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It's Lit!

How Do You Write a Bestseller?

Season 2 Episode 15

We spend a lot of time pontificating on the high canon of books: Your Shakespeares, your Tolstoys, your… erotic beast wars fanfiction. But today we’re craving something a little lighter, a little fluffier… novels you pick up for the sake of just having something quick-- your beach reads, your airport novels, your Books of the Month. Books that somehow manage to dominate water-cooler discussions.

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Season
The Constructed Languages of JRR Tolkien
14:17
A less-discussed aspect of Tolkien is the way he used constructed language in his writing.
The Byronic Hero: Isn’t it Byronic?
14:48
Brooding, sensual, violent, intelligent, and single-minded.
Why We Still Love Little Women, 150 Years Later
9:37
Before women were asking “Am I Carrie or Samantha?”, they were asking “Am I Jo or Amy?"
How Fictional Pandemics Reflect the Real Thing
12:02
Explore how fictional pandemics have evolved over time.
Afrofuturism: From Books to Blockbusters
9:33
What is Afro-Futurism and what is its place in Black storytelling?
The Case for Fan Fiction
11:19
We explore how fan fiction writers were able to come out of the proverbial closet of shame
The Beauty and Anguish of Les Misérables!
8:47
We explore how Les Miserable became both a national and revolutionary anthem.
How Greek Mythology Inspires Us
10:09
Ancient Greek Mythology has worked its way into modern pop culture so deeply.
Death, Personified
8:58
Death as a character reveals how we process one of life’s greatest mysteries.
Food & Fiction: Memorable Meals in Literature
8:58
Using words to evoke the experience of eating is an excellent way to bring a text to life.
Unreliable Narrators
7:36
Can an unreliable narrator help readers see the world through multiple lenses?
Fear of Ghost...Writing!
8:39
What is ghostwriting and why does it exist?
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