Baker’s haunted by the unfortunate photo session his grandmother made him do at age 12 (moussed, middle-parted haircut; paisley button-down; prominent zit). Tommy’s haunted by Mrs. Blythe’s third grade math class,

Fiction School Season 6 Episode 1

A wise teacher once told us that the least funny thing you can do is explain a joke. So, we decided to make a whole show explaining humor writing, because we are not wise. Actually, this show is a lot of fun. You should listen.

**Hey! Quick! It’s the last day to enter the Fiction Open! Send ’em in now! Baker once had a writing teacher that said writing wasn’t a competition between writers. The only competition was the writer vs. the page.

Every Friday afternoon, back in Tommy and Baker’s MFA days, there was a tradition. A tradition of slaughter, of domination. It was ugly, it was fun, it always proceeded to revelry at a local dive bar. It was the weekly MFA basketball game,

Friends, we’re here to preach a little hard truth. Some people–famous writers, even–want you to think there are shortcuts. James Patterson has been using Facebook to advertise his $90 MasterClass called something dumb and inviting like “Learn to Write ...

This week, Tommy decided he needed a nap more than he needed to talk about story structure and outlines. He hates that stuff anyway, so, good choice, Tommy Z. He’s all about anarchy and chaos, and this week we’re getting organized. But the problem is,

Like marathon runners, breakdancers, and zumba instructors, storytellers have to always be considering their pace. Go too fast, readers can’t keep up. Go too slow, readers get bored. But how do writers figure out the best pace,

To start Season 5, the crew shakes off the rust and talks about writing rust and the scary prospect of starting a big new project.

Remember the Trapper Keeper? It was so badass, especially when you could poke a hole in a corner and blow it up like a balloon.  I did that almost every day in fourth grade. Every fall in those salad days of elementary school,