✨Carley Fortune's Bang-On Backstory Advice; and 197 Queries Later, Podcast Fan Sue Hincenbergs Comes Full Circle✨
Plus, CeCe's latest course offering, more guests for Bianca's launch revealed, and Sue shares the query letter that got her her "Yes!"
Happy Friday, writing friends!
It’s accidental CanCon week here at The Shit, and our maple syrup-pumping hearts are overflowing with joy for the success of today’s two featured authors. ❤️🍁📕
First up, Bianca interviews Carley Fortune, whose name you no doubt recognize from her breakout debut, Every Summer After. Carley’s latest, the just-released One Golden Summer, is already a bestseller, cementing her status as master of the summer beach read (and someone who’s cracked the code for publishing success), and the insights she shares on the podcast give us a glimpse of how she’s managed it. If you’ve ever been told your opening pages have too much backstory and your response was “But this is all important for the reader to know!” this interview is especially for you! 😉
We love a good success story here at The💩, and the one Sue Hincenbergs, author of The Retirement Plan, shares with Bianca this week is our favourite kind—a success story about a writer who refused to give up (even after nearly 200 rejections!), ended up with the agent and publishing deal of their dreams, AND (and this is the part we really love) credits The Shit No One Tells You About Writing with playing a role in her success! We’d blush, but modesty is for suckers and, in any event, Sue clearly had the chops to take what she’d learned and turn it into something compelling, because she’s generously shared her query letter with us and after reading it, you’ll see exactly what it was that got Sue her many “yeses.” Sue is living proof that you can learn and grow as a writer if you put in the thought and effort, no matter what stage of life you’re at, and this might just be our favourite part of all. ❤️
Registration for Bianca’s Circling the Building of Your Work course is still open, but not for long—the course is on Tuesday, so if you’ve been on the fence, it’s high time you hopped down! She’s promising couples counselling that will either prevent you from breaking up with your manuscript, or make you finally call it so you can move forward, knowing you did everything you possibly could to save it.
In case you missed it on her socials, CeCe’s just launched a new course, Writing Emotion & Relationships, designed to help you bring depth to your story and engage your readers. You’ve heard CeCe talk about interiority enough to know how critically important getting—and holding—a readers attention is, but if you have yet to figure out how to say “So-and-so was feeling sad” without actually saying “So-and-so was feeling sad” this is the course for you! 😍
Finally, we’re sharing more guest authors who’ll be attending Bianca’s launch for A Most Puzzling Murder on June 9th, and if you want to rub elbows with them (or any of the other writers and agents we’ve already announced) you’d better act fast—with a month still to go, there are fewer than 50 tickets left, and considering the venue holds 420, that’s not very many at all! Don’t be disappointed, buy yours today while you still can!
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!
This Week’s Podcast✨🎙️✨
You won’t want to miss this week’s two-fer episode! Listen to it here or watch it on YouTube!
In part one, Bianca sits down with Carley Fortune. The two discuss her latest novel One Golden Summer, reflecting on her creative process, the challenges of writing under pressure, and the importance of character development. She shares insights into navigating reader expectations and the personal struggles that influence her writing. The discussion highlights the beauty of books as objects and the emotional depth required to create compelling narratives.
“I'm not a plotter, so I'm just kind of automatically dumping backstory, because I'm trying to understand the character and what motivates them. And then as I'm reading, it's like, OK, I can take most of this and sprinkle it throughout the book and just hint at something that would be interesting to learn about this character later on.”
Carley Fortune
More information about Carley can be found on her website. She’s also on Instagram!
You can purchase One Golden Summer 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 📚❤️
In the second part of this week’s episode Bianca connects with former television producer and debut novelist, Sue Hincenbergs. Sue shares her inspiring journey from aspiring writer to published author of The Retirement Plan, including the challenges she faced in her writing career, the evolution of her craft, and the importance of community and support in the writing process.
