First Draft Episode #202: D.C. Pierson D.C. Pierson, comedian, writer, filmmaker and author of The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To and Crap Kingdom , and co-writer and star of indie comedy movie Mystery Team , talks about getting more vulnerable with age, using his fiction to explore the gap between what we expect of the world and what turns out to be true, and being sick of not finishing things. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Dan Eckman and Meggie McFadden are two comedians ...
Jul 30, 2019•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 202
First Draft Episode #203: Simon Curtis Simon Curtis, pop star, actor, and author of Boy Robot and its forthcoming sequel. Listen to his brand-new singles, “Graduate” and “Rainbow” now! Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Simon’s first big gig was as a part of the children’s choir for a national touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Simon’s “ It Gets Better ” video for The Trevor Project is beautiful and heartbreaking and very worth a watch. Early on when he go...
Jul 30, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 203
First Draft Episode #201: Gaby Dunn Gaby Dunn , co-author of the New York Times bestselling young adult novel I Hate Everyone But You with her writing partner Alison Raskin . The sequel, Please Send Help , is out now! Gaby and Alison also host the Just Between Us podcast and YouTube channel . Gaby is also the host of the podcast Bad With Money and author of the book Bad with Money: The Imperfect Art of Getting Your Financial Sh*t Together . LINKS AND TOPICS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Listen to Ga...
Jul 18, 2019•58 min•Ep. 201
First Draft Episode #200: Special Anniversary Episode For the 200th episode of the First Draft with Sarah Enni podcast, previous guests sent in answers to questions like, where do you turn for inspiration? What are you hopes and dreams at this moment in your career? What do you do besides writing that makes you a more skillful storyteller? And, of course, any advice! Listen in to hear tips, tricks, and reassurances and encouragement from dozens of bestselling and award-winning writers! People Fe...
Jul 16, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 200
First Draft Episode #199: Robin Wasserman Robin Wasserman , New York Times bestselling author of adult novel Girls on Fire , as well as young adult novels The Waking Dark , The Book of Blood and Shadow , Hacking Harvard , The Cold Awakening series, the Seven Deadly Sins series. Her next novel, to come out with Scribner, is Mother Daughter Widow Wife . Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Robin loved Diane Wynne Jones and Stephen King as a kid, particularly Salem’s Lot , The Stand , and It....
Jul 09, 2019•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 199
First Draft Episode #198: Jonny Sun Jonny Sun , Canadian author and illustrator of Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too and Gmorning, Gnight! , TV writer on BoJack Horseman , screenwriter, one of TIME Magazine's 25 Most Influential People on the Internet in 2017, and a doctoral candidate at MIT and a creative researcher at the Harvard metaLAB . Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Jonny remembers watching The Muppet Show as a kid (even though in some ways that really isn’t a kids show)...
Jul 02, 2019•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 198
First Draft Episode #194: Linda Holmes Linda Holmes , pop-culture critic at NPR and co-host of the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, is out with her debut author of Evvie Drake Starts Over . I loved what Linda had to say about how practicing appellate law helped hone her critical writing; getting used to listening to her own voice; how she manages anxiety and depression, and the difficulty in even acknowledging that she wanted to write a novel. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode I got the ...
Jun 25, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 197
First Draft Episode #196: Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith, Amy Andelson, and Emily Meyer Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith , Amy Andelson , and Emily Meyer are the team behind Trinkets , the Netflix TV series based on Kiwi’s young adult novel of the same name. Kiwi Smith is one half of the screenwriting team behind films like 10 Things I Hate About You , Legally Blonde , Ella Enchanted , and more, and the author of young adult novels The Geography of Girlhood , and Trinkets . Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer are the writin...
Jun 18, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 196
First Draft Episode #195: Jennifer Donnelly Jennifer Donnelly, New York Times bestselling author of A Northern Light , Revolution , These Shallow Graves , and The Tea Rose series (incl. The Tea Rose ; The Winter Rose ; The Wild Rose ) and Waterfire Saga series (incl. Deep Blue ; Rogue Wave ; Dark Tide ; Sea Spell ), Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book , among others, who is back with the New York Times bestselling Stepsister . Jennifer talks about being raised on bedtime stories about life unde...
Jun 11, 2019•52 min•Ep. 195
First Draft Episode #194: Abdi Nazemian Abdi Nazemian , TV writer, producer of films like Call Me By Your Name , and author of Like a Love Story , The Authentics , and The Walk-In Closet , talks about discovering gay icons in the time before the internet, putting all your obsessions in your work, crying in coffee shops, and writing about history from an emotional standpoint, so we can repeat the best of it. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Abdi’s daughter has a PJ Harvey poster in her ...
