DiscoverLifewriting: Write for Your Life!
Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!
Claim Ownership

Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!

Author: Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due | Realm

Subscribed: 21Played: 407
Share

Description

Authors and screenwriters Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due (and guests!) on writing, the writer's life, Hollywood, the work/family balance and relationships - the tools writers need to make themselves the heroes/heroines of their own story. - LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!) - Join our MAILING LIST at www.lifewritingweekly.com

116 Episodes
Reverse
Steve is back! This week Steve and Tananarive talk to horror writer Jonathan Janz -- high school teacher by day, horror writer by night -- who recently revealed his true identity after writing under a pseudonym. His novel CHILDREN OF THE DARK was recently reissued. On making his mark, why he loves horror, and balancing his work, family and writing life.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, award-winning YA author Lamar Giles talks about writing YA horror aimed at Black boys -- his road from self-publication to fighting his way into mainstream publishing with FAKE ID and THE GETAWAY. His upcoming novel, RUIN ROAD, is a great read blending a demon's curse with true-life issues facing Black teens. On his secret to success and how he distinguishes YA horror from adult horror.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tananarive talks to award-winning author Alma Katsu (The Hunger, The Fervor, Red London) about her unique career both as a horror writer and her spy novels powered by her former career in national intelligence. On the challenges of straddling both genres and her rise to success...and how The Fervor drew upon her Japanese background in a horror novel set during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.   LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Steve and Tananarive talk to actor LeVar Burton about his career spanning from 1977's adaptation of Alex Haley's ROOTS, where he played Kunta Kinte in an iconic role at the age of only 19, to the recent Star Trek: The Next Generation cast reunion where he reprised his role as Giordi La Forge for Star Trek: Picard. He also discusses Jeopardy and taking his fate in his own hands by creating his hit podcast "LeVar Burton Reads." LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Tananarive and Steve talk to #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill (The Black Phone, The Fireman, Strange Weather, NOS4A2) about how his first major success was followed by his life's darkest times, the power of horror and the horror community, and how he's balancing his life with new twins. He also talks about how much he loves Tananarive's novel The Reformatory!  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to award-winning author Victor LaValle and burgeoning writer Stephanie Malia Morris about their experiences with Shudder/AMC's Black Horror anthology film, Horror Noire. Steve, Tananarive ("The Lake" / "Fugue State") and Victor ("Daddy") adapted their own short stories for Horror Noire, and Stephanie was an author who got a dream call when she heard that her story, "Bride Before You," would be adapted for the screen. On adaptation, Horror Noire, and the future of Black Horror.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, veteran television and comic writer Marc Bernardin (Star Trek: Picard, Castle Rock) discusses his journey from being a journalist to a television writer, how he started writing for Star Trek, his secrets to succeeding in Hollywood, the state of the industry - and his new Star Wars: Mace Windu comic!  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tananarive and Steve talk to poet and author Cynthia Pelayo, the first Latina Bram Stoker Award (2022) winner. The author of CRIME SCENE, CHILDREN OF CHICAGO and THE SHOEMAKER'S MAGICIAN talks about the challenges of growing up in inner city Chicago, balancing her growing popularity with being a wife and mother, and the support of the horror community. Her upcoming novel is FORGOTTEN SISTERS (3/19).  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What does every writer get that every writer hates - but every writer needs? It's NOTES. Strong feedback is the most effective to grow as a writer, but getting feedback can also feel like getting your guts clawed out. How do writers know which notes to listen to and which notes to ignore? Why can't execs just leave our "perfects" scripts alone already? What kind of notes can do more harm than good? And which notes can take "good" writing and make it GREAT?  Steve and Tananarive chop it up!  