Susan Orlean makes her third trip back to the podcast (Ep. 61 and 121), this time to celebrate her latest book, a collection of her magazine work on animals titled … On Animals.
She’s the best selling author The Library Book, Rin Tin Tin, and The Orchid Thief. She’s been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1990s and, as many of you know, seeing a Susan Orlean byline is something like appointment reading. It’s special.
Laura Todd Carns is here to talk about her latest feature for The Atavist Magazine. It’s called “Searching for Mr. X: For eight years, a man without a memory lived among strangers at a hospital in Mississippi. But was recovering his identity the happy ending he was looking for?”
Laura is a novelist, essayist, and journalist whose work has appeared in many places. You can find out more at her website.
In this episode we talk about approaching a story as fiction vs. nonfiction, the challenge of the structure of the piece, collaborating with an editor and how it’s like a record producer and a musician, and more.
First I talk to Seyward Darby, as she was the lead editor of the piece. Enjoy!
First I speak with editor-in-chief Seyward Darby and then let Nile take it from there.
With Nile, we talk about the writing lessons she’s gleaned from bouldering, how she got into true crime as a kind of self-preservation, and how she determines what stories are “worthy.” We also dig into how she got her foot in the door to full time freelancing.
Please enjoy, and consider supporting the show in myriad ways, be that subscribing, leaving a kind review on Apple Podcasts, or even plunking down a few bucks at patreon.com/cnfpod.
What an experience Hippocamp was this year. Donna Talarico stuck the landing in pandemic times. The degree of difficulty is Simone Biles-esque!
I don’t I’ve worked as hard on any one thing like I did on this Hippocamp talk in a long, long while. I put everything I had into it. That said, I had a very hard time gauging what the audience thought of it. It was a pretty sparse turnout, so far as Hippocamp talks go. Everyone was masked, so I couldn’t tell if people were smiling or dying inside. There were only two questions, whereas most breakout sessions of this nature have several questions.
Naturally I felt like a comic who bombed.
Still, some people came up to me and said they loved it. Not meaning to undercut their good will, I was like, “Really? Cuz it felt dead to me up there and there were no questions …”
They usually said the talk itself didn’t lend itself to questions. It leant itself to thought. In any case, I still gave it my all to the gracious folks who showed up.
I tell you, it was a privilege to put this together. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, consider becoming a Patron at patreon.com/cnfpod, as I think I’ll start doing similar things like this (much, much shorter) as Patreon exclusives.
“I. Will. Write. This. Book. There’s no turning back,” says Bob Welch, @bob_welch23 on Twitter.
Bob is the author of several books, most recently is Saving My Enemy, a story of an American and a German WWII vet who forged a friendship late in life that led them down the path to forgiveness. Great book.
We had a great conversation about “hiking your own hike” and how the famous writer Jon Krakauer actually stole Bob’s girlfriend back in high school in Corvallis, Oregon.
Great talk and good, good fun.
Keep the conversation going on social media @CNFPod and consider becoming a member at the Patreon page. It’s how you get access to the audio magazine, as well as transcripts and coaching. You dollars go directly into (50% goes to Patreon and Uncle Sam) the making of the podcast and paying writers. If you freelance, you get the titanic tax burden that’s on the freelancer. Oh, you got a $1,000 check! That’s nice! $500 of that needs to be skimmed off and goes to taxes, sooooo….
Anyway!
Enjoy this conversation and let me know what you think. HMU!
It’s called “The Snitch,” and details the story around the serial killer Scott Kimball, but, more specifically, the mistakes made by the FBI, thus turning this true-crime yarn on its head.
Consider subscribing to The Atavist and its once-a-month blockbuster piece of narrative nonfiction. Once a month, can’t beat it … sounds like my newsletter!
Anyway …
We dig into a lot of might juice, and I hope it brightens up your day and wherever you are on your writer journey.
