Working: A Master Class in Character Description

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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, host Ronald Young Jr. talks to writer Emma Copley Eisenberg about her new novel Housemates, which features a burgeoning friendship between two artists who decide to road trip across Pennsylvania together. In the interview, Emma explains how her nonfiction writing and her interest in history influenced this new work of fiction. She also talks about her “feast or famine” approach to productivity, her desire to document her community, and her belief that physical descriptions of people are crucial to good fiction writing. After the interview, Ronald and co-host June Thomas ponder why the most difficult projects can be the most exciting. They also talk about how rare it is to see good depictions of fat people in fiction. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Emma talks about a toxic mentor character in Housemates and why it’s so troubling when teachers of the arts abuse their positions of power. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Pets bring so much joy from those happy greetings at the door to the warm
0:05.2	cuddles on the sofa so give a little love back with dental life from Purina a
0:10.6	range of delicious chews made for dogs and tasty snacks for cats that help clean and support your pets teeth and gums.
0:18.5	Essential for their overall well-being and a happy healthy life they give you plenty of smiles so look after
0:25.8	theirs with dental life pick up dental life in the pet food aisle
0:32.0	hey slate listeners I'm Christina Kauterucci,
0:35.0	the host of Sloburn Gays Against Briggs.
0:38.0	I want to tell you about a special event we're doing
0:40.0	at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on June 13th.
0:44.3	To celebrate this new season of Sloburn and Pride Month, we're hosting an exclusive live
0:48.8	taping of the show with special guests, including Civil Rights Activ activist and Black Lives Matter organizer
0:54.3	de Ray McKesson, comedian and singer Esther Falick, Eric Marcus, the host of
0:59.1	Making Gay History, and Sam Fader, director of the Netflix documentary Disclosure, about the depiction of
1:05.1	trans people in film and television. We'll dive deeper into this season and talk about
1:09.7	the lasting impact of the Briggs Initiative and the continued fight over LGBT
1:13.6	rights and schools. It'll be the perfect way to celebrate Pride Month this June
1:18.0	with LGBTQ stories and voices across generations. Again, that's June 13th at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
1:26.0	You can get tickets now at Tribeca Film.com slash slow burn.
1:30.0	Hope to see you there. Fiction writing 101 is like you pick a unique detail of someone's
1:48.8	appearance like you don't describe the whole thing and you definitely don't
1:52.2	comment on like if they're
1:53.4	fat or thin or tall or whatever you know like it's just sort of all people are spirits and
	...

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