
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN, CROWN OF WISHES, and the ARU SHAH series talks about the first book in her latest young adult series, THE GILDED WOLVES, out January 15. She talks about connecting to her history through fairy tales, how being voted most likely to succeed caused a lot of angst, and the pressure of picking an AIM away message.
Roshani Chokshi Show Notes
Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Jhumpa Lahiri
AFI (band)
Thursday (band)
Deftones (band)
Harry Potter
Sailor Moon (cartoon)
Christiane Amanpour (TV broadcast journalism)
His Girl Friday
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (book)
The Young Elites by Marie Lu (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)
Rick Riordan
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Stormrunner by J. C. Cervantes
Stephanie Lurie, Editorial Director, Rick Riordan Presents (Disney-Hyperion)
Claire Legrand (listen to her First Draft interview here)
National Treasure (movie)
Lara Croft (video game character)
"Venus in Furs" a song by The Velvet Underground
Holly Black (listen to her First Draft interview here)
Radiance by Catherynne Valente
Deathless by Catherynne Valente
Tomb Raider (movie)
The Librarian (movie)
The Mummy (movie)
Dan Brown
Tracey Neithercott, author of Gray Wolf Island, talks about being inspired by unsolved mysteries and real life treasure hunters, how writing shapes our identities, and how she wrote her debut book while dealing with a life-altering chronic pain diagnosis.
Tracey Neithercott Show Notes
The Bodyguard (movie)
Whitney Houston
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Dawson's Creek (TV show)
Kiersten White (listen to her First Draft interview here)
Absolute Write
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Sarah LaPolla, literary agent
Stand By Me (movie)
Oak Island
Astonishing Legends podcast about Oak Island
Forrest Fenn (antiquities dealer who buried a treasure)
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (listen to her First Draft interview here)
Scrivener Tahereh Mafi (listen to her First Draft interview here)
Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood and its forthcoming sequel, as well as Tales from the Hinterlands, talks about stuffing her debut book with secret book recommendations, the borderlessness of being a young reader, and loving angry girls in fiction.
Melissa Albert Show Notes
Vera Nabokov
The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin
Lolita
Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
Wise Child by Monica Furlong
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Hook (movie)
Charles de Lint
Helen Oyeyemi
Philip Pullman's Grimm Brothers translation
Roshani Chokshi's forthcoming trio of novellas
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Kelly Link
Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo (listen to her First Draft episodes here and here)
Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs (listen to his First Draft interview here)
Flannery O'Connor
Time Out Chicago
A Spark of Light (Barnes & Noble exclusive edition)
Barnes & Noble YA Blog
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Feed by M. T. Anderson
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (listen to her First Draft interview here)
Francesca Lia Block (listen to her First Draft interview here)
His Hideous Heart by Dahlia Adler
Working Partners (work for hire book company in England)
George Saunders essay about what writers really do when they write
Sadie by Courtney Summers (listen to her First Draft interview here)
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
The Twilight Zone (TV show)
Radiance by Catherynne Valente
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Romeo + Juliet (movie)
Love Lists, a blog post by Stephanie Perkins
Emma Chastain, writer
The North Texas Teen Book Festival
Welcome to Night Vale (podcast)
The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman
The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke
Ira Glass A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)
Sarah Dessen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of ONCE AND FOR ALL, JUST LISTEN, THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER and many more. Her newest novel, THE REST OF THE STORY, will come out in June 2019.
Sarah Dessen Show Notes
Jackie Collins
Stephen King
Mary Higgins Clark
Maurene Goo (listen to her First Draft interviews here, here, and here)
Alexander London (listen to his First Draft interviews here and here)
Melissa Walker
Doris Betts (writing teacher at UNC)
John Green
Jodi Picoult
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Lee Smith (author)
Save the Date by Morgan Matson (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)
Sarah Dessen's 2013 blog post about pulling a book
The Hilarious World of Depression podcast episode featuring NPR's Linda Holmes
Shakespeare in Love (movie)
J.K Rowling
The Bustle article about Sarah Dessen's tweet convo with JK Rowling
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Harlan Cohen
Elana K. Arnold, author of YA books Damsel, What Girls Are Made Of, Infandous, and Middle Grade series A Boy Called Bat, and many more, talks about working until the book feels worthy, reusing structure, and uncovering a deep well of rage in her writing.
