Writing About the Pandemic with NYT Bestseller Jodi Picoult
Bestseller Jodi Picoult didn’t back down from the challenge of writing a story set during the pandemic. In her latest novel, Wish You Were Here, she uses her excellent character writing skills and days of research and interview material to compel readers to relive the relatable confusion and chaos of early lockdown through the lens of two lovers separated by travel restrictions. Jodi is well known for bestselling novels like My Sister’s Keeper and Small Great Things. She has published 26 books, selling over 40 million copies worldwide. To purchase Wish You Were Here, follow the link below.
From Amazon.com:
Jodi Picoult is the author of twenty five internationally bestselling novels, including MY SISTER’S KEEPER, HOUSE RULES and SMALL GREAT THINGS, and has also co-written two YA books with her daughter Samantha van Leer, BETWEEN THE LINES and OFF THE PAGE. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Her most recent adult novel, A SPARK OF LIGHT first published in the UK on 30th October 2018, and was a #1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.
Whether you’re traditionally published or indie, writing a good book is only the first step in becoming a successful author. The days of just turning a manuscript into your editor and walking away are gone. If you want to succeed in today’s publishing world, you need to understand every aspect of the business – editing, formatting, marketing, contracts. It all starts with a good book, then the real work begins.
Join international bestselling author J.D. Barker and indie powerhouses, J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon, as they gain unique insight and valuable advice from the most prolific and accomplished authors in the business.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- How Jodi got through a 16-month quarantine
- How the pandemic changed her writing process
- How to settle on a setting for your story
- Why now is the best time to write about the pandemic
- The importance of writing yourself into your characters
Links:
J. D. Barker – http://jdbarker.com/
J. Thorn – https://theauthorlife.com/
Zach Bohannon – https://zachbohannon.com/
Dragons of a Different Tail: 17 Unusual Dragon Tales – https://books2read.com/dragonantho
Jodi Picoult – https://www.garygrossman.com/
Wish You Were Here – https://mybook.to/WishUWereHere
Story Rubric – http://storyrubric.com
Nonfic Rubric – http://nonficrubric.com
Proudly sponsored by Kobo Writing Life – https://kobowritinglife.com/
Music by Nicorus – https://cctrax.com/nicorus/dust-to-dust-ep
Voice Over by Rick Ganley – http://www.nhpr.com and recorded at Mill Pond Studio – http://www.millpondstudio.com
Contact – https://writersinkpodcast.com/dev/contact/
*Full disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links.
Christopher Wills
3 years ago
Great show today. Interesting discussion of integrating current events into one’s stories. I don’t see a problem, although we writers need to be careful what we write, as our views of events change with time. Our Majesty, the Queen came up with an apposite phrase this year based on an Oprah interview that says it all – “Recollections may vary.”
From my perspective the pandemic has only affected me by cancelling holidays. Lovely wifey, Denise and I were due to come to Nashville, the first of two breaks abroad we planned for 2020. Pandemic has given me more time to write and I have written loads. I haven’t yet seen anything from the pandemic that I could include in my writing.
I love the self confidence Jodi displays – if you don’t try it you’ll never find out.
Pandemic made me think about Post-apoc as I have a Post-apoc project. wrt Pandemic I wondered, ‘is this how a Post-apoc world could start?’ At times it was something some were speculating on. I read about the Spanish Flu pandemic post WWI and realized that civilized and as advanced as we are, a virus wiping out a large proportion of the World’s population is no longer science fiction…
J. Thorn
3 years ago
So true. I think that’s why many folks didn’t want to read post-apoc during the pandemic. It felt like nonfiction.