First Draft With Sarah Enni

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

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 portraye

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

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 tha

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

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 A

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 b

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 Da

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 wh

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

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’

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 Littl

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

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 hum

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 term “latchkey kid” refers to a child who returns from school to an empty home, or a child who is often left at home with little parental supervision, because their parent or parents are away at work. David was reading Stephen King at an early age, as well as The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence were some of the books David read at an early age, at his dad’s behest David is married to fellow YA author, Nicola Yoon, writer of New York Times bestselling books Everything Everything and The Sun is Also a Star (listen to her episode of First Draft here) BTS is the only Kpop David knows The TV show VEEP can be mean-spirited, but it’s so good at it t

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 f

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 w

First Draft Episode #206: Stephanie Perkins and Sarah Enni I was thrilled to do an event with Stephanie Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss, editor of My True Love Gave to Me, and many more. We met at Malaprop’s, Stephanie’s local bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, to discuss villains in contemporary stories, our favorite podcasts, and the upcoming Netflix movie based on Stephanie’s most recent novel, There’s Someone Inside Your House! Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode In Tell Me Everything By Sarah Enni, the main character Ivy uses a Post Secret type app called Veil and is faced with the moral ambiguity of social media apps. Ivy deals with the negativity of social media and twisting herself into knots trying to defend something that is special to her. The first time that Sarah was in Asheville she was interviewed Beth Revis (Author of Across The Universe, listen to her episode of First Draft here), Meagan Spooner (Author of The Starbound Trilogy , listen t

First Draft Episode #205: Kendare Blake, Somaiya Daud, and Sarah Enni at the University Bookstore in Seattle Pantsing and world building with Kendare Blake, author of the Three Dark Queens trilogy and Anna Dressed in Blood; Somaiya Daud, author of Mirage; and Sarah Enni, author of Tell Me Everything and host of this podcast! This episode is audio from the March 2019 event at The University Bookstore in Seattle, Washington. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Kendare wore a Jeff Goldblum T-shirt in honor of Tell Me Everything! Sarah wanted Sudden Cove, the town in Tell Me Everything to feel like a Stars Hollow (from the Gilmore Girls) of the west coast, or like Pawnee from Parks and Recreation. The Bigfoot Discovery Museum is real, Sarah did go there with fellow YA and MG author Kirsten Hubbard (author of Wanderlove, Watch the Sky, Race the Night and more -- listen to her First Draft interview here!) The purveyor of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum was a man who looked just like George R. R. Martin

First Draft Episode #204: Siobhan Vivian, Kami Garcia, Stephanie Kate Strohm, and Jessica Brody on the “Pitter Patter: Writing Fresh Love Stories” from YALLFest 2018 Young Adult romcoms were the subject of the “Pitter Patter: Writing Fresh Love Stories” panel at YALLFest on Nov. 8, 2018. Hear contemporary romance writers compare makeout daydreams, talk about writing love in a time of #MeToo, and the lack of appreciation for stories with happy endings. Featuirng: Kami Garcia, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Creatures and The Lovely Reckless and Broken, Beautiful Hearts, and more; Stephanie Kate Srtohm, author of Prince in Disguise, It’s Not Me It’s You and Love a la Mode and more; Siobhan Vivian, author of Stay Sweet and The List, The Last Boy and Girl in the World, and more; and Jessica Brody, Sky Without Stars, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing That You’ll Ever Need and more. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Jenny Han, autho