Lisa Gardner on Creativity and Curiosity

Podcast: Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators · Jeff Utecht & Tricia Friedman

Opublikowano: 2026-08-17

What can ELA teachers learn from a bestselling suspense novelist who begins writing without knowing who the villain is? In this episode of Shifting Schools, Tricia Friedman speaks with Lisa Gardner about the habits, questions, and research behind her novels. Their conversation offers ELA teachers a fresh way to think about character development, suspense, inquiry, and the creative conditions young writers need. Lisa explains that she does not begin with characters divided neatly into heroes and villains. She gives each person layers, contradictions, motivations, and a moral code. As the story develops, she allows the...