Why Is This Good?

In this episode, we discuss “Only Tourists Remember the Alamo” by Alicia D. Ortega.  How can a specific, real-life setting influence a story?  How does a non-linear structure that allows you to quickly slip in and out of scenes give you more freedom in your story?

In this episode, we discuss “Victory Lap” by George Saunders.  What can we learn about writing character and stream of consciousness and point of view from a master of characterization and perspective. Read the story here: “Victory Lap” by George Saunders

In this episode, we discuss “How to Become a Writer” by Lorrie Moore.  What lessons can we learn about fiction, about being a writer, and the craft of point of view from Moore’s “second-person mock imperative” parody of a self-improvement manual for fiction writers? Read the story here: “How to Become a Writer” by Lorrie […]

In this episode, we discuss “When They Came to Us” by Debbie Urbanski.  What can we learn about fiction by looking at a story about aliens? Read the story in The Sun: “When They Came to Us” by Debbie Urbanski We also briefly discuss Nathan W. Pyle’s “Strange Planet”

In this episode, we discuss “Voices” by Alice Munro.  We find lessons about the pace of description and how the struggle of remembering can create drama in a memoir, among other things. Here is a good list of Munro stories available online: “25 Alice Munro Stories You Can Read Online Right Now”

In this episode, we  discuss “Now We Are Five” by David Sedaris.  What can we learn about writing fiction by examining memoir?

In this episode of Why Is This Good, we discuss Raymond Carver’s story, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.”  We explore what we can learn about dialogue, among other lessons. Read the story here: “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver We apologize again for the audio […]

In this episode, we discuss Miranda July’s story “The Boy from Lam Kien.” Read it here: “The Boy From Lam Kien” by Miranda July Apologies again for the quality of JC’s audio.

In this episode, we discuss “The Flood” by Megan Baxter, which you can read here: “The Flood” by Megan Baxter Apologies for the sound quality on JC’s track.  It sounds like he was on the wrong end of his microphone—not sure what happened there.

In this episode, we discuss “Now I Make My Own Bread” by Elle Wignall. Read it here: “Now I Make My Own Bread” by Elle Wignall During recording, it seems as if something happened with Rob’s microphone.  Apologies for the quality of the audio.

In this episode, we discuss Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Read it here: “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe This episode contains a passing spoiler for the Black Mirror movie Bandersnatch.

In this episode of the podcast, we discuss “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff. Read it here: “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff

In this episode, we discuss “The Lie” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, available online in the New Yorker. Link: “The Lie” by T. Coraghessan Boyle

In our second episode, we discuss “The Balloon” by Donald Barthelme, which is available online here: “The Balloon” by Donald Barthelme

In the first episode of our new podcast, we discuss “The Midnight Zone” by Lauren Groff, which is available online through the New Yorker here: “The Midnight Zone” by Lauren Groff At the end of the episode, we mention Lauren Groff’s book, Florida, which also includes this story.  It was published last year.