Ep. 13: How to Build A Story: Nic Stone on Walking Barefoot in Her Yard and Personifying Emotions

Highlights from this episode with Nic Stone include:

 

• Nic’s famous mnemonic for the writing process, including a behind the scenes sneak peek to her third book in the Dear Martin series
• The two questions to ask when working on a new story
• The experience of having FUN while writing and how each book is a form of self-exploration
• Reading (rather than avoiding) comp titles during the drafting process
• Living an emotionally honest life in order to achieve emotional resonance on the page
• Neurodivergence as a gift and the power of centering mental health
• The power (and hilarity) of personifying emotions
• Putting people from your real life in books… so you can murder them.

 

Nic Stone is the brilliant, prolific #1 NY Times-bestselling author of young adult fiction, including Dear Martin, Dear Justyce, Odd One Out, Jackpot, her latest Chaos Theory, and her co-authored book with Ibram X. Kendi: How to Be A (Young) Antiracist. Dear Martin was one of Time magazine’s 100 best YA books of all times and won the William C. Morris Award in 2018. The books sequel, Dear Justyce, was an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her middle grade books include, Clean Getaway, Easy Pitch, and Marvel’s Shuri series based on the breakout character from Black Panther.