Kurt Dinan: Writing Humor

Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire welcomes Kurt Dinan, author of the YA novel, DON’T GET CAUGHT, which was recently nominated for YALSA’s Teen Top Ten. Kurt joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about how querying is like taking a stick in the eye every day, and how writing short stories helped him be a better novelist. Also covered: how mashups not only help pitch a book, but can also help the author find a key to unlocking their project, as well as the specific struggles of writing humor, and every writer’s worst enemy – procrastination. Lastly, Mindy tries very hard to wheedle him into using social media more, and they talk about things you didn’t know were poisonous, as well as their porn names.

Sophie Perinot: Researching for Historical Fiction

Guest author Sophie Perinot writes high concept fiction that is set in the past. Her works include THE SISTER QUEENS, MEDICI DAUGHTER and A DAY OF FIRE: A NOVEL OF POMPEII. Sophie joined host Mindy McGinnis to talk about querying the old-fashioned way, the brutal truth about agented projects that don’t sell, as well as the necessary research required for writing historical fiction while keeping story as the focus.