✨Claire Jiménez on Writing the Mirror You Crave, and Registration Opens for All About Fantasy with Bianca!✨
Plus, a Q&A with Sallie Tisdale, author of The Lie About the Truck, and The Query Lab spotlight shines on an adult fantasy
It’s finally Friday, friends!
And not just any old Friday, when the weekend begins and we can ignore at least some of the obligations that the rest of the time keep up from doing what we love best, but the Friday when registration finally opens for Bianca’s All About Fantasy virtual retreat! Today only, Bianca is offering early-bird pricing when you register. Scroll down for more details, including the announcement of a prize pack from sponsor The Story Engine that all registered delegates are eligible to win!🧙🏼🪄🧙🏼♂️
Other exciting things happening this week include CeCe taking over interviewer duties to speak with award-winning author Claire Jiménez about her debut novel What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez. Anyone who’s feeling discouraged about how long their journey to publication is taking will want to hear Claire talk about her own experience—then take the lesson in it to heart (Hint: it involves spending years editing a manuscript even after signing with an agent, and the payoff that kind of patience can be rewarded with).🤓🤩
We’ve also got a Q&A with non-fiction writer Sallie Tisdale, author of The Lie About the Truck, a look at Survivor and what constitutes truth in the age of reality TV. Among other things, Sallie shares her tips for getting past days when the writing feels stale, as well as her thoughts on “authors,” “writers” and which of the two belongs on social media. 🤔🤳🏼
Finally, Rose Black’s successful query for Til Death Do Us Bard: A Heart-Warming Tale of Marriage, Magic, and Monster-Slaying is featured in The Query Lab today (Rose, if you’re reading this, that author photo is perfection. 10/10. No notes). 🙌🏼😍
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✨🎙️✨
This week on the podcast (listen to it here!) we’re throwing it back to an early backlist segment of 📕Books with Hooks🪝, after which CeCe interviews Claire Jiménez, assistant professor of English and African American studies and author of What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez. They discuss:
the three pivotal moments in Claire's writing career;
Claire's experience writing a multitude of POVs;
how she went about developing her characters;
how publishing is like a nightclub;
what surprised Claire about the publishing world;
Claire's advice to emerging writers; and
the idea of writing the book that doesn't exist.
“It's like publishing is trying to play this game of: ‘How slow do you think time can move? Ha, I will show you how slow it can be every single time and I will surprise you by being even slower.’”
— CeCe
More information about Claire can be found on her website here.
You can purchase What Happened To Ruthy Ramirez 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 📚❤️
Author Q&A with Sallie Tisdale
I am the author of ten books, most recently The Lie About the Truck. My earlier books include Talk Dirty to Me and Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them). I published a collection of essays, Violation, in 2015. My work has appeared in Harper’s, Antioch Review, Conjunctions, Threepenny Review, The New Yorker, and Tricycle, among other journals. I also teach at Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland, Oregon
TSNOTYAW: Do you have a go-to mantra or pep talk for the days when writing feels hard?
Sallie Tisdale: Nothing, really. It rarely feels hard—at least not in the sense of too difficult or painful. It’s often hard, in the sense of challenging. But that’s the beauty and the satisfaction in it. Of course there are days when I feel stale. We all have days when there’s no juice and the work won’t breathe. Then I bake bread or do chores or start a jigsaw puzzle. I actually keep a folder of compliments in case I need them. But I haven’t looked at it in years. One of the greatest consolations of growing older is being confident and at home in your own skin, your own voice, and in doing what only you can do. Most of the time, I’ve had a job and sometimes two, separate from the writing. So the chance to sit down and write usually feels like a privilege, not a chore.
Were you ever close to giving up on writing and, if so, what stopped you?
Never. Can’t imagine that. Of course after a long project, I’m out of ideas and it seems like I will never have another idea or write another decent sentence. I suppose when I was younger, I sometimes believed that was going to last forever. But now I know it’s just creative exhaustion. I know to give it time, catch up on accounting and housework and friends (I’m always behind on those), and wait until the energy returns.
What would you say you’ve done right to build a strong and supportive writing network?
I have a small network, but it does feel strong and supportive. A few other writers, a few former students, a couple of editors. This feels like enough for me because I don’t network-as-verb, and I don’t use social media. What I’ve done right? Listen, be respectful, give advice (but only when asked), stay in my lane. Accept requests for interviews from reliable sources, go to the occasional cocktail party but only a few, always return favors, and write thank-you notes. Just being a good friend and citizen is all you need.
What one piece of advice (craft- or publishing industry-related) has always resonated with you?
It changes over the years. Now, working on book # 11, the quote above my desk is by the psychologist D. W. Winnicott: “It is joy to be hidden and a disaster not to be found.” This is personal advice. The craft advice is what I have been told many times over the years—write what only you can write, and forget the reader.
How do you ensure you have enough time to write amidst so many obligations competing for your time?
An eternal question for artists of all kinds. Most of us spend our entire working lives supporting our art with a job in another field. I’ve done that for all but a handful of years, and reared a family at the same time. When I was younger and had more energy, I could write after the kids were in bed. That’s a long time ago. These days the real trick is to discipline my attention and ignore distractions, so that means blocking out entire days without obligations. It’s an effort of will at times, but when the words are flowing, everything else disappears.
What is the most challenging part of being a successful author? And how do you mitigate its effects?
Am I a successful writer? I’ve gotten published and have a few editors who welcome my work. I’ve rarely supported myself, but I do get paid—widely varying amounts. I have described myself as a “very indie, mezzanine, remainder table, 367-followers-on-Spotify” writer. My neighbors have no idea what I do. Few of my friends are writers, and most of