Jun 04, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 194
First Draft Episode #193: Kate Spencer Kate Spencer, comedian, author of Dead Mom’s Club: A Memoir , and co-host of fabulous podcast Forever35 talks about the never-ending quest for confidence, exorcising grief and pain through writing, and how a podcast about serums became a podcast about feelings. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Amy Poehler, comedian, actress, writer, and director, who is not from the same town Kate is from, but they both grew up “outside Boston” Early on in childho...
May 28, 2019•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 193
First Draft Episode #192: Lindsay Smith Lindsay Smith, author of the forthcoming Alchemy of War , as well as Sekret, Skandal , Dreamstrider , A Darkly Beating Heart , The Witch Who Came in From the Cold , and the Saints of Russalka series, talks about growing as a writer through D&D, refiguring her writing process after being diagnosed with ADHD, and learning to value more than just productivity. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Hear Lindsay Smith’s first episode of First Draft wit...
May 21, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 192
First Draft Episode #191: Ryan Graudin Ryan Graudin, New York Times bestselling author of the Wolf by Wolf series, as well as Invictus and The Walled City , talks about staging Redwall battles in the backyard, how bad teachers inspired her love of history, and how restrictions at key times in her life led her imagination to flourish. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode The Redwall series by Brian Jacques The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexan...
May 14, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 191
First Draft Episode #190: Stephanie Garber Stephanie Garber , #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series, talks about turning to writing to escape burnout and depression from her first job, persevering when even her Mom told her the writing thing wasn’t meant to happen, and the things that make her nervous about releasing Finale , the final book in her breakout series. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode The North Texas Teen Book Festival , which Stephanie and I were both ...
May 07, 2019•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 190
First Draft Episode #189: David Iserson David Iserson, screenwriter of The Spy Who Dumped Me , writer on Satu rday Night Live , United States of Tara , and New Girl , and author of YA novel Firecracker , talks about micro and macro humor, how unreliable narrators is one of the beautiful advantages of writing a book, co-writing as being in conversation with someone, and the merit of spite writing. Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol was one of the only...
Apr 30, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 189
First Draft Episode #188: Ally Condie Ally Condie, New York Times bestselling author of the Matched series, as well as Summerlost and The Darkdeep , co-written with Brendan Reichs. In this conversation, Ally talks about what inspired her to get an MFA after establishing herself as a bestselling author, always working on two things at once, and how the 2016 election gave Ally enough rage to write her newest young adult novel, murderous revenge story The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe . Links and Topic...
Apr 23, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 188
First Draft Episode #187: Will Hines Will Hines , improviser and actor, host of the podcast, “ Screw It: We’re Just Going to Talk About the Beatles ,” and author of How to be the Greatest Improviser on Earth joins me to talk about using his Tumblr to test audience engagement; the delicate nature of writing about a community you are a part of; his thorough approach to making the self-publication process as professional as possible; and his next (fictional) book about improv, co-written with fello...
Apr 16, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 187
First Draft Episode #184: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the TV and screenwriting duo behind Smallville and Into the Badlands , join Sarah to talk about their debut thriller, Double Exposure . The guys talk about how, even after writing and/or producing more than 300 hours of television and movies, they are still engaged in learning and improving their craft; getting on the superhero train WAY before the MCU; and delivering a satisfying ending in books. Links and To...
Apr 09, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 186
First Draft Episode #184: Rhett Miller Rhett Miller (find him on Twitter and Instagram ), musician and writer, is a solo artist as well as lead singer of The Old 97s . His first book for children, No More Poems: A Book in Verse That Just Gets Worse , illustrated by Dan Santat (listen to his First Draft episode here ). Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode How Rhett’s given name is Stewart Ransom, sorta like Ransom Riggs , author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (listen to his ...
Apr 02, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 185
First Draft Episode #184: Bridget Tyler Bridget Tyler (find her on Twitter and Instagram , too!), debut author of The Pioneer , comes to First Draft with Sarah Enni to talk about adventure and sci-fi, getting outside of her own bubble for storytelling perspective, avoiding the Leia-Han love story trope... and in a First Draft exclusive, Bridget reveals the name of the sequel to The Pioneer ! Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode Return of the Jedi , episode VI of the Star Wars saga The Nanc...
