Track Changes: Selling Your Book (Part 1)

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Literary agents Holly Root, founder of Root Literary, and Seth Fishman with The Gernert Company return to lead us through how an agent prepares a manuscript for submission, how they choose which editors to approach with a manuscript, and how they negotiate common types of book sales. We get into what a writer can expect during this notoriously nerve-wracking process.

This episode is brought to you by The Slow Novel Lab, a six-week creativity and writing course from Printz-winning novelist Nina LaCour. For the summer session, beginning June 7, Nina will donate 50% of profits to Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization working with underserved communities. Learn more and sign up for the Slow Novel Lab here.

Catch up on the series so far:

Episode 1: Publishing 101

Episode 2: Agents: Who Are They, What Do They Do, And How Do You Get One?

Bonus Episode: Publishing in the time of COVID

The following agents were interviewed for this episode:

We meet Jennifer de Leon as she prepares for the release of her debut young adult novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, on August 4. Though Jennifer has been writing for years, she quickly learns that there’s a lot about Capital-P-Publishing that she doesn’t know. (Hear her First Draft interview here.)

Seth Fishman, he’s an author and literary agent with The Gernert Company and manager of their West Coast office. He reps clients such as John Joseph Adams, Ali Almossawi, and Kate Beaton.

Holly Root, literary agent and founder of Root Literary who represents clients such as Victoria Schwab (hear her First Draft interview here), Jasmine Guillory (listen to her First Draft interview here), and Christina Lauren.

Definitions:

• Genre: Kelly Jensen of BookRiot says the term genre “refers to a type of art that shares similar features. Often, there are standard and common conventions and restraints, as well as common tropes and set-ups. Science fiction is a genre. Romance is a genre. Fantasy and mystery are also genres.”

• Category: Jensen says category is “who the book is intended for. It’s part of the marketing of a book, as well as a way for those who work with books to quickly ascertain the reader for whom the book would be most appropriate.” Within the category of Young Adult there are genres like contemporary, science fiction, mystery, etc.

More Information:

• “How Long Does it Take to Sell a Book?” by Nathan Bransford

• “On Being on Submission” by Stacey Lee on Pub(lishing) Crawl

• A description of the auction process on the Steve Laube Literary Agency blog

• “Under the Gavel of a Book Auction” on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour blog

Want more information? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of the Track Changes newsletter, which goes a step (or two) further behind the scenes into the publishing world.

Support First Draft by subscribing to the podcast wherever you listen (on Apple Podcasts, Spotfiy, Stitcher, or elsewhere), and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. You can donate to the podcast, on a one time or monthly basis.

Track Changes is produced by Hayley Hershman. Zan Romanoff is the story editor. The music was composed by Dan Bailey, and the logo was designed by Collin Keith.

First Draft Episode #252: Candace Bushnell

Candace Bushnell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle, and The Carrie Diaries talks about her newest book, Rules For Being a Girl, which she co-wrote with New York Times bestselling author Katie Cotugno.

This episode was sponsored by HIGHLAND 2, made by writers, for writers.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Four Blondes by Candace

• James Truman at Details Magazine (a profile of Truman from The New York Times in 1999)

• Joan Didion, essayist and author of Slouching Toward Bethlehem, The White Album, and The Year of Magical Thinking

• Anna Kerenina by Leo Tolstoy

• Is There Still Sex in the City by Candace

   

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

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Track Changes: Publishing in the Time of COVID

Publishing experts discuss how the global pandemic, and widespread shelter-in-place laws have changed their jobs, how publishers have responded to the uncertain retail market, what books are more or less likely to sell in this climate, and what all writers should be focused on during this time.

The following agents were interviewed for this episode:

Faye Bender, partner and founder of The Book Group, who represents authors such as Courtney Summers (listen to her First Draft podcast here and here), Maurene Goo (listen to her First Draft podcasts here, here, and hear her interview Sarah Enni here), and Jennifer de Leon (listen to her FIrst Draft podcast here, and follow her publishing journey in Track Changes, starting with Episode 1).

Sarah Burnes with The Gernert Company, who represents Margaret Stohl (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here), Heather Havrilesky, Zan Romanoff (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here), and me (hear Sarah and I discuss the lead-up to the release of my debut novel, Tell Me Everything, here).

Seth Fishman, he’s an author and literary agent with The Gernert Company and manager of their West Coast office. He reps clients such as John Joseph Adams, Ali Almossawi, and Kate Beaton.

Kristin Nelson, founder of Nelson Literary Agency, who represents authors like Marie Lu (listen to her First Draft interviews here, here, and here), Ally Carter, and Simone Elkeles.

Holly Root, literary agent and founder of Root Literary who represents clients such as Victoria Schwab (hear her First Draft interview here), Jasmine Guillory (listen to her First Draft interview here), and Christina Lauren.

Discussed in this episode:

• Don’t miss the previous episodes of Track Changes: Publishing 101 (listen on the website; Apple Podcasts; Spotify; or Stitcher); and Agents: Who Are They And How Do I Get One? (listen on the website; Spotify; or Stitcher)

More Information:

• “The Coronavirus Takes Its Toll on Publishing” in Publishers Weekly

• “The Deals Are Alright” in PublishersMarketplace (Sub. reqrd.)

• “Virtual Author Events Are the Next Big Thing” in Publishers Weekly

• “Print Unit Sales Flat in April” in Publisher's Weekly

• Furloughs, firings, and layoffs covered in a few places: “UTA Instituting Temporary Furloughs To Start In A Few Weeks, Mostly Assistants,” in Deadline;

Want more information? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of the Track Changes newsletter, which goes a step (or two) further behind the scenes into the publishing world.

Support First Draft by subscribing to the podcast wherever you listen (on Apple Podcasts, Spotfiy, Stitcher, or elsewhere), and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. You can donate to the podcast, on a one time or monthly basis.

Track Changes is produced by Hayley Hershman. Zan Romanoff is the story editor. The music was composed by Dan Bailey, and the logo was designed by Collin Keith.

First Draft Episode #251: John Hodgman

John Hodgman, comedian and author of The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That is All, as well as collections of humorous essays Vacationland: True Stories From Painful Beaches and Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms. John is also the host of the Judge John Hodgman podcast as well as I, Podius with Elliott Kalan.

This episode was sponsored by HIGHLAND 2, a better way to write, and The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton, out from Page Street Books now!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• The Dead Pilots Society production of “Only Child”

• Ben Acker (listen to his First Draft here)

• Don Faulkner, writing instructor and poet who taught John at Yale

• Lee K. Abbott, short story writer with collections such as All Things, All At Once

• Raymond Carver, author of short story collections Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love and Cathedral

• John Hodgman’s episode of Fresh Air with Terry Gross

• Geoffrey Kloske is the President and Publisher of Riverhead Books

• Dave Eggers, author of The Circle, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and founder of McSweeny’s Internet Tendency

• Ben Schott Schott’s Original Miscellany

• George Plimpton, writer and editor of The Paris Review

• Writer’s House is the literary agency where John worked

• Mark Adams (travel books) Meet Me In Atlantis and Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska

• Jesse Thorn, co-host of John’s Judge John Hodgman, and host of Bullseye

• George Saunders, author of Tenth of December and Lincoln in the Bardo

• The A.V. Club

• John wrote Dicktown with his friend, fellow podcaster and writer David Rees

• John’s interview in Publisher’s Weekly, in which he was interviewed by Elaine Szewczyk

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

We meet Jennifer de Leon as she prepares for the release of her debut young adult novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, on August 4. Though Jennifer has been writing for years, she quickly learns that there’s a lot about Capital-P-Publishing that she doesn’t know. (Hear her First Draft interview here.)

We meet Holly Root, literary agent and founder of Root Literary who represents clients such as Victoria Schwab (hear her First Draft interview here), Jasmine Guillory (listen to her First Draft interview here), and Christina Lauren.

Seth Fishman, he’s an author and literary agent with The Gernert Company and manager of their West Coast office,. He reps clients such as John Joseph Adams, Ali Almossawi, and Kate Beaton.

This episode is brought to you by Writing in Place, the podcast series brought to you by bestselling and Printz-winning author Nina LaCour (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here), who also brings you the Keeping a Notebook podcast and the Slow Novel Lab.

Want more information? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of the Track Changes newsletter, which goes a step (or two) further behind the scenes into the publishing world.

Support First Draft by subscribing to the podcast wherever you listen (on Apple Podcasts, Spotfiy, Stitcher, or elsewhere), and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. You can donate to the podcast, on a one time or monthly basis.

Track Changes is produced by Hayley Hershman. Zan Romanoff is the story editor. The music was composed by Dan Bailey, and the logo was designed by Collin Keith.

First Draft Episode #250: Rufi Thorpe

Rufi Thorpe, author of The Girls from Corona del Mar and Dear Fang: With Love, talks about her new novel, The Knockout Queen.

This episode was sponsored by HIGHLAND 2, a better way to write, and by We Didn’t Ask For This, the newest novel by Adi Alsaid, out from Inkyard Press April 7 (listen to his First Draft interview here).

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• “Perversity of Spirit,” Rufi’s essay about what it takes to be a writer in Poets&Writers

• California State Summer School for the Arts

• Philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch was an inspiration for Rufi

• The author, poet, and screenwriter Raymond Obstfeld taught a community college class that really broke fiction open for Rufi

• Molly Friedrich, literary agent at XXX, who represents Rufi

• Clueless (movie)

• The O.C.

• Zan Romanoff discussing her most recent novel Look on First Draft

• “If You've Ever Felt Insecure About Your Looks, Author Rufi Thorpe Has Some Important Advice” by Rufi in PopSugar

• RuPaul’s Drag Race

• Rocky Horror Picture Show (movie)

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #249: Opening the Mailbag with Justin A. Reynolds

This week is a new mailbag episode, where I--along with a very special guest--will answer listener questions! Joining me today is Justin A. Reynolds, author of Opposite of Always, whose new YA, Early Departures, will be out September 22!

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #248: Claire Comstock-Gay

Claire Comstock-Gay is the author of weekly horoscopes for New York magazine’s The Cut, and her debut book about astrology, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, is out now.

This episode was sponsored by HIGHLAND 2, a better way to write, and by We Didn’t Ask For This, the newest novel by Adi Alsaid, out from Inkyard Press April 7 (listen to his First Draft interview here).

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Molly McCardle, an author and editor, first got Claire her job writing horoscopes for

  The Rumpus

• CafeAstrology

• The Toast

• Courtney Maum, author of I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You, Touch, Costalegre, and Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998 or email an audio file of you asking your question to mailbag@firstdraftpod.com ! 

Join the conversation at the First Draft Facebook Group, too!

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

We meet Jennifer de Leon as she prepares for the release of her debut young adult novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, on August 4. Though Jennifer has been writing for years, she quickly learns that there’s a lot about Capital-P-Publishing that she doesn’t know. (Hear her First Draft interview here.)

For some publishing basics, we turn to Courtney Maum, author of Costalgere, I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You, and more. Her most recent book, Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book is a comprehensive guide for new authors.

This episode of Track Changes was brought to you by Scrivener, the app for writers of all kinds. Use code FIRSTDRAFT to get 20% off!