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to Shane Hawk, a horror author and co-editor of NEVER WHISTLE AT NIGHT, a bestselling Indigenous horror anthology with an introduction from Stephen Graham Jones. Hawk, who is of Cheyenne-Arapaho, Hidatsa and Citizen Potawatomi descent, is a history teacher by day and a horror writer by night. Hawk's literary contributions include his debut story collection Anoka, alongside short fiction featured in numerous anthologies. On Hawk's incredible journey from being a non-reader to transforming himself into an influential writer and literary community builder.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After a recent setback, in this Best of Lifewriting episode from April of 2022 Steve and Tananarive look back their history in Hollywood and moments when everything went wrong. Plus, tips for coping with stress as artists trying to navigate new, difficult territory - including visualization exercises.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to author and screenwriter Ezra Claytan Daniels, who is in Jordan Peele’s “Out There Screaming” Black Horror anthology and has also been tapped by Monkeypaw Productions to write the reboot of Wes Craven’s classic THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS.  They talk about how he broke into Hollywood with his award-winning comic, UPGRADE SOUL (which he wrote and illustrated!), which was 17 years in the making - and he also adapted as an Audible series. On creating his own path into Hollywood and how he tries to stay balanced.  Sign up for our upcoming virtual screenwriting webinar (2/17/24) at www.screenwritingwebinar.com  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this Best of Lifewriting episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to director Luchina Fisher THE DADS/NETFLIX, MAMA GLORIA) about the importance of making short films -- not just for filmmakers, but for writers. Luchina's previous short, TEAM DREAM, was produced by Queen Latifah. Advice on how even a novice can make their own short film!  This replay marks the 10th anniversary of the short film DANGER WORD, directed by Fisher, produced and written by Steve and Tananarive. Starring Frankie Faison and Saoirse Scott, Danger Word (2013) was a groundbreaking short crowdfunded under a call to create more Black Horror. You can watch it free at www.dangerwordfilm.com - Danger Word was adapted from their YA novel DEVIL'S WAKE (Atria Books).  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner Linda D. Addison, a poet and writer whose collections include How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend. On her pioneering work as a Black horror creative, how she pushed past her scary bout of early COVID in 2020, and how she has moved past adversity to create and thrive.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive celebrate their 102nd episode with reminiscences and clips of past guests: Roy Wood, Jr., comic/actress Naomi Ekperigin, Patton Oswalt, New York Times bestseller Leigh Bardugo, Hollywood writer/showrunner Rodney Barnes, and excerpts from a 2000 interview with Octavia E. Butler.  Thanks so much to all of you for supporting our podcast. Please wish us a happy anniversary by leaving us a voicemail: LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to screenwriter Aaron Covington, who met director Ryan Coogler while in grad school at USC -- and they collaborated on CREED. (Which, as Steve points out, was the FIRST film with a love scene with a Black man that earned over $100 million. Even Aaron didn't know this!)  On creating CREED, working in Hollywood, and keeping dreams alive.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to bestselling author Daniel Kraus, whose novel WHALEFALL recently was featured on the cover of the New York Times Book Review. On horror, defeating genre bias, highs and lows during his book tour, writing -- and his experiences finishing novels by icon George A. Romero.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive share their past personal and professional fears and how they have overcome them. Tananarive explains the relationship between her fears and her path as a horror writer. Also: a listener voicemail!  You can leave us a voicemail too - https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this "Ladies Only" episode, Tananarive talks to bestselling author Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic, Silver Nitrate) about genre, her rise to the New York Times bestseller list, and the love of writing!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to actor (and author) Omar Epps and author Clarence A. Haynes about their Afrofuturistic NUBIA book series: Nubia: The Awakening and their new book, Nubia: The Reckoning.  We couldn't talk about Omar's film and television career during the taping because of the SAG-AFTRA strike (which ended the very next day!), but Epps has appeared in Love and Basketball, House, E.R., Higher Learning and so much more! And his film debut was in Ernest Dickerson's Juice as a teenager, when he was interviewed by...Tananarive Due!  Listen in to hear Epps talk about his longevity in Hollywood, and Epps and Haynes talk about how they gave birth to NUBIA.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
loading
Comments 
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store