Margot Livesey on Writers on Writing, KUCI-FM

Novelist Margot Livesey joins Marrie Stone to talk about her latest, The Boy in the Field. She discusses the draw of writing a coming-of-age novel at this point in her career, her play with police procedurals, her personal connection to her character's quest to find his family of origin, and how she tackled those various points of view. She also talks about how characters off stage, and other minor characters, can motivate action and accelerate plot. This, and so much more, in the conversation.

Margot also contributes this writing prompt to spark your creativity:

One of my jobs, during my brief career as a deputy supermarket manager, was to apprehend shoplifters. I was hopeless at this, in part because most shoplifters were teenagers or senior citizens, and they often stole trivial items.  

So your character, not necessarily an employee of the shop, notices someone—a friend? a stranger?—shoplifting something: a wedge of cheese, a pack of Kleenex.  Write what happens next.

Download audio.  

 (Broadcast date: August 12, 2020)