Discussed in this episode:

The three tiers of publishers (in the United States):

• The Big Five publishers are: Penguin Random House; HarperCollins; Macmillan; Simon & Schuster; and Hachette. Within each big five publisher are dozens of imprints, which are groups within the publisher who publish similar genres or categories of books. Thanks to artist Ali Almossawi, we have this incredible interactive flow chart that shows the relationship between the Big Five and their many, many imprints.

• Independent publishers like Scholastic, Catapult, ABRAMS books, Tin House

• Micropresses like: Two Dollar Radio; StalkingHorse Press

The four main publications that offer starred reviews of books are:

• Publisher’s Weekly

• Kirkus

• Booklist

• School Library Journal

Want more information? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of the Track Changes newsletter, which goes a step (or two) further behind the scenes into the publishing world.

Support First Draft by subscribing to the podcast wherever you listen (on Apple Podcasts, Spotfiy, Stitcher, or elsewhere), and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. You can donate to the podcast, on a one time or monthly basis.

Track Changes is produced by Hayley Hershman. Zan Romanoff is the story editor. The music was composed by Dan Bailey, and the logo was designed by Collin Keith.

First Draft Episode #247: Jennifer de Leon

Jennifer De Leon is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Framingham State University, and a GrubStreet instructor and board member. Her debut young adult novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, is out from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster on August 4, 2020.

This episode was sponsored by HIGHLAND 2, a better way to write, and by We Didn’t Ask For This, the newest novel by Adi Alsaid, out from Inkyard Press April 7 (listen to his First Draft interview here).

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Herb Kohl was Jenn’s professor at USF while she was getting her master’s degree

• Ben Brooks, author and senior writer in residence at Emerson, taught Jenn in a continuing education class

• GrubStreet in Boston is the country’s largest and leading independent creative writing center

• Christopher Castellani, Artistic Director, Stage and Convenings at GrubStreet

• The Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference

• VONA, the Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation

• The Macundo Foundation, founded by Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

• Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

• The Vermont Studio Center

• Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

• We Need Diverse Books

• Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

• Jason Reynolds, author of Ghost, Long Way Down, and Look Both Ways (listen to his First Draft interview here)

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #246: Edan Lepucki

Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California and Woman No. 17. Edan’s latest project is Mothers Before, a collection of essays and photographs based on the popular Instagram Mothers Before, which Edan created. She is also the co-host, with fellow writer Amelia Morris, of the podcast Mom Rage.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will, Await Your Reply, and You Remind Me of Me, was an influential teacher in Edan’s young writing life

• A breakthrough moment for Edan was drafting a story that mimicked the structure used by Cary Holladay in “Merry-Go-Sorry,” a short story published in Alaska Quarterly Review (read an excerpt of the story, based on the West Memphis 3, here). Cary is also the author of Brides in the Sky: Stories and a Novella and The Quick-Change Artist: Stories.

• Edan worked at Book Soup, a local bookstore in Los Angeles, Calif.

• For 45 years, until her recent retirement, Connie Brothers shaped the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, including by calling every accepted writer personally to welcome them to the program.

• As a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, Edan is in a position to correct the depiction of the esteemed writing program in HBO’s Girls

• Frank Conroy, director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, died halfway through Edan’s time at the program. He was replaced by Lan Samantha Chang, who has been credited with a shift in the program’s makeup and away from a once-toxic environment.

• Raymond Carver, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Cathedral, and Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?

• George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel, and Tenth of December: Stories

• Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America: Stories and Self-Help and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

• Mary Gaitskill, This Is Pleasure: A Story, Bad Behavior: Stories, and Because They Wanted To

• Edan founded Writing Workshop L.A. after coming home from Iowa

• Leslie Parry, author of Church of Marvels, was a classmate of Edan’s at Iowa and one of the earliest authors to help teach at Writing Workshop L.A.

• Chris Daley was another early writing instructor who now serves as director of Writing Workshop L.A.

• The UCross Residency program in Wyoming

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

• Edan’s appearance on The Colbert Report

• The New York Times profile about Edan’s debut experience with California, written by Brooks Barnes

• Appearing on Fresh Air with Terry Gross is one of Edan’s life goals

• Aimee Bender, author of Willful Creatures, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, and The Girl in the Flammable Skirt: Stories

• Edan’s agent, Erin Hosier

• “Our Mothers as We Never Saw Them,” a piece Edan wrote for the New York Times that went viral

• Writers who contributed to Mothers Before include: Brit Bennett (author of The Mothers: A Novel); Jennine Capó Crucet (author of Make Your Home Among Strangers and My Time Among the Whites: Notes From an Unfinished Education); Jennifer Egan (author of A Visit From the Goon Squad and Manhattan Beach: A Novel); Angela Garbes (author of Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through The Science and Culture of Pregnancy); Annabeth Gish; Alison Roman (author of Nothing Fancy: Unfancy Food For Having People Over); Lisa See (author of The Island of Sea Women: A Novel and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan); Danzy Senna (author of Caucasia: A Novel, and New People); Dana Spiotta (author of Eat the Document: A Novel and Stone Arabia: A Novel); and Jia Tolentino (author of Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion).

• Annie Dillard, author of The Writing Life, as well as Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood

• Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project: Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun and Better than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits—To Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier LIfe

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #245: Veronica Roth

Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Divergent series, the Carve the Mark duology, and the short story collection, The End and Other Beginnings, talks about her first adult fantasy novel, The Chosen Ones.

This episode was sponsored by HIGHLAND 2, a better way to write, and by We Didn’t Ask For This, the newest novel by Adi Alsaid, out from Inkyard Press April 7 (listen to his First Draft interview here).

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Hear Veronica’s previous First Draft interviews: Just prior to the Insurgent movie being released, and as Carve the Mark was being released

• Katherine Tegen, publisher of Katherine Tegen Books, published Veronica’s young adult fictoin

• Alice Munro, author of Dear Life, Runaway, and Too Much Happiness

• Me and cooking can be summed up in the Netflix series Nailed It

• Some chosen one stories that were particularly influential to Veronica were Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling; Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; Animorphs by KA Applegate, Narnia by C.S. Lewis; The Giver by Louis Lowry; and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

• The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe

• All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

• Adam Brody of The O.C.

• My most recent interview with Zan Romanoff, whose newest book, Look, is fantastic!

• MK Ultra, the government’s mind-control experimentation

• Project Blue Book, the top-secret government UFO coverup

• The audiobook of Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

• “As Coronavirus Spreads, Publishers Struggle with When, and How, to Move Pub Dates,” the Publisher’s Weekly article about publishers deciding when to move publication dates in light of COVID-19

• The list of virtual events for Veronica’s The Chosen Ones virtual tour

• Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief by David Kessler

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

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Thanks again!

Over nine episodes, this podcast mini-series answers the surprisingly complex question: How does a book get published? Track Changes will guide the listener through the idiosyncrasies and traditions of the publishing process, providing context and human voices for every step.

Sarah Enni talks to professionals at all stages of the publishing process—from agents and editors to publicity and marketing professionals and more—to give aspiring authors, professional writers, and industry vets alike the information they need to be more knowledgeable professionals with a renewed respect and appreciation for the industry—and, hopefully, some ideas about how to make it better.

First Draft Episode #244: Zan Romanoff

Zan Romanoff, journalist and author of A Song to Take the World Apart, and Grace and the Fever, whose newest YA novel, Look, is out now!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Listen to Zan Romanoff’s first First Draft interview here, as well as her Mailbag episode where she answers listener questions (you can watch that episode on First Draft’s IGTV, too)!

• Catie DiSabato, author of The Ghost Network, helped Zan enormously in her capacity as a public relations professional to promote Grace and the Fever

• Sarah Burnes is Zan’s literary agent — and mine!! Listen to me chat with Sarah about my debut, Tell Me Everything, on this very special episode of First Draft!

• Zan has written quite a bit about the Kardashians, and you can find all of it here!

• British magazine The Gentlewoman asked Zan to interview Karina Longworth, who podcast You Must Remember This is a must-listen. Zan reviewed Karina’s book, Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood and found inspiration within that for Look

• Zan’s editor, Jessica Dandino Garrison

• Zan was interviewed by NPR about the “Decade of Celebrity,” and the Kardashians specifically

• Brandy Colbert, author of The Voting Booth, The Only Black Girls in Town, and many more books (listen to her First Draft episodes here and here), told Zan to keep a scene in Look that I really loved!

• Zan is going to be part of Bellatrist’s Instagram book club and Quarantine Book Club

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #242: Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare is #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shadowhunter Chronicles, the forthcoming Sword Catcher duology, and co-author of the Magisterium series. Her most recent Shadowhunter novel, Chain of Gold, kicks off the Last Hours trilogy.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• A Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

• Noel Streatfeild wrote a prolific series of books for young readers, kicking off with Ballet Shoes and including Dancing Shoes, Theater Shoes, and Skating Shoes.

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

• Cassie went through a British obsession where she read all of the Brontë sister’s works (best typified by Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre) and all of Jane Austen (including Pride and Prejudice and Emma)

• Cassie’s interview on 88 Cups of Tea

• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

• Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Cruel Prince, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, and The Spiderwick Chronicles (listen to her First Draft episode here)

• J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy

• The Shannara books by Terry Brooks, which kicks off with The Sword of Shannara

• Tad Williams, author of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, which kicks off with The Dragonbone Chair, and the Shadowmarch series

• Guy Gavriel Kay, author of Tigana and (my personal fav), Under Heaven and its sequel, River of Stars

• Annette Curtis Klause, author of Blood and Chocolate and The Silver Kiss

• Ellen Kushner, author of Thomas the Rhymer and Swordspoint.

• Terri Windling created the “Bordertown” shared world urban fantasy series. In 2011 she initiated a YA revival of the series Welcome to Bordertown co-edited with Holly Black.

• Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire and the forthcoming Mother Daughter Widow Wife (listen to her First Draft episode here)

• Tamora Pierce, author of Alanna and Wild Magic

• Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

• A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

• The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #241: Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg

Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg, co-hosts of the By the Book podcast and co-authors of How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books. They also co-host the We Love You and So Can You podcast.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before and The Four Tendencies. Kristen previously produced Gretchen’s Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast!
• The Movie Date podcast that Kristen co-hosted
• Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
• The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
• The Goodreads study about who writes self-help books (men) and who reads them (people who identify as women)
• Why Good Things Happen to Good People by Stephen Post, Jill Neimark, and Otis Moss
• So You Want to Start a Podcast, Kristen’s book about, duh, how to start a podcast!

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #240: Erin Lee Carr

Erin Lee Carr is a director, producer, and writer whose upcoming four-part docuseries How to Fix a Drug Scandal will be released on Netflix on April 1st. Carr has also directed At the Heart of Gold, about the USA Gymnastics scandal, and I Love You: Now Die, about the Michelle Carter murder-by-texting trial, both for HBO. Her first feature length film was Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

• The Witches by Roald Dahl

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show)

• Pleasantville (movie)

• Moulin Rouge (movie)

• David Carr, legendary New York Times journalist and author of memoir Night of the Gun

• James Frey is the author of A Million Little Pieces which raised a massive public debate about truth in memoir after it was revealed that portions of the book was fabricated or wildly embellished, and Oprah confronted him. She has since apologized for that confrontation.

