Ted and Lindsay are joined by Hallie Shepherd, who has worked in the film industry as a screenwriter, producer, and actress, all the while knowing she would eventually return to her first love: novels.

Her debut, Call Off the Dark, published by William Morrow/HarperCollins last month, is a true genre blend, with atmospheric thriller, love story, and psychological drama elements. After telling us about the book and the art of meting out twists, Hallie shares two writing tips—first, her system for temporarily turning off her writer brain and just enjoying the book she’s reading, and second, something drawn straight from her screenwriting toolkit.

Learn more about Hallie and order her book at hallieshepherd.com.

This is a podcast explicitly about the craft of writing—except when it’s not.

For these “Fanning Out” bonus episodes, Ted is joined by his videographer pal Matthew Simmons not to talk about things they’ve made but rather to revel in the work of others and what it can teach us.

Like the show’s regular episodes, it’s a celebration of human creativity (or something that sounds 32 percent less corny). Here, they’re just doing it from the perspective of fans, and they’re going beyond books and writing to dive into TV, movies, music, and whatever else they can credibly find an excuse to discuss.

There are categories (sometimes). There are digressions (always). And today, there are two recent, amazing, and very different indie films from our neighbors to the north: the drama Blue Heron and the time-traveling comedy mockumentary Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.

*Note: This episode contains spoilers.

Ted and Lindsay are joined by Carol Davis, whose novel, Restoration—which Dave Eggers has called “intimate, vivid, and deeply felt”—will be published by Rise Books later this month.

A writer, researcher, and archivist, she tells us about the book, a literary novel that is also her debut, and how it grew out of a short story about a mother and daughter arguing with each other that Carol wrote a number of years ago. She then shares her best writing tip, a way to start your writing day away from the distractions of the internet and instead immersed in the cadence of language.

Learn more about Carol and order her book at caroldavisauthor.com.