September Third Thursday: "Learning to Write by Watching TV?"

But probably every writer you know watches television, in part because we’re living in a golden age of programming and because so many shows are based on novels (Game of Thrones, Handmaid’s Tale, Pretty Little Liars, Outlander, Big Little Lies, Orange Is the New Black). And, it’s always been the case that some writers move back and forth between working on books and scripts. In this panel, we’ll talk about the inspiration and mechanics that can be borrowed from TV for use on the page.

Wendi Aarons is an award-winning humor writer and blogger who lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two sons. In the past few years, she has written for a number of publications including McSweeneys and, most recently, The New Yorker’s “Shouts & Murmurs”, and for Esther’s Follies, Austin’s famous comedy revue. She has also been a commentator on Austin’s NPR station, KUT. Wendi is one of the creators of Mouthy Housewives and the much-lauded twitter feed @paulryangosling. She is also a writer for US Weekly magazine’s Fashion Police.

Samantha M. Clark is the author of the middle-grade novel The Boy, The Boat, and the Beast. In a past life, Samantha was a photojournalist and managing editor for newspapers and magazines. She has lived in a land of rainforests, the land of the Queen, two Caribbean islands, and now lives with her husband and crazy dog in Austin, Texas (the land of the weird). Samantha is the regional advisor for the Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.

Eugene Fischer is a science fiction and fantasy author with an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. While at Iowa he created Writing and Reading Science Fiction, the University’s first creative science fiction course for undergraduates. Since moving to Texas he has continued to teach, leading workshops at conventions and designing classes for local organizations. His fiction has won the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award and been a finalist for the Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. He is currently developing a science fiction series for Amazon Prime Studios.

Scott Von Doviak‘s twenty-year pop culture writing career includes a stint as a film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and an ongoing role as television reviewer for The Onion’s AV Club. He is the author of three nonfiction books including the acclaimed Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema. Charlesgate Confidential is his first novel.