✨Can Agents "See" Your Plot Paragraph Like a Movie Trailer? CeCe Can with a 📕 Books with Hooks 🪝 Query This Week! ✨

Plus, if you break this one writing rule, rejoice—Gloria Chao is living proof that you can do it and still be successful!

Happy Friday, writing friends!

How’s everyone doing? Are we all surviving? For anyone who could use a break from all the festive chaos, your friends here at The Shit No One Tells You About Writing are back with another podcast episode so good no one could possibility blame you for sneaking off for a brief educational break. It’s📕Books with Hooks🪝time again, and our latest episode sees your co-hosts, Bianca, Carly and CeCe, tackling the query letters and opening pages for a historical fiction and a historical fantasy. Their conversation explores the importance of plot clarity and specificity in storytelling, as well as the significance of themes versus plot in selling a book (not sure which one matters more to agents considering your manuscript? When was the last time you saw an ad for a new movie and said “I have to see this one—I love those themes!”? CeCe’s line about shooting a trailer based on the plot description in your query is the stuff that lightbulb moments are made of). 💡 😉

If she hadn’t been willing to take a big (we’re talking MASSIVE) risk, Gloria Chao (whose latest, Ex Marks the Spot, is out next week) would be in a sterile office somewhere as we speak, peering into someone’s plaque-filled mouth. 😷 🦷 Instead, she’s this week’s featured Author Q&A (which we’re sure she cares way more about than, say, the awards her books have won). We admire her guts (and her success!) and were particularly excited to learn which writing rule she’s guilty of breaking the most (Editor’s note: I sure felt validated, at least).

Remember when 2025 seemed impossibly far in the future? And yet, somehow, here it is, nearly upon us. The good news is that means it’s almost time for the 2025 Deep Dive Virtual Retreat—but only if you register while there are still spots available!

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! ❤️

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team

P.S. Still not sure about upgrading to paid? Check out our Tuesday Teaser below to see what you’re missing!

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This Week’s Podcast✨🎙️✨

In this week’s📕Books with Hooks🪝segment, hosts Bianca, Carly, and CeCe provide feedback on two query letters, one for historical fiction and the other for historical fantasy, in a conversation that explores the challenges of these genres, the significance of themes versus plot in selling a book, and the importance of finding the right balance between world-building and emotional engagement.

Take a listen here!

“I don't recommend beginning fantasy or historical fiction with world building. You will be tempted to do so, because the world is so important… I feel like it's better to start with the protagonist. Go from micro to macro and not the other way around. Because, as humans, we don't connect and imprint with concepts or worlds, we connect to people. And so I think it's really important to focus on the protagonist.”

- CeCe

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Q&A with Gloria Chao 🥳

Gloria Chao is a screenwriter and the award-winning author of When You Wish Upon a Lantern, Rent a Boyfriend, Our Wayward Fate, and American Panda. She graduated from MIT and became a dentist before realizing she’d rather spend her days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths. When she’s not writing, you can find her on the curling ice, where she and her husband are world-ranked in mixed doubles. Her books have received starred trade reviews; were Epic Reads x Target, Junior Library Guild, Indie Next List, YALSA Teens’ Top 10, Amelia Bloomer List, YALSA Amazing Audiobook, and Common Sense Media selections; and were featured on the “Best of” lists of Seventeen, Bustle, Barnes & Nobles, PopSugar, Paste Magazine, Booklist, Chicago Public Library, Bank Street, and more. Her latest Ex Marks the Spot, is out next week.

TSNOTYAW: Do you have a go-to mantra or pep talk for the days when writing feels hard?

Gloria Chao: I have a notecard by my monitor that says “Enjoy Every Moment.” It’s a reminder to myself that I love writing, that I’m lucky to be doing it (especially after leaving a career I hated), and that it’s important to find the joy in each step of the process.

What one piece of advice (craft- or publishing industry-related) has always resonated with you?

There’s no “right” way to write. Not only is everyone’s process different, but your own process will evolve. When I first began writing, a set daily word count made me freeze up. Now, I love having a goal to write towards and know the word range that works best for me. I used to like the freedom of pantsing, and I’m finding myself outlining more and more with each book. Give yourself the freedom to figure out what works best for you in this moment with this project.

