Jonathan Mitchell

Hunter Nelson has written many stories for The Truth, like Body Genius, Dance Slang, Operation Skill Shot, and most recently, Forward Dark Speed.

And he's also a songwriter and musician.

And so when he pitched me a story about two guys obsessed with a musician, I thought maybe he would want to write the songs.

But instead, he suggested his friend Dustin Lohman write the songs and play the musician.

And so later in this episode, we're going to hear Hunter talk with Dustin about how the songs were made.

But for the first half, I'm going to be talking with Hunter about the making of the story, which actually began in a much darker place than where it ended up.

Were you thinking about making him more threatening at any point?

Yeah.

I mean, I think that there's also this very... It's almost like male bonding happens a lot over sports as well.

And I think it's kind of a similar thing where there's like obsessions become a way to make a connection.

He's maybe a tier or two above Howard, but still not up there.

Yeah.

It's more threatening if you're closer to it.

Yes.

Because if you are truly popular, you wouldn't care.

But if you're right there, then this could really damage me.

So we hear a lot about Garrett through the characters, and we hear a couple songs.

Where did that persona come from for you?

Were you thinking about specific musicians?

The songs that Garrett Solomon sings were actually written and performed specifically for our story by Dustin Lohman.