The Creative Writing Life

Join us as we discuss fun lives in writing for books, film, and games! 

Go Ahead and Ask! https://www.amazon.com/Go-Ahead-Ask-Interviews-Screenwriting/dp/B09WRFNMV5

Creative Writing Life - https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Writing-Life-Justin-Sloan-ebook/dp/B07YR2FMYK

Creative Writing Career - https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Writing-Career-Justin-Sloan-ebook/dp/B07YR2SHJ4

What are the basics in terms of creative writing? Justin and Paul dive into all of that! Enjoy.

Hudson Phillips joined Justin and Paul to discuss screenwriting and how to develop awesome characters. Enjoy! 

Writer & Producer of @thisworldalonefilm and #guacamoleyesterdays

📖 Writing Unforgettable Characters now available on Amazon!

hudsonwrites.com

From Hudson: 

I'm a screenwriter from Atlanta, GA that writes big, breezy genre films with equal parts humor and heart. I wrote and produced the feature film This World Alone which was released on Hulu in 2021. I previously had a script optioned by Lions Gate Films and have been hired to write three indie features in the past two years.

I also founded the organization ScriptBlast, which helps struggling screenwriters navigate the ups and downs of the writing journey, and host the ScriptBlast Screenwriting Podcast. Additionally, I've spoken across the U.S. on screenwriting and indie film and have been featured on numerous podcasts including Show Don't Tell, Making Movies is Hard, and the AFC Indie Filmmaking Podcast.

https://www.instagram.com/hudsonphillips/?hl=en

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4107902/

Author Troy Lambert joined Justin and Paul to discuss PLOTTR and 20BooksVegas!

Plottr: Plan Your Books The Way You Think

Outline faster, organize smarter, and turbocharge your productivity today with the #1 visual book planning software for writers.

https://plottr.com/ 

How Plottr Will Help You Outline Your Books

Visualize Your Plot Points

ABOUT TROY, FROM TROY

I’m Troy Lambert. I’ve been writing full time for a little over a decade now, with a part-time job thrown in from time to time for a variety of reasons, most of which I won’t go into here.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. When I was six, I penned the as-yet-unpublished book, George and the Giant Castle. It was an uphill battle from there, until I did one thing: I gave in. Let me explain.

A Series of Name Tags and Hairnets

I knew this was the career for me, really the only career for me. But everyone I told laughed. “That’s great,” they told me. “But what will you do for money?” So I believed them and embarked on a journey of more than three decades that included a series of nametags, hairnets, and potential careers that ended–well, not as well as I had hoped.

I finally decided I needed to give this writing thing a real shot, right around the time that self-publishing became a thing.

Amanda Innes joins Justin and Paul to discuss writing, theater, publishing novels, and PA work. 

ABOUT AMANDA

Amanda Innes has been a production assistant on film sets, a dogsbody for community theaters, a performer of Shakespeare, an instructor for summer camps, and worked for major publishing houses before turning her attention to her own writing. She grew up in Texas, went to graduate school in Massachusetts, and now lives in Northern California.

Grab her books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Innes/e/B096LDB8DL

And especially THE GHOSTS OF MARSHLEY PARK:

https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Marshley-Park-Amanda-Innes/dp/0578894866

Ashley Poprick joined Justin and Paul to chat about the Austin Film Festival, game writing, and the new game writing panels the #AFF is putting on. 

From Ashley

I’m Ashley “Ash” Poprik and I’m a game writer with 4+ years of game writing and 7+ years of screenwriting experience working in highly-collaborative studios. I have a knack for crafting memorable characters, snappy text, and whimsical stories.

I have written for a variety of companies including Insomniac Games, Hasbro, and BonusXP. Here you can find my portfolio of professional works as well as some writing samples. Please, take a look around! I’ve recently redecorated the place :)

https://ashleypoprik.com/

James Ridgley joined Justin and Paul to discuss filmmaking. He also shared his information on performing standup as well as on cruise ships, sketches, and going from juggling to microbudget films. 

His IMDb - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0725927

PJ McIlvaine joins Justin and Paul to chat about writing picture books, screenplays and so much more. 

https://pjmacwriter.com for her website!

ABOUT:

PJ McIlvaine is a prolific kid lit writer/author/screenwriter/writer/journalist.

