A Seething Undercurrent of Rage with Renee Ahdieh

First Draft Episode #213: Renee Ahdieh

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.


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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!


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. You
can also email the podcast at
firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 


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Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, #1 New
York Times bestselling author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, New
York Times bestselling 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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