New York Times bestselling memoirist turned novelist, Garrard Conley, spoke with me about going from activist to fictionist, the isolation of being an artist, and his debut novel All the World Beside. Garrard Conley is the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Boy Erased, as well as the creator and co-producer of the podcast UnErased: The History of Conversion Therapy in America. His memoir became a major motion picture starring Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Lucas Hedges, directed by Joel Edgerton. His debut novel is titled All the World Beside and described as “... an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the love story between two men in Puritan New England.” Tess Gunty, National Book Award-winning author of Rabbit Hutch, called the book an “... accomplishment of breathtaking prose, expert pacing, and extraordinary psychological intelligence...” Garth Greenwell wrote, “... this novel contains some of the finest writing I've encountered in recent American fiction.” Garrard’s work has been published by The New York Times, Oxford American, Time, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among others. Conley is a graduate of Brooklyn College’s MFA program, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow specializing in fiction, and he is an assistant professor of creative writing at Kennesaw State University. [Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm] [If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen] In this file Garrard Conley and I discussed: What it was like to work with Radiolab on a podcast Setting out to write “The Queer Scarlett Letter” His intense historical research process  How he inhabits his stories Why writers can’t skimp on what the audience wants How to un-Tik-Tok-ify your brain And a lot more! Show Notes: garrardconley.com All the World Beside: A NOVEL By Garrard Conley (Amazon) Garrard Conley Amazon Author Page Garrard Conley on Instagram Garrard Conley on Twitter Kelton Reid on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices