Dana Johnson, author of the short story collection In the Not Quite Dark talks with co-host Nicole Nelson about how her journalism background informs her documentarian approach to writing about place, the value of reversal in constructing tension, and her affection for the short story form.

In the second half, novelist Anna Solomon, author of Leaving Lucy Pear, talks about her process of having a good idea of the story but not overthinking it in the first draft, the various kinds of research that went into writing a story that takes place in the Prohibition Era, the art of motivating coincidence in a story when a lot is at stake, and how a Post-it note that says, “You will fail,” is her key to writing freely.

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(Broadcast date: August 31, 2016)