Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!

Now that the WGA strike is over, writers are scrambling to try to get staffed or find jobs in TV writers' rooms. Whether you just love TV and want to know how it's written or you want to get into the industry, learn the secrets to success in a TV writers' room from screenwriter and author Niceole Levy, author of The Writers' Room Survival Guide. Steve and Tananarive talk to Levy about her years of experience in television writing to help aspiring TV writers learn the secrets of the writers' room. Plus, advice on how to get into the industry!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tananarive spent more than seven years working on her new novel, THE REFORMATORY, which was inspired by true-life family history about her great-uncle Robert Stephens and the Dozer School for Boys in Marianna, FL. In this podcast, she and Steve talk about why it took so long to write, the Lifewriting tools she used to complete it, and how she's fighting to stay centered in the whirlwind of her book's publication.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk about their favorite horror movies from 2023 - and a couple of misfires. Also, movies they didn't give enough love in 2022. Here's their list: The Blackening, Talk to Me, When Evil Lurks, M3GAN, Evil Dead Rise, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, No One Will Save You, Knock at the Cabin, Wrath of Becky, Renfield, Last Voyage of the Demeter. And a couple of gems from 2022: Nanny and Barbarian.Do you agree? Disagree? Leave them a voicemail at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Steve and Tananarive let their horror nerd flags fly as they discuss the movies you must watch (or rewatch) for Spooky Season -- or all year long! The list includes (but is not limited to, and in no particular order): STEVE'S LIST:  Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)  Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero)  The Fly (David Cronenberg) The Thing (John Carpenter)  Martyrs (Pascal Laugier)  Mouth of Madness (John Carpenter) Ringu (The Ring - original) (Hideo Nakata)  TANANARIVE'S LIST:  The Dark and the Wicked (Bryan Bertino) It Follows (David Robert Mitchell)  The Babadook (Jennifer Kent) Get Out (Jordan Peele) His House (Remi Weekes) Host (Rob Savage) The Medium (Banjong Pisanthanakun) Smile (Parker Finn) Master (Mariama Diallo) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve and Tananarive talk to debut novelist Zakiya Dalila Harris about her New York Times bestselling novel THE OTHER BLACK GIRL - now also a critically acclaimed series on Hulu! She reveals how a rare Black co-worker's refusal to return "The Nod" led her to write her satirical thriller about a Black woman working at a publishing house...and the secrets of her Black co-worker. She also talks about having a seat at the table to help develop the series and how she stays centered. Join Steve's mailing list at www.stevenbarneslist.comJoin Tananarive's mailing list at www.tananarivelist.comLeave us a voicemail! https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Steve and Tananarive celebrate the end of the WGA strike! The power of unions, why the strike worked, and how the WGA's win affects not only other writers but all workers facing unfair working conditions. They also talk about going back to work: meeting with an executive overseeing an adaptation of one of Tananarive's most popular books!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve and Tananarive follow up their Secrets to Writing Great Horror episode with new tips on writing great science fiction! What's the difference between science fiction and fantasy? What are their tips for science fiction writers? They discuss their own work and science fiction greats like Ray Bradbury and Octavia E. Butler. Perfect for writers or fans!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to Bram Stoker Award winner Stephen Graham Jones about his new book, DON'T FEAR THE REAPER, with the first Indigenous Final Girl, Jade Daniels. He shares his writing process, his love for slashers, his exploration of father-son relationships in his stories, and how his own personal promise to an elk he hunted gave birth to his bestselling novel The Only Good Indians.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hilliard Guess, host of the hit podcast "Screenwriters' Rant Room," joins Steve and Tananarive to talk about where things stand with the WGA strike after more than 100 days, power dynamics in Hollywood, and his stress-coping tools to overcome his insecurities to become a screenwriter, producer and director.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, pioneering science fiction author Steven Barnes and American Book Award winner Tananarive Due (your hosts!) break down the secrets to writing great horror: how to bring the scares and why strong characters matter so much in horror. Leave us a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices