Fiction writing 101 is like you pick a unique detail of someone's appearance, like, you don't describe the whole thing, and you definitely don't comment on like if they're fat or thin or tall or whatever.

You know, like it's just sort of all people are spirits and they're moving through the world and whatever.

And I'm like, no.

Welcome back to working. I'm your host, June Thomas.

And I'm your other host, Ronald Young Jr.

Ronald is so nice to be talking with you again.

And tell me, whose voice did we hear at the top of the show?

That was Emma Copley Eisenberg.

She was a writer and the author of the nonfiction book,

The Third Rainbow Girl,

which is a book that follows the investigation of the murders of Vicki Durian

and Nancy Santamaro.

And why did you want to speak with Emma right now?

So Emma was originally a fiction writer, but her first book was a work of nonfiction, as I just mentioned, Third Rainbow Girl.

But she just released her second book, Housemates, which is a work of fiction about two young queer people who go on a

road trip for a journalism assignment, but also end up discovering more about themselves and

each other and the world. And it's a fun romp. Wow. That sounds amazing. I am super excited

to hear this interview, but tell me, do you have anything up your sleeve exclusively

for Slate Plus members? I absolutely do. In the Slate Plus segment, Emma and I touch a little bit

on her personal inspirations for writing, but then we dive deeper into another one of the themes of

the book Housemates in the idea of the toxic mentor and toxic

mentorship. And there's this idea that art can save your life. But if that idea is true,

...