Carter Wilson's Making It Up

About Carter Wilson's Making It Up

Making It Up is an unscripted conversation series about the messy reality of being a writer. Each episode is a deep, unplanned conversation with writers at every stage of the journey. New York Times bestselling authors. Award winners. Debut novelists just getting started. No prepared questions. No talking points. Just two people following the conversation wherever it leads. We talk about where stories really come from. Childhood influences. Fear. Luck. Loss. Discipline. Doubt. The highs, the lows, and the long stretches in between that rarely get talked about. At the end of every episode, we put the philosophy into practice. We choose a random sentence from a random book and use it to create an impromptu short story. No prep. No outline. Just making something out of nothing. Because that is the job. And that is the point. Visit Carter at www.carterwilson.com.

Publisher

Carter Wilson

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

11 Apr 2021

Latest episode

26 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

254 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Sept 2026

   Making It Up with Mike Papantonio, author of A Death in Arcadia

   "If I'm writing strong, I walk away for the day so I can come back tomorrow and take off immediately. Once that energy starts flowing, it carries right through into the next scene." — Mike Papantonio Mike Papantonio is an American trial lawyer, television presenter, radio talk show host, and author. He is a senior partner with Levin Papantonio, one of America’s largest plaintiffs’ law firms, and was one of the youngest inductees into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He has aggressively t...

2. 

   19 Sept 2026

   Making It Up with David Ellis, author of Keep Them Close

   "I'm going to write what I want to write, because that's what I'm going to write best—what makes me feel passionate. It’s all about messed up people doing messed up things." — David Ellis Welcome to Episode 250 of Making It Up! Our 250th episode features David Ellis, a judge and an Edgar-award-winning author of ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight bestselling books co-authored with James Patterson. His novels have been translated into more than ten languages worldwide. In Dece...

3. 

   9 Sept 2026

   Making It Up with Robert Thorogood, author of The Marlow Murder Club series

   "The difference between a professional writer and an amateur is that the professionals get to the end and write 'The End.' And the thing that helps with that is we have contracts. But I've always found the pressure of a monthly mortgage a very good way of focusing concentration on actually doing your word count for the day." — Robert Thorogood Robert Thorogood is an English screenwriter and Sunday Times and USA Today Bestselling novelist. He created the BBC One murder mystery series Dea...

Who has been a guest on Carter Wilson's Making It Up

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Matt Goldman
• Joshua Moehling
• Traci Hunter Abramson
• Cynthia Pelayo
• Bob Johnson

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

72,044

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

11 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 49 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

40

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

68

Contact Carter Wilson's Making It Up

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Shows with a similar audience

• 

  The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

• 

  Pod Save America

• 

  Up First

• 

  You're Dead to Me

Questions about Carter Wilson's Making It Up