236: Writing Without Rules (or Pants) - Interview with Jeff Somers

Hey there word nerds!

Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Jeff Somers on the show!

I first met Jeff at BookExpo this past spring and had the opportunity to hear him speak at the Writer’s Digest Conference this past summer, and the moment we crossed paths I knew that we were going to be instant writing besties. First off, he’s hilarious. Second, he’s an iconoclast, so not really into following the rules, which is totally my jam. Plus, his wife is also super-awesome which means he has great taste. This is why I just knew I had to have him on the show so we could geek out about his book Writing Without Rules.

But first, a little more about Jeff.

Jeff began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has since published nine novels, including the noir-scifi novels in the Avery Cates Series, the darkly hilarious crime novel Chum, and most recently tales of blood magic and short cons in the Ustari Cycle, which includes the novel We Are Not Good People and four novellas.

He has also published over thirty short stories, including “Ringing the Changes,” which was selected for inclusion in the Best American Mystery Stories 2006, writes about books for Barnes and Noble and about the craft of writing for Writer’s Digest, which also published his book on the craft of writing Writing Without Rules in 2018. He considers pants to always be optional.

So listen in as Jeff and I geek out about this awesome book, debunk some of the greatest writing myths in history, and discover exactly why pants should always be optional.

In this episode Jeff and I discuss:

Why only writing what you know creates boring books. What “show don’t tell” really means. Write every day, the god-emperor of bad writing advice. Solving the mystery of “kill your darlings”. How to expand your vocabulary, without a thesaurus. Plus, Jeff’s #1 tip for writers.

For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/236