• David Carr on The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert talking about his memoir

• The New York Times Book Review write-up about Carr’s memoir

• Page One: Inside the New York Times, a documentary by Andrew Rossi (who is now a mentor to Erin) featured David Carr extensively

• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room a documentary by Alex Gibney, was an incredibly influential film that made Erin want to pursue documentary fimmaking

• Shane Smith, founder of VICE

• Erin was an office PA for the TV show Girls before she moved on to making videos for VICE

• “How true crime documentaries helped Erin Lee Carr move forward after her father’s death,” Erin’s interview with the Los Angeles Times, interviewed by Amy Kaufman

• Patricia Bosworth, documentarian and memoirist, author of The Men in My Life: A Memoir of Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan, Diane Arbus: A Biography, Montgomery Clift: The Ultimate Insider's Guide for the Budget Savvy

• Sheila Nevins, former president of HBO Documentary Films and currently launching MTV Documentary Films

• National geographic photographer Cory Richards’s 2017 SXSW Keynote speech

• Erin’s editor Andrew Kaufman

• Cheer on Netflix (which was optioned)

• McMillions

• “The Girl from Plainville,” the Esquire piece by Jesse Barron about the Michelle Carter case

• Erin’s episode of Dirty Money dealing with the pharmaceutical industry

• Cindy Lee, editor on At the Heart of Gold

• Sarah Gibson was executive producer on At the Heart of Gold

• “Still rendering,” Erin’s Medium piece which she wrote in the wake of her dad’s death

• Mary Karr’s books including Lit, The Liar’s Club: A Memoir, and The Art of Memoir

• Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

• In an interview with Caryn Ganz for the New York Times, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino talks about coming to the decision to be sober. I also liked how Jenny Slate spoke about her choice to stop drinking—at least temporarily— in The Cut on Tuesdays.

• Erin on Fresh Air with Terry Gross

• Erin loves the Fresh Air episodes featuring Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Howard Stern

• Erin recommends watching documentaries every night for a month, and diagramming them. Then, she suggests, also go ahead and diagram the careers of some of the greats, including: Liz Garbus (director of There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane, What Happened, Miss Simone? and more); Alex Gibney (director of Going Clear: The HBO Special and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley); Andrew Jirecki (director of Capturing the Friedmans); Amy Berg (director of The Case Against Adnan Syed and Janis: Little Girl Blue); Erroll Morris (director of The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara)

   

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #239: Ben Blacker

Ben Blacker is a writer and producer known for The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Supernatural, Hex Wives, and the new Audible audio series CUT + RUN. He also hosts The Writer’s Panel and Dead Pilots Society podcasts.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Hear Ben’s writing partner, Ben Acker, on his episode of First Draft here!

• Beverly Cleary, author of Beezus and Ramona, and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 was one of Ben’s early favorite authors

• Zilpha Keatley Snyder, author of The Egypt Game and The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case was another early influence

• Three’s Company

• The Love Boat

• Ben wrote fanfiction for the TV show Scarecrow and Mrs. King

• Francine Prose, author of Reading Like a Writer: A Guide For People Who Love Books and Those Who Want to Write Them, told Ben Blacker he would never become a writer

• Ben and Ben wrote two spec scripts for Buffy the Vampire Slayer as some of their first collaborative

• Ben wrote a spec script for Mad About You and his teacher at Emerson (who wrote for Roseanne) sent it to Paul Reiser

• Dharma and Greg

• Meanwhile, Ben Acker was working as an office PA for Will&Grace

• Marc Evan Jackson, Paul F. Tompkins, and Paget Brewster were part of the constant cast of Thrilling Adventure Hour

• Ben’s interview with Traci on The Stacks Podcast is great and you should listen to it! In fact, you should listen to all of The Stacks Podcast because it’s ALL great and Traci rules.

• Len Wein who created Wolverine, Swamp Thing, editor of Watchmen, and more

• Bewitched (TV show)

• In this episode of Comic Book Commentary, colorist Marissa Louise explains her process for coloring Hex Wives to Ben

• Hear director Maggie Levin on a recent episode of First Draft, as well as an episode of the Writer’s Panel podcast!

• The Writer’s Panel started 826 LA

• Ben recommends the recent episode of The Writer’s Panel featuring Mark Frost (co-creator, Twin Peaks), Steven Canals (co-creator, Pose), Harley Peyton (Project Blue Book; Channel Zero; upcoming: Child's Play) as a jumping off point to get into the podcast

• Ben also loves this recently re-released episode with Carlton Cuse (LOST, and Bates Motel), Mike Shur (who got his start on The Office and then created Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 99, and The Good Place), and J.J. Philbin (New Girl, creator of Single Parents)

• The Sopranos and Mad Men are some prestige shows that ushered in a time of “showrunner auteur”

• Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad

• Damon Lindelof, co-creator of LOST

• Marc Evan Jackson hosts The Good Place podcast, which was running concurrent to new episodes of The Good Place, the TV show — and now he’s doing one for Brooklyn 99’s podcast, too!

• Andrew Reich, writer for Friends and Worst Week, created The Dead Pilots Society podcast

• Dexter

• Fargo, Weeds, and later seasons of Breaking Bad are shows that Ben says are representative of he and Ben Acker’s writing tone

• Weeds creator Jenji Kohan (side note, I really loved the Emily Nussbaum feature profile about Jenji featured in The New Yorker and her book, I Like to Watch)

• Edgar Wright (Baby Driver), Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums), Rian Johnson (Knives Out), and Greta Gerwig (Little Women) are all filmmakers Ben cites as great examples of people with very specific individual tones

• Humphrey Ker and Katie Wood were staff writers for CUT + RUN, and you can hear them talk to Ben and Ben about the writing process on The Writer’s Panel!

• Hear Janet Varney, comedian, writer, and co-founder of SF Sketchfest, on her episode of First Draft!

• The cast of CUT + RUN is amazing and includes: Meg Ryan, Sam Richardson, D’Arcy Carden, Rachel Bloom (listen to the episode of The Writer’s Panel where Ben sat down with Rachel and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna), Ed Begley, Jr.

• Why would I miss a chance to mention The Princess Bride? And why not link to the book, written by famous screenwriter William Goldman

• Aimee Mann and Ted Leo recorded “Dynamite Lady,” an original song to play over the credits of CUT + RUN

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #238: Sarah Watson

Sarah Watson is a television writer, producer, and novelist. She’s the creator of the Freeform series, The Bold Type, and was a Writer and Executive Producer of the critically acclaimed NBC drama,  Parenthood. She has also written for About A Boy, Lipstick Jungle,The Unusuals, and The Middleman, as well as other series. Her debut novel, Most Likely, is out now.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan
• Sarah basically wrote a book report for the movie War Games
• Felicity (TV show) was a game changer for hour-long dramas, and Dawson’s Creek and Buffy. Before that there was mostly just Thirtysomething
• Sarah was an intern with someone named Damon Lindeloff, who went on to create LOST, The Leftovers, and Watchmen
• That’s so Raven was one of Sarah’s very first jobs out of college
• Eileen Heisler (executive producer of How I Met Your Mother and The Middle) and DeAnn Heline (producer on Murphy Brown and executive producer Ellen), the women behind Lipstick Jungle
• The Middleman is where Sarah met Javier Grillo-Marxuach
• Jason Katims, showrunner and executive producer of Friday Night Lights (created by Peter Berg, based on the book Friday Night Lights written by Pulitzer Prize winner H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger [not for nothing but the documentary Buzz was fascinating]) was the creator, showrunner, and executive producer for Parenthood
• The 1989 film Parenthood, written by Lowell Ganz (who also wrote Splash and A League of Their Own, among others) and Babaloo Mandel (who also wrote City Slickers, A League of Their Own, and Forget Paris)
• In the writing room for Beyond the Break there were only three writers
• Sarah shadowed Joanna Coles in researching for The Bold Type
• The Bold Type was originally at NBC in a more West Wing style iteration before it settled into Sarah’s vision at Freeform
• What Happened by Hilary Clinton
• Kate Testerman at KT Literary is Sarah’s agent
• The Deadline announcement for Sarah’s new TV show, about a The Goonies remake
• Sarah got the chance to create her new TV show with Gail Berman, Chairman and CEO of The Jackal Group, an independent production entity formed in partnership with Fox Networks Group.
• Richard Donner, the director of The Goonies, Superman, Lethal Weapon, Scrooged, and more
• Greg Motolla, director of Superbad and Adventureland, is directing Sarah’s pilot

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #237: Rebecca Serle

Rebecca Serle is a television writer, producer, and New York Times bestselling author of six books, including When You Were Mine , The Edge of Falling, The Dinner List, and her newest, In Five Years, out now. She co-developed the hit TV adaptation of her YA series, Famous in Love.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Marianne Wiggins, author of National Book Award finalist Evidence of Things Unseen and The Shadow Catcher, and a professor of creative writing at USC

• Sigrid Nunez, author of National Book Award-winning The Friend, was Rebecca’s thesis advisor at The New School’s MFA program

• While Rebecca was getting her MFA, she was an intern and then an assistant at Foundry Literary and Media

• Mollie Glick, previously of Foundry Literary and currently with CAA, represented Rebecca for her first book, When You Were Mine

• Lauren Oliver, author of Delirium and Before I Fall, gave Rebecca great advice: “Time is going to pass anyway,” meaning you might as well get to work.

• I plug my BestSelf Journal, which is helping me be more productive

• Kristin Stewart as Bella in Twilight movies; Shailene Woodly as Tris in the Divergent films; and Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in The Hunger Games films

• Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes dated in real life while filming Dawson’s Creek

• Dan Farrah, Rebecca’s manager

• Rebecca studied the pilots for Gossip Girl and The O.C. to prepare to write the pilot for Famous in Love

• Erin Malone at WME is Rebecca’s agent

• I. Marlene King, creator of Pretty Little Liars came on as a producer of Famous in Love

• ABC Signature Studios has acquired the television rights to Rebecca’s pilot adaptation of the bestselling book series Jessica Darling by Megan McCafferty (whose newest book, The Mall, is out in 2020)

• One Day in December by Josie Silver

• In Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert discusses the concept that ideas are out in the atmosphere and can pass from person to person

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #236: Somaiya Daud

Somaiya Daud, debut author of YA sci-fi book Mirage, was the very first author I ever interviewed for First Draft Podcast. Her upcoming book, the final book in the Mirage duology, Court of Lions will be out in fall 2020!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Self Control, a Mac app, can’t be turned off by restarting your computer, and that is helpful for Somaiya when she’s trying to focus

• ADHD related time blindness and how seeing and feeling of time can help combat it

• The Pomodoro method of writing has helped Somaiya be very productive

• “Never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing.” - Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation (TV show)

• The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

• “All stories are about wolves. All worth repeating, that is. Anything else is sentimental drivel….” - Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tales

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

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First Draft Episode #235: Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo is one of six people to win two Newbery Medals, for her novels The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses, and author of Newberry Honor book Because of Winn-Dixie, National Book Award finalist The Tiger Rising, as well as New York Times bestselling novels The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Magician’s Elephant, the Mercy Watson series, and more. DiCamillo was the U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for 2014 and 2015. Her most recent novel, Beverly, Right Here completes the trilogy of Raymie Nightingale and Louisiana’s Way Home.

