Keeping Tabs on Your Characters w. ROBERT GIPE

Episode 25

Robert Gipe is the author of two illustrated novels, Weedeater, released this year by Ohio University Press, and Trampoline. He lives in Harlan, Kentucky, and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee. His fiction has appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Still, Southern Cultures, Motif and Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel. He is the executive producer of the Higher Ground community performance project in Harlan County.

Discussed In This Episode

All the books you'll ever write. Save some for the next book. Finding your characters in real life. Prescription drugs and mental healthcare (or the lack thereof) in Appalachia. The reluctant narrator. Gender as a continuum. "I think fiction gives evil more power than sometimes it has in people's lives." Finding flaws after publication. Voice. Being a non-plotter. Appalshop. Avoiding "othering." Choosing the right metaphors for your characters. Out-migration. The Appalachian Writers' Workshop. Write something—anything—every day. Chain-smoking notebooks. Keeping tabs on your characters (and occasionally forgetting they're dead).

Keeping Tabs on Your Characters w. ROBERT GIPE

Episode 25

Discussed In This Episode

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