First Draft with Sarah Enni

A lovely conversation with Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, The Geography of You and Me, and Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between, and her most recent novel, Windfall. She talks about the teacher who made all the difference, and some key questions, like: are we all always writing the same story? And can you be an optimist and believe in fate?

More lightning-round interviews with authors at the Los Angeles Festival of Books, BookExpo America, and BookCon festivals, including: Brandy Colbert; David Connis; Dhonielle Clayton; E. Katherine Kottaras; Holly Black; Jennifer E. Smith; Jessica Morgan; Kiersten White; Karuna Riazi; Laini Taylor; Maggie Stiefvater; Maurene Goo; Morgan Matson; Nic Stone; Renee Ahdieh; Robin Benway; Samantha Mabry; Soman Chainani; Susan Dennard; Victoria Aveyard; and Zan Romanoff.

LATFoB/BEA/BookCon Minisode Show Notes

Brandy Colbert (listen to her First Draft interview here), author of Pointe and the forthcoming Little and Lion)

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

David Connis, author of the forthcoming The Temptation of Adam

Dhonielle Clayton, co-author of the Tiny, Pretty Things series and author of the forthcoming The Belles (listen to her First Draft interview here, or read the transcript)

E. Katherine Kottaras, author of How to Be Brave and The Best Possible Answer

The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera (listen to her First Draft interview here, or read the transcript here)

Holly Black, author of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and the forthcoming The Cruel Prince

Jane Yolen, SFF writer

Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, among many others!, and her newest book, Windfall, out now! (Her First Draft interview coming soon!)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Jessica Morgan, co-author of Spoiled, Messy, and The Royal We (Listen to her First Draft interview [with co-writer Heather Cocks] here)

Kiersten White, author of the And I Darken series and the forthcoming middle grade Beanstalker and Other Hilarious Scarytales (and so much more) (listen to her First Draft podcast here)

Karuna Riazi, author of The Gauntlet

Ellen Oh, author of The Dragon King chronicles and the forthcoming Spirit Hunters (listen to her First Draft podcast here)

Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer and the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series (among other things!)

Maggie Stiefvater, author of the forthcoming All The Crooked Saints, the Raven Boys series, Scorpio Races, and more

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Morrell by Susanna Clarke

Michael Chabon

Maurene Goo, author of Since You Asked and the recently-released I Believe in a Thing Called Love (listen to her First Draft interviews here and here!)

Morgan Matson, author of Amy & Roger's Epic Detour, Since You've Been Gone, and The Unexpected Everything (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Nic Stone, author of Dear Martin

Renee Ahdieh, author of The Wrath and the Dawn and her newest book, Flame in the Mist (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Flyleaf Books

Quail Ridge Books

Books of Wonder

McNally Jackson

Parnassus Books

Red Balloon Bookshop

Robin Benway, author of Audrey, Wait!, Emmy and Oliver, and the forthcoming Far From the Tree (listen to her First Draft podcast here)

Emery Lord and her first book, Open Road Summer

Samantha Mabry, author of A Fierce and Subtle Poison and the forthcoming All the Wind in the World (listen to her First Draft podcast here)

Soman Chainani, author of The School for Good or Evil series

Susan Dennard, author of the Something Strange and Deadly series, the Witchland series, and contributor to the forthcoming Because You Love to Hate Me anthology

Jurassic Park (movie) (and book by Michael Crichton)

Victoria Aveyard, author of the Red Queen series (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Kaz and Inej from Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom series

Zan Romanoff, author of A Song to Take the World Apart and Grace and the Fever (listen to her First Draft interview here, or read the transcript here)

Battlestar Galactica (TV show)

Julie Buxbaum, author of Tell Me Three Things, and the forthcoming What to Say Next (listen to her First Draft interview here)

More lightning-round interviews with authors at the Los Angeles Festival of Books, BookExpo America, and BookCon festivals, including: Brandy Colbert; David Connis; Dhonielle Clayton; E. Katherine Kottaras; Holly Black; Jennifer E. Smith; Jessica Morgan; Kiersten White; Karuna Riazi; Laini Taylor; Maggie Stiefvater; Maurene Goo; Morgan Matson; Nic Stone; Renee Ahdieh; Robin Benway; Samantha Mabry; Soman Chainani; Susan Dennard; Victoria Aveyard; and Zan Romanoff.

