First Draft Episode #223: Amanda Montell
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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 Alimentary 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
Thanks for Listening!
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