Lit Service

Crystal joins Caitlin and Aliah to chat about her experience writing a main character that shares her own disability, and gives some thoughts that could help other authors attempting to do the same. Crystal mentioned another book in the podcast that features a protagonist with Crohn's disease, though we don't mention the title, we will here: Of Wolves and Stags by Ria Parisi  Crystal Seitz is a yo...

Caitlin and Aliah chat with Printz Honor winning author Lily Anderson about how to write hauntings and horror, tempering scary stories with humor, and her newest book Killer House Party. Lily Anderson the author of several novels for young adults including The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You, Not Now Not Ever, and Undead Girl Gang. A former school librarian, she is deeply devoted to Shakespeare, f...

What are the building blocks of a heist? Caitlin Schneiderhan chats with Caitlin (two of us! Correct spelling and everything!) to chat about her debut book Medici Heis t and how she went about planning it. Caitlin Schneiderhan is a genre-loving writer on the hit Netflix show STRANGER THINGS. Originally hailing from Silver Spring, Maryland, Caitlin hatched from a cocoon of Terry Pratchett novels wh...

Tricia Levenseller joins Caitlin to talk about how she plots romance, including a fun twist on Dan Wells' Seven Point Plot structure specifically for romance. (Here's Dan's original presentation , which is worth a watch and an easy-to-use template of the non-romance version) Tricia is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eight YA romantasies, including the Daughter of the Pirate...

Throwback to when Daniel Kraus came on our show to discuss Whalefall! DANIEL KRAUS is a New York Times bestselling writer of novels, TV, and film. His latest novel,  Whalefall , received a front-cover review in the New York Times Book Review, won the Alex Award, was an L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist, and was a Best Book of 2023 from NPR, the New York Times, Amazon, Chicago Tribune, and more. With...

Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legend trilogy and The Young Elites trilogy (and lots of other fabulous books!). She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, working for Disney Interactive Studios as a Flash artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing Assassin’s Creed, and getti...

EVA DES LAURIERS joins the Lit Service cast to chat about how she approaches writing characters based on her background in psychology and sociology and how authors can approach writing teen characters with authenticity. Eva is the author of YA Romance, I Wish You Would (Holt, BYR). She’s a diehard romantic who holds both an MSW and BA in psychology. As a clinical social worker, she had the privile...

Caitlin chats with Holly Black about building characters and her newest book The Prisoner's Throne . Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy novels, including the Novels of Elfhame, THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and her adult debut, BOOK OF NIGHT. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mytho...

What do you do once you've finished your first draft? Immediately send it to every agent and publisher you can find contact info for? Put it in a drawer? Maybe something in between. Caitlin, Aliah, and Kristen chat about how they approach a second draft.   Don't forget to check out Caitlin's newest release, He Who Breaks the Earth

Caitlin, Aliah, and Kristen chat about how to approach writing a satisfying and exciting ending.  Don't miss Caitlin's new release from Simon and Schuster, He Who Breaks the Earth 

Martha Wells joins to podcast to chat about how to write characters your readers will love. Martha has been an SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel was published in 1993, and her work includes The Books of the Raksura series, The Death of the Necromancer, the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, The Murderbot Diaries series, media tie-in fiction for Star Wars, Stargate: Atlantis, and Magic: the Gatherin...

Margaret Owen joins Caitlin, Aliah, and Kristen to chat about how to help your action to rise naturally and how to raise stakes.  Margaret is the author of The Merciful Crow, The Faithless Hawk, Little Thieves, Painted Devils which releases May 16th , and A Grimoire of Grave Fates which releases in June. The "How Dire Is It" chart Margaret mentions can be found here .

Kristen, Caitlin, and Aliah chat about what goes into the middle of a book.

We all hit moments where a shiny new project suddenly feels more like work. Aliah, Caitlin, and Kristen discuss strategies that allow the slog to become a little easier.

Aliah, Caitlin, and Kristen discuss how to keep writing when the ideas aren't coming.

Aliah, Cameron, Caitlin, and Kristen discuss what is most important at the beginning of a book and how to go about approaching it in your own stories.   Don't forget to check out our special edition books we've done for past guests!

Caitlin, Cameron, Kristen, and Aliah chat about how to begin writing and how to overcome some of the difficulties writers struggle with when starting a project.   Don't forget to check out our special editions !

Aliah, Kristen, Caitlin, and Cameron kick of season seven with a new series on how to write a novel from start to finish beginning with how to come up with a good idea.  For updates and information on upcoming guests, subscribe to our newsletter ! To check out our special editions, go to Caitlin's store .

Marissa Meyer joins Caitlin and Kristen to chat about how she approaches an adaptation, how to choose what to keep, what to get rid of, and where she gets inspiration for the unique new worlds and characters that go into her new story. Her newest book, CURSED, the second in the Gilded Duology came out on November 8th, be sure to check the series out. We did a signed hand-painted edge design here,...

Tamsyn Muir joins Kristen and Caitlin to chat about alternative POV choices, non-consecutive timelines, meme culture, Women Who Suck, and all the other fun things that went into the Locked Tomb series. TAMSYN MUIR is the bestselling author of the Locked Tomb Series. Her fiction has won the Locus and Crawford awards, and been nominated for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Shirley Jackson Award...

Chloe Gong joins Aliah and Caitlin to discuss the anatomy of a spinoff, how to approach writing an extension of your own world and stories that still feels familiar while also being new. Chloe is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of  These Violent Delights , its sequel Our Violent Ends, and the first in a new duology set in the same world, Foul Lady Fortune . She is a recent graduate of the...

Stephanie Garber joins Caitlin and Aliah to chat about "romantasy" and how to make it (or a developing romance in the book you are writing!) really sing. A resource Stephanie mentions, Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes, can be found here . Stephanie is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Once Upon a Broken Heart, The Ballad of Never After, and the Caraval trilogy. Her bo...

Britney Lewis joins the cast to chat about adding surreal elements to our stories in order to better articulate things that words can't quite describe. Britney is the author of The Undead Truth of Us (which just came out!! Get it here !). She has a B.A. in corporate communications with an emphasis in business and art. She strongly supports We Need Diverse Books, and she’s an avid follower of #DVpi...

Erin Beaty joins Caitlin, Kristen, and Aliah to talk about how to write stories and characters that are smarter than we are. Erin was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, which means she can't drive a tractor but won't eat veggies that come from a can. She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2000 with a BS in Aerospace Engineering (Astronautics) and German, then served in the fleet as a...