Author, Screenwriter & Podcaster Eddie Louise Shares How it's Never too Late to Live Your Dream
Where are you from, what’s your story? How did you get into Fiction Writing, Podcasting, Screenwriting?
I was a theater nerd in high school, but aspirations of a Broadway career were kaboshed by teen pregnancy. In order to afford our sudden family, my husband enrolled in the Army which got us out of Wyoming and eventually we settled in California where we raised our two kids. When they graduated high school and went off to college, I chose to follow in their footsteps. Attending college (in Edinburgh, Scotland!) in middle age is great! First of all, 18 hours of coursework isn’t so arduous when you are used to the 9-5 grind. But secondly, you are more settled on what you are interested in and wish to study. For me that was creative writing in all formats. My degree is in Music Composition, but I also studied screenwriting and narrative writing.
I am a bit of a magpie and rather stumble from one interest to the next, picking and gleaning to create my personal bag of tricks. I was the only student in my music program’s history to include a string quartet, the first act of an opera, and the score for a short film in my final portfolio. I had written the book for the opera and the script for the film as well, though that fact did not contribute to my grade!
Tell us about your published book and how it came from your podcast? And tell us about your Podcast. 4 Million downloads is incredible.
Inverting the order of these questions. I received my first agent interest in a novel I had written two years after graduating college. Eventually I was rejected with the explanation that it was good, I was good, but it was too weird to serve as a first novel – could I try to write something that fit more neatly into a single genre? So, I wrote another. Same response. And a third. I fell into a Pit of Despair and was ready to pivot away from writing altogether. My husband convinced me not to quit and advised I write something, just for fun. Thus, I produced the script for the first episode of The Tales of Sage and Savant – a steampunk radio-play.
In the story, Doctor Petronella Sage is determined to find out if time travel is real. Repeatedly electrocuting herself in order to fling her consciousness through time and space, Petra discovers that death is no barrier to science. The entire schtick of the narrative is that the good doctor dies in every episode – many of them twice. The complete series is four seasons long and even though we posted the final episode two years ago, it continues to gain new listeners around the globe. I’m always thrilled to see we are trending in Mumbai or Helsinki this week.
Midway through Season Two of Sage and Savant, I was contacted by Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing who said they were fans of the show and wondered if I had considered producing a tie-in novel. I, of course, lied and said I absolutely had been planning that! Long story short, I learned the hard way that knowing how to adapt a book into a screenplay is NOT the same as knowing how to adapt a series into book form! Still and all, I am very proud of TransMIGRATIONS, Book1 in The Tales of Sage and Savant.
If there’s one or two episodes that are a must listen from your Podcast which would you recommend?
This is hard, because the episodes mostly deal with a single story per installment like an anthology TV show – but as time went on, I added more and more serial elements that will be confusing if you listen out of order.
That being said, I can recommend Season 1, Ep 3 Juice Joint Sheba https://sageandsavant.com/2016/08/01/episode-3-juice-joint-sheba/ – this is the first time they travel into the future.
And Season 3, Ep 3 The Heartless Mansion https://sageandsavant.com/2018/10/02/episode-303-the-heartless-mansion/ - which is my take at a haunted house narrative.
For listeners who want to sample this way here is a tiny bit of background information to help make sense of my madness. Doctor Sage and Professor Savant were electrocuted in a galvanistic laboratory accident that unmoored their consciousnesses and sent them careening through time and space to awaken in freshly killed bodies on a Napoleonic battlefield. When their host bodies are once again rendered un-alive, they are sent back into their own bodies. Dubbing this process Transmigration, Sage begins a series of experiments to discover whether they are having shared delusions or if she has actually discovered time-travel. She ropes her best friend, Professor Savant, and eventually, her laboratory assistant, Abigail into her schemes.
Tell us about screenwriting. What are some tips you can share for others looking to get started?
Woof! That is a huge subject all on its own. Screenwriting, like most kinds of art, is made up of the alchemy between knowledge, inspiration, and opportunity. You MUST have two of those things to succeed, and you really should work to have all three for your best chance at success. For beginning writers, I cannot stress enough the importance of READING screenplays. Read, digest, synthesize. Over and over as you hone your own writing chops. Then, find your local screenwriting groups and hangout – get to know people. In this aspect of writing most opportunity grows out of networking, so attend festivals, enter competitions, volunteer to write for college film students, anything and everything that will broaden the network of people you know that are passionate about film. I have had opportunities for jobs that were advertised on LinkedIn and in the trades – but the only ones that have converted to jobs are the ones I had a personal connection to in some way.
What’s something about you I should ask but didn’t? This is your area to tell us anything additional about yourself or something you’re involved in or working on.
Wait?!? You are giving me a soapbox? I like to think that my career trajectory is proof that you don’t have to come at your aspirations through only one pathway and that reinvention itself can be the mechanism that gets you to your dreams. The real key lies in having a story to tell and trying as many methods and outlets for that story as you can until one of them pays off. I currently am developing all of the following: an epic fantasy novel, a sci-fi novella, a new audio-drama, a non-fiction podcast about achieving your dreams after fifty, and a feature film. Any or all of those might flop - any or all might be my ticket to fame and fortune. But no matter what opportunity presents itself to me next – I’ll be ready!
"The real key lies in having a story to tell and trying as many methods and outlets for that story as you can until one of them pays off. "
Sage And Savant can be found on all the major pod-catchers, and anywhere you find RSS Feeds including:
iTunes
Spotify
GoodPods
Podchaser
All episodes are indexed with listening links on our website as well:
Websites www.SageAndSavant.com
Books can be purchased off the website (signed paperback) or at this Amazon Link:
https://www.amazon.com/TransMIGRATIONS-Tales-Sage-Savant-Book/dp/1770531807
For my Blog and Appearances, see: www.EddieLouise.com
Find me on Twitter (for as long as it lasts): @EddieLouise
Thanks again to Eddie Louise for taking the time to provide her insights and sharing her incredible and inspiring journey! If you're interested in following Eddie or purchasing her book see the links above!
And until next time, stay inspired!
