Amanda Montell is a Foul-Mouthed Feminist Nerd

First Draft Episode #223: Amanda Montell

Amanda Montell, debut author of Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to
Taking Back the English Language, joins Sarah to talk about
socio-linguistics, and her upcoming book Mindfuck: The Secret
Language of Cults (Spoiler: You’re Already Using It).


Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode




Amanda loved reading memoirs growing up, including David
Sedaris (author of Calypso, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress
Your Family in Corduroy and Denim), Angela’s Ashes by Frank
McCourt, Dry: A Memoir and Running with Scissors: A Memoir by
Augusten Burroughs, and Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants: Based on
a True Story by Jill Soloway, writer on Six Feet Under and
creator of Transparent. When she was very young, she read the
Chicken Soup for the Soul books, including Chicken Soup for
the Teenaged Soul




Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Gulp:
Adventures Down the Elementary Canal, both by Mary Roach,
whom Amanda admires greatly




Joan Didion (author of The Year of Magical Thinking and
Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays) and Nora Ephron (author
of Heartburn and I Feel Bad About My Neck, and writer and
director of Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail)




She took a few classes at Writing Pad in Los Angeles to keep
up her nonfiction writing chops




Amanda desperately wanted to be published in The Rumpus, like
one of her role models, Julie Buntin, who wrote Marlena: A
Novel. Julie also wrote “How Queen Became the Ultimate
Compliment” for Cosmopolitan. And she was! Read her article,
“Baltimore, Offline.”




With Rebecca Odes, creator of Wifey.tv with co-founder Jill
Soloway, Amanda developed the web series The Dirty Word




Amanda was edited by Karen Rinaldi, publisher of HarperWave,
an imprint of HarperCollins




Rose Wong illustrated pieces of art for the book




The New York Times wrote a glowing review of Wordslut, though
it did take issue with the number of times Amanda used the
word “dude”




There are lots of stories of men super geniuses --  like
House, Psych, The Mentalist, Mr. Robot. But Amanda is writing
a female language genius for FX, with whom she struck a deal
for the TV rights to Wordslut.




Pamela Adlon, creator of Better Things, is working with
Amanda on her proposed TV show




If you’re interested in Scientology, definitely check out
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
by Lawrence Wright, or Wright’s New Yorker piece, Apostate:
Paul Haggis vs. The Church of Scientology which the book was
based on, or the HBO documentary, Going Clear: Scientology
and the Prison of Belief.




Amanda has a personal connection to cults through her
father’s experience of being forced to live in the Synanon
cult in the Bay Area. Learn more about Synanon in, “The Story
of This Drug Rehab-Turned Violent Cult is Wild, Wild
Country-level Bizarre,” by Hillel Aron for Los Angeles
Magazine




The Daily podcast episode that featured WeWork made me insane




Lindy West’s The Witches are Coming discusses how utterly
unconvincing these cult leader men can be




Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is another fascination of mine
- I recommend listening to The Dropout podcast series about
her, and Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in Silicon Valley by
John Carreyrou is amazing




30 For 30’s podcast series about Bikram Yoga




I refer to “The President’s Speech,” one of the many case
studies included in Oliver Sack’s The Man Who Mistook His
Wife For a Hat


 




I want to hear from you!


Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her
guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.


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Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author
of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture
Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator
of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael
Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender;
John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and
frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their
careers and creative works.



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