Welcome to Let’s Deconstruct a Story!

How this works:

Read the story carefully. This is important because the interview will contain spoilers.

During this session, we will talk with the author about their personal process and analyze craft elements: plot, character, setting, dialogue, pacing, and revision.

The aim is to learn how the story was built, with the hope that this will help you with your process.

Hope you enjoy it.

Cheers,

Kelly

Toni Ann Johnson will be talking about her story, “Daughtered Out,” from The Coachella Review.https://thecoachellareview.com/2021/06/02/daughtered-out-by-toni-ann-johnson/

TONI ANN JOHNSON is the winner of the 2021 Flannery O’Connor Award for short fiction with her linked collection Light Skin Gone to Waste, released in October 2022. Roxane Gay selected the book for the prize and is its editor. Johnson’s novella Homegoing was a semi-finalist for the William Faulkner Wisdom Award in fiction. It won Accents Publishing’s inaugural novella contest in 2020 and was released in May of 2021. The novel Remedy For a Broken Angel was released in 2014 and earned Johnson a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author.

In 1998, Johnson won the Christopher Award and the Humanitas Prize for her screenplay “Ruby Bridges,” the Disney/ABC movie and true story of the young girl who integrated into the New Orleans Public School system. In 2004, Johnson won a second Humanitas Prize for her screenplay “Crown Heights” (Showtime), also a true story.

Purchase Toni Ann Johnson’s book here.

Hi Everyone,

During this episode, Shastri Akella discusses his Best American Short Story, “The Magic Bangle.”

The podcast episode is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Please read the story before listening to the podcast episode.

It’s available here at The Fairy Tale Review.

I hope you enjoy this discussion with Shastri as much as I did!

Cheers,

Kelly

PS: As always, I would love to hear about your favorite stories! Please send ideas anytime.

Bio: Shastri Akella’s debut novel, “The Sea Elephants,” has been published by Flatiron Books (USA, Canada) and Penguin (India). He was a writing resident at the Fine Arts Works Center (2021) and the Oak Springs Garden Foundation (2023). He’s the winner of the 2022 FracturedLit Flash Fiction Contest and the 2023 Best Microfiction Contest. His writing has appeared in Guernica, Fairy Tale Review, CRAFT, The Masters Review, Electric Literature, World Literature Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD. in Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He’s an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Michigan State University. Contact him for readings and book signings at your bookstore, college, or library at shastriakella.com.

Shastri Akella’s book is available here.

Upcoming Podcast Schedule

Free and available on Spotify, Apple, and Substack, as well as other podcast platforms.

March 1st: Toni Ann Johnson

April 1st: ‘Pemi Aguda

May 1st: Jim Shepard

June 1st: Molly Dektar

Upcoming interview schedule:

Paid subscribers and former guests are welcome to join me for live interviews with these writers below. Please read the story beforehand and come ready to discuss it with the author :)

On February 17th at 1 pm EST, I will talk to ‘Pemi Aguda about “Manifest.”

On March 4th at 1 pm: Jim Shepard: “The Queen of Bad Influences.”

On April 8th at 11 am: Molly Dektar: “The Bed & Breakfast.”

If you are a member of the Conscious Writers Collective with Maya C. Popa, you are also welcome to join us for the interviews. I highly recommend CWC. The instructors are amazing, and everyone is extremely supportive. I hope you will check it out!

In other news, I am heading to France from March 11th to May 29th to serve as writer-in-residence at VCCA’s Moulin à Nef campus. If you’re nearby (or heading there for a residency), I’d love to see you!

Cheers,

Kelly

Happy New Year!

Maura Stanton and I had so much fun discussing “School for Robots.” Please be sure to read the story first before watching this video, and check out more of Maura’s fantastic stories below.

Enjoy!

Kelly

Bio: Maura Stanton’s Cities in the Sun was the recipient of the Michigan Literary Fiction Award. She is the author of two previous books of stories, Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling, which won the Sullivan Prize, and The Country I Come From. Stanton’s books of poetry include Glacier Wine, Snow on Snow, Cries of Swimmers, Tales of the Supernatural, and Life Among the Trolls. She teaches in the M.F.A. creative writing program at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her supernatural robot stories have appeared in Allium, Pacifica Literary Review, Baltimore Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, The Phoenix, and North American Review. Her chapbook, Interiors, won the Open Chapbook contest and was published by Finishing Line Press. With “School for Robots,” she is a two-time winner of The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award. She also won the Fall 2015 Supernatural Fiction Award for her story, “House Ghosts.”

Other stories by Maura Stanton:

North American Review: Tin Man

The Baltimore Review: Ballerina

Pacifica Review: Star Crossed

The Bennington Review: MARSPAINTSDAILY

A little about your host, Kelly Fordon:

KELLY FORDON’s latest poetry collection, What Trammels the Heart, was published by SFAPress in 2025. Her short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press, 2019), was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. It was later adapted into a play by Robin Martin and published in The Kenyon Review Online. Her novel-in-stories, Garden for the Blind, was published by WSUP in 2015. She teaches at Springfed Arts in Detroit and online.

What Trammels the Heart is on sale right now for 40% off at tamupress.com with the code HEART40 :) and Amazon here.