Weight of Fatherhood 2.2: Christine Cohen

·31 min·3 clips

Christine Cohen fired her New York agent after failing to sell her book, wondering if God wanted her to write at all.

The episode opens with an ad for the Searcy Atrium, an online classical education program. Host Brian Phillips introduces the season's focus on dads and the women in their lives, highlighting stories as a source of help. Guest Christine Cohen joins to discuss her debut novel, 'The Winter King', which her family enjoyed as an audiobook. Cohen shares the book's success, including being a finalist for the 2020 Christie Award and praise from Nate Wilson. She recounts her 10-year writing journey, with ups and downs like signing and firing a New York agent, and doubts about her calling while raising three kids. Cohen describes the common feeling of hating a book by the time it's finished, but regaining appreciation through positive feedback. She explains that writing is hard work, not always fun, and requires pushing past the honeymoon stage where ideas don't match execution. Cohen gives a summary of 'The Winter King': set in a remote Viking-era village cursed by a winter god-king, following a girl named Cora uncovering secrets. She reveals the book is a retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth in a Christ-haunted world, exploring truth within false religion. Cohen discusses her path to writing, starting with derivative trilogies as a teen and rediscovering it after college when homebound with her first child. She wrote two awful novels first, learning to finish and convey atmosphere, before developing 'The Winter King' during pregnancy. Her creative process involves collecting ideas like balloons, inspired by rereading 'Till We Have Faces' and the phrase 'winter is coming'. She used NaNoWriMo to write a skeletal first draft, which beta readers encouraged. Literary influences include C.S. Lewis, Megan Wayland Turner, Diana Wynne Jones, Terry Pratchett, and Lloyd Alexander, plus Douglas Wilson's scapegoat concept from a college class. Cohen addresses the importance of female protagonists, noting a lack in children's fiction but criticizing the 'strong female protagonist' trope in young adult genres. She advocates for brave, three-dimensional characters like biblical women such as Ruth and Esther, citing 1 Peter. Cohen announces her next book, not a sequel but a fairy tale set in Venice with a girl disguising as a boy, inspired by 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' and 'Twelfth Night'. The episode ends with promotion for 'The Winter King' from Canon Press and Audible, and a teaser for the upcoming book.

As heard by us

Christine Cohen's writing story turns child naps into a lesson in finishing, atmosphere, and tone.

Weight of Fatherhood gives Christine Cohen room to talk with Brian Phillips about writing, parenting, and the odd discipline of treating a child's nap as working time.

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Why you'd press play

You get a writerly, dry-eyed conversation about making time when the baby finally sleeps.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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