Mar 26, 2019•56 min•Ep. 184
First Draft Episode #183: Author and Illustrator Jon Klassen Jon Klassen, Caldecott Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the “I Want My Hat Back” series, as well as the illustrator of Sam and Dave Dig a Hole and Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett; The Dark by Lemony Snicket; House Held Up by Trees by Ted Kooser; Cats' Night Out by Caroline Stutson; and many more. Find him on Twitter , Instagram , and Tumblr ! Circle , the third and final book in Barnett and Klassen’s “ T...
Mar 19, 2019•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 183
Lilliam Rivera , author of THE EDUCATION OF MARGOT SANCHEZ , is back with DEALING IN DREAMS , out now! She talks about writing a Latinx future, entering a room with hope, and getting to meet Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Lilliam Rivera 2.0 Show Notes Lilliam’s first interview on First Draft here Ingrid Rojas Contreras , author of FRUIT OF THE DRUNKEN TREE Amerie Zareen Jaffrey , executive editor at Simon & Schuster Anderson Cooper A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Or...
Mar 12, 2019•52 min•Ep. 182
Soman Chainani , New York Times bestselling author of the SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL series, including the most recent A CRYSTAL OF TIME (out today!) talks about the insidiousness of triumphant good, how tutoring taught him discipline, and the epic battle of Serena Williams versus Maria Sharapova. Soman Chainani Show Notes The Ramona series by Beverly Cleary Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice Renee Ahdieh , author of The Wrath & the Dawn series and Flame in the Mist (listen to her First D...
Mar 05, 2019•51 min•Ep. 180
Sarah Enni , debut author of TELL ME EVERYTHING and usually the host of the First Draft podcast , answers questions from past First Draft interviewees about craft and ego, staying on schedule, Bob Costas’ pink-eye story, the evolution of her interview style, Hammer the cat’s origin story. Sarah Enni bonus episode show notes Maurene Goo (listen to her First Draft episode here ) Nic Stone , author of DEAR MARTIN and ODD ONE OUT (listen to her First Draft podcast here ) Kristen Kittscher , author o...
Mar 01, 2019•44 min•Ep. 180
Sarah Enni , debut author of TELL ME EVERYTHING and usually the host of the First Draft podcast , answers questions from fellow YA writer Maurene Goo ! Sarah shares her lengthy path to publishing, the role of humor and tone in contemporary fiction, her outlining process, and the one cross-country flight that changed everything. Sarah Enni Show Notes Maurene Goo , author of the upcoming SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW and THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL , I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE , and SINCE YOU ASKED Th...
Feb 26, 2019•55 min•Ep. 179
Amanda Maciel Show Notes TELL ME EVERYTHING by Sarah Enni TEASE by Amanda Maciel LUCKY GIRL by Amanda Maciel Post Secret (social media site) Michelle Schusterman David Levithan Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi Nina Goffi Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell...
Feb 19, 2019•58 min•Ep. 178
Sarah Burnes , literary agent with The Gernert Company. She has been my agent since 2013. I loved what Sarah had to say about her approach to the slush pile, the myth of work-life balance, and her “no assholes” rule. Sarah Burnes Show Notes The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar Alloy book packaging company Zan Romanoff (Listen to her First Draft episode here ) Beautiful Creatures by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia Pseudonymous Bosch Jon Gertner ...
Feb 12, 2019•45 min•Ep. 177
Susan Dennard is the New York Times bestselling author of the SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY series and THE WITCHLANDS series. Her newest novel in that series, BLOODWITCH , is out February 12. Susan Dennard Show Notes Susan’s wikipedia page Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander Cinder by Marissa Meyer Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (hear her First Draft interviews here and here ) Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas Paul Scheer (host of How Did This Get Made ) Joanna Volpe , literary agent at New Leaf Li...
Feb 05, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 176
Robin LaFevers , author of the New York Times bestselling HIS FAIR ASSASSINS series, talks about the memories that live on in our bodies, the downside to critique groups, and how writing her breakout series retriggered old trauma--sidelining her ability to write for more than a year. She worked her way, physically and emotionally, back to write the latest in the series, COURTING DARKNESS , out February 5, 2019. Robin LaFevers Show Notes The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis Charge of the Light ...
Jan 29, 2019•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 175
Renée Watson , New York Times bestselling author of PIECING ME TOGETHER a Newberry Honor book and winner of the Coretta Scott King award, THIS SIDE OF HOME , and many others, and co-author of WATCH US RISE , out February 12. Renée is also founder and executive director of the I, Too Arts Foundation , a non-profit organization housed in the home of legendary poet Langston Hughes, committed to nurturing voices from underrepresented communities in the creative arts. Renée Watson Show Notes Renée Wa...
Jan 22, 2019•53 min•Ep. 174
