The Novel Writers Podcast

Gatekeepers, cheerleaders, partners-in-crime, the person you call to talk you down from a panic attack, or the person standing in the way of your dream. Literary agents have been labeled many different things in the publishing industry, but mostly they’re just people who love books just as much as you do. Bri and Mer, who were signed a few months apart in 2016, discuss their journey to getting rep...

It’s one of the most valuable tools in a writer’s kit, but what even is voice? And how does it differ from your characters’ voices? Bri and Mer chat about the way your whole life can shape your writing voice, discuss writing outside your own identity, and offer tips that include listening to curling podcasts and reading newspapers. They then realize they might be old. Come for the tips about how t...

Two writers with slow-burn allegations spill everything they know about pacing--and they  do  promise it doesn’t lag in the middle. Mer and Bri discuss the somewhat nebulous concept of pace, while also offering tips—like using multiple POVs—to keep the narrative arc moving. Their worldviews get slightly rocked when it’s revealed one of them likes writing toward the mid-point of the book instead of...

You know when you go to a magic show, you’re going to be tricked… and you’re going to  love  it. But how does the magician get the audience to look the other way when everyone is just as eager to catch him in the misdirection as they are to be delighted? Mer and Bri discuss the best way to write twists while at the same time solving a murder involving a greedy developer and some rat poison. Finall...

She woke up, walked down the stairs, made herself some breakfast and then posted her podcast about how you decide the right place to start the story. Mer and Bri discuss the fine balance between hooking readers’ interest and forcing an inciting incident too early into the plot, and how just because TV executives want big action to come within the first thirty seconds—to keep audiences from changin...

With the pop culture spotlight on genre books such as  Heated Rivalry  and  Project Hail Mary , there has been some  heated  discourse about what constitutes “good writing.” Join Bri and Mer as they discuss genre expectations, why those don’t equate to low standards, and whether the current state of Capital L literary fiction is as dire as pearl-clutchers might have you believe. Come for the discu...