Ep 192: Lindsay Smith

First Draft Episode #192: Lindsay Smith

Lindsay Smith, author of the forthcoming Alchemy of War, as well
as Sekret, Skandal, Dreamstrider, A Darkly Beating Heart, The
Witch Who Came in From the Cold, and the Saints of Russalka
series, talks about growing as a writer through D&D,
refiguring her writing process after being diagnosed with ADHD,
and learning to value more than just productivity.
Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode



Hear Lindsay Smith’s first episode of First Draft with Sarah
Enni here




Lindsay has an AlphaSmart keyboard that she takes on the D.C.
train system so she can write while she commutes




One “What if?” that got Lindsay writing Alchemy of War was,
“What if I took Inglourious Basterds (movie) but it was like
Stranger Things (TV show)?”




Lindsay was inspired to write A Darkly Beating Heart, after
visiting Japan and staying in a historically preserved town
meant to preserve the Edo Period




Lindsay researched Rasputin for the hot villain in the Saints
of Russalka series, including reading books about him and
also jamming out to “Ra Ra Rasputin,” a disco song by German
Euro group Boney M.




Lindsay has written short stories for A Tyranny of Petticoats
and Toil and Trouble, anthologies put together by fellow D.C.
YA writer Jessica Spotswood (hear her First Draft episode
here) and Tess Sharpe




Lindsay wrote a short story in the universe of the Blue Rose
role playing game




Stucky: the fandom name for Captain America (Steve Rogers) +
The Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnum)




Britta Lundin, author of Ship It (hear her episode of First
Draft with Sarah Enni here) wrote for Riverdale (TV show) and
is open about loving fandom in a similar way to Lindsay (who
loves The Winter Soldier)




Lindsay collaborated with Max Gladstone for The Witch Who
Came in from the Cold, a serial story released by Serial Box
(founder Julian Yap approached Lindsay about developing and
writing it). The first season of The Witch Who Came in From
the Cold was released as a book by Simon & Schuster




Lindsay and her husband are in multiple Dungeons and Dragons
groups, which she says calls on a whole different skill set
from her writing brain




Lindsay turned to KBoards, a forum for self-published
authors, to discover the ins and outs of the self-pub
industry when she released Web of Frost




The app “Self Control” has been useful to keep Lindsay
focused as she tries to figure out how to balance
productivity with self-care




Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of Sadie
and generally super smart person, told me, “Time is the least
free thing.” (Listen to her First Draft with Sarah Enni here)




Lindsay was paired with an artist for the Strange Romance
comic anthology,




Lindsay wrote an angry girl comic for A Soul Divided Slash
Caged in Flesh, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde inspired anthology


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Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author
of Divergent; 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
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