Book Alchemy
The Secret Library Podcast
Humor and Bittersweetness in Fiction | Steven Rowley
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Humor and Bittersweetness in Fiction | Steven Rowley

Welcome to the newest season of The Secret Library! We have an amazing line up in store for you these next few weeks that I can’t wait for you to hear. To start us off, Steven Rowley joins us to talk about his experience writing his latest book, The Celebrants. The biggest theme we touch upon is the bittersweet feeling that aging brings to our worldview (and the books we write and read). Steven has wonderful insights on so many topics, from dialogue to writing once you’ve sold a successful pitch. Enjoy!

Topics Discussed

  • The bittersweetness of getting older and how this theme presents itself in Stephen’s books

  • Finding a perfect balance of humor and other emotions in each scene

  • The clarifying benefit of reading your writing aloud

  • Steven’s insights for writing dialogue that includes more than two or three people (that doesn’t include tagging everything)

  • The hardest part about writing The Celebrants for Steven and how his role as a Pantser shows through inwriting

  • Steven’s experience with writing a book after selling a pitch vs. writing without a pitch

Episode Resources

Connect with Steven

Connect with Caroline on Instagram: @carodonahue


Discussion about this podcast

Book Alchemy
The Secret Library Podcast
Most people believe that books are created in cabins all alone, where authors pound away on some manner of keyboard. Then they hand this masterpiece off to a publisher and it feels very much like it goes down a tube and comes out the other side as a book. By speaking to authors and other book lovers, I'm diving into the mystery that is the book world today.