July 9, 2025
10 Essential Lessons for Writers from Bookspo Season 3
And that’s a wrap for the third season of my BOOKSPO podcast, which I had a very good time making and which features guests whose books I endorse heartily. If you haven’t listened to BOOKSPO yet (the podcast in which I talk to authors of new books about the old books that inspire their work), now is a great time to begin, and you’ll also get a taste of some great Canadian books published this spring. And to give you a taste of that taste, here is a list of essential writing advice from this season’s podcast guests.
Episode One: The Immortal Woman, by Su Chang
The writer seeking something approaching truth needs to read widely, from different sources, in different languages if possible, putting all these pieces together and looking for coherence.
Episode Two: Good Victory, by Mikka Jacobsen
Well-crafted fiction can indeed blend the real with the fantastical, the serious with the truly absurd.
Episode Three: Who By Water, by Greg Rhyno
You don’t necessarily need to describe your character’s physicality. Sometimes a single detail will entirely evoke her on the page.
Episode Four: The Fun Times Brigade, by Lindsay Zier-Vogel
Books can take their writers (as well as readers!) into a rarefied world that can be thrilling to explore.
Episode Five: Only Because It’s You, by Rebecca Fisseha
Commercial fiction looks easy, but it’s actually hard to write because there’s no place to hide.
Episode Six: Detective Aunty, by Uzma Jalaluddin
Writing ANYTHING can train you to write a novel.
Episode Seven: Skin, by Catherine Bush
Amazing things can happen when a writer allows her characters to want what they shouldn’t want and to confront the unexpected.
Episode Eight: Living Expenses, by Teri Vlassopoulos
Details of a woman’s body and a woman’s life are interesting.
Episode Nine: Born, by Heather Birrell
Trust your own voice and what it’s telling about what your book is supposed to be.
Episode Ten: A Most Puzzling Murder, by Bianca Marais
Relish the creative challenge of pushing at the limits of what a book can hold and also of who you are as a writer.
