Dana schwartz how to#
Dana schwartz full#

But it did take a little while for the full story of Anatomy to come together. And for a long time, I wanted to write a gothic story set in the world of early European medicine, inspired by Frankenstein and the real life history of the murderers Burke and Hare who sold dead bodies to surgeons in the 1800s. Thank you so much! I’ve always loved macabre history-it’s just what I naturally gravitate toward, and I love slightly gothic stories. What inspired you to write it and how long did it take you to write? Now to talk about Anatomy: A Love Story, congratulations, even though the book was written for YA, it had me hooked after your introduction. I will say: hitting the New York Times Bestseller list is a real “pinch me” moment. At the time, nothing felt like an “Oh, I finally made it” moment, but looking back there were a bunch of them. Has there been a moment in your career that was defining and game-changing? By this point I had already written three books, and a comic book for Marvel, but I eventually got my first TV staffing job on Marvel’s She-Hulk. From there, it was just a lot of trying to get my foot in the door. I wrote a bunch of spec scripts-just ideas for tv shows that I thought would be fun. I actually moved to Los Angeles when I was working for Entertainment Weekly, but in the back of my mind, I think I always knew that I wanted make TV and movies instead of just writing about other people who made them. How did your professional path lead you to television writing? I had the same experience after I read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I’ve probably re-read that book every year since I was 13. I became immediately obsessed-not just with the book, but with everything Ray Bradbury wrote, and with the idea of being able to use genre to tell grounded, human stories. I remember reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury when I was in 7th grade. Was there a book or author who left a lasting impression on you? I made it through Organic Chemistry just to realize on the other side that I would be always wondering what if if I didn’t pursue my real dream with everything I had.

Dana schwartz how to#

But I also didn’t really know how to go about actually making a living as a writer, and I thought that science and medicine would be a more stable career path, so when I went to college I was actually pre-med.

I was writing stories from the time before I could actually write words-I dictated a book called The Three Ducklings to my mom and made her write it down for me. Hi Dana! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me about your career and your new book, which is number one in the NYT YA category! I’d love to learn more about your background, what did you dream about becoming when you were little?