S4 E5 Trapping Ashley Winstead: A bottle of grand cru wine, a baby animal, and the key to a secret door

S4 E8 - Trapping “Evelyn Clarke” (Cat Clarke + V.E. Schwab)

Some books are a surprise, even to the people who wrote them. For the final episode of the season, Jenna takes the reins and turns the mic on Cat Clarke and me (V.E. Schwab), the two halves of Evelyn Clarke, to talk about our debut novel and the very unexpected path that led us here. We get into the origin story, how a writer who swore she’d never co-write (it me) and another who had stepped away from publishing entirely somehow found themselves building a book together. We talk about the craft of collaboration, what it means to stop writing alone and start writing as a team, and the delicate challenge of learning how to share instinct, voice, and control. There were moments it felt impossible, and others where it felt like the story was writing itself. And because we’re on the other side of it now, we get to laugh. A lot. About the chaos, the growing pains, and the strange, specific problems that only exist when you’re trying to write a single book with two brains. And, fittingly, we never quite figured out how to trap us. We’re a little too unhinged to pin down. Links: Follow No Write Way on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/nowritewaypodcast?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr] V.E. Schwab’s Website [http://veschwab.com] Credits: Host: V.E. Schwab Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

S4 E7 - Trapping Ayana Gray: Cheese, a loaf of bread, and a ticket to a wildlife trust in Kenya.

Some books reclaim the stories we thought we already knew. This week, I’m joined by Ayana Gray, author of Beasts of Prey and her latest, I, Medusa, for a conversation that begins with origin stories and winds its way through the very particular internet experiences of a millennial upbringing—back when blogs were everything and a place called Twitter still existed. We talk about learning what was “allowed” on the page, and the quiet realization that there was never a rulebook to begin with. Ayana shares how her early hesitation gave way, over time, to curiosity and experimentation, and how each new project helped her step a little further outside the boundaries she once believed in. We also get into the shift from writing YA to adult, and how those spaces ask for different kinds of storytelling, different freedoms, and different risks. Links: Follow No Write Way on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/nowritewaypodcast?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr] V.E. Schwab’s Website [http://veschwab.com] Ayana Gray’s Website [https://www.ayanagray.com/] Credits: Host: V.E. Schwab Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

S4 E6- Trapping Joe Abercrombie: Crusader Kings III and a well-worn copy of Lonesome Dove.

Some books remind you that fantasy can be brutal, funny, and painfully human all at once. This week, I’m joined by Joe Abercrombie, author of the First Law series and his latest, The Devils, for a conversation about the strange dance between fantasy and the expectations that come with it. We talk about drifting around the edges of genre labels (including the ever persistent “grimdark”) and what it means to write stories that refuse to behave exactly the way readers expect. Joe shares how his background as a film editor shaped the way he builds a story, from pacing to perspective to the careful balancing act of an ensemble cast. We also commiserate over a familiar writerly condition: the convenient amnesia that allows us to forget the horrors of drafting just long enough to start the next book. Joe compares the process to laying bricks. You keep placing them, one after another, even when some are crooked and others will need replacing later. Eventually you look up and realize a wall has begun to take shape. Links: Follow No Write Way on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/nowritewaypodcast?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr] V.E. Schwab’s Website [http://veschwab.com] Joe Abercrombie’s Website [https://joeabercrombie.com/] Credits: Host: V.E. Schwab Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

S4 E5 Trapping Ashley Winstead: A bottle of grand cru wine, a baby animal, and the key to a secret door

Some books feel like a rom com written in a minor key. This week, I’m talking with Ashley Winstead, author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and her latest, Future Saints. We chat about the idea that first drafts are just secret monsters, something you have to let out just to learn their shape. Ashley tells me about the sticky note she kept on her laptop that read, “no one will ever see this,” a small, stubborn permission that made it possible for her to keep going. She walks me through her rigorous and deeply self-aware writing process, including how she lets her brain decide what it can realistically handle each day instead of having word count goals or a time frame. And somewhere along the way, I realize I’ve found a kindred spirit, especially when it comes to our shared tendency toward slightly psychotic outlining. What a joy.  Check out the playlist for Ashley’s book Future Saints (mentioned in this podcast) in the links below. Links: Follow No Write Way on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/nowritewaypodcast?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr] V.E. Schwab’s Website [http://veschwab.com] Ashley Winstead’s Website [https://www.ashleywinstead.com/]Official Future Saints Playlist [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2p9jAqTrQucrizB3Rflw78?si=BpmWByezTQqlxnOkLA6rBQ] Credits: Host: V.E. Schwab Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice

S4 E4 Trapping T.L. Huchu: Overpriced running shoes, swimming socks, and a ticket to a place he’s never been

Some stories are portals. Some storytellers are too.  This week, I’m joined by T. L. Huchu, author of The Edinburgh Nights series, for a conversation that feels a little like falling down a rabbit hole together. T. L. often interviews me when my tours bring me through Edinburgh, so this time we flipped the script, and as always, time behaved strangely around us. We talk about bookstores as cathedrals, the idea that a writer is less an architect and more a conduit for the stories that seize them, and what it means to be an atheist who still has religious experiences on the page, moments of possession, of surrender, of something bigger moving through you. T. L. believes you are what you eat, creatively speaking, and we dig into the stories he devoured, loved, and metabolized into his own work. We wander into the magical practice space of short stories, the long and persistent road to publication, and the origin story that proves success is often built on a refusal to quit. Links: Follow No Write Way on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/nowritewaypodcast?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr] V.E. Schwab’s Website [http://veschwab.com] Credits: Host: V.E. Schwab Producer/Editor/Mixer: Jenna Maurice