The Creative Writing Class You Always Wanted To Take
Podcasts to become a better writer from You’re Gonna Love This Podcast
Every once in a while I tell someone that I studied literature at university and they turn around and tell me that they’ve always secretly wanted to write. To write a novel, to write a memoir, to write more poems or to just generally write in a creative way. But there’s always something that gets in the way. Sometimes it’s finding the time to do it, often it’s coming up with the right idea, but more often than not it’s that they just don’t know where to start. So this week I’m going to share three podcasts that I think you’re gonna love if you’ve always wanted to write something or take a creative writing class. These are podcasts that are going to give you brilliant advice on how to write, prompts for how to get started and the inspiration to pick up your pen. Or you know, reach for your keyboard.
Start With This
Start With This is a podcast hosted by the creators of the award-winning podcast Welcome To Night Vale. The best way to start writing is to start writing, and this podcast brings together a combination of conversations, real-world examples and assignments to help you to start. In each episode, hosts Joseph and Jeffrey chose a theme such as opening lines and guide you through their experiences and the work of some of their favorite writers to share brilliant advice on how to start writing and achieve your writing goals.
One of my favorite things about this podcast and one of the things about it that I think is going to make you feel like you’re sitting in your dream creative writing class, is the weekly assignments. Joseph and Jeffrey end each episode by giving listeners two assignments. The first assignment being something to consume and the second being something to write, so if you’re looking for a practical creative writing podcast, this might just be the one for you.
Start with: Idea to Execution
Magic Lessons
Even if you don’t know Elizabeth Gilbert by name, you’ve probably heard of her award-winning memoir Eat Pray Love. And if you liked Eat Pray Love, enjoy reading creative nonfiction or have always dreamed of talking to your favorite writer, you’re gonna love this podcast. In each episode of Magic Lessons, Elizabeth Gilbert takes a call from an aspiring artist looking for advice on a particular aspect of her creative writing life. She listens to them as they explain their predicament, asks them questions to better understand what they really need help with and gives them incredibly thoughtful and considered advice.
Every once in a while Elizabeth phones a writer or artist friend to give the aspiring artist even further advice and at the end of every season, she calls all the people she helped throughout the season to catch up on the work they’ve done and the progress they’ve made since their first call. What I love about this podcast is the way that Elizabeth combines empathy, tough love and brilliant advice from her own experience to help listeners navigate their own creative dilemmas with confidence and compassion.
Start with: Do What Ignites Your Soul
This is article is adapted from the podcast You’re Gonna Love This Podcast which you can listen to here: You’re Gonna Love This Podcast