What's one writing "rule" or commonly followed piece of advice that you decidedly break?

There are many, but the “rule” I see mentioned most often that I always break is to “just get the words on the page” for your first draft. A lot of authors talk about “word vomit” and “garbage drafts” so that you can get your story out in a form that you can then mold and revise. I’m the opposite. I like to revise heavily as I write and find that I can’t move on if there’s an issue with a previous scene. In most of my books, I like to bring back previous details to affect plot and character development down the line, and I’d rather develop those in the first draft than weave them throughout during revision. I also love to write inside jokes between the characters—and as a result, between the characters and the reader—and again, I like to have these established early so I can use them later. I also feel like a book is similar to a Jenga tower and if there’s a plot hole, filling it could completely topple other parts of the structure, and I prefer to fix it as early as possible. This especially was true for my fifth and sixth books. With Ex Marks the Spot, because there’s a global treasure hunt with puzzles that build upon one another, I had to outline it in detail from the start and either stick to it or revise the rest of the structure if one thing changed. With The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club (about three girls who discover they’re dating the same man and band together to prank him, only to discover his body and become the prime suspects), since it’s a murder mystery, there were a lot of structural details that were laid out from the start that needed to be followed, and it was especially important for me to make sure everything was working linearly. However, as I mentioned previously, there’s no right way to write, so this may not work for you!

Writer’s block: myth or unfortunate reality? If you experience it, how do you overcome it?

I think writer’s block is part myth, part reality. I believe the idea of writer’s block being an uncontrollable phenomenon is not quite accurate. When I’m stuck on a project (which does happen a lot), it’s always because there’s an issue that needs to be resolved. The inability to get words on the page is, for me, most commonly because there’s a problem in the plotting or execution that needs to be solved. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to take a step back and figure out the solution, especially when the brainstorming feels unproductive compared to getting words down. I try to remind myself that this is a necessary part of the process and to trust that the solution will come to me eventually no matter how impossible it feels in the moment. The worst writer’s block I’ve had occurred while drafting my third book, RENT A BOYFRIEND. It’s about a girl who hires a fake boyfriend to introduce to her parents—inspired by a real phenomenon in Asian countries—and since these rentals typically happen around the holidays, I wanted the book to jump from holiday to holiday. However, after the first holiday, I couldn’t figure out how to bridge it to the next one. Since the premise is that she falls for the real guy behind the role (which complicates her life since she’s just introduced him to her parents as someone else), I needed the girl and the fake boyfriend to have private interactions in between the holidays without the girl's parents present. But logistically, they live in different states, and I couldn’t figure out how to structure it. It wasn’t until I decided to have a slightly unconventional section where I just show their text messages to each other that I finally “got over the writer’s block” and was able to move forward with drafting.

What do you wish you had known about writing before you published your debut?

I wish I had known that the publishing journey is somehow even harder than I thought, and simultaneously that the actual writing process would get easier. While I’m not as bushy-tailed and bright-eyed after six books, writing is a muscle that you can train, and drafting books five and six was some of the most fun I’ve had. Ex Marks the Spot is my most ambitious book by far, combining a treasure hunt through Taiwan with a rivals-to-lovers romance and a summer program, and it’s a book I may not have been able to write five years ago. And while publishing as a whole is difficult, it is so worth it. I wish I could have known then that I would be where I am now. But I’m also glad I didn’t know just how hard it would be to get here.

What is something you’ve learned about yourself later in your writing career that would have surprised your younger self?

