First Draft Episode #222: Ryan La Sala

Ryan La Sala, debut author of fantasy YA novel Reverie. If you enjoy this conversation with Ryan, hear more from him over at the What Book Hooked You? podcast!

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Some of the animation that inspired young Ryan came from seminal video game Final Fantasy, and epic superhero series Sailor Moon

• Glee (TV show)

• Ryan found Alex London’s book Proxy (listen to Alex’s First Draft interviews here and here) and books written by David Levithan, New York Times bestselling author of Every Day, Boy Meets Boy, and Two Boys Kissing, and that inspired Ryan to write his own gay YA story. Ryan also found A. R. Kahler and Adam Silvera’s episodes of First Draft!

• Jeffree Starr, famous makeup artist, with whom Ryan got into a MySpace fight

• The epigraph of Reverie is a quote from Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit

• Ryan’s short pitch for Reverie was: Inception meets RuPaul’s Drag Race

• Ryan had a situation in high school that was not unlike what was portrayed in the Love, Simon movie, based on Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertali (listen to her First Draft episode here)

• The Netflix TV show Sex Education

• marsha-p-johnson.html">Marsha P. Johnson, trans activist

• Ryan talked about his #DVPit experience on the Write or Die podcast

• In the cartoon of Beauty and the Beast, the wardrobe commits manslaughter - Ryan’s Halloween costume as the Wardrobe is everything

• Kirsten Hubbard, author of Like Mandarin, Wanderlove, and Watch the Sky and Race the Night, and more (listen to her First Draft episode here) talks on voice memos on her phone to break story

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.

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

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.

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!

Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?

Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover the show -- so thank you!

Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!

Thanks again!