This episode of First Draft is brought to you by Steven Sater’s Alice By Heart, a debut young adult novel in which the Tony Award-winning co-creator of Spring Awakening tells the story of a young girl who takes refuge in a London Tube station during WWII and confronts grief, loss, and first love with the help of her favorite book, Alice in Wonderland. Alice By Heart is out from Penguin Random House now.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

• Christopher Paul Curtis, author of Newberry Medal book Bud, Not Buddy and Newberry Honor book The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 and Elijah of Buxton

• Katherine Paterson, author of Newberry Medal books Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, as well as Newberry Honor book The Great Gilly Hopkins

• Karen Hesse, author of Newberry Medal book Out of the Dust

• Kara LaReau was Kate’s editor for Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Tale of Despereaux

• Poets & Writers magazine

• Holly McGhee, founder and creative director at Pippin Properties

• Blank Check with Griffin and David (podcast)

• The quote Kate shares from Katherine Paterson is from Paterson’s 1988 essay, “Hope is More Than Happiness.” (New York Times).

• How to Talk so Kids Will Listen And How to Listen so Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

• Karen Lotz, president of Candlewick

• Linda Sue Park, author of A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story and A Single Shard

• Kate was also the 2014 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

• Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto, State of Wonder, The Magician’s Assistant, and many more, owns Parnassus bookstore in Nashville, Tenn.

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

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Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

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First Draft Episode #234: Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Leah on the Offbeat, and co-author of What if it’s Us, and Aisha Saeed, New York Times bestselling author of Written in the Stars and Amal Unbound, teamed up to write Yes No Maybe So.

This episode of First Draft is brought to you by Steven Sater’s Alice By Heart, a debut young adult novel in which the Tony Award-winning co-creator of Spring Awakening tells the story of a young girl who takes refuge in a London Tube station during WWII and confronts grief, loss, and first love with the help of her favorite book, Alice in Wonderland. Alice By Heart is out from Penguin Random House now.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Becky’s previous episode of First Draft

• Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples

• Aisha Saeed was a co-founding member of We Need Diverse Books

• Jon Ossoff, the politcian whose run for a U.S. House seat brought Becky and Aisha together and inspired Yes No Maybe So, is running for Senate. Learn more about him and donate to his campaign here!

• Becky co-wrote another book, What if it’s Us, with Adam Silvera (listen to his First Draft interview here)

• Long Shot (movie)

• Nancy Paulsen of Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is Aisha’s long-time editor

• Donna Bray at Balzer + Bray has been Becky’s editor for her entire career, and she edited YES NO MAYBE SO

• Love, Simon (movie based on Becky’s debut novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapien’s Agenda)

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #233: Maggie Levin

Maggie Levin is a director & screenwriter with rock n’ roll roots.  She recently completed her debut feature My Valentine for Hulu &  Blumhouse’s Into the Dark horror anthology series. She worked as a director and staff writer on Season 2 of Miss 2059, and is  the director of The Friendless Five and  more.

This episode of First Draft is brought to you by Lovely War, the national bestselling historical young adult novel by Julie Berry, now available in paperback.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Maggie’s dad is Tony Levin, bass player for Peter Gabriel and King Crimson
• Robert Lepage directed Peter Gabriel’s tours, and is well known for the Cirque du Soleil show Ka
• Bard College at Simon’s Rock
• Marie Kondo (author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up) does not apply to Maggie’s childhood journals
• The Writer’s Panel with Ben Blacker (formerly The Nerdist Writer’s Panel) is a great podcast to listen to for screenwriters, as is Scriptnotes with Craig Mazin and John August (listen to his First Draft podcast here!)
• Lovesick is the first short she wrote and starred in, and Braeden Herrera directed it
• Melanie Recker, creator of digital series, “The Friendless Five”
• The Queen (film)
• Diva, a short directed by Maggie and starred Helen Highfield
• Dangerous Liaisons (film)
• Anna Akana, actress, filmmaker, singer, musician, author, and comedian widely known for her YouTube channel. She is also a frequent collaborator with Maggie.
• Scott Derickson, writer and director of The Exorcism of Emily Rose and writer, director, and producer on the new Snowpiercer TV show, and C. Robert Cargill, author of books like Dreams and Shadows, and screenwriter of Sinister, Sinister 2, and Doctor Strange, were producers on My Valentine, along with Blumhouse.

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #232: Maureen Johnson

Maureen Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of several YA novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Suite Scarlett, The Name of the Star, and Truly Devious: A Mystery. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow (with John Green and Lauren Myracle), and The Bane Chronicles (with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan).

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Something Queer series, written by Elizabeth Levy and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein, included Something Queer is Going On (A Mystery), Something Queer at the Library, Something Queer in Outer Space, and more
• The Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol
• One day Maureen plans to pursue writing non-fiction and humorous essays, like David Sedaris, author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames
• Maureen’s friend and agent is Kate Testerman with KT Literary
• Janklow & Nesbit Associates is the literary agency where Kate worked her way up before moving and forming her own agency
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashears and Sarah Dessen books, including Saint Anything, Once and For All, and her newest, The Rest of the Story  (hear Sarah Dessen’s episode of First Draft here) were the only YA books around when Maureen started watching
• After John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars was turned into a movie by the same name, his other books Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska were also optioned and turned into a movie and TV show. Then came Let It Snow with Lauren Myracle and Maureen Jonhson, now available on Netflix!
• Some of the crew of YA writers who wrote with Maureen in New York when they were beginning their careers included: John Green; Emily Jenkins a.k.a. E. Lockhart, author of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks; We Were Liars, and the forthcoming Again Again; Cassandra Clare, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Mortal Instruments series, The Dark Artifices series, and the forthcoming Chain of Gold, which kicks off the Last Hours series; Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire, and the forthcoming Mother Daughter Widow Wife (listen to her First Draft episode here); Holly Black, author of The Cruel Prince series, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and more (listen to her First Draft episode here); Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies and Leviathan; Justine Larbalestier, author of Liar.
• I can’t miss an opportunity to dig at the ending of Lost
• Knives Out is a great example of a mystery. Go watch Knives Out!

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #230: Miranda Popkey

Miranda Popkey, essayist and debut author of Topics of Conversation.

The presenting sponsor for this episode is The Slow Novel Lab, a six-week online writing and creativity course developed and taught by bestselling and award-winning novelist Nina LaCour (listen to her First Draft episodes here and here). The next six-week session of The Slow Novel Lab begins on February 16th, and you can enroll today by going to NinaLaCour.com.

This episode was brought to you in part by Adeline’s Aria by Laynie Bynum, the first in her new Infernal Echo series, out Jan. 28 from Fire and Ice YA!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Miranda is best friends with Zan Romanoff, author of A Song to Take the World Apart, Grace and the Fever, and the forthcoming Look (listen to her First Draft interview here, and her mailbag episode here!). You can read them write about their friendship in The Atlantic’s Friendship Files here, and in the Two Bossy Dames newsletter here (and they shout out First Draft, too!)

• At her dad’s house, Miranda read whatever was around, including such “dad” trope classics as David McCullough’s Truman. However, Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power was a little too much for her as a young reader (but she loves the Caro books on Johnson now, which also includes Master of the Senate and Means of Ascent)

• Mysteries have always been a particular favorite for Miranda, especially—as a young reader—Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene and Agatha Christie (the Hercule Poirots, not the Miss Marple, please). But she was also very into Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood series.

• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (and the movie) were Miranda’s “Oh… sex!” moments… mine was Anne Rice Interview with a Vampire (and the movie)

• A famous creative writing course at Yale was “Daily Themes”

• Anne Fadiman (author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and The Wine Lover’s Daughter: A Memoir) is a creative nonfiction professor at Yale

• Poet Louise Gluck (author of Faithful and Virtuous Night: Poems) was Miranda’s Poetry teacher at Yale, and later in Miranda’s professional life Louise encouraged Miranda to write fiction

• Among the professors teaching at Washington University are more experimental writers like Kathryn Davis, author of Duplex: A Novel and The Silk Road: A Novel, and Danielle Dutton, author of Margaret the First: A Novel and Sprawl

• Dorothy, A Publishing Project is run by Danielle Dutton and her husband, fellow author and Washington University professor Martin Riker

• Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy (Outline, Transit, and Kudos) was a major inspiration for MIranda as she chose to break traditional storytelling mold by writing a series of conversations

• Miranda read Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald in her MFA program, and was interested in how Sebald experimented with the “slippage of the narrative ‘I’”

• Ben Marcus, author of Notes From the Fog: Stories, while he was a visiting professor at Washington University, encouraged Miranda to turn a series of short stories into a novel, which became Topics of Conversation

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #229: Chani Nicholas

Chani Nicholas is a Webby award-winning astrologer, and the New York Times bestselling author of You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• As a kid, Chani loved: Judy Blume, author of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret and Forever; Toni Morrison, author of The Bluest Eye and Beloved; Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; and Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple

• Demetra George, author of Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand and Interpret Your Own Birth Chart was Chani’s teacher in learning traditional astrology

• Christopher Renstrom is an astrologer and historian, and author of Ruling Planets: Your Astrological Guide to Life’s Ups and Downs

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #217: Stuart Gibbs

Stuart Gibbs, New York Times bestselling author of the Spy School series, the FunJungle series, the Moon Base Alpha series, and The Last Musketeer series. His newest series kicked off in 2019 with Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation. The newest FunJungle book, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks, is out March 24, and Spy School Revolution will come out in fall 2020.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• The life path of MIchael Crichton, who studied to become a doctor, was an influence on Stuart in college. After two days into pre-med, though, he decided to focus on biology.

• The capybara is the world’s largest rodent

• Jennifer Joel is now Co-Head of the Publishing Department at ICM

• Jean Claude Van Damme is a Belgian artist and martial artist who made many action films, like Bloodsport (definitely listen to the How Did This Get Made episode - one of the best HDTGM ever), Street Fighter (omg this How Did This Get Made episode - What is a Street Figher?! iconic), Timecop (listen to the How Did This Get Made episode), and The Quest (listen to that How Did This Get Made episode)

• Stuart co-wrote the movie See Spot Run with Craig Titley (who wrote the film adaptation of Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the film adaptation of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan)

• Lucy Ruth Cummins, writer and illustrator, and executive art director of picture books, middle grade books, and young adult novels for Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, and Paula Wiseman books, is responsible for many of Stuart’s incredible covers, including the FunJungle covers

• Stuart explains that Quentin Tarantino, writer and director of films like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, is given the freedom to wander and explore in his movies, but most screenwriters aren’t.

• Daniel Ehrenhaft, author of The Last Dog on Earth, 10 Things to Do Before I Die, and more, Vice President and Editorial Director at Soho Teen, and guitarist in Tiger Beat, recruited Stuart to write The Last Musketeer series.

• Moonraker was the first James Bond movie that Stuart ever saw. It changed his world! The story Stuart wrote as a kid about Jimmy Bond, James Bond’s son, was called The Kid with the Golden Water Pistol, a riff on The Man With the Golden Gun

• The Mission Impossible films have taken over for James Bond, in a way

• Stuart wrote Space Case and the Moon Base Alpha series with the help of his good friend, astronaut Garrett Reisman

• Stuart had the instinct that he couldn’t write a book set on Mars, because it would need to have such a scientific basis. His instinct was right because shortly after, Andy Weir published The Martian (listen to Andy Weir’s episode of First Draft here)

   

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #227: Courtenay Hameister

Courtenay Hameister, debut author of memoir Okay Fine Whatever: The Year I Went From Being Afraid of Everything to Only Being Afraid of Most Things, and former host, co-producer and head writer of Live Wire Radio.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Books by Beverly Cleary (author of Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Beezus and Ramona, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle) and and Judy Blume (author of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Forever, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing) and The Crystal Cave series by Mary Stewart were some of Courtenay’s favorites growing up

• Create More, Fear Less is an organization in Portland Courtenay volunteers with that works with anxious kids

• While Courtenay went to New York University, she had the chance to work with legendary comedy group The State. The State — made up of Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Robert Ben Garant, Todd Holoubek, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter, and David Wain — was formed in 1998 and had a self-titled comedy sketch show on MTV from 1992-1995. You can learn more about the history of the group in The Union of the State by Corey Stulce.

• Members of The State went on to create Reno 911, which is coming back!

• “The 7,000 Dollar Pyramid,” is one of The State’s sketches that Courtenay remembers Robert Ben Garant writing

• Writing Movies For Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office, and You Can, Too! by former State members and co-writers Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant

• The Joan Didion quote Courtenay paraphrases is, “I don't know what I think until I write it down.”

• Some of Courtenay’s favorite guests from her many years of hosting Live Wire include: comedian, storyteller, director and actor Mike Birbiglia, who is best known for Sleepwalk With Me, which was also a comedy special and a New York Times bestselling book, Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories, and his new comedy special, The New One is also going to be a book, coming out in May 20202, The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad; Carrie Brownstein, guitarist with Sleater-Kinney (who have a new CD in 2019, The Center Won’t Hold), co-creator and writer of TV show Portlandia, and author of memoir Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl; director Todd Haynes (who has directed Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, and this year’s Dark Waters; Cheryl Strayed, author of Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar and memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail; and David Rakoff, humorist and author of Fraud: Essays, Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems

• Courtenay’s friend Daniel H. Wilson wrote Robopocalypse: A Novel (which was optioned by Steven Spielberg, but after some delays has now been thrown over to Michael Bay) was the one who introduced Courtenay to his agent, Laurie Fox, who is an author in her own right, of The Lost Girls: A Novel and My Sister From the Black Lagoon: A Novel of My Life.

• Jean Garnett at Little, Brown was Courtenay’s editor

• Courtenay super recommends Sleepwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer (and, oh my god, would you look at that, he also has a TED talk!)

• The Oprah and James Frey controversy which exploded over his memoir, A Million Little Pieces, is an inevitable reference point for a conversation about what “truth” means in the memoir category

• Courtenay’s recommendation for David Carr’s memoir, Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life. His Own, was so persuasive that I bought the audiobook that night!

• I admit to being a complete comedy nerd, and having recently mightily enjoyed John Hodgman’s collection of personal essays, Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms.

• Jennifer Pastiloff (author of On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard) and Lidia Yuknavitch (author of memoir The Chronology of Water and Verge: Stories, out Feb. 4, 2020!) teach a class called “Writing and the Body” that incorporates yoga and writing to enrich personal stories.

• Humor writer Steve Almond, author of Bad Stories: What Just Happened to Our Country? and William Stoner and the Battle For the Inner Life: Bookmarked.

• Writers Samantha Irby (author of We Are Never Meeting in Real Life: Essays, Meaty: Essays and omg she has a new one coming out this year, Wow, No Thank You!) and Jenny Lawson, aka The Blogess (author of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir and Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things), were bloggers before they had books, and they indicate the kind of conversational writing style that Courtenay tends to naturally align with in her writing

• Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2009 TED Talk, “Your Elusive Creative Genius”

• Dan Harris, author of 10% Happier Revised Edition: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story, and Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book

• Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking and her TED talk on the subject of introverts

• Courtenay admires Michael Ian Black’s evolution as a writer. Especially significant to her was his honesty in the memoir Navel Gazing: True Stories of Bodies, Mostly Mine (But Also My Mom’s, Which I Know Sounds Weird). His newest book, A Better Man, tackles toxic masculinity in the form of letters to his son as he goes off to college.

• I have always dreamt of being able to link to an article about Jeff Bezos’s dick pics (just kidding but here we go): this incident was wild - The National Enquirer allegedly tried to blackmail Jeff Bezos, threatening to release intimate pictures of him unless he paid up. Instead, Bezos released the pics himself and told them to screw off. It was wild. It was great.

• That incident calls to mind So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

• “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This,” the Modern Love essay by Mandy Len Catron, references Dr. Arthur Aron’s study, which included 36 questions to generate intimacy. (And hey, look at that, Mandy has TED talks about love stories, too!)

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #221: Tahereh Mafi and Sarah Enni open the mailbag!

Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times bestselling and National Book Award nominated author of the Shatter Me series, as well as A Very Large Expanse of Sea. The final book in her Shatter Me series, IMAGINE ME, hits shelves March 31, 2020.

Watch this episode as a video on the First Draft podcast IGTV channel on Instagram!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• I mention the previous mailbag episode (check out the podcast version here), which featured Zan Romanoff, author of A Song to Take the World Apart, Grace and the Fever, and the forthcoming Look (listen to her episode of First Draft here).

• I cite Morgan Matson as my hero for writing lengthy contemporary young adult novels, like the New York Times bestselling The Unexpected Everything and Save the Date (listen to Morgan’s First Draft interviews here and here)!

• I positively could not keep myself from mentioning The Four Tendencies again, Gretchen Rubin’s metric for analyzing how you (or others in your life) respond to expectations. Seriously, take the quiz already!

• Maurene Goo used Rilo Kiley lyrics before The Way You Make Me Feel in the epigraph because she got permission from the band

• A brief primer on how the Walt Disney Company has impacted IP law — though in 2024 that may be up, and Mickey Mouse could be in the public domain for the first time.

• Tahereh’s husband, Ransom Riggs—New York Times bestselling author of the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series (listen to his First Draft episode here - and heads up that the newest book in the series, The Conference of the Birds, is coming out January 14!)—has a very different writing style than she does. A marathon runner, rather than a sprinter.

• I reference one of the most famous phrases in the entire history of Supreme Court opinions: "I know it when I see it." The phrase appears in Justice Potter Stewart's concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio, a pornography case decided by the Court in 1964.

• Room by Emma Donoghue features a child narrator, but is decidedly not a children’s book.

• When Tahereh wrote Furthermore, she was shocked to learn from her editor that she had actually written a middle grade novel, rather than a young adult novel

• Suzanne Collins is returning to fiction in the spring with a new Hunger Games novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green brought on a surge of contemporary YA fiction

• Microsoft Word, Scrivener, and Highland 2 are all great options for writing software

   

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode Re-release: Libba Bray (Eps

(#18 and 19)

Libba Bray, author of New York Times best-selling series A Great and Terrible Beauty, Printz award-winner Going Bovine, and genuinely terrifying historical paranormal The Diviners, among others, joins me to talk about having her rock collection stolen as a kid, that one time Wes Anderson helped stage a play she wrote, and how growing up in Texas set her head at a certain tilt. The episode originally released on Nov 3, 2014, and Nov 6, 2014.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa

• Citizen Kane

• Christopher ‘Kit’ Marlowe

• Aaron Sorkin worked at the concessions at the theater for years and only heard dialogue for years and that influenced him

• Harold Pinter is a writer who knows when to take a pause in dialogue

• The Thin Man, Bringing Up Baby, The Marx brothers influenced her sense of comedy

• Neil Simon plays (Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park: A Comedy in Three Acts, and The Odd Couple: A Comedy in Three Acts)

• Singin’ In The Rain

• Peter Marks, theater critic of the New York Times and the Washington Post

• New York International Film Festival

• Mawkish

• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (and Tiger Beat has a song called “Holden Caufield is Not an Asshole”), A Separate Peace by John Knowles, and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath were the only examples of “YA” that Libba had growing up

• Laurie Halse Anderson, David Levithan, Rachel Cohn, Francesca Lia Block (listen to her First Draft interview here), and Angela Johnson were some of the writers that Libba discovered when she dove into YA fiction

• Aaron Zimmerman, who runs the non-profit New York Writers Coalition

• Ann Brashares (author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), Melissa Sinnet, and

  Cecily von Ziegesar (author of Gossip Girl) were Libba’s editors at Alloy Book Publishing

• Sweet Sixteen

• Holly Black, Newberry Honoree and New York Times bestselling author the Spiderwick Chronicles, The Curse Workers, Magesterium, and her most recent series, Folk of Air (listen to her First Draft interview here)

• “Miles and Miles of No Man’s Land,” Libba Bray’s post about depression

• Stephanie Perkins‘ blog post about depression (hear Stephanie and me on a panel together in this First Draft episode)

• Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry

• Carrie by Stephen King

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #224: Tim Baltz

Tim Baltz, comedian and actor, co-created, co-wrote, and starred in Shrink, and can now be seen on HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. He has also appeared in Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, and Drunk History.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Tim’s dad was a professional actor and he toured in one production starring Bill Daly, an actor who was in Newhart and I Dream of Jeanie

• Other early comedy influences for Tim were W.C. Fields, Fawlty Towers, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus

• The poet Robert Service

• The hubs of Chicago improv that Tim is familiar with: Improv Olympic, now known as iO, started by Del Close and Cherna Halpern; Second City, which featured some groundbreaking American comedians like the cast of Pinata Full of Bees, which was made up of Adam McKay (co-writer and director of Anchorman and Talladega Nights, writer and director of The Big Short and Vice, creator of Succession, and much more) Rachel Dratch (comedian and actress from Saturday Night Live, Sisters, and Wanda Jo from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver), John Glaser (comedian and actor from Parks and Recreation and Inside Amy Schumer), Scott Adsit (comedian known for 30 Rock, Veep, and The Goldbergs), Jenna Jolovitz (comedian known for MadTV and Greetings from Tucson) as well as Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris; and The Annoyance theater, founded by Mick Napier 

• “Breakups” was a web series created by Ted Tremper, who went on to co-create Shrink with Tim

• Sue Gillan, (actress from Shrink) and Claudia Wallace (actress from Shrink, Fred Claus, and The Oath)

• The Sopranos (TV Show)

• Seinfeld (TV Show)

• Michael Scott (portrayed by Steve Carrell) from the television show The Office

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #223: Amanda Montell

Amanda Montell, debut author of Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, joins Sarah to talk about socio-linguistics, and her upcoming book Mindfuck: The Secret Language of Cults (Spoiler: You’re Already Using It).

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Amanda loved reading memoirs growing up, including David Sedaris (author of Calypso, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim), Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Dry: A Memoir and Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs, and Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants: Based on a True Story by Jill Soloway, writer on Six Feet Under and creator of Transparent. When she was very young, she read the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, including Chicken Soup for the Teenaged Soul

• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Gulp: Adventures Down the Elementary Canal, both by Mary Roach, whom Amanda admires greatly

• Joan Didion (author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays) and Nora Ephron (author of Heartburn and I Feel Bad About My Neck, and writer and director of Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail)

• She took a few classes at Writing Pad in Los Angeles to keep up her nonfiction writing chops

• Amanda desperately wanted to be published in The Rumpus, like one of her role models, Julie Buntin, who wrote Marlena: A Novel. Julie also wrote “How Queen Became the Ultimate Compliment” for Cosmopolitan. And she was! Read her article, “Baltimore, Offline.”