Just that I’m writing would shock my younger self. Growing up, I was always pushed into math and science, and being a writer never even seemed like an option. My younger self would also be shocked that writing—the thing that I thought would drive a permanent wedge between my family and me because they didn’t approve—was actually the very thing that brought us closer. My debut, American Panda, was about an MIT student whose parents want her to become a doctor but she hates germs (which I of course wrote when I was switching careers from dentist to writer), and forcing myself to write the parents in the book made me have difficult conversations with my mom I likely wouldn’t have had otherwise. It also helped me understand her point of view in a way I didn’t before. And now, I’m constantly calling my parents to ask about Chinese phrases and anecdotes, and writing Ex Marks the Spot ended up being a love letter to our culture and their home of Taiwan. Writing humorous takes on the culture (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding) was also therapeutic for me. And my parents have maybe laughed once or twice at some of these jokes, though they’re more commonly like, “Of course the mom should be setting her daughter up with her friend’s son even though she’s never met him; he went to Harvard and is a doctor, so he’ll be the best husband.” Or, “The mother in The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club is so kind and smart getting her daughter a Life Alert—she’s single! She could fall and not be able to get up, and there will be no one to help her!” And hey, younger self, all that crap you’re going through that sucks? Makes for great material in the future.

More information about Gloria Chao can be found on her website. She’s also on Instagram.

You can pre-order Ex Marks the Spot on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. Buying books through this link supports a local indie bookstore, as well as The Shit No One Tells You About Writing 📚❤️

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Santa Blew It? We Can Help! 😊🎁

If you didn’t get what you hoping for, but at least were lucky enough to find money in your stocking this year, we’ve got some ideas for how might spend it. 😉 The 2025 Deep Dive Virtual Retreat is on 1st and 2nd of February 2025, and everyone who registers gets:

• two days of learning from 12 bestselling authors, editors and agents

• a recording of the retreat and the Q & As to refer back to

• the chance to win one of 12 amazing prizes (like critiques of 10,000 words of your ms!)

You get all this for just US $499! Want to participate, but need some help? Scholarship applications will be opening next month. Stay tuned for more soon!

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Tuesday Teaser 😉

In next week’s newsletter exclusively for our paid members, we’ve got a Q&A with “kissing stories” writer Jo Segura who shares, among other things what her 8-year-old self would have thought if she’d known she would grow up to be a romance author (“gross”) and how she manages to be a lawyer by day and USA Today bestselling author (!) by night.

We’ve also got Carly and CeCe’s written critiques of the queries from this week’s show, and a look at what you, our readers and listeners, plan to do to make 2025 your best writing year yet.

Not yet a member? For just $8USD a month or $80USD a year you get:

• an exclusive newsletter on Tuesdays featuring bonus author Q&As and other exclusive content from industry experts

• weekly access to Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra’s written notes on queries from the podcast’s Books With Hooks feature

• monthly bonus podcast episodes, AND

• regular Ask Me Anythings / Q&As with Carly, CeCe, and Bianca Marais.

If that doesn’t kickstart your writing journey, we don’t know what will!

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The Ultimate Planner for Writers is the Ultimate Christmas Gift!

Have you been frustrated with the limitations of your daily planner which, while allowing for hour-to-hour scheduling of your usual appointments, doesn't allow you to include all the myriad activities associated with your rich writing life?

This planner allows you to:

• Keep track of your daily word count, as well as assign and monitor time spent on brainstorming, researching, drafting, editing, etc.

• Log and track your agent queries

• Brainstorm and make editorial notes

• Outline your WIP

• Create character profiles

• Outline your plot/scenes

• Complete scene cards

• Keep all your ideas in one place

• Keep a record of your research and material sources

• Make notes of inspiration

• Track the books you've read

The Ultimate Planner for Writers has all the monthly, weekly and daily functionalities of a usual planner, but with added features designed specifically for writers. It’s available for purchase either as a hardcopy or as an e-planner that's been designed for use on an iPad or similar touch screen tablet, and makes the ultimate gift for the writer in your life.

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That’s all for this week’s news! If you enjoyed it, why not share the love? 🥰

Tune in again next week for more invaluable wisdom from our wonderful hosts! Until then, happy writing! 😍

❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team

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Our work takes place on land now known as Toronto and Ottawa and we acknowledge that these are the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat Peoples as well as the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. Toronto is covered under Treaty 13 and the Williams Treaties. We respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures, languages, and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada. We invite you to learn more about the land you inhabit, the history of that land, and how to actively be part of a better future going forward together at Native Land or Whose Land.

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Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work in this newsletter is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe in this newsletter are solely that of themselves and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

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