“One thing I did, which I think was really smart, was early on I got a subscription to Publishers Marketplace, so I would watch the deals. Every day I would read them. It would land in my mailbox and I'd go through them all… I would [also] read other people's other successful authors' query letters to see what got an agent. If I was looking for an agent and I was planning to query them, I'd see who they had on their list, and then I would just Google to see if that author had published their query letter and went from that.”
-Sue Hincenbergs
More information about Sue can be found on her website. She’s also on Instagram!
You can purchase The Retirement Plan on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. 📚❤️
The Query Letter that Got Sue Hincenbergs Her Agent!
Sue Hincenbergs queried 197 times before she landed her agent! She has kindly shared with us the query letter that finally got her that well-deserved ‘yes.’ Take a look below!
Dear Juliet,
I am seeking representation for my darkly humorous crime manuscript, THE RETIREMENT PLAN. I’m reaching out to you because I’m a fan of Richard Osman’s work, and although my novel is quite different from The Thursday Murder Club series, I think there’s a similar sensibility and hope it may find a spot on your list.
It’s Ocean’s 11 meets Bad Sisters.
Some retirement plans you don’t discuss with your accountant.
THE RETIREMENT PLAN is complete at 89,000 words. It will appeal to those who enjoy reading about seemingly normal people who do the unthinkable, as found in HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY by Bella Mackie, as well as propulsive, multi POV plots as in APPLES NEVER FALL by Liane Moriarty. It explores the idea that marriages require maintenance —even in their twilight years. The story is told from four POV’s – a wife, her husband, their hitman, and the husband’s boss.
Pam and Hank have been tight with three other couples for thirty years. They should all be retiring, but they can’t afford to since the husbands’ bad investment torpedoed their retirement funds. Now they’re trapped in marriages that have withered from blame, shame, and financial strain. But everything changes when one husband dies in a horrific accident.
The surviving wives are shocked to see his widow rebound with insurance money and new hair extensions. When they realize the only thing standing between them and their own beachfront retirement condo, is their husbands, they hire the nefarious, neighborhood barber—reputed to do ‘a bit of this and a bit of that’— to kill them, unaware the husbands have already engaged him for a job of their own.
The husbands have a secret. To salvage their marriages, they started their own retirement plan and they’ve been running a theft scheme at the casino where two of them work —based on true events of a Florida case. They are only weeks away from reaching their $10 million goal, surprising their wives, and retiring. But now, they’re afraid the new casino boss is on to them, and their buddy’s death wasn’t an accident at all—but a murder and a message.
The husbands scramble to stay alive, but they may not be fast enough to outmaneuver both the casino and their wives.
I’m a TV Producer who left the daunting hours of morning television for music and variety specials. I live in Toronto with my husband, and my three sons’ bedrooms full of the stuff they left behind when they moved out. I’ve adopted a middle-aged, scruffy rescue dog named Kramer. He came for six weeks and never left. One of my best life decisions yet.
As per your guidelines please find attached a synopsis and the first 15,000 words. I hope you enjoy these pages and I’m happy to send the full manuscript if you would like to take a look.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sue Hincenbergs
Tuesday Teaser 😉
Thrillers are a hugely popular (and lucrative) genre, so it’s no surprise so many of you are writing them. But their popularity also means, alas, that a lot of what writers *think* are carefully planned plot twists are also no surprise— thriller readers are getting more sophisticated with every book they consume. Luckily for you, we’ve got an essay next week from psychological thriller author Helen Monks Takhar (The Marriage Rule) with her top five tips for twistier twists.
We’ve also got a video from Mary Morris (The Red House), who share a trick for getting going with your writing that could be the exact thing a lot of you pantsers out there are looking for, and a Q&A with Metallic Realms author Lincoln Michel, which echoes one of Jason Powell’s key points from his video a few editions ago (not to mention all the other authors who’ve shared variations on the same theme). It’s the kind of thing that, if you hear it enough, will eventually sink in and (hopefully) change how you view yourself and your writing time (for the better, of course!).
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
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!
