First Draft With Sarah Enni

First Draft Episode #243: Opening the Mailbag with Tochi Onyebuchi Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of Beasts Made of Night, its sequel Crown of Thunder, War Girls and its forthcoming sequel, Rebel Sisters (out in October), and his adult fiction debut Riot Baby, published by Tor.com in January 2020. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson The Life Cycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang Great Work of Time by John Crowley Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle Succession (TV show) The New Yorker The Nation Tochi’s appearance on The Daily Show, and the T-shirt he wore on the show (designed by John Karel and sold by Dusty Cat merchandise) Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (movie) Burning (Korean film) Watchmen (TV show) A

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 T

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 questi

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 Car

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 teach

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

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

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 (8

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

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

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 Crai

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

First Draft Episode #231: Marie Lu and Sarah Enni open the mailbag! Marie Lu is is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legend trilogy, The Young Elites trilogy, the Warcross duology, and more. Her newest book, a historical YA fantasy, The Kingdom of Back, comes out March 3, and Skyhunter will be out in fall 2020! 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.   Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode You can hear Marie talk about the inspiration for Kingdom of Back in our very first interview back in 2014! (And don’t miss her 2017 First Draft interview ahead of the release of Warcross) Marie’s agent is Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency LLC Marie sold Kingdom of Back to

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

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 l

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 (lis

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, Mic

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

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

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 a