• With Rebecca Odes, creator of Wifey.tv with co-founder Jill Soloway, Amanda developed the web series The Dirty Word

• Amanda was edited by Karen Rinaldi, publisher of HarperWave, an imprint of HarperCollins

• Rose Wong illustrated pieces of art for the book

• The New York Times wrote a glowing review of Wordslut, though it did take issue with the number of times Amanda used the word “dude”

• There are lots of stories of men super geniuses --  like House, Psych, The Mentalist, Mr. Robot. But Amanda is writing a female language genius for FX, with whom she struck a deal for the TV rights to Wordslut.

• Pamela Adlon, creator of Better Things, is working with Amanda on her proposed TV show

• If you’re interested in Scientology, definitely check out Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright, or Wright’s New Yorker piece, Apostate: Paul Haggis vs. The Church of Scientology which the book was based on, or the HBO documentary, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.

• Amanda has a personal connection to cults through her father’s experience of being forced to live in the Synanon cult in the Bay Area. Learn more about Synanon in, “The Story of This Drug Rehab-Turned Violent Cult is Wild, Wild Country-level Bizarre,” by Hillel Aron for Los Angeles Magazine

• The Daily podcast episode that featured WeWork made me insane

• Lindy West’s The Witches are Coming discusses how utterly unconvincing these cult leader men can be

• Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is another fascination of mine - I recommend listening to The Dropout podcast series about her, and Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in Silicon Valley by John Carreyrou is amazing

• 30 For 30’s podcast series about Bikram Yoga

• I refer to “The President’s Speech,” one of the many case studies included in Oliver Sack’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat

   

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #222: Ryan La Sala

Ryan La Sala, debut author of fantasy YA novel Reverie. If you enjoy this conversation with Ryan, hear more from him over at the What Book Hooked You? podcast!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Some of the animation that inspired young Ryan came from seminal video game Final Fantasy, and epic superhero series Sailor Moon

• Glee (TV show)

• Ryan found Alex London’s book Proxy (listen to Alex’s First Draft interviews here and here) and books written by David Levithan, New York Times bestselling author of Every Day, Boy Meets Boy, and Two Boys Kissing, and that inspired Ryan to write his own gay YA story. Ryan also found A. R. Kahler and Adam Silvera’s episodes of First Draft!

• Jeffree Starr, famous makeup artist, with whom Ryan got into a MySpace fight

• The epigraph of Reverie is a quote from Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit

• Ryan’s short pitch for Reverie was: Inception meets RuPaul’s Drag Race

• Ryan had a situation in high school that was not unlike what was portrayed in the Love, Simon movie, based on Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertali (listen to her First Draft episode here)

• The Netflix TV show Sex Education

• Marsha P. Johnson, trans activist

• Ryan talked about his #DVPit experience on the Write or Die podcast

• In the cartoon of Beauty and the Beast, the wardrobe commits manslaughter - Ryan’s Halloween costume as the Wardrobe is everything

• Kirsten Hubbard, author of Like Mandarin, Wanderlove, and Watch the Sky and Race the Night, and more (listen to her First Draft episode here) talks on voice memos on her phone to break story

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #221: Zan Romanoff and Sarah Enni open the mailbag!

Got five minutes? Help First Draft by taking this 2019 Listener Survey!

Zan Romanoff, author of A Song to Take the World Apart, Grace and the Fever, and the forthcoming Look (out March 31, 2020) joins Sarah Enni to answer listener questions. Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Make sure to listen to Zan’s first appearance on First Draft, here!

• My cat Hammer!

• The Bluebeard story

• A question from Morgan Matson, New York Times bestselling author of Save the Date, The Unexpected Everything, and more (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)!

• A question from Elissa Sussman, author of Burn and Stray (listen to her First Draft interview here)

• Kate O'Shaughnessy is the author of The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane, a middle grade novel coming out March 3, 2020

• I reference the wisdom that Cindy Pon (author of Want and its sequel Ruse, the Silver Phoenix series and more) and Justin A. Reynolds (debut author of The Opposite of Always; and Sarah Enni, author of Tell Me Everything) both agreed on this First Draft LIVE from YA-Hoo Fest episode that they don’t know if a book is going to be a book until they’re written 40,000 words

• I turned off my brain and enjoyed RuPaul’s Drag Race

• Zan is obsessed with Apple TV’s new series, Dickinson

• I want to watch it because I approve of the way John Mulaney rips on Henry David Thoreau

• The way Zan feels about Dickinson is the way I felt about Booksmart, which is the same spot that was tickled by The O.C.

• Ava Dellaira, author of Love Letters to the Dead and In Search of Us. Listen to her episode of First Draft here

• Zan just read Brandy Colbert’s The Voting Booth, coming out July 7, 2020 (listen to her episodes of First Draft here and here), and Robyn Schneider’s You Don’t Live Here (coming out June 2, 2020)

• Sarah is about to read Topics of Conversation: A Novel by Miranda Popkey (coming out January 7, 2020), and Medallion Status: True Stories by Secret Rooms by John Hodgman (I loved Vacationland: True Stories From Painful Beaches as well), and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #220: Rick Yancy, Cindy Pon, Justin Reynolds, and Sarah Enni LIVE at YA-Hoo Fest

Got five minutes? Help First Draft by taking this 2019 Listener Survey!

YA-Hoo Fest kicked off with this LIVE recording of the First Draft with Sarah Enni on Sept. 21, 2019. Hear writers talk about plotting the end of humanity, domed Chinese playgrounds, reef-keeping, the universal experience of grief. Featuring: Rick Yancey, New York Times bestselling author of the Fifth Wave series, the Monstrumologist series, and more; Cindy Pon, Want and its sequel Ruse, the Silver Phoenix series and more; Justin A. Reynolds, debut author of The Opposite of Always; and Sarah Enni, author of Tell Me Everything.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Storming Area 51 is something I cannot ever talk about enough. Did you know it is obliquely tied to Tom Delonge, former guitarist for Blink 182?!?!

• The Fermi Paradox concerns the probability of there being intelligent life in the universe

• The Stephen Hawkings quote that begins The Fifth Wave is, “If Aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

• Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man’s Tour of Duty Inside the IRS is Rick Yancey’s memoir all about working at the IRS

• The movie Groundhog Day  is a classic, you should watch it!

• William Goldman is an esteemed screenwriter (of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men and The Princess Bride) and novelist (of The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, Marathon Man and more).

• The Roger Ebert review of The Fifth Wave movie

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #219: Janet Varney

Janet Varney, Emmy-Nominated actor, comedian, writer, producer, and podcaster. She has appeared in dozens of TV shows, including You’re the Worst, Take My Wife, Burning Love, Stan Against Evil, and Fortune Rookie, and the voice of Korra in The Legend of Korra. She is also the co-founder, creative director, and producer of SF Sketchfest: the San Francisco Comedy Festival (now in its 19th year!), and hosts The JV Club podcast.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Take the First Draft listener survey!

• David Owen and Cole Stratton were in a sketch group, Totally False People, with Janet Varney. Together the three of them founded SF Sketchfest, and continue to run the annual month-long comedy festival to this day 

• Totally False People got asked to perform at the Aspen Comedy Festival, and Janet was scoped out by Mad TV

• Bruce McCullough, one of the members of influential sketch comedy group Kids in the Hall, is one of Janet’s closest friends. They met in Janet’s capacity as producer of Sketchfest

• One of Janet’s earlier roles was on Love, Inc., a Busy Phillips project about a matchmaker

• Janet was able to craft her character on Burning Love with the blessing of Ken Marino and Erica Oyama, creators of the movies

• Janet plays “Janet Varney” on her IFC show, Fortune Rookie

• Janet (and I) went through the Upright Citizens Brigade improv school, which is focused on “game” as opposed to iO West and The Groundlings, where comedians create broad characters. Matt Besser is one of the four founders of UCB.

• Janet was the voice of Korra in The Legend of Korra, the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender (not for nothing, but I interviewed Michael DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar, and you can listen to that conversation here).

• Much like with Korra, I have read that the cast of Adventure Time recorded the show all in a room together.

• Janet’s podcast The JV Club is amazing! Check it out — you can start with my episode, if you like!

• Doug Benson’s podcast, Doug Loves Movies, and Jimmy Pardo’s podcast, Never Not Funny, were two comedy podcasts that were around when Janet started her own

• Pete Holmes’s You Made it Weird and Marc Maron’s WTF with Marc Maron are two long-form interview podcasts that inspired me to start First Draft

• Memento was a wildly original movie, but Janet argues that level of uniqueness should not be the standard all creators hold themselves to. Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder is a great shorthand guide for a formula to write a screenplay.

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

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Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #218: Kyle Flynn

Kyle Flynn is the keyboardist with indie rock group Father John Misty, as well as writer of television and movies.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• The documentary, The Decline of Western Civilization: Part II, is absolutely incredible

• Kyle taught himself to play guitar using tablature in Guitar World magazine

• Kyle and I both went to the University of Washington and graduated from the English department

• Acceptance (check out their debut album Phantom, and they have reunited and released a new record, Collision By Design) was the pop-punk band who first brought Kyle on tour as a merch guy, and he ended up filling in and touring with them for months

• Other bands in Kyle’s post-college musical world included my then-favs (okay, still some of my favs), Further Seems Forever, Thursday, Finch, and Yellowcard

• Kyle and his brother Kevin were friends with comedian and actor Nick Thune (check out his specials, Folk Hero and Good Guy), and when Nick went to Los Angeles to pursue comedy, he sold Kyle and Kevin’s script in the room with Warner Brothers

• In 2007, right when Kyle and his brother Kevin got to LA to work on the script they’d sold to Warner Brothers, the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America West) went on strike. But Kyle and Kevin made a lot of great connections while picketing with other writers, like Steve Zaillian, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Schindler’s List

• Kyle’s friend from Acceptance, Christian McAlhaney went on to join a new band, Anberlin

• Kyle played in The Narcs, the house band for Nick’s BIG Talk Show, the late night talk show spoof Nick Thune put on monthly at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in Los Angeles. Other members of The Narcs include: Liv Marsico (of Liphemra and previously drummer with Cold War Kids and Gothic Tropic) and Miles Gray (comedian and current co-host of The Daily Zeitgeist podcast). While doing that gig, Kyle met Josh Tillman (a.k.a. Father John Misty) and left an interesting impression.

• Josh Tillman (a.k.a. Father John Misty) was previously the drummer in the Seattle indie band Fleet Foxes

   

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

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Thanks again!g

First Draft Episode #217: Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys, #1 New York Times bestselling and Carnegie-winning author of Between Shades of Gray, Out of the Easy, and Salt to the Sea, talks about her newest novel, Fountains of Silence.

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• I was watching Goodfellas, and not having a great time, until I got sidetracked by reading all about the Lufthansa heist, which is fascinating!

• One of Ruta’s first jobs in L.A. was as an intern for songwriter Desmond Child. He encouraged Ruta to start her own business managing musicians.

• Ruta’s op-ed for NPR about when her book Between Shades of Gray came out at the same time as E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey, and many readers purchased the wrong title

• The Pact of Forgetting, enacted in 1975, in which Spain vowed to forget the past as it transitioned from a dictatorship to democracy.

• General Francisco Franco built Valley of the Fallen as a memorial to those who died in the Spanish Civil War, and he was buried there. Spain has exhumed and relocated his body.