Join Bianca’s Latest Course to Undergo Some Couple’s Counselling With Your WIP 😍
Have you been back and forth with your WIP, wistfully trying to recapture those early feelings of passion? Has there been lots of yelling and going to bed angry? Floods of tears as you shovel ice cream into your mouth, trying to figure out why you just can’t make it work? 😭 🍨 💔
“It’s not you, it’s me,” you might have whispered. “I just can’t give you what you need.” And maybe it is time to break up, but isn’t it worth one last shot to try and figure things out?
Couples counselling for you and your manuscript! Let’s do it!! ❤️🙌🏼❤️🩹🫶🏼
Sign up for Circling the Building of Your Work webinar and be prepared to either rekindle that flame or walk away for good, knowing you did everything you could to save it.
The webinar is happening on the 13th of May from 7 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time.
Cost: $69
Don’t Miss the Literary Event of the Season!
In just one month from today, join Bianca on the 9th of June from 6-10pm ET as she launches her latest novel, A Most Puzzling Murder, at The Young People’s Theatre in downtown Toronto in this not-to-be-missed literary soiree of the season!
It’s not a party without friends, and Bianca will have a LOT of them there to help her celebrate, including Carly and CeCe for the hosts’ first ever in real life event together!!
In each week’s Friday newsletter, we’ll also be announcing additional special guests, not to mention the incredible contests we’ll be hosting, as well as the awesome prizes up for grabs.
This week, we’re excited to announce that special guests Jackie Khalilieh (author of You Started It), Gina Sorell (author of The Wise Women), Catalina Margulis (author of Again, Only More Like You), Jessica Hamilton (author What You Never Knew) and Patricia Sands (Author of The Secrets We Hide) will be joining in the fun too!
Make sure to check out their incredible titles on our Bookshop.org affiliate page!
We’re also excited about the two contests we’re hosting for those of you who will be joining us on the night:
A flash fiction contest – a story told in 1500 words or less.
A query package contest – your query letter and five opening pages.
The best entry in each category will be invited up on stage on the night to accept their award, and they’ll be welcomed onto the podcast and published in our newsletter.
Entries can be emailed to tsnotyaw.contest@gmail.com Please note, you can only enter these contests if you’ve got a ticket to attend the event and the deadline is midnight ET on the 3rd of June.
We’ll also do two draws on the night for two 10 000-word critiques, one done by Bianca and one done by CeCe.
There are prizes you’re going to want to win!
CAD $45+tax gets you an unassigned seat in the theatre, access to all the fun, a signed copy of A Most Puzzling Murder, a goodie bag, and snacks before and after the main event.
Join CeCe’s Latest Course: Writing Emotion & Relationships 😍
The best stories are the ones that make readers feel, which is why learning how to effectively write emotion and write relationships are essential skills for successful storytellers.
Writers of all categories and genres are invited to attend. this 4-day workshop covering:
Active vs. passive emotions
How to effectively convey emotion (showing vs. telling)
Most common mistakes in writing emotion and relationships (and how to get it right)
Types of relationships and how to leverage each one in a story
Protagonist’s emotional and relational makeup
Roles: from love interest to antagonist
How to create chemistry between characters
Different genre expectations
The role of emotion and relationships in the query letter; AND MORE!
The webinar will feature an interactive component, with everyone who registers having the option of submitting the opening scene of their work by June 18th for a *chance* to have it critiqued live during the course , and a live, cozy Q&A session on June 30th at 7pm ET (link will be emailed to attendees on June 25).
The Details:
Instructions on how to submit will be sent to you automatically after registration (look for an email from Zoom). Submissions received after June 18th date will not be considered.
If you can’t attend one or more sessions live, you can still sign up! Recordings will be sent out 24hr later and will be available for 60 days.
Recordings will NOT be sold after the fact.
Fee: $149
Dates & Times:
Jun 18, 2025 07:00 PM ET
Jun 25, 2025 07:00 PM ET
Jul 9, 2025 07:00 PM ET
Please note: submissions made as part of this course do NOT constitute a query to a literary agent—anything you submit is a submission to an educational webinar. You are NOT querying CeCe by submitting to this webinar.
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
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.
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.
That query! I just bought THE RETIREMENT PLAN based off of it.
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