Writers on Writing

Yiyun Li is the author of several works of fiction and nonfiction and a professor of Creative Writing at Princeton University. She holds two MFA’s from Iowa in both fiction and nonfiction. Her books include the story collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, the novels Where Reasons End and The Book of Goose, and the memoirs Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life and Things in Nature Merely Grow, which won the Pulitzer prize this year and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her work frequently appears in the New Yorker, the Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize Stories, and elsewhere.

She joins Marrie Stone to talk about her latest novel, Music Against the Night. It is the first in a trilogy. Yiyun talks about structure, particularly when writing a trilogy. She shares her research process and why she relies on primary texts. She discusses why she works on multiple projects at once, her cure for writer’s block, her approach to dialogue, and so much more.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.

(Recorded on October 16

With over 100 million books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben is the #1 New York Times author of thirty five novels and the new memoir on writing, Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft. His books are published in 46 languages around the globe. More on Harlan at harlancoben.com

Harlan joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about his failed novels and what kept him going, why authors should consider incremental ambition, personal themes in the work, how tragedies made him a better writer, twists, writing longhand, categories, and much more.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.

(Recorded on September 4, 2026)

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)

Julie Orringer is the author of four books of fiction: the NYT bestselling novel The Invisible Bridge; the story collection How to Breathe Underwater; The Flight Portfolio, the inspiration for the Netflix series Transatlantic, which aired in 2023; and, most recently, luna, phoenix, queen.
Julie’s stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, including The Granta Book of the American Short Story and The Scribner Anthology of American Short Fiction. She is the winner of numerous prizes and fellowships including from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Julie joins Marrie to talk through so many issues and struggles that writers confront and how she works through them. From practical matters — like getting the work done — to craft techniques —like managing time in fiction and how she uses her famous notebooks (more of Julie’s notebook pages for this novel can be found on Facebook here) — they talk about it all.
For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.
(Recorded on October 9, 2026)
Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)

Matthew Carnicelli is president of Carnicelli Literary Management and specializes in idea-driven nonfiction and quality fiction. He began his publishing career at Dutton, where as an editor he worked with many great writers of fiction, history, and current events, including Vice President Al Gore. At Contemporary Books and McGraw-Hill, he became enthralled with strong health writing and business and sports books. He became an agent in 2004 to have more control over the depth of his work with clients and to focus only in areas that interested him intellectually and creatively. Over the past 15 years, he has represented many notable authors. Matthew is a graduate of Washington University, with a B.A. in English literature and political science, and received an M.A. from the University of Toronto in English literature. He has taught college-level nonfiction writing, and he’s quite simply one of my favorite people, and agents. For a more indepth bio, visit his website, Carnicellilit.com.

Matthew joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about changes in publishing since he began agenting in 2004, why he focuses mainly on nonfiction, ageism in publishing, AI, book covers, memoirs, developmental editors, agenting fiction, trends, what he’s looking for, and so much more.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like the music you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.

(Recorded on July 10, 2026)

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)

Sophie, Standing There is Meg Mason’s fourth published novel, out in the States just last week and already Reese Witherspoon’s October Book Club Pick. Her last novel, Sorrow and Bliss, became an international bestseller after it was published in 2020. It won the British Book Industry Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize.

She joins Marrie Stone to talk about her publication journey, her transition from journalism to fiction, and what she had to learn and unlearn. They also dissect how she expands and compresses time in a single paragraph, how she delivers backstory while maintaining forward momentum, how she gives us a deep dive into a character’s psyche with just little brush strokes of color, and how she creates tension and suspense in everyday experiences. There’s a lot for writers to study in this novel, and Meg does a deep dive into particular passages to show how it’s done.

For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It’s stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you’ll find an album’s worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It’s perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website.

(Recorded on October 3, 2026)

Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)