• Hear Ruta talk in depth about her interview style with Yin Chang on 88 Cups of Tea

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #216: Mallory Kass (a.k.a. Kass Morgan)

Kass Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of The 100 and Light Years (a.k.a. Mallory Kass, senior editor at Scholastic). Supernova, the sequel to Light Years, is out now!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Kass’s father wrote for Seinfeld

• Paula Abdul (her iconic Forever Your Girl is a great starting point) and Janet Jackson (oh my god, where to begin? Rhythm Nation is a must, and The Velvet Rope is everything— also apparently she wrote a book! True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself) were two pop stars Mallory was totally unaware of when she moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles at age 11

• Once she figured out that she was not destined to be an academic, Kass moved to New York and started an internship at Scholastic with Arthur Levine, who edited a little book series called Harry Potter (when she started at the publisher, Levine was working on Deathly Hallows in secret)

• Kass’s bosses at Scholastic, Rachel Griffiths and David Levithan (New York Times bestselling author of Every Day and Boy Meets Boy), were instrumental in making her feel comfortable pursuing writing as well as editing

• Cheryl B. Klein, associate editor at Scholastic and Kass’s co-worker, encouraged Kass to talk to Alloy Entertainment, a book packaging firm known for projects such as Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar and Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith. Alloy contacted Kass to work on a new project, The 100!

• I loved Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, which features a space school, and so did Kass!

• Looking for Alaska by John Green (which is about to be a Hulu show) is the type of boarding school narrative that we’re more accustomed to reading — Kass threw the boarding school into space!

• My humblebrag about moderating a panel on worldbuilding which featured N.K. Jemisin (and also Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer, and Joe Hill!) at BookCon.

   

   

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #215: Leigh Barudgo

Leigh Barudgo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shadow and Bone series, the Six of Crows duology, and the King of Scars duology, discusses her first adult novel, Ninth House.

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

LINKS AND TOPICS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Please check out Leigh’s two previous First Draft interviews, here and here!

• The Grishaverse has been developed by Netflix as a TV show

• Brandon Sanderson is the author of the Mistborn series, the Stormlight Archive series, and the Elantris series, and Leigh notes that he writes one million books and sees way, way far ahead as a writer

• NPR’s laudatory review for King of Scars had to include a lot of backstory, since technically it’s the sixth book in the Grishaverse

• Leigh could not wait for a friend to catch up on the past seasons of Stranger Things before watching the third season (unlike with Game of Thrones where she gave him time to catch up)

• Leigh loves how The Legend of Korra expanded on the universe established in Avatar: The Last Airbender (speaking of Avatar, have you listened to the First Draft interview with Michael Dante DiMartino, co-creator of the Avatar universe??)

• I risk a spoiler by mentioning the end of Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer series… Curious readers should definitely pick up Daughter of Smoke and Bone and read Laini’s fantasy books all through - and listen to her First Draft interview here!

• When I was fortunate enough to moderate a panel on worldbuilding at BookCon, NK Jemisin—New York Times bestselling author of the Broken Earth trilogy and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms series—brought up the Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

• Leigh hopes to avoid the George R. R. Martin scenario — referencing the fact that the Game of Thrones TV show caught up, and then surpassed, Martin’s pace of writing A Song of Ice and Fire, the series the show is based on

• Leigh’s editor for Ninth House is Noah Eaker, editorial director at Random House.

• The Princess Bride by William Goldman (also a prolific screenwriter of movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men) was entirely about digressions, and that is what made it so perfect.

• Jodie Foster and Anderson Cooper were both in Manuscript senior society

• Leigh points writers to Robin LaFevers’ Instagram account (and listen to her First Draft interview) and Susan Dennard’s newsletter, Misfits and Dreamers (and listen to her First Draft interview) for amazing craft advice

• Authors like Kelly Link, Lev Grossman, Joe Hill, and Stephen King (!!!), and Charlaine Harris have given Ninth House props. Not a bad list!!!

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni @ gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

RATE, REVIEW, AND RECOMMEND

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #214: Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of critically acclaimed books, including National Book Award finalist Ghost, Newberry and Printz-honored Long Way Down, Coretta Scott King Honoree As Brave as You, and his latest, middle grade Look Both Ways, which was just named to the National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature.

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Jason didn’t grow up writing prose, but he and all his friends had rhyme books where they would write lyrics. They wanted to be the next Nas, Slick Rick, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, or Rakim.

• Jason’s aunt would give him classic books as gifts, including Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• Bob Marley’s “Kaya,” Nina Simone’s “Four Women,” Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” were hugely influential on Jason because of the beauty of the lyrics

• Jason teamed up with the artist and writer Jason Douglas Griffin for an early book, My Name is Jason. Mine Too: Our Story. Our Way.

• Jason credits Joanna Cotler, author and artist, and then publisher of her own imprint at HarperCollins, with teaching him how to write narrative and gave him the mantra: “Your intuition will take you farther than your education ever will.”

• Jacqueline Woodson (author of Brown Girl Dreaming, winner of the National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and Newberry Honor winner), Rita Williams-Garcia (author of Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, a National Book Award finalist), and Walter Dean Myers (author of more than 100 books for young people, including Monster, winner of the Printz Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and National Book Award, and more) are people Jason considers predecessors to his career.

• Christopher Myers, writer, artist, and the son of Walter Dean Myers, pressed Jason to return to writing, to carry on his father’s legacy. At Christopher’s urging, Jason read The Young Landlords by Walter Dean Myers (which the TV show 227 was based on)

• Caitlyn Dlouhy, Vice President & Editorial Director of Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, nurtured Jason’s career by focusing on the integrity of his work

• Laurie Halse Anderson (author of Speak and The Impossible Knife of Memory), Eliot Schrefer (author of Threatened, a National Book Award finalist), and Gene Luen Yang (author and illustrator of American Born Chinese), and Jason also shouts out Sharon Draper’s New York Times bestselling Stella by Starlight

• Jason references part of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself: “Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!”

• Jason admires writers who use verse for all or many of their books, specifically Kwame Alexander (poet and educator, and New York Times bestselling author of The Crossover: A Novel, winner of the Newbery Medal and a Coretta Scott King Honor) and Ellen Hopkins (New York Times bestselling author of Crank)

• Alfred Hitchcock’s works (including Psycho and Rear Window), and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining are examples of subtle ways that framing and design can make a viewer feel uncomfortable.

• Quincy Jones said about producing music, “I always say you have to leave space for God to walk into the room.” That’s how Jason feels about the appearance of poetry in text.

• The first scene of Boyz ‘n the Hood shows one kid asking another, “Do you want to see a dead body?”

• Fresh Ink: An Anthology, edited by Lamar Giles (author of Fake ID and Spin), and Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America, edited by Ibi Zoboi (author of American Street, a National Book Award finalist, and Pride) are among the anthologies that Jason thinks are wonderful. He wonders why we’ve moved away from the short story format for younger readers.

• The TV show High Maintenance is another example of vignette storytelling that Jason was going for with Look Both Ways

• Jason shouts out Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D., Associate Professor at St. Louis University, Educational Studies who specializes in young adult literature

• Jason’s friend and co-author of All American Boys, Brendan Keily (author of Tradition, listen to his First Draft episode here), refers to the story under the story as “vertical narrative”

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #213: Renee Ahdieh

Renee Ahdieh, New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn, The Rose and the Dagger, the Flame in the Mist duology, talks about her latest series, which kicks off with The Beautiful, out October 8.

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Renee says The Flame in the Mist contains nods to Disney’s Mulan and the classic marital arts film 47 Ronin

• When it comes to pitching books by Sabaa Tahir (listen to her First Draft interview here), Traci Chee, or Sarah Nicole Lemon (listen to her First Draft interview here), Renee has you covered. Not so much, she says, when it comes to pitching her own books.

• Though Renee loves physically strong female heroes like Katniss, from Susanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, she says the hero of the Flame in the Mist series has “strength of the heart.”

• The Beautiful series is an homage to Anne Rice’s seminal Interview with the Vampire series (omigod don’t miss the movie version, optimistically titled Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt). She read The Queen of the Damned first. Renee loves Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, too.

• Each book in The Beautiful’s four-part series will have a different main character, but they will all take place in the same world. Renee borrowed this narrative structure from the world of regency romance novels; in particular, Renee cites Sabrina Jeffries’ Hellions of Halstead Hall series as an inspiration. I came across this in getting recommendations from Bea and Leah Koch, who run The Ripped Bodice bookstore in Culver City, Calif. (listen to their First Draft interview here)!

• Renee loves mysteries, like the TV series Columbo and Agatha Christie’s Poirot

• In addition to Anne Rice’s many vampires novels and Twilight, Renee was also inspired by Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books (which were adapted into the True Blood HBO show) (and I recommended fellow YA author Morgan Matson watch the series - hear me and Morgan chat in her First Draft interviews here and here!).

• Renee says almost every book series she loves is a version of Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare or The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Duma, and she’s also obsessed with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

• Renee and I gush over Mirage by Somaiya Daud, but I have a bone to pick with her vis a vis robots

• Google is funding efforts to delay or end death! Science is trying to restore activity to a deceased brain! Dogs and cats are being cloned (Barbara Streisand did it)! Life is wild!

• Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of the Strange the Dreamer series and the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, gave incredible worldbuilding advice on her episode of First Draft!

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #212: Jen Wang

Jen Wang, Eisner Award-winning author and illustrator of The Prince and the Dressmaker, In Real Life, and Koko Be Good stops by to talk about her new middle grade graphic novel, Stargazing.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• The seminal Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson was one of the only Western comics that Jen read as a young artist

• In high school Jen started a webcomic called Strings of Fate and took is super seriously!

• Jen’s first publishing experience was contributing to Flight, an anthology put together by her webcomic peers and edited by Kazu Kibuishi, who has gone on to author and illustrate the Amulet series, Copper, and he illustrated the re-release of the Harry Potter series.

• Jen’s agent is Judy Hansen of the Hansen Literary Agency, who represents many of the top graphic artists and illustrators out there today

• Jen’s first editor at First Second, Calista Brill (author in her own right of Tugboat Bill and the River Rescue, Cat Wishes, and Little Wing Learns to Fly) is still her editor today!

• She was also fortunate to work with book designer Colleen AF Venable (also the author of Melvin the Sloth is About to Do the Best Thing in the World and  while she was with First Second

• After Jen’s first book, she adapted “IRL,” a short story for Cory Doctorow, one of the founders of BoingBoing and author of Little Brother and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

• One of her freelance cartoon jobs was illustrating Tom Angleberger’s books, including Tom Angleberger’s Fake Mustache.

• Veronica Roth’s new collection of short stories, The End and Other Beginnings: Stories From the Future, has one of the best titles ever, IMO (hear her First Draft interviews here and here)

• In 2019, Jen was awarded multiple Eisner Awards, for best writer/artist, and for best publication for teens.

• Jen enlisted the help of her friend, Lark Pien -- colorist for books like Printz-winning American Born Chinese and Boxers and Saints, written and illustrated by MacArthur Fellow Gene Luen Yang -- to work on Stargazing and help her get the book in on time.

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #211: Gabby Rivera

Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath, which is out in hardcover on September 17, and writer of the America Chavez series for Marvel Comics.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• I couldn’t find Gabby’s first article for Bustle, but she recently wrote about love for the online outlet again, with, “The Truth About ‘Big Love’ is You’ve Got to Manifest It For Yourself.”

