Lit Service

We chatted with Erin Beaty about the closing of Imprint/Macmillan and Simon Pulse and what happens to books that are orphaned because the imprint that acquires your book closed or your editor moves, leaves the business. To find out more about Erin and her books, check out her website . Here's the first chapter we critiqued! To find out how to support the podcast, check out our Patreon .

Erin Beaty joins the Lit Service crew to teach them a new word (it's pronounced AnagNORisis, if you were wondering.) which is the moment when a character realizes the truth of the situation they're in or who they are or that another character is not who they thought they were.    Erin Beaty is the author of The Traitor's Circle Trilogy (and provides many lovely moments of anagnorisis for readers t...

Lisa Maxwell joins the Lit Service cast to talk about injecting your setting with that special something that makes it interactive and immersive, almost like an additional character in the story. Lisa is the NYT bestselling author of The Last Magician, The Devil’s Thief, The Serpent's Curse, and Unhooked. She grew up in Akron, Ohio, and has a PhD in English. She’s worked as a teacher, scholar, boo...

Tricia Levenseller joins Caitlin Sangster and Kristen Evans to live critique a few queries.   Tricia Levenseller is the author of the Daughter of the Pirate King duology, Warrior of the Wild, The Shadows Between Us, and forthcoming Blade of Secrets. She writes young adult high fantasies with heavy romantic subplots. You can find more about Tricia and her books here , or preorder her new book (do i...

Caitlin, Kristen, and Aliah chat about the roles mentors take in (mostly!) fantasy and sci-fi narratives, their purpose and the shape of their place in a story. For the chapter we critique with all our notes go here! To find out how to support the podcast, go here! (We're about to do a live q&a, so if you want to come as us questions in person, now's the time to join our Patreon!) For more about t...

Eric Smith joins the Lit Service crew to talk about what it is (and what authors can do!) that makes relationships arcs in stories satisfying. Eric Smith is a literary agent and author living in Philadelphia. An agent with P.S. Literary, he's worked on New York Times bestselling and award-winning books. As an author, his books include Don't Read the Comments (Inkyard Press) and the forthcoming You...

Sarah McCabe joins the Lit Service crew to talk about the publication process once a book has been acquired and what to expect from editing and collaborating with an editor. Sarah is an editor with Simon & Schuster/McElderry (which is pronounced "mackle-derry", who knew). For a look at the chapter we critique (with our notes!) go here . Don't forget to check out our Patreon for extra content (want...

Ever wondered what happens after you start working with an agent? Listen in while Ben and Caitlin discuss what happens behind the scenes, using one of her projects as a frame of reference from when she finished it to when it was sold.    The chapter we critique can be found here . Submission guidelines if you'd like a first chapter critique from us are here . If you like the show, please remember...

Do you ever stumble when you begin a new story? Maybe you're not sure where it should start, or you have a great opening, but stall out once you get to the middle? Namina Forna's got some advice for you :)   Namina Forna is a young adult novelist based in Los Angeles, and the author of the upcoming epic fantasy YA novel  The Gilded Ones . Originally from Sierra Leone, West Africa, she moved to the...

Ever think training montages are boring? We chat about how to show your character training (both in magic or in fighting or in...schoolwork? Anything) without it feeling boring. Or like a sports movie. Check out the first chapter we critique with all our notes here   If you'd like first chapter critique, visit our website to see upcoming guests and our submission guidelines . If you enjoy the podc...

To round out the year we're doing one last bonus hot seat critique! We also did a bonus episode with our reactions to the newest season of the Mandalorian now that the last episode finally landed--to listen, head over to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litservicepodcast

Aliah, Caitlin, and Kristen chat about how to get your characters to squad up.   The chapter we critique can be found here .   Don't forget to check our Patreon for video versions of episodes and other bonus episodes and content! 

You can find the chapter we critique here Isaac Stewart joins the Lit Service crew to talk about picture books and illustration and how to get a whole story out of so few words (and how illustrations have to pull their own weight!). We also chat about maps and collaboration between authors and artists. During the course of his life, Isaac Stewart has had more dreams than there are freckles on his...

Join the core crew to talk about why having a good range of different kinds of relationships in a story is important and how to do it well.   The chapter we critique can be found here . If you want a critique from us, here are our submission guidelines . We encourage you to check out our Patreon for extras (like the video version of this episode, extra hot seat critiques, occasional extra episodes...

Sara B. Larson joins the Lit Service Crew to chat about romantic arcs in YA, why they're so prevalent, and how to balance them against your plot in your own work. Sara is the author of the Defy Series, the Dark Breaks the Dawn Duology, and the Sisters of Shadow and Light duology (the newest one just hit shelves!!) To learn more check out her website . If you'd like signed copies of her books, you...

Caitlin live reads and critiques a submitted chapter, digging into why it isn't quite working (though the concept is pretty fun! A little embarrassed romance goes a long way!). Some episodes Caitlin recommends to think about the questions she brings up: 4:19 with Aminah Mae Safi and 4.11 with DongWon Song   If you want to hear more Hot Seat Critiques (and support the podcast!!) check out our  Patr...

Debut author Amparo Ortiz joins the Lit Service Crew to talk about why sports in fantasy and how to do it well (even if you don't like sports yourself!).  Amparo Ortiz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently lives on the island’s northeastern coast. Her short story comic, “What Remains in The Dark,” appears in the Eisner Award-winning anthology PUERTO RICO STRONG (Lion Forge, 2018), and S...

The Lit Service Crew chats about how to foreshadow plot twists and what sorts of things to avoid. If you want a first chapter critique from Lit Service, check out our submission guidelines . This podcast only happens with help from people like you! To see how you can keep Lit Service Episodes coming (and get some extra content and help with your writing too!) visit our Patreon .

Aminah Mae Safi joins the Lit Service crew live at Teen Author Bootcamp to chat about how characters make the romcom (and every other story!). Aminah is the author of Not the Girls You're Looking For, Tell Me How You Really Feel, and This is All Your Fault.  Check out her books here: http://www.aminahmae.com/this-is-all-your-fault- 1 Don't forget to take a look at our Patreon for extra content!  h...

Tracy Deonn joins the Lit Service Crew to chat about how to use tropes to dig into real issues while making your story timeless. Tracy Deonn earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication and performance studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has worked in live theater, video game production, and K–12 education. When she’s not writing, Tracy speaks on panels...

Caitlin, Cameron, and Kristen chat about what tone is and how to utilize it to tell your story to a specific audience or to elicit a specific response in a reader.

Dr. Darcie Little Badger joins the Lit Service Crew to talk about how to survive the ups and downs of the publishing world both as an aspiring writer and as a published one.  Darcie is an Earth scientist, writer, and fan of the weird, beautiful, and haunted. Her debut novel ELATSOE will be launching on August 25th and you can find it here .

Join Cameron and Caitlin as they read a past submission out loud and do a live critique as they go. let us know if you like this on social media! If you do, we'll do more of these!

Holly Root, the founder of Root Literary and agent to many a New York Time Bestseller, joins the Lit Service crew to chat about what author-agent relationships look like.