PJ’s debut middle-grade supernatural historical mystery from Darkstroke Books (April 2022) VIOLET YORKE, GILDED GIRL: GHOSTS IN THE CLOSET about the misadventures of a poor little rich girl who can see ghosts in NYC 1912 is now available on Amazon Kindle and paperback.

PJ’s second picture book DRAGON ROAR about a sick, lonely dragon who has lost his fierce roar and the brave village girl who helps him find it again through acts of kindness (October 2021) from MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing with artwork by Logan Rogers.

 PJ’s debut picture book LITTLE LENA AND THE BIG TABLE  (May 2019) with  illustrations by  Leila Nabih is about a little girl who discovers that sitting at the big table isn’t all it’s cracked up to be from Big Belly Book Co.

In September 2023, PJ’s debut Young Adult Alternate History Adventure THE CONUNDRUM OF CHARLEMAGNE CROSSE set in Victorian London featuring an evil Queen Victoria, a determined heiress, a psycho cat, lobotomies, corsets, solar eclipses, and doomed romance from Orange Blossom Books  https://www.orangeblossombooks.com/

Coming in 2024-2027: a Creature Feature series and a standalone about a cookie thief for Young Dragons Press, an imprint of Oghma Creative Media.

PJ is also a co-host of #PBPitch, the premiere Twitter pitch party for picture book creators.

PJ has been published in numerous outlets including The New York Times and Newsday. PJ is also a regular contributor for the Children’s Book Insider newsletter, writing about the path to publication and featuring interviews with established and debut kid lit authors.

In addition, PJ’s critically acclaimed Showtime original family movie MY HORRIBLE YEAR with Mimi Rogers, Karen Allen and Eric Stoltz, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy.  It’s still in the ether at You Tube.

PJ is a born and bred New Yorker and is proud to call Eastern Long Island her home.  When she’s not writing or running after her four rambunctious grandchildren or tending to the capricious needs of Luna, a feisty French Bulldog who has a thing about feet, power tools, and following commands. PJ loves all kinds of international noir thrillers, period pieces, pizza, CSNY, John Hiatt, Steve Earle, Bruce Springsteen, horror movies, Stephen King, vanilla ice cream, and pretty much anything with Ted Levine.

Robert People speaks about writing your first book and more! 

Find his books and more at robertpeople.com.

FROM ROBERT:

Hi, everybody! My name is Robert People and you’ve reached People’s Court. I am an author with six self-published books and I am also a poet and an aspiring professional screenwriter. I’ve completed several works and at the moment and I’m still looking for agency representation. Hopefully, I will not be looking for long!

I retired from the Army in 2018 after 21 years of service. I am married and we have two children. Some of my hobbies include writing, reading, exercising, traveling and spending time with my family. I also look to encourage those around me whenever I can, so if you don’t mind that, you can expect to see that also. My posts will touch on just about anything.

NOTE: If you’re on a mobile device and do not see “Archives” and dates listed on the right side of the page, just scroll to the bottom and click on “View Full Site,” and you should see them there. Thanks for visiting!

Blog:https://pplscrt79.wordpress.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeoplesCourt79

Facebook: https://facebook.com/robert.people.9

You can also email me at: [email protected]

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In preparation for the #AFF22 panel on Interactive Storytelling, Philip Balli joined us to discuss the Austin Film Festival, Writing Games, and Working in TV. He has a wealth of information to share! 

https://austinfilmfestival.com/festival-and-conference-aff/panelists-and-awardees/

Philip is a Laredo, TX native with an MFA in screenwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. He has experience serving in various support staff positions in TV writers’ rooms for shows such as Fargo (FX) and Parasite (HBO). Prior to that, he was a research assistant to writer/director Noah Hawley. As an adjunct instructor, Philip has taught an introduction to screenwriting course at Texas A&M International University. Currently, he is a full-time game writer & narrative designer at OrionGames, an all-remote indie studio working on its first title, the action-adventure Arto. When he isn’t writing, Philip is playing video games (mostly story-driven or narrative adventure games), watching Bluey with his daughters, or reading fantasy/sci-fi book series.

The AFF panel for 2022 (with Justin Sloan and Ashley Poprik):

Video games have developed from small, linear play-through adventures to massive multiplayer games with open worlds and branching narratives. So how has this evolution led to a growing commitment to story, and how has this interactive medium affected the way we tell and consume stories? Join this conversation on the challenges and opportunities that come with interactive storytelling.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12090996/