The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe are joined by Kathy and Leila who have submitted their queries for critique.  During the segment, they discuss why it’s important to frame a memoir as ‘why does this book have to be out there for others?’; why it’s okay to not have your hook fully fleshed out in a memoir query because agents are there to help you finish the job; how, in non-fiction, the...

In today's BONUS EPISODE Bianca first chats with Mark Greaney , author of Sierra Six, about writing espionage mysteries, putting your manuscript aside to work on something different so you can come back to it with fresh eyes; using every project as a learning experience;  immersing yourself in your research; writing a series; listing your characters if you have a lot of them; and how to manage the...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe each tackle two query letters. In the process, they discuss the importance of not only having internal conflict, but also having external conflict so that you can create a proper hook; the difference between women’s fiction and romance, and a larger discussion of what ‘women’s fiction’ actually is; making sure the types of stakes of your novel match you...

In today's BONUS EPISODE, we do a deep dive into experimenting with structure. Bianca first chats with Mitzi Angel— publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and editor to publishing phenomenon , Sally Rooney —about the structure and unusual POV that Sally chose for Beautiful World, Where Are You. Mitzi also takes our listeners' questions about Sally's work. After which, Bianca interviews J anice Ha...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe are joined by Layne and Peter . They discuss the importance of having a clear antagonistic force that the reader is scared of/rooting against; having a uniting factor in multi-POV stories; the difference between a premise and a hook; balancing being literary in a thriller/upmarket novel; and how you can sneak in an effective prologue. After which, Bianca...

In today's bonus episode, Bianca first chats with Seressia Glass , author of The Love Con, about all things romance as Seressia kindly answers listener questions about the genre while sharing invaluable insight. After which, Bianca chats with Julia from Scrivener about what value the writing software can add while helping streamline your writing process.  Find us on our socials:  Twitter: @TSNOTYA...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe each take on two query letters. They discuss being cognizant of including descriptive features of the characters that don’t actually add any information/teach us anything about the character themselves;  the trick of re-writing a scene in a different POV to really fine-tune emotional feelings within a scene; ensuring that dramatic questions in your plot...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe are kicking it back to the old format in which they look at the same three queries together. They discuss how important it is to show that there's enough plot and escalation to merit a whole novel when writing a query; the pitfall of using the term "crossover"; being mindful of when your book is coming off as quiet or too interior to the protagonist; avo...

In today's Bonus Episode, Bianca chats with two awesome guests. The first is Genevieve Gornichec , author of The Witch's Heart, who discusses querying a book that's ten years in the making when you’re not sure if it has a place in the market; the whirlwind of quickly getting an agent and book deal; turning your NaNoWriMo novel into a successful book; avoiding info-dumping through dialogue; creatin...

In today's Books with Hooks, guest agent Veronia Park joins us from Fuse Literary to discuss Joanne's and Gaylen's submissions with them. In the segment, Veronica chats about straddling the line between two age categories; knowing, with MG fiction, who your target parents and teachers are because they're the ones who're going to be putting your book in their children’s hands; writing a dual-POV qu...

In today's Books with Hooks, guest agent Veronia Park joins us from Fuse Literary to review four submissions. During the segment, Veronica discusses having the query vibe matching the sample pages vibe; under-promising and over-delivering with the sample; ensuring you have stakes at the end of each POV paragraph in the query; when not to include the prologue in the sample pages; and the three-part...

In today's BONUS EPISODE, Bianca chats with Janet Forbes and Dimitris Havlidis of World Anvil about how the right writing software can take your writing to the next level. Janet and Dimitris discuss how they came up with the World Anvil software and the many ways it can assist with world building for those working in speculative or historical fiction. They also break down the ways in which the sof...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe are joined by writers, Michele and Lynne , who have submitted their work for critique. Carly and CeCe discuss writing a story from the perspective of the other; ensuring you have done lots of research to tell that story properly and sensitively; not starting the opening pages with a lack of curiosity; fear or desire as conveyed through surprise; and havi...

