Ruta Sepetys

First Draft Episode #217: Ruta Sepetys

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Ruta Sepetys, #1 New York Times bestselling and Carnegie-winning author of Between Shades of Gray, Out of the Easy, and Salt to the Sea, talks about her newest novel, Fountains of Silence.

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• I was watching Goodfellas, and not having a great time, until I got sidetracked by reading all about the Lufthansa heist, which is fascinating!

• One of Ruta’s first jobs in L.A. was as an intern for songwriter Desmond Child. He encouraged Ruta to start her own business managing musicians.

• Ruta’s op-ed for NPR about when her book Between Shades of Gray came out at the same time as E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey, and many readers purchased the wrong title

• The Pact of Forgetting, enacted in 1975, in which Spain vowed to forget the past as it transitioned from a dictatorship to democracy.

• General Francisco Franco built Valley of the Fallen as a memorial to those who died in the Spanish Civil War, and he was buried there. Spain has exhumed and relocated his body.

• Hear Ruta talk in depth about her interview style with Yin Chang on 88 Cups of Tea

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Kass Morgan (a.k.a. Mallory Kass)

First Draft Episode #216: Kass Morgan (a.k.a. Mallory Kass)

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Kass Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of The 100 and Light Years (a.k.a. Mallory Kass, senior editor at Scholastic). Supernova, the sequel to Light Years, is out now!

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Kass’s father wrote for Seinfeld

• Paula Abdul (her iconic Forever Your Girl is a great starting point) and Janet Jackson (oh my god, where to begin? Rhythm Nation is a must, and The Velvet Rope is everything— also apparently she wrote a book! True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself) were two pop stars Kass was totally unaware of when she moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles at age 11

• Once she figured out that she was not destined to be an academic, Kass moved to New York and started an internship at Scholastic with Arthur Levine, who edited a little book series called Harry Potter (when she started at the publisher, Levine was working on Deathly Hallows in secret)

• Kass’s bosses at Scholastic, Rachel Griffiths and David Levithan (New York Times bestselling author of Every Day and Boy Meets Boy), were instrumental in making her feel comfortable pursuing writing as well as editing

• Cheryl B. Klein, associate editor at Scholastic and Kass’s co-worker, encouraged Kass to talk to Alloy Entertainment, a book packaging firm known for projects such as Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar and Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith. Alloy contacted Kass to work on a new project, The 100!

• I loved Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, which features a space school, and so did Kass!

• Looking for Alaska by John Green (which is about to be a Hulu show) is the type of boarding school narrative that we’re more accustomed to reading — Kass threw the boarding school into space!

• My humblebrag about moderating a panel on worldbuilding which featured N.K. Jemisin (and also Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer, and Joe Hill!) at BookCon.

Thanks for Listening!

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Leigh Bardugo 3.0

First Draft Episode #215: Leigh Barudgo

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Leigh Barudgo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shadow and Bone series, the Six of Crows duology, and the King of Scars duology, discusses her first adult novel, Ninth House.

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Please check out Leigh’s two previous First Draft interviews, here and here!

• The Grishaverse has been developed by Netflix as a TV show

• Brandon Sanderson is the author of the Mistborn series, the Stormlight Archive series, and the Elantris series, and Leigh notes that he writes one million books and sees way, way far ahead as a writer

• NPR’s laudatory review for King of Scars had to include a lot of backstory, since technically it’s the sixth book in the Grishaverse

• Leigh could not wait for a friend to catch up on the past seasons of Stranger Things before watching the third season (unlike with Game of Thrones where she gave him time to catch up)

• Leigh loves how The Legend of Korra expanded on the universe established in Avatar: The Last Airbender (speaking of Avatar, have you listened to the First Draft interview with Michael Dante DiMartino, co-creator of the Avatar universe??)

• I risk a spoiler by mentioning the end of Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer series… Curious readers should definitely pick up Daughter of Smoke and Bone and read Laini’s fantasy books all through - and listen to her First Draft interview here!

• When I was fortunate enough to moderate a panel on worldbuilding at BookCon, NK Jemisin—New York Times bestselling author of the Broken Earth trilogy and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms series—brought up the Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

• Leigh hopes to avoid the George R. R. Martin scenario — referencing the fact that the Game of Thrones TV show caught up, and then surpassed, Martin’s pace of writing A Song of Ice and Fire, the series the show is based on

• Leigh’s editor for Ninth House is Noah Eaker, editorial director at Random House.

• The Princess Bride by William Goldman (also a prolific screenwriter of movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men) was entirely about digressions, and that is what made it so perfect.

• Jodie Foster and Anderson Cooper were both in Manuscript senior society

• Leigh points writers to Robin LaFevers’ Instagram account (and listen to her First Draft interview) and Susan Dennard’s newsletter, Misfits and Dreamers (and listen to her First Draft interview) for amazing craft advice

• Authors like Kelly Link, Lev Grossman, Joe Hill, and Stephen King (!!!), and Charlaine Harris have given Ninth House props. Not a bad list!!!

Thanks for Listening!

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Join the First Draft Patreon, or make a monthly or one-time donation via PayPal or Venmo

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✍️ Track Changes Learn how the traditional publishing industry works in the Track Changes podcast mini-series.

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Jason Reynolds

First Draft Episode #214: Jason Reynolds

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Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of critically acclaimed books, including National Book Award finalist Ghost, Newberry and Printz-honored Long Way Down, Coretta Scott King Honoree As Brave as You, and his latest, middle grade Look Both Ways, which was just named to the National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature.

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Jason didn’t grow up writing prose, but he and all his friends had rhyme books where they would write lyrics. They wanted to be the next Nas, Slick Rick, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, or Rakim.

