The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe are joined by two authors, Melissa and Elizabeth , whose work they critique. In the process, they discuss ensuring each that timeline in a dual timeline is its own story; keeping scenes condensed to keep propelling the story forward; mentioning the pandemic in contemporary fiction; baking in subtle references to things instead of explaining them to...

In today's Books With Hooks , Carly and CeCe look at two critiques each, discussing the importance of using sharp specifics and strong interiority; ensuring there’s tension and stakes in the first pages; having distinct character voices; dropping hints but leaving them unanswered; challenges with omniscient POV; keeping all the metadata together in one paragraph; stories within stories slowing...

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe each look at one submitted query letter, after which they each discuss a query letter that they ended up representing as an example of what grabs their attention. They discuss redacted titles; explaining POV in a query letter; putting the hook front and center; coincidences in the story; too much internal and not enough external in the first pages; d...

In today's Bonus Episode, Carly and CeCe answer all your questions and Emilie Sommer from East City Book Shop gives you comp titles. After which, CeCe chats with Susie Yang , author of White Ivy , which was a Books with Hooks Book Club pick in the spring. CeCe and Susie discuss fairytale elements and omniscient POV; how suspicious writers make the best writers; what it’s like to work with an e...

In today's Books with Hooks, Jael Richardson (author of Gutter Child ) joins Carly and CeCe to critique query letters. During the segment, they discuss starting in the right place; using time stamps to make it easier for the reader to ground themselves; ensuring there’s interiority with the narrating character; the web effect in query letters; clarifying the emotionality of the main character;...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe are joined by Jennifer and David, two authors who submitted their work for consideration. During the segment, they discuss whether you should have themes in a query letter; query letter vs proposal for memoirs; having something happening every five pages; letting the reader ask the question before you answer it as the author; keeping passive plot po...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carl y and CeC e each review two query letters, in the process discussing overexplaining and taking the readers out of the scene; leaning into your scene from a reader’s perspective; having a very clear idea of the major dramatic question that is specific to the protagonist’s plot journey; prioritizing a character's interiority over their noticing other charac...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe discuss being clear about your age category and details of the plot; keeping the query letter short; fleshing out character dynamics and not focusing too much on worldbuilding; connecting with a character, as opposed to the world, in the opening pages; a children’s picture book query letter; including some illustrator notes; exploring darker themes...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe discuss keeping secrets from the reader vs. keeping them from the character; choosing a variety of comparable titles and authors; relatability to what the character is going through; ways to make a story believable; interiority and emotionality in the characters; not giving too much in the opening pages; revealing information in the right order; how...

In today's Bonus Episode, Bianca, Carly and CeCe answer all your burning questions about writing and publishing. After which, Bianca chats with Elizabeth Held , creator of the What to Read substack, who answers your first batch of comp title requests. Followed by a chat with Emilie Sommer of East City Bookshop who answers the second batch of comp title requests. Find us on our socials: Twitter...

In today's Books with Hooks , we're joined by guest agent, Emmy Nordstrom-Higdon from Westwood Creative Artists who looks at four submissions. During the segment, Emmy discusses executing the world-building in a way that’s accessible to readers, and ensuring you’re also covering your characters' conflicts, goals, stakes, etc. in a query; keeping your query letter under a page; ensuring...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe review a resubmission and in the process discuss an impressive author paragraph; writing the subtleties of familial relationships; the difficulties of a plot that hinges on a secret that isn't revealed in the query; and an example of a very good hook. After which, Bianca chats with the NYT bestselling Deanna Raybourn , author of Killers of a Cer...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe discuss the target audience for a coming of age novel; the pitfalls of the early 2000s as a setting; the importance of your major dramatic question in a query; the issues with setting your novel up as part of a duology or series; and writing 'leading' dialogue. After which CeCe chats with Jessie Stephens , author of Heartsick: Three Stories...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe are joined by Nurin and Layne who submitted their work for critique. During the segment, they discuss a romance query that succeeds in delivering ample stakes; whether you should include mentorship programs in your query; the importance of having movement in an opening scene; needing major dramatic questions for each main character in a novel; and t...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe look at two queries each, in the process discussing what is meant when agents want specificity in a query, particularly when it comes to world building; the hurdles of writing a book centered around trauma or featuring particularly traumatic scenes; using fewer comps for greater agent interest; the use of interiority in a query letter; advice on how...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe discuss having a strong sense of place in your work; an example of a good prologue; when it can work to put comps at the end of your query;  examples where you can be too detailed in a query; the idea of stakes going in both directions; and the perfect query letter. After which, CeCe chats with Melissa Fu , author of Peach Blossom Spring , about how...

In today's special Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe are joined by guest literary agent, Jenni Ferrari-Adler who represents Susie Yang (whose novel, White Ivy,  was the #BookswithHooksBC pick for June).  Jenni helps Carly and CeCe evaluate three query letters, in the process discussing leaning into specificity;  sprinkling backstory info rather than dumping it in;  setting up your bombshell mom...

In today's episode from the archives, Bianca chats with award-winning and bestselling author, Lily King (author of Writers & Lovers ) about the writer's life; scrapping novels halfway through; dealing with rejection; and starting the process all over again with a new book. Our Sponsors: * Check out Chime and use my code chime.com/TSNOTYAW for a great deal: https://www.chime.com * Check...

In today's episode from the archives, Bianca chats with Putnam editor and adjunct professor of publishing for NYU, Mark Tavani, about all things suspense: techniques on how to create it, how to maintain it, and how to apply these concepts across all genres. Suspense is why we read; it's what keeps us turning pages. A story without some elements of suspense will fall flat. Learn how to avoi...

In today's episode from the archives, Bianca chats with award winning author, playwright, screenwriter and journalist, Byron Lan e — author of the acclaimed A Star is Bored   (which was inspired in part by Byron's time as assistant to beloved actress Carrie Fisher) — about finding your process as a debut author; getting help when you need it; learning your craft; and mining tough times in...

In today's episode from the archives, Bianca chats with bestselling author, Samantha M. Bailey, as well as Nita Pronovost , editor and vice president/editorial director at Simon & Schuster Canada, about the lessons all writers can learn from the thriller genre, including coming up with high concept premises; something known and unknown, something hidden and something shown; the labyrinth a...

In today's Bonus Episode, Bianca is joined by guest interviewer Kira Mahoney who interviews Daniel Kalla , author of The Darkness in the Light , about why he addresses important medical issues in his books; when being too medically authentic is not a good idea; finding information but also knowing when not to include it; how to create good dialogue between multiple characters all at once; deci...

In today's Books with Hooks , Carly and CeCe each critique two query letters. In the process, they discuss stories with magical elements and why the author chooses that specific world as the vehicle for the story; the importance of not revealing too much about a character’s ending state of interiority in a query letter; creating believable inner life; delivering on humor; and writing a dual au...

In today's Bonus Episode, CeCe chats with Zibby Owens , podcaster, publisher, CEO and author of Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature. They play two truths and a lie (the writing version); discuss a  strategy for turning memories into memoir; and Zibby's writing and publishing advice for emerging writers.  After which, Bianca chats with Samantha M. Bailey , bestselling author of...

On today's Books with Hooks segment, Carly and CeCe are joined by Caroline and Sammy who submitted their work for critique. During the discussion, Carly and CeCe remind us to lean into specificity in opening pages; the importance of plausibility as well as newer comp titles; the ‘movie trailer’ trick for dealing with interiority; avoiding generic interiority; and advice for researching the spe...