In today's BONUS episode, Bianca chats with the writer Clarisse Baleja Saidi about everything you've always wanted to know about writing residencies. Clarisse gives her top 5 pieces of advice for applying for residencies, and breaks down why applying for—and attending them—could be the boost you need to finish your WIP. Prepare to be surprised! Find us on our socials! Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_a...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe discuss starting a book with dialogue; having tension from page one; using sharp visuals from your character’s perspective (specificity); having the right comps for the setting, plot, tone, etc.; using time and character stamps in multi-POV novels; using the story-forward rule to make the reader curious about what’s going to happen next; and reversing st...

In today's Books with Hooks, Emmy Nordstrom Higdon joins us from Westwood Creative Artists to chat with Tyler and Vickie about their work. Emmy unpacks starting with action to get a good sense of voice and character; how the story needs to be front and center with opening pages before digging into issues; starting with something dramatic and compelling; showing the MC out of their depth with inter...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe are joined by writers, Sally and Katherine , to discuss their query letters and opening pages. We discuss trigger/content warnings in query letters; being specific without being spoiler-y; as well as weaving in emotion. And... wait for it... we actually suggest a prologue! Yes, we do that sometimes! After which, Bianca chats with Jayne Allen , author of...

In today's Books with Hooks segment, we have Emmy Nordstrom Higdon from Westwood Creative Artists join us as a guest agent to review submissions not directed at Carly or CeCe. In this episode, Bianca and Emmy discuss authorial voice; jumping right into where the action is; how using appropriate comps can help cut down on a query's word count; including sample pages for more than one POV; and caref...

In today's BONUS episode, Bianca chats with Ami J. Sanghvi and Patrick Hogan of Gutslut Press about the top ten reasons why indie presses reject submissions even if the writing is really great. After which Bianca chats with author, Lee Matthew Goldberg , about sharing your drafts with other writers; the writing process when it comes to writing characters whose gender and age are different from you...

In today's Books with Hooks segment, Liz and Jami join us to discuss their submissions. Carly and CeCe unpack when to put the stakes at the beginning of the query instead of at the end; the Pixar storytelling rules about coincidences; weaving in emotion with explanation to make it more showing than telling; writing a story in first person and then going back with a “you” lens to make it hybrid sec...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe discuss whether publishing is ready for Covid stories yet; using an inciting incident that is super specific, but doesn’t give away any spoilers; the importance of having a great, unique hook and a beautiful first line; why emotion needs to be on the page before description in a tense scene; and how a protagonist’s unconscious should also be on the page....

In today's Books with Hooks segment, Melissa and Stephanie join us on the show to have their query letters and opening pages critiqued. Carly and CeCe discuss the importance of hitting current social and class elements; not missing opportunities to let readers know more about the MC by adding in descriptions and reasons behind their choices; when and why a prologue works; and anticipating readers'...

In today's revamped Books with Hooks segment, Carly and CeCe each tackle two queries that have been directed at them via the new submission process. They also discuss writing your first scene as if it were being filmed; trigger warnings vs. content notes; deciding what to include in the first five pages, and what to put elsewhere in the story. After which, Bianca chats with Jesse Q Sutanto , autho...

In today's Books with Hooks segment, Emma joins us on the show to discuss her query and opening pages. Carly and CeCe tackle sparking curiosity;  hooking the agent with keywords; repetition with dialogue tags and replacing them with action beats; writing in multiple POVs and making the reader question who’s doing the narrating; as well as homemade pasta! After which, Bianca chats with Leila Sliman...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe discuss putting a fresh twist on a popular trope; taking care not to use titles of novels that are already published; how the present tense offers tension and immediacy; not burying the hook in your query letter; not inadvertently dating your work; and stating specifically what obstacles are getting in your character’s way. After which Bianca chats with...