Maurene Goo, author of I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE (out today!) on putting being an author on hold, writing the food tour of Los Angeles, and the 30-minute sprints that saved her deadline.

Maurene Goo 2.0 Show Notes

Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation (TV show)

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Since You Asked by Maurene Goo

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show)

Renee Ahdieh (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Stephanie Kuehn (listen to her First Draft podcast here)

Shonda Rhimes

Amy Spalding (listen to her First Draft interview here)

Sparky by Jenny Ofill and Chris Appelhans

A Greyhound, a Groundhog by Emily Jenkins and Chris Appelhans

Tahereh Mafi (listen to her First Draft interview here, or read the transcript)

David Sedaris

Zadie Smith

The Underground Railroad by Colston Whitehead

Jon Krakauer

Elizabeth Clark (cover designer for IBIATCL)

Jenny Han (listen to her First Draft interview here, or read the transcript)

Morgan Matson (listen to her First Draft interview here)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Maurene Goo, author of I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE (out today!) on putting being an author on hold, writing the food tour of Los Angeles, and the 30-minute sprints that saved her deadline.

Kayla Olson, debut author of THE SANDCASTLE EMPIRE, out June 6, on writing secret songs in middle school, hearing the rhythm of books, words as a puzzle, writing to the same thunderstorm for years and years, and the closest she ever came to quitting.

Kayla Olson Show Notes

Sara Zarr's episode of First Draft

The Babysitter's Club by Ann M. Martin

Full House (TV show)

Fuller House (TV show)

Patty Griffin (musician)

Sandra McCraken (musician)

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

MyWriteClub.com

LOST (TV show)

Libba Bray

Story Engineering and Tips for Writing Your Novel with Larry Brooks (video)

Story Engineering by Larry Brooks

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Kayla Olson, debut author of THE SANDCASTLE EMPIRE, out June 6, on writing secret songs in middle school, hearing the rhythm of books, words as a puzzle, writing to the same thunderstorm for years and years, and the closest she ever came to quitting.

Sandhya Menon, debut author of WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI (out May 30 and available for pre-order now!) talks up libraries that run on guilt, candy bar scenes, and what to do when you hit a major slump.

Sandhya Menon Show Notes

Lilliam Rivera (listen to her First Draft interview here, and get the transcript here)

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Ruebén Martinez, winner of the LA Times Festival of Books' 2017 Innovator Award

"Candy Bar Scenes" idea by Holly Lisle

Jenny Han (listen to her First Draft interview here, and get the transcript here)

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sofie Kinsella

Morgan Matson (listen to her First Draft interview here, and get the transcript here)

Stephanie Perkins

Sandhya Menon, debut author of WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI (out May 30 and available for pre-order now!) talks up libraries that run on guilt, candy bar scenes, and what to do when you hit a major slump.

Renée Ahdieh, New York Times best-selling author of The Wrath and the Dawn series, and whose new series kicks off with the release of Flame in the Mist, out May 16, joins me to talk about straddling two worlds poorly, finding the music in language, fearless internet personas, id books, and publishing as a 'pride-swallowing siege.' (Plus, a cameo from Sarah Nicole Lemon, author of Done Dirt Cheap!)

Renee Ahdieh Show Notes

Explosions in the Sky

Sheherazade Op. 35, a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Nas

The Story of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting

Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene

Sarah Nicole Lemon

J.K. Rowling

Star Wars score by John Williams

Gustav Holst's The Planets

The Imperial March by John Williams

Mars, Bringer of War by Gustav Holst

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better,featured in Annie, Get Your Gun

Tool

Metallica

Human Bell

Mogwai

Godspeed You Black Emperor

Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon

The 30-second bit of "Blue Moon" by Beck, which I wanted to write a book about

"S&M" by Metallica

"The Black Album" by Metallica

FictionPress

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

The Babysitter's Club by Ann M. Martin

The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice

Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevsky

Zorro by Isabel Allende

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez

Get Out (movie)

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher (and the Netflix Show)

Chekhov's Gun

Bluebeard

Sir Richard Burton

The Arabian Nights translated by Husain Haddawy

The Song of the Lioness series by Tamara Pierce

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Mulan (movie)

A Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

Sengoku and Muromachi periods of Japanese history

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