Making It Up with Brad Parks, author of Unthinkable Artwork

Carter Wilson's Making It Up

In this conversation series, USA Today bestselling novelist Carter Wilson talks to writers of all backgrounds in order to find out why they do what they do. He and his guests discuss childhood influences, roots of creativity, luck and loss, tools of the craft, and the highs and lows of publishing. At the end of their conversation, they pick a random sentence from a random book and use it to create an impromptu short story. Visit Carter at www.carterwilson.com.

All Episodes

Carter Wilson's Making It Up

Making It Up with Brad Parks, author of Unthinkable

August 26, 2021 • Season 1 • Episode 18

Brad Parks is an international bestselling author and the only writer to have won the Shamus, Nero, and Lefty Awards, three of American crime fiction’s most prestigious prizes. A graduate of Dartmouth College, a former journalist with The Washington Post and The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger, he now lives in Virginia with his wife and kids as a full-time novelist, his most recent being Unthinkable.

Among other things, Carter and Brad discuss how writing is both an art and a craft, the allure of writing for the reader and keeping the audience in mind, and letting characters tell their own stories. At the end of their conversation, they improvise a story about undercover agents skirting the line between right and wrong with a body in their trunk beginning with a random sentence from the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.

Connect with Carter at www.carterwilson.com

Connect with Brad at www.bradparksbooks.com/