About this episode

Teddy Wayne discusses his writing process and various aspects of fiction with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett.

Teddy Wayne is the author of the novels The Au Pair, The Winner, The Great Man Theory, Apartment, Loner, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, and Kapitoil. He is the winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award and an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship as well as a finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award, PEN/Bingham Prize, and Dayton Literary Peace Prize. A former columnist for the New York Times and McSweeney’s and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, he has taught at Columbia University and Washington University in St. Louis. Teddy joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about what he needs to know before he begins writing, voice, fiction that makes a big statement, stakes, plotting via character relationships, the midpoint, finding sources, theme, 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…

People in this episode

Hosts: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Marrie Stone

Guest: Teddy Wayne

Topics covered

• writing process
• fiction
• character relationships
• plotting
• theme
• voice

Keywords

• Teddy Wayne
• The Au Pair
• writing process
• fiction
• character relationships
• plotting
• theme

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New York Times, McSweeney’s, The New Yorker, Columbia University, Washington University in St. Louis

Books & works: The Au Pair, The Winner, The Great Man Theory, Apartment, Loner, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, Kapitoil

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