One-Drink Book Club

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Hooray for inconsistency! After months since our last episode and surely months until we get our shit together enough to do the next one, Emma and I finally found a time to connect even though Mike and Bill couldn’t make it.Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* I’m re-reading Fat Vampire as part of my “Vampire Grimoire” Kickstarter (which is ALMOST OVER, by the way, so if you want in, you’d better do it now), and it’s both delightful and surprising to revisit work I don’t remember at all. (It’s 13 years old, after all.)* Becoming aware of our own writing processes rather than the sort-of-subconscious way we’ve worked in the past … and how it’s not necessarily a good thing. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.* Overusing unusual words, even though we don’t think we’re overusing them, and how annoying that can be.* Emma dissects story genius in some (but not all) episodes of The X-Files as she re-watches them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* I feel like a first-time author again after releasing my new book, Terminal* Looking at old writing skills with a conscious, curious eye* Writing bloat and cutting out tons of useless shit* Writer’s voice, and where it has a place and where we think it doesn’t* Creating mood in scenes* Discovering a pre-existing story from out there in the universe vs actually crating one* Emma answers a follow-up listener question about how she’s been re-writing her old books to release in new forms This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* Okay, so it’s been three months since the last episode. So what? We’re free spirits over here. * I (Johnny) have a new psychological thriller out, on Kickstarter. It’s called Terminal, offers a badass signed special edition hardback, and you can find it here. * We’re empty nesters now. It has its pros and cons in terms of writing and getting things done, but I for one am still sad.* Holding space for things that might happen soon makes productivity hard.* We FINALLY answered a months-ago email from Reina Cruz about how Emma is re-writing her old work, going from third-person past tense to first-person present tense. * We closed out by talking about how I finally gave in and joined Instagram. You can find me here as @johnnybtruant. (Emma is there too, but I couldn’t find her and didn’t want to wait to post this.) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* Breaking the flow in writing and how it’s an annoying downward spiral* Reading Dungeon Crawler Carl and being totally jealous of Matt Dinniman* Borrowing the mood and vibe of existing scenes from other stories* Bill spoils The Count of Monte Cristo, then performs a story that’s just as brilliant * I drop a pair of philosophical bombs that will be forever debated by scholars for the ages: * Is the best motivation for writing a book “Just because you want to”?* Are we actually writing to express ourselves, or are we writing to connect with others and therefore share an experience with other humans? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Disclaimer: Please don’t respond to this episode to argue with me about AI. I have zero interest in arguing it and will ignore that sort of thing. We are neither pro nor con on AI in this episode, though my natural need to see the glass as half full does try very hard to see possibilities of good. Instead of making arguments for or against emerging technologies, we are instead mainly exploring the issue on a philosophical basis, and everyone knows that philosophical discussions are infuriatingly devoid of actual conclusions and instead end with the philosophers saying, “Nothing can be known!” and then going out and getting drunk.Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* What kinds of readers are there in the world? I think it’s more than most authors usually consider. Which readers are there for connection with the author’s intent, versus who simply wants the story?* Do we write for commerce, or because we want to? (Can’t it be both?)* Is AI a creative tool or a lurking threat? We explore some options on both sides. * Is it possible that AI will — after some sure-to-be turbulence in the meantime — actually purify the intent of art … meaning something we create simply because we want to create it? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* Art isn’t something made by one person. Art, including books, is a collaborative medium, and depends on the reader almost as much as the author.* We attack our frequent whipping boy: literary vs genre writing * Inserting pop culture and personal references to our hearts’ content* Here’s a theory: Writers should be amused by their own work. Makes it better for readers, right? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* Emma and I are finally back in the groove of writing after a long time away … and what the transition back into flow feels like.* Working with editors and soliciting feedback … and ultimately, who are you writing for? * Revising a completed draft and rearranging/adding scenes after the fact … and why the idea of ever doing that gives me (Johnny) chills. * Plotting intuitively vs. overtly* Writing and publishing as you go … sort of like what Sean and I did with Fiction Unboxed back in 2014 (on Kickstarter, before author Kickstarters were cool). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* WE RETURN! AGAIN! Remember how on the last episode, we said, “WE RETURN!” and apologized for being gone for two months and then I said, “We’d promise not to do it again, but we absolutely will?” Well, turns out I know us well. So we started the episode by giving updates and talking about how the end of last year was weird. THIS TIME WE’RE ACTUALLY BACK. Maybe.* Bill’s been writing and talked about the elusive “writer’s high,” which Emma and I both said we were working hard to get back, then talked about how hard it is to find that flow state again. Damn you, Bill.* I’m impatient with worldbuilding. I didn’t realize until Emma talked about how long it takes to build worlds. * Why live events are the best kind of book research and business work you can do as an author … kind of like less-shitty focus groups. * We closed with the idea of being stubborn and writing what you want, as opposed to scoping the market and deciding in advance to write something that will sell. It’s all artists up in this motherfucker, so guess which way we leaned on that one? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* WE RETURN! Sorry it’s been like 2 months since we recorded last. Life got in the way. We’d promise not to do it again but we absolutely will.* Big creative leaps across the board since our last recording! Mike published his “memoir in verse,” Second Half. Bill’s still writing the story that’s been in his head forever. Emma was absent this week, but … yeah, I’m sure she did stuff, too. * After hearing the all-over-the-place way Bill’s been writing, I couldn’t help but compare it to the COMPLETELY OPPOSITE way that I work, and am currently working with Sean Platt’s and my forthcoming Unicorn Heathens. I have to go from A to Z. Nothing changes orders. Ever. We talked a bit about process linearity, but then dove into …* I’ve gotten into songwriting, in addition to book-writing. The story of why and how is here. But it’s interesting how the two are similar, and how I’m finding myself completely comfortable with writing song lyrics at the same time as I’m brand new and uncomfortable. It’s interesting. * The clip of Bob Schneider talking about the song camp and how awesome I am is on this episode of his podcast with Clint Wells. The interesting part begins at time index 18:15. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com

The One-Drink Book Club is an informal, (almost) weekly series in which fellow author Emma Lee Jayne joins me and our other creative friends to talk about the life, business, and art of writing and making books … for the duration of one Friday-afternoon drink. Here’s what we talked about in this episode:* I’m currently recording the audiobook of The Artisan Author (check it out here before it ends, if you’re a writer) — stories of recording foibles abound. * Mike and I talked about the nebulous ideas of “the need to express oneself” and “refilling the creative well.” Both sound pretentious … and both are very real.* I shared a “keeping track of the story” metaphor I haven’t talked much about before … that of “raking everything constantly back to the center.” (Stephen King doesn’t rake. He sets off bombs.* And finally, I buried the lede with Mike by casually mentioning my return to the Unicorn Western story world — something I thought he knew, but that was instead an underwhelming announcement. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com