Hosts Geoffrey Edwards and Mary Thaler talks about the challenges of writing really short fiction, called “flash fiction”. What choices need to be made to get a coherent story in around 500 words? What kind of writing is required?
Writing Off the Deep End
In this ongoing series Geoffrey Edwards and Mary Thaler, two scientists turned authors, sit down to discuss everything writing-related: craft, process, and the importance of taking risks.
Episode 35Interview with L.P. Kindred
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards interview a writer of fantasy and speculative fiction from the LA area, who has published short fiction and is at work on a novel. L.P. began his professional life as a singer and songwriter, which gives his ficti …
Episode 34Prophetic Fiction
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards discuss a subset of future-looking fiction they call “Prophetic Fiction”. Drawing on different traditions around prophecy, including religious traditions and the writings of E.M. Forster, they explore different as …
Episode 33Interview with Marco V Morelli
Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk with Marco Morelli, poet, editor and publisher, about the process of writing poetry and how this process led him to develop a publishing business and take on editorial responsibilities. Marco V Morelli is the found …
Episode 13Writing Residencies
Authors Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about the benefits to doing a Writing Residency and present highlights from recent residencies in which they took part, including a residency on the Isle of Crete and another in upstate New York.
Episode 32Historical Fiction
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards dive into the murky study of historically motivated fiction from their contrasting perspectives, exploring issues of veracity and where there is scope for imagination, subjects that are sometimes neglected while o …
Episode 31Interview with Thea Boodhoo
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards conduct an interview with writer Thea Boodhoo. Thea (pronounced “tay-ah”) is a science fiction writer based in San Francisco, California. Her short stories ‘Growing Swirling Clouds’ and ‘A Layer Thin As Breath’ ca …
Episode 30Ending Writings
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards finish up the episode on Endings by switching from talking about how to write endings, to how to end writings – often itself a tricky step.
Episode 29Writing Endings
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about Endings across two related episodes. This first deals with Writing Endings. We talk about several contexts, single book endings or endings of series, stories with more or fewer subplots, and other aspec …
Episode 28Writing About War
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about some of the challenges and issues that arise when one is writing about war and war situations.
Episode 27Writing About Age
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about some of the different ways that issues of age and aging come into play in writing, with focus on our own diverse ways of dealing with the question.
Episode 26Special Coronavirus Episode
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about how the worldwide pandemic, as well as being in “lockdown”, that is, confined to our homes, has affected our activities as writers. Maybe our experience will help you deal with your own!
Episode 25Interview with Karin Murray-Bergquist
Karin Murray-Bergquist is a PhD. candidate in Folklore at Memorial University, Newfoundland. She’s the author of a poem in the upcoming issue of Augur Magazine, and numerous travel essays that can be found at the following links: https://www.travelade. …
Episode 24Excerpts from our Writing, Part 3
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards finish reading excerpts from each other’s work in this third instalment of our 19th Episode of “Writing Off The Deep End”. These include a second excerpt from Geoffrey’s novel “Goodness in Small Doses”, and two ex …
Episode 23Excerpts from our Writing, Part 2
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards continue reading from their work. In this episode, Geoffrey reads two excerpts from one of Mary’s short stories called “The Island Lovers”, which can be found online at Eclectica Magazine : http://www.eclectica.or …
Episode 22Excerpts from our Writings, Part 1
Hosts Geoffrey Edwards and Mary Thaler read from each others’ work as a complement to the other episodes concerned with different aspects of writing. In this first part, Mary is reading from “Plenum : The First Book of Deo”, Geoffrey’s first novel whic …
Episode 21Worldbuilding
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about how they undertake diverse worldbuilding activities, not just within SF and fantasy but also in historical and contemporary fiction. The claim is that worldbuilding tasks for SF and fantasy constitute a …
Episode 20Writing and Family
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about the ins and outs of the relationships (some of them!) between writing and family. How does family inform one’s writing? Whose family?
Episode 19Writing and Religion
Hosts Geoffrey Edwards and Mary Thaler venture off the deep end to talk about religion, faith, spirituality… and writing. Foolhardy, perhaps, but it makes for an interesting discussion.
Episode 18Writing Poetry
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about the challenges, and benefits of writing poetry, both for its own sake and as a support to other writing efforts.
Episode 16Dramatic Writing, Part 1 – Writing for Opera
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards explore the process of dramatic writing. In this first of two parts, the focus in on writing for opera.
Episode 15Short Fiction
Hosts Geoffrey Edwards and Mary Thaler discuss the strengths and weaknesses of writing short fiction.
Episode 14Writing Characters
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards discuss the process of writing characters. Do you love them or hate them? How do you separate them from yourself as a writer? And other issues as they arise.
Episode 12Writing Communities
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about drawing on larger communities of writers for various kinds of support, both online and offline.
Episode 11Writing in a Second Language
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards discuss some of the issues around writing when one lives in a city that speaks a different language than one’s native tongue.
Episode 10Illustrations and Artwork
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about (and show!) the development of visual story telling ideas in relation to writing fiction. Shown below are the illustrations referred to within the dialogue. Brulierie St-Denis, Montreal, circle 2350, fr …
Episode 17Dramatic Writing, Part 2 – Writing for Theatre
Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards continue their discussion of Dramatic Writing, this time focusing on writing for theatre. This is the second of two parts, the first dealt with writing for opera.
Episode 9Names and Naming
Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about how they choose names for characters, places and sci-fi concepts, whether they’re writing about the distant past, the present day or the far future.
Episode 8Writing Practices, Part 2
Geoffrey Edwards and Mary Thaler discuss writing practices — the habits, daily routines and techniques they use to get words down on page.
Episode 7Writing Practices, Part 1
Geoffrey Edwards and Mary Thaler discuss writing practices — the habits, daily routines and techniques they use to get words down on page.