• Jason’s aunt would give him classic books as gifts, including Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• Bob Marley’s “Kaya,” Nina Simone’s “Four Women,” Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” were hugely influential on Jason because of the beauty of the lyrics

• Jason teamed up with the artist and writer Jason Douglas Griffin for an early book, My Name is Jason. Mine Too: Our Story. Our Way.

• Jason credits Joanna Cotler, author and artist, and then publisher of her own imprint at HarperCollins, with teaching him how to write narrative and gave him the mantra: “Your intuition will take you farther than your education ever will.”

• Jacqueline Woodson (author of Brown Girl Dreaming, winner of the National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and Newberry Honor winner), Rita Williams-Garcia (author of Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, a National Book Award finalist), and Walter Dean Myers (author of more than 100 books for young people, including Monster, winner of the Printz Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and National Book Award, and more) are people Jason considers predecessors to his career.

• Christopher Myers, writer, artist, and the son of Walter Dean Myers, pressed Jason to return to writing, to carry on his father’s legacy. At Christopher’s urging, Jason read The Young Landlords by Walter Dean Myers (which the TV show 227 was based on)

• Caitlyn Dlouhy, Vice President & Editorial Director of Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, nurtured Jason’s career by focusing on the integrity of his work

• Laurie Halse Anderson (author of Speak and The Impossible Knife of Memory), Eliot Schrefer (author of Threatened, a National Book Award finalist), and Gene Luen Yang (author and illustrator of American Born Chinese), and Jason also shouts out Sharon Draper’s New York Times bestselling Stella by Starlight

• Jason references part of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself: “Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!”

• Jason admires writers who use verse for all or many of their books, specifically Kwame Alexander (poet and educator, and New York Times bestselling author of The Crossover: A Novel, winner of the Newbery Medal and a Coretta Scott King Honor) and Ellen Hopkins (New York Times bestselling author of Crank)

• Alfred Hitchcock’s works (including Psycho and Rear Window), and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining are examples of subtle ways that framing and design can make a viewer feel uncomfortable.

• Quincy Jones said about producing music, “I always say you have to leave space for God to walk into the room.” That’s how Jason feels about the appearance of poetry in text.

• The first scene of Boyz ‘n the Hood shows one kid asking another, “Do you want to see a dead body?”

• Fresh Ink: An Anthology, edited by Lamar Giles (author of Fake ID and Spin), and Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America, edited by Ibi Zoboi (author of American Street, a National Book Award finalist, and Pride) are among the anthologies that Jason thinks are wonderful. He wonders why we’ve moved away from the short story format for younger readers.

• The TV show High Maintenance is another example of vignette storytelling that Jason was going for with Look Both Ways

• Jason shouts out Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D., Associate Professor at St. Louis University, Educational Studies who specializes in young adult literature

• Jason’s friend and co-author of All American Boys, Brendan Keily (author of Tradition, listen to his First Draft episode here), refers to the story under the story as “vertical narrative”

Thanks for Listening!

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Renée Ahdieh

First Draft Episode #213: Renee Ahdieh

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Renee Ahdieh, New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn, The Rose and the Dagger, the Flame in the Mist duology, talks about her latest series, which kicks off with The Beautiful, out October 8.

This episode was brought to you by Freedom — upgrade to Premium and use code FIRSTDRAFT for 40% off a yearly or Forever plan!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Renee says The Flame in the Mist contains nods to Disney’s Mulan and the classic marital arts film 47 Ronin

• When it comes to pitching books by Sabaa Tahir (listen to her First Draft interview here), Traci Chee, or Sarah Nicole Lemon (listen to her First Draft interview here), Renee has you covered. Not so much, she says, when it comes to pitching her own books.

• Though Renee loves physically strong female heroes like Katniss, from Susanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, she says the hero of the Flame in the Mist series has “strength of the heart.”

• The Beautiful series is an homage to Anne Rice’s seminal Interview with the Vampire series (omigod don’t miss the movie version, optimistically titled Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt). She read The Queen of the Damned first. Renee loves Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, too.

• Each book in The Beautiful’s four-part series will have a different main character, but they will all take place in the same world. Renee borrowed this narrative structure from the world of regency romance novels; in particular, Renee cites Sabrina Jeffries’ Hellions of Halstead Hall series as an inspiration. I came across this in getting recommendations from Bea and Leah Koch, who run The Ripped Bodice bookstore in Culver City, Calif. (listen to their First Draft interview here)!

• Renee loves mysteries, like the TV series Columbo and Agatha Christie’s Poirot

• In addition to Anne Rice’s many vampires novels and Twilight, Renee was also inspired by Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books (which were adapted into the True Blood HBO show) (and I recommended fellow YA author Morgan Matson watch the series - hear me and Morgan chat in her First Draft interviews here and here!).

• Renee says almost every book series she loves is a version of Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare or The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Duma, and she’s also obsessed with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

• Renee and I gush over Mirage by Somaiya Daud, but I have a bone to pick with her vis-a-vis robots

• Google is funding efforts to delay or end death! Science is trying to restore activity to a deceased brain! Dogs and cats are being cloned (Barbara Streisand did it)! Life is wild!

• Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of the Strange the Dreamer series and the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, gave incredible worldbuilding advice on her episode of First Draft!

Thanks for Listening!

🏆 Support the Show

Join the First Draft Patreon, or make a monthly or one-time donation via PayPal or Venmo

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👕💯 Get First Draft merchandise

✍️ Track Changes Learn how the traditional publishing industry works in the Track Changes podcast mini-series.

👍 Rate, Review, and Recommend

Take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!