Why I Write: Janus Adams Interviews Karen E. Osborne About Craft, Trauma, Justice, and Reimagining "Getting It Right"
Why does a writer write?
For Karen E. Osborne, the answer begins with a childhood love of storytelling—but it extends far beyond simply wanting to entertain.
In this special episode of What Are You Reading? What Are You Writing?, Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian, bestselling author, and radio host Dr. Janus Adams turns the microphone on Karen for a thoughtful conversation about her writing life and the experiences that shape her fiction.
They explore why Karen writes about trauma, family, justice, race, foster care, sexual assault, homelessness, hunger, and other social issues that matter to her—and why those issues always begin with character rather than message.
Janus asks what changed between Karen’s 2017 debut novel and the completely reimagined Getting It Right: A Psychological Thriller. Karen reflects on nine years of writing, studying craft, taking classes, participating in writing communities, and reading accomplished novelists not only for pleasure but also to understand how they make stories work.
The conversation also explores why Karen returned to Alex and Kara, the two sisters at the heart of Getting It Right: A Psychological Thriller. A dying father’s final request brings together two women who never knew the other existed and forces them to confront family secrets, trauma, questions of trust, and the possibility of connection.
Janus also reads an excerpt from the novel, opening another window into Karen’s evolution as a storyteller. It’s a conversation about why stories matter, why writers never stop learning, and what happens when experience gives an author new tools for telling an old story.
Watch or listen as two accomplished storytellers explore the question behind every book: Why do we write?
Then meet Alex and Kara in the completely reimagined Getting It Right: A Psychological Thriller.
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