that might not be true. Memoir is increasingly embodying its rightful spot in the realm of creative nonfiction, in that there’s allowance for writers to explore ideas and truths within the realms of c…

1
The Big Novel, featuring Garth Risk Hallberg 48:53

5M ago48:53

48:53

This week we take on The Big Novel and unpack our thoughts on novel length, the very concept of The Great American Novel, advances, and more. Guest Garth Risk Hallberg joins us to talk about his own long works of fiction, as well as his writing process that involves seeing where his characters want to take him. We touch upon characterization vs. pl…

1
Remembering and Forgetting: The Refugee Journey, featuring Viet Thanh Nguyen 47:11

5M ago47:11

47:11

It’s Write-minded’s 300th episode! And we’re celebrating by bringing listeners the esteemed Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose novel, The Sympathizer, was adapted for HBO Max and started streaming in April. In this interview, Nguyen addresses didacticism as a craft choice, the mindset of writers who, like him, find themselves between two languages, and how h…

1
Behind the Scenes of Selling Books, featuring Josh Cook 48:08

5M ago48:08

48:08

This week’s episode is one for book lovers, book collectors, aspiring authors, and every kind of writer. It’s always helpful to know what booksellers know—because bookstores do so much more than just provide a place for browsing and buying books. Join us to talk with Josh Cook of Porter Square Books about his new book, The Art of Libromancy, and wh…

1
Be the Change You Want To See, featuring Dhonielle Clayton 47:53

5M ago47:53

47:53

In this week’s extra-inspiring show, guest Dhonielle Clayton treats us to a generous conversation about effecting change in the industry and how that inevitable comes with backlash. We talk about representation in publishing, Penguin Random House’s recent firing of two high-profile publishers, and book bans—among other important topics, like packag…

1
The Raw Truth About Exposure, featuring Susan Kiyo Ito 42:04

5M ago42:04

42:04

What will other people think? What will be the consequences of sharing my truth? These are among some of the questions that hold memoirists back, and their realities post-publication can cause “vulnerability hangovers.” Exposure, fear of fallout, concern for people we love—memoir doesn’t make it easy. With very recent experience informing her, this…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Writing Inspiration Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers

Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner

1
How Being Fascinated and Daunted Can Drive Your Writing, featuring Edwidge Danticat 38:14

1
Centering Marginalized Characters in Your Fiction, featuring Barbara Ridley 41:30

1
Optimism and Pessimism in Book Publishing—Because It’s Always Both, featuring Michael Castleman 47:40

1
Writing as a Way to Champion People and Causes, featuring Maggie Tokuda-Hall 51:21

1
Don’t Let Your Comfort Zone Become Your Doom Zone, featuring Joshua Mohr 43:31

1
How to Be Compulsively Readable, featuring Anne Lamott 46:24

1
The Era of Banning Librarians, featuring Amanda Jones 37:14

1
The Rejection Episode, featuring Grant Faulkner and Brooke Warner 31:05

1
Unclassifiable and Uncontainable: In Celebration of Art That Can’t Be Pinned Down, featuring Brontez Purnell 45:27

1
Structure and Form, featuring Jane Alison 43:06

1
New Ways of Thinking About Memoir, featuring Maggie Smith and Shze-Hui Tjoa 56:28

1
Fiction Outliers, featuring Rainbow Rowell and Isabel Cañas 51:11

1
Self-Exposure and Writing the Story You Have to Write, featuring Javier Zamora and Susan Kiyo Ito 48:03

1
Wisdom from the Publishing Trenches, featuring Lisa Leshne and Kathleen Schmidt 48:16

1
Getting Reinspired after Failed or Abandoned Book Projects, featuring Paolo Bacigalupi 48:20

1
Being a Voice for Causes That Matter, featuring Naomi Klein 1:01:59

1
How Secrets Fuel Memoir Writing, featuring Margaret Juhae Lee 40:03

1
On the Awards We Receive and the Rewards We Make, featuring Jayne Anne Phillips 45:59

1
How Big Questions Inform Fiction, featuring Rachel Khong 43:42

1
Breaking New Ground in Memoir, featuring Shze-Hui Tjoa 44:24

1
The Big Novel, featuring Garth Risk Hallberg 48:53

1
Remembering and Forgetting: The Refugee Journey, featuring Viet Thanh Nguyen 47:11

1
Behind the Scenes of Selling Books, featuring Josh Cook 48:08

1
Be the Change You Want To See, featuring Dhonielle Clayton 47:53

1
The Raw Truth About Exposure, featuring Susan Kiyo Ito 42:04

Quick Reference Guide