• The Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City is where Gabby discovered her creative self and explored her sexuality

• Artist Mahogany L. Browne, author of Black Girl Magic and Woke Baby, was the host at the Nuyorican when Gabby was finding herself there

• Through The New York City Latina Writers Group Gabby got the chance to work with Alicia Anabel Santos and her mentor, Vanessa Mártir, co-author of Do Something! A Handbook for Young Activists

• The Made in NY PA Training Program

• Cunt: A Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio

• Ariel Gore, writer of We Were Witches and Hexing the Patriarchy: 26 Spells, Potions, and Magical Elixirs to Embolden the Resistance) reached out to Gabby when she was putting together Portland Queer, which won the LAMBDA Literary Award for best anthology

• The Dreamyard Project

• Gabby’s experience of moving back in with her parents to finish Juliet Takes a Breath is similar to the story Stephanie Garber shared about Caraval on this very podcast! Listen to Stephanie’s episode here

• Lori Perkins, founder of the L. Perkins Agency and Riverdale Avenue Books

• When Patricia Arquette accepted the Oscar for Boyhood, she stirred controversy with her speech

• High Art with Allie Sheedy and Gia with Angelina Jolie were some of Gabby’s first LGBT movies (and her mom’s exposure to lesbianism was The Singing Nun’s “Dominique”)

• Autostraddle is one of the largest lesbian source of news

• Roxane Gay tweeted about Juliet Takes a Breath

• Gabby worked at GLSEN, the LGBT education nonprofit

• Wil Moss and Sarah Brunstad were Gabby’s editors at Marvel

• Jo Volpe at New Leaf Literary

• Blankets by Craig Thompson was one of the first graphic novels Gabby read

• The quote I reference from Amy Poehler is from an episode of her “Ask Amy” series for Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls: “Great people do things before they're ready. They do things before they know they can do it. … Doing what you're afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that- that's what life is.”

• Some artists of color who inspire Gabby are Trinidad Escobar, author and illustrator of graphic memoir Crushed, and Lawrence Lindell, writer and illustrator of From Black Boy, With Love 

• Gabby was reading My Beloved World, the autobiography of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while writing Juliet Takes a Breath

• Don’t miss Gabby’s TED Talk!

• Gabby is writing a new comic series with Boom Studios, who made Lumberjanes

• The Sadie Nash Leadership Project

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

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Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

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First Draft Episode #210: Josh Gondelman

Josh Gondelman, comedian, TV writer for shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Desus and Mero, and debut author of memoir Nice Try: Stories of Best Intentions and Mixed Results, talks about coming up in comedy, fumbling his breakout moment with the viral Modern Seinfeld Twitter account, and learning that being a “nice” person isn’t the same as being a good person.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• In addition to Nice Try, you should also check out Josh’s standup specials: Dancing on a Weeknight (2019); Physical Whisper (from 2016); and Everything’s the Best! (2011).

• Nancy Kerrigan was the subject of one of the most bizarre crimes in all of sports (really worth watching The Price of Gold, an excellent 30 for 30 documentary about the Kerrigan-Harding incident), which was documented in the film I, Tonya, which Josh’s parents did not see out of loyalty to Kerrigan

• Early on Josh performed in the chorus of The Music Man

• We decide that literary humor is to comedy as Garrison Keillor is to Chris Rock

• Josh wrote a spec script for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

• Josh was contributing to places like McSweeny’s and New York magazine when he first moved to the city

• Josh co-founded the @SeinfeldToday Twitter account with his friend Jack P. Moore (playwright and sitcom writer for shows like Dear White People), which went viral and got him lots of professional opportunities

• Josh made an impression on Jim Gaffigan with a joke about the wisdom of the justice system in D2: The Mighty Ducks when he was getting his feet wet as a standup in New York City

• Josh talks about establishing authority as a standup onstage, which reminded me of Pete Holmes addressing how he looks (more like a youth pastor than a comedian) on his 2013 special, Nice Try, The Devil. You can see a great example of Josh doing something similar in his 2019 sets on Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Late Show with James Cordon. Josh also got advice and encouragement about this from fellow comedian Pete Lee.

• Josh got a big win when he was able to write for Billy on the Street, featuring Billy Eichner

• One of the notable segments from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was an early one about net neutrality, with a bit at the end (which Josh credits to Geoffrey Haggerty, a comedy writer for shows like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver) calling for viewers to write in to the FCC. So many viewers wrote to the FCC that its system crashed, and the government investigated whether the onslaught of feedback was from actual citizens or a coordinated DDoS attack.

• Tim Carvell, head writer for The Daily Show who left with John Oliver to create Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

• Josh is now the producer and writer for Desus and Mero on Showtime. Before he wrote for them, he was a fan of Desus and Mero’s podcast, Boedga Boys, and their TV show, Desus & Mero, on VICELAND.

• Josh does pep talks on Twitter from time to time, and initially was approached to write a book based on that premise. But he resisted that idea because internet darling Jonny Sun (playwright, academic, and author and illustrator of Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too -- listen to Jonny Sun’s episode of First Draft here) had already illustrated the famous Twitter pep talks written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (actor, composer, and playwright of Hamilton and In the Heights) for the book, G’Morning, G’night!: Little Pep Talks For Me & You.

• I was reading Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, at the same time as Josh’s memoir, which actually was a beneficial co-reading experience (FTR I also recommend Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are on audiobook! It’s read by Lauren Fortgang and she does a great job!)

• Josh was on a panel with journalist and author Liz Plank--whose most recent book, “For the Love of Men: A New Vision for Mindful Masculinity”, is on sale now!--about shifting concepts of masculinity

• Nikki Glaser, a comedian and radio host who Josh admires, gave him pivotal advice early in his career

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #208: David Yoon

David Yoon, debut author of Frankly in Love, talks about how writing a rom-com turned into writing about his greatest fears; portraying aspirational male friendships; and working to be able to write from a place of unconditional love.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• The addictions of writers like Truman Capote and Gertrude Stein are often romanticized. In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert tackles the masculine language of pain and suffering surrounding art, dispelling the myth that writers need those things to be creative

• When David watched Frozen, he wanted to know what happened with the parents

• David’s favorite advice is from Margaret Atwood: “Read, read, read. Write, write, write.” He adds: Go to therapy.

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

First Draft Episode #208: Mary H. K. Choi

Mary H. K. Choi, New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, and host of podcasts Hey, Cool Job and Hey, Cool Life!. Her newest YA contemporary book, Permanent Record, is out now! We talk about addiction and fiction, loving and writing boys who fight against toxic masculinity, and fighting against “I’ll be perfect when…” thoughts.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Stephen King, John Grisham, and airport novels were some of the first things Mary picked up when she moved to Texas and became a reader

• Mary compares moving, learning to read, and realizing she could *remember* what she read as Bradley Cooper discovering the mind-expanding possibilities in Limitless (movie)

• Mass Appeal was the graffiti magazine Mary went to work for, and they now do documentaries, including the recent Wu-Tang doc, Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men (tv series)

• “Like. Flirt. Ghost: A Journey Into the Social Media Lives of Teens,” an article Mary wrote for WIRED, is fantastic and everyone should read it

• Hold the door open for other writers. Be like Hodor

• “Mary H. K. Choi Wanted to Write a Book Where ‘High-Key Nothing Happens,” by Joanna Mikas and Tracy Ma for The New York Times

• Bo Burnam, comedian and writer and director of Eighth Grade (movie)

• Shanna the She-Devil (comic book) and Lady Deadpool (comic book)

• Mary wrote D. J. Khaled’s The Keys (book)

• Edward Orloff with McCormick is Mary’s current agent

• Zareen Jaffery is Mary’s editor at Simon & Schuster. Zareen has also worked with Jenny Han on To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Summer I Turned Pretty series (listen to her episode of First Draft here), and with Siobhan Vivian on The Last Boy and Girl in the World and Stay Sweet (hear Siobhan on a live panel episode of First Draft here). However, Morgan Matson’s editor is actually Justin Chanda, also at Simon & Schuster (listen to Morgan’s First Draft episodes here and here)!

• “I love my mom a not-normal amount and it makes me crazy,” an article Mary wrote for Aeon about her mom which went viral

• The Joaquin Phoenix movie, Her, is akin to how Mary felt exploring the idea of falling in love over text

• Mary references Justin Bieber’s first appearance on The Ellen Show. Watch it and be transported to a time when he was a mere bb

• There are some similarities between Permanent Record and the Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts film Notting Hill, which is a classic

• Mary and I are now both obsessed with Brené Brown, author of Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection

• The New York slang that Mary uses in the book is a love letter to Desus & Mero (who went from YouTube channel to their podcast, Bodega Boys, to a VICE and now a Showtime TV show) and Mary’s friends who run the podcast Chillin Island

• Maslov’s Hierarchy of Needs is awesome but it does not include mental health

• Mary is a part of Overeaters Anonymous

• Holly Black talked to me in her episode (listen here) about the depressive state she fell into after publishing her first book

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

SUBSCRIBE TO FIRST DRAFT WITH SARAH ENNI

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

RATE, REVIEW, AND RECOMMEND

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!

• First Draft Episode #207: Sara Farizan, Katie Cotugno, and Sarah Enni at Trident Booksellers and Cafe in Boston

  I was thrilled to do an event with Sara Farizan--author of Here to Stay, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, and If You Could Be Mine--and Katie Cotugno--New York Times bestselling author of How to Love, 99 Days, Top Ten, and Fireworks. We met at Trident Booksellers and Cafe, Sara and Katie’s local bookstore in Boston, to discuss sexy first responders for all your needs, writing humor in contemporary stories, and letting characters make mistakes.

  Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

  • Link to Sara Farizan’s First Draft episode and Katie Cotungo’s First Draft episode
  • In Here to Stay, Reggie Miller (former NBA player and commentator) and Kevin Harlan (NBA commentator) are Bijan’s (protagonist) favorite NBA commentators and when he needs a minute he has them narrate in his head.
  • Sarah had the opportunity to go to Scholastic and read a chapter from Tell Me Everything!
  • Sara Farizan recently watched Killing Eve (TV show), and thinks that because people haven't really seen female serial killers that the characters Villanelle is loved despite being an “unlikable female lead”.
  • “You’re Not Allowed in the Anne Hathaway Club if You Hated Her in the 2000s” article on VICE
  • In Fireworks, Katie wanted to reflect an accurate experience of being a teen especially when writing a historical and not including social media and technology in the way we use it today
  • Sarah made a Trent Reznor (founder, lead vocalist, and principal songwriter of the band of Nine Inch Nails) zine in high school that only five people ever saw.
  • Sarah also played The Sims (PC game) to reflect all the things she was interested in.
  • PostSecret was the origin of the app Veil from Tell Me Everything.
  • At the Boston Teen Author Festival, Mark Oshiro, author of Anger is a Gift; joked that if he could hang out with any villain he would hang out racism.
  • Rules for Being a Girl by Katie Cotungo and Candace Bushnell is coming out in Spring 2020!
  • Uprooted by Noami Novik
  • Sheets by Brenna Thummler
  • Dating Tips for the Unemployed by Iris Smyles
  • The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown
  • Christine by Stephen King
  • Tell Me Everything has a similar feel to the film Amelie

  I want to hear from you!

  Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You can also email the podcast at firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 

  
  

  Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

  Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

  
  Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

  Rate, Review, and Recommend

  How do you like the show?

  Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

  Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

  Thanks again!