The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

How Bestselling Author & TV Producer Dwain Worrell Writes


Listen Later

Bestselling author and award-winning screenwriter, Dwain Worrell, spoke to me about making the move from the writers' room to the cafe, the art and science of suspense, and his debut novel ANDRONE.

Dwain Worrell is an award-winning Marvel and Disney+ TV producer, filmmaker, and novelist whose writing credits include Marvel’s Iron Fist, CBS’s Fire Country, Amazon Studios’ The Wall, and the Disney+ series National Treasure, among others. Dwain also worked as a translator of Mandarin Chinese in Beijing for nearly a decade.

His bestselling debut novel, Androne, is described as a “... near future … highly cinematic and propulsive story [centered] around a terrifying event called the Ninety-Nine, where all major military installations on Earth [are] eviscerated, heralding humanity's start of a war with an unknown enemy.”

Niels Arden Oplev, Director of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo called the book “A crazy-cool ride into the unknown …. [Androne] reads like a high-end videogame on steroids with a destiny of Shakespearean magnitude.”       

Publishers Weekly wrote, “... taut intrigue … reels readers into a thrilling yet thoughtful narrative about the futility of war and the cost of doing the right thing…”

[Discover The Writer Files Extra: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at writerfiles.fm]

[If you’re a fan of The Writer Files, please click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen]

In this file Dwain Worrell and I discussed: 

  • Making the move from screenwriter to novelist during a WGA strike
  • How he discovered theater after having his basketball dreams dashed
  • Why writing for TV is harder (and easier) than prose
  • The inspiration that went into his latest sci-fi thriller
  • Our mutual love of Hans Zimmer soundtracks
  • Hanging out with Shakespeare at Chili’s
  • And a lot more!
  • Show Notes:

    • Dwainworrell.com
    • Dwain Worrell - IMDb
    • Behind the Science of Writing Good Suspense - Writer's Digest
    • Androne By Dwain Worrell (Amazon)
    • Dwain Worrell on Instagram
    • Dwain Worrell on Twitter
    • Kelton Reid on Twitter

    • Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and NeuroscienceBy Kelton Reid

      • 4.5
      • 4.5
      • 4.5
      • 4.5
      • 4.5

      4.5

      222 ratings


      More shows like The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

      View all
      The Book Review by The New York Times

      The Book Review

      3,930 Listeners

      Writing Excuses by Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

      Writing Excuses

      1,299 Listeners

      Helping Writers Become Authors by K.M. Weiland

      Helping Writers Become Authors

      1,013 Listeners

      Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry by David Naimon, Milkweed Editions

      Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry

      470 Listeners

      The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers by Joanna Penn

      The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

      632 Listeners

      10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

      10% Happier with Dan Harris

      12,750 Listeners

      Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso by Higher Ground

      Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

      1,461 Listeners

      Writer's Routine by Dan Simpson

      Writer's Routine

      312 Listeners

      Totally Booked with Zibby by Zibby Owens

      Totally Booked with Zibby

      634 Listeners

      Fiction Writing Made Easy | Top Creative Writing Podcast for Fiction Writers & Writing Tips by Savannah Gilbo

      Fiction Writing Made Easy | Top Creative Writing Podcast for Fiction Writers & Writing Tips

      1,474 Listeners

      The Shit No One Tells You About Writing by Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra

      The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

      783 Listeners

      NPR's Book of the Day by NPR

      NPR's Book of the Day

      679 Listeners

      Essential Guide to Writing a Novel by James Thayer

      Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

      431 Listeners

      Writers on Writing by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone

      Writers on Writing

      92 Listeners

      How I Write by David Perell

      How I Write

      8 Listeners