The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

In this month’s bonus episode, Bianca chats with Courtney Preiss to discuss her debut novel, Welcome Home, Caroline Kline. They speak about the inspiration behind Courtney's novel and her journey to publication; her experiences with rejection during the querying process; being aware of cultural moments that could propel your novel forward when you’re timing your querying; the process after Courtney acquired an agent; the importance of knowing what genre you're writing in and who your readers are; Courtney's definition of upmarket women's fiction; the role personal essays can play in marketing your book; and Courtney's advice for emerging writers.After which Emilie Sommer of East City Bookshop provides the invaluable service of suggesting comp titles to our listeners.If you’re looking for our usual Q&A segment, that now gets published as part of our end of the month Substack newsletter. Subscribe to get access to that, and so much more, for free: https://theshitaboutwriting.substack.com/Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.Find us on our socials:Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyraInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAWWebsites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and w ww.cecilialyra.comBookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwritingTo connect with Emilie Sommer go to https://www.instagram.com/emiliegsommer/ and you can find East City Bookshop at https://www.instagram.com/eastcitybookshop/More information about Courtney can be found at https://courtneypreiss.com/She's also on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/cocogolightly/Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/tsnotyaw* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Critique of YA and literary horror submissions; SEO in book titles; scene work importance; disruption in opening pages; matching word choice to genre; writing a literary query; balance of showing and telling in fiction; advice on ensemble cast writing; unique novel journey to publication; developing protagonist; creating puzzles in writing; using dual timeline; writing advice for success

Veronica Roth discusses her latest novel inspired by Polish folklore, Chicago influence, and modern fantasy allure. She shares insights on drafting, outlining, and embracing ideas. Literary agents critique queries focusing on world-building, character motivations, and genre specificity in writing.

Paige, a writer of an action-adventure romance novel, discusses the importance of protagonist's motivation in a query, story-forward plot escalation, and accurate genre positioning. Sara Read shares insights on rewriting novels, causality in storytelling, and genre distinctions in YA fiction vs. adult. The podcast explores themes like family dynamics, internal conflicts, and the journey of reshaping manuscripts for publication.

Author Rachel Kapelke-Dale and literary agent Sarah Phair discuss aligning comps, query letters, auto-fiction, POV, plot points, and character emotions in writing. Kelly McMasters talks about memoir essays vs linear timeline, metaphorical settings, reader vs writer obligations, and making memoirs relatable. The podcast delves into memoir writing complexities, ethical considerations, and upcoming events in the memoir genre.

Sue Reynolds, Chair of AWA, discusses the strength-based feedback in AWA workshops, importance of safe writing spaces, healing through writing, marginalized voices, and AWA workshops for author support

In today’s Book with Hooks, Carly and CeCe critique two listener queries, a resubmission and a YA fantasy. They discuss the issue of starting with a protagonist that has a 'simple, stable' life; a great example of an inciting incident; ensuring your major dramatic question is strong enough; good storytelling as the promise of change; making your protagonist the 'sun' of your story; infusing emotion into the information you provide; ensuring that your plot feels like a set of dominos tipping over; taglines in a query; differentiating your novel's tropes from how they're used in other novels in your genre; and making characters' motivations clear in a query. After which, Bianca interviews award-winning author, Caroline Leavitt. They discuss A Mighty Blaze and its origins; being a good literary citizen; Caroline's key to longevity in the industry; not taking rejections too hard; avoiding writing to the current market; Caroline's latest novel, Days of Wonder; her research process; using universal personal experiences that help connect your readers to your characters; Caroline's reasoning for the settings she chose; how she approaches characterization; and her thoughts on genre. Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency. Find us on our socials:Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyraInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAWWebsites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.comTo ask a question, go to: https://sayhi.chat/TSNOTYAWBookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwritingMore information about Caroline can be found at www.carolineleavitt.comShe's also on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Leavittnovelist and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/carolineleavitt and https://www.instagram.com/amightyblaze To sign up for the All About Memoir webinar on the 11th of May, go to: https://www.biancamarais.com/all-about-memoir.htmlCarly's course for writers, The Author's Publishing Playbook, is now available at carlywatters.com/course. If you haven't grabbed it yet, podcast listeners can use discount code POD15Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/tsnotyaw* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Critiquing a children's picture book and literary fiction query, discussing genre specifics and crafting query letters. Interview with debut author Sara Koffi, analyzing character development and themes. Importance of tension, external plots, and POV in storytelling. Avoiding comparison in writing journey and waiting for publisher responses.

Guest agent Jo Ramsay and hosts discuss the importance of plot and stakes in queries, first lines in novels, psychological depth in characters, and risks of having too many POVs. Author Fiona Williams talks about her debut novel with multiple POVs, writing from children's perspectives, and potential character conflation.

In today's Books with Hooks, Bianca, Carly and CeCe discuss choosing a unique title for your work; having a strong plot connection between your main characters in a multi POV novel; avoiding situations where the agent has to make too many assumptions in a query; choosing between italics and dialogue tags when having a character talk to themselves; balancing interiority so as not to leak tension; framing your story in a way that is accurate to your work; connecting external stakes to plot points; centering the reader in a memoir query; and CeCe's tension song!Bianca then interviews NYT bestselling author, Mary Kubica, about her latest novel, She's Not Sorry. The two discuss the thriller genre; readers’ fascination with the domestic suspense genre; how Mary approaches structure and the creation of tension; how personal universal elements can connect readers to characters; tackling the 50% chunk of Act II; writing an 'authentic' twist that doesn't make the reader feel manipulated; strategies for hiding clues in plain sight; and advice for thriller and domestic suspense writers.Find us on our socials:Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyraInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAWWebsites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.comTo ask a question, go to: https://sayhi.chat/TSNOTYAWBookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwritingMore information about Mary can be found at: https://marykubica.com/She's also on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/marykubica/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MaryKubicaCarly's course for writers, The Author's Publishing Playbook, is now available at carlywatters.com/course. If you haven't grabbed it yet, podcast listeners can use discount code POD15To book for CeCe's upcoming Writing Tension Webinar on the 11th of April, go to: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_B9m5eRJIT_uxiVrUte381g#/registrationNote: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/tsnotyaw* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands