Drunken Pen Writing Podcast

In today's cold open, we talk about our current writing progress. After that, we discuss Stephen King's bestselling novel IT.

Rather than talk about the story, which almost everyone knows already, we discuss the icky bits that nobody wants to hear about. You know the scene! Also, all the racism and gross nonsense, but we don't dwell on that stuff too much. We break down some of the writing tricks Stephen King used to scare readers,...

In today's episode, we finish our discussion of Haruki Murakami's giant novel, 1Q84. We share our thoughts on how the book ends, as well as the lack of resolution for the characters we've spent far too much time with. This leads to a brief comparison to the other notable Murakami, Ryu Murakami, who tends to write in a much faster-paced, grittier, and harder-hitting way. 

There are a lot of things to like about 1Q84, but there ...

In today's episode, we discuss our current writing projects and how the social climate affects said projects. Such as, can white authors write a story that only has black characters?

After that, we briefly read the worst lines in fiction. Briefly, because the list we found was awful. Then we move on from awful to terrible as we discuss another list about famous novels and why they actually suck, according to the list maker anyway.

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In today's cold open, we read from Edmund Spenser's epic fantasy poem, The Faerie Queene. We also discuss the Arthurian language used and why the work is so difficult to read.

After that, we settle down and talk about bad writing and ways to fix it! We cover an article on the subject from www.aliventures.com, which gives some great examples of bad writing and tips on how to fix it. Of course, we share some of the things we've learn...

We're back with a brand new episode of our hit mini-series, A Murakami Minute! This time around, we tackle Haruki Murakami's nearly 1200-page monster of a sci-fi, magical realism, and romance novel, 1Q84. 

In this first episode, we discuss book one of three (the novel is broken down into three books). Our conversation focuses less on the story and more on Murakami's writing style, the translation (and its issues), what we like...

In today's cold open, we discuss what reading level the average adult should be at. Studies have shown that the average currently sits between a 5th-grade and 7th-grade reading level, but we feel that's way too low. We also recommend some books that we feel adults should be able to read and comprehend without any issues. 

After that, we challenge our reading levels by revisiting one of the few Books of the Month we did not fin...

No cold open today. Instead, we dive right into the topic of the day. We examine the current illiteracy crisis going on in the US and discuss a study done with English majors who were found to be unable to read or inadequate in understanding the opening to Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House. 

We read the opening of Bleak House ourselves to see if we're capable of understanding it, and then, for fun, we read some pages of Ulyss...

We get controversial in today's cold open by discussing the nonsense that is organized religion.

After that, we have a fun chat about the American books you should read at least once in your life. Well, at least according to a list we found. This should be the last American book list we discuss for some time. 

You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @dpwpodcast.

You can check out Caleb's work at www.calebjamesk.c...

We open today's episode with an interesting question: if you could become the greatest ever in one art form, what art form would you choose? Writer, painter, actor, singer? Somehow, this segues into a conversation about who we think the greatest comic book writer in history is. 

After that, we talk about how DISGUSTING Gravity's Rainbow is. Like, Epstein Files disgusting! WTF is wrong with Thomas Pynchon???

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Today, we sit down with a past guest, journalist, poet, and owner of Starving Author Press, Nick Ulanowski. We discuss his Kickstarter for his newest book, Truth Before Comfort: Confessions of a Comic Book Journalist.

We dive into Nick's past working as a journalist and reviewer in the comic book industry, his views on corporate influence on art and media, the importance of separating art from the artist, and why he finds all this...