Elana K. Arnold Show Notes 2.0
Elana's first First Draft interview
His Dark Materials books by Philip Pullman
Martha Brockenbrough, author of Unpresidented An Ordinary Day by Elana K. Arnold (picture book coming out next year)
Nina LaCour, author of We Are Okay, winner of the 2018 Printz Award, and other contemporary YA titles like Everything Leads to You and Hold Still, joins me to talk about how she's expanding her teaching role with The Slow Novel Lab, and an exciting new podcast venture called Keeping a Notebook.
Nina LaCour Show Notes
Nina LaCour's first First Draft interview
Lorde's album Pure Heroine
We Are Okay
Nina's interview on Yin Chang's podcast, 88 Cups of Tea
Alfred Hitchcock
The Castle of Otranto, a 1764 novel by Horace Walpole
Virginia Woolf
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
Frida Kahlo (Artist)
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
Keeping a Notebook (and the episode featuring Sarah Enni)
The Slow Novel Lab
"On Keeping a Notebook" by Joan Didion
Sara Zarr's podcast This Creative Life
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)
Save the Cat
SquareSpace
MailChimp
Nina's short story in the Foreshadow YA online YA anthology collection
Writing the Breakout Novel: Worksheets by Donald Maass
Hamline low residency MFA program
Peter Stone, debut author of THE PERFECT CANDIDATE, talks about his time in Washington (before the onset of the 24-hour news cycle), how interns run the world, and how writing a speech for his wife led him to finally try a novel.
Peter Stone Show Notes
The Firm by John Grisham
YALLWEST
YALLFest
Watergate (for more, listen to Slow Burn Season 1)
Monica Lewinsky (for more, listen to Slow Burn Season 2)
Chandra Levy
The My Favorite Murder podcast episode about Chandra Levy's death
The NPR Politics podcast
The Wilderness (by Crooked Media)
JonBenet Ramsey
Laci Peterson
Newt Gingrich
Old Ebbitt Grill (bar in Washington, D.C.)
The Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)
The Robert Mueller Investigation
George Papadopoulos
Edward Snowden
Whitewater (for more, listen to Slow Burn Season 2)
Vince Foster (for more, listen to Slow Burn Season 2)
House of Cards (TV show)
Scandal (TV show)
The Pelican Brief (movie)
The Hunt for Red October (movie)
Ben's Chili Bowl (restaurant in D.C.)
Tortilla Coast (restaurant in D.C.)
Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe
Neil Gaiman's quote about writing while inspired
Holly Black, Newberry Honoree and New York Times bestselling author of many things, including many series such as the SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, THE CURSE WORKER, MAGISTERIUM, and her most recent series, FOLK OF THE AIR. The latest book in that series, THE WICKED KING, comes out January 8—the tour dates to support that book were just released on Hypable today!
Holly Black Show Notes
Tony DiTerlizzi, her artist for Spiderwick Chronicles
Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee
OwlCrate
FairyLoot
Third Eye Blind
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice
Kevin Lewis (editor, Simon & Schuster)
Sabriel by Garth Nix
Tamora Pierce
Cassandra Clare
Kiersten White (listen to her First Draft interview here)
Dhonielle Clayton (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here)
Office Smart
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Kelly Link
Dante's Inferno
Volcano
Robin Talley—author of LIES WE TELL OURSELVES, WHAT WE LEFT BEHIND, AS I DESCENDED, OUR OWN PRIVATE UNIVERSE—talks about her newest novel, PULP. Robin shares insight about transitioning into being a full-time writer and stay-at-home mom, writing a Judy Blume book for queer girls, and writing books with her younger self in mind.
Robin Talley Show Notes
Robin's previous First Draft episode
Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (listen to her First Draft episode here)
Dahlia Adler
Pacemaker
Scrivener
Forever by Judy Blume
Love, Simon (movie)
Ann Bannon (famous lesbian pulp author)
Spring Fire by Marijane Meeker
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Carol (movie)
The Lavender Scare
Lambda Literary Foundation
All Out edited by Saundra Mitchell
A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood (listen to her First Draft episode here)
Robin's short stories
Andy Weir, New York Times best-selling author of THE MARTIAN and his new stand-alone Sci-Fi novel, ARTEMIS. This interview is a live recording of the in-conversation I had with Andy for New York Comic Con. I loved hearing Andy talk about moon economies, managing anxiety, and how science makes his books living documents.
Andy Weir Show Notes
The Martian (movie)
Matt Damon playing Brett Kavanaugh on SNL
Neil Degrasse Tyson
Andy's Business Insider article on the economy of a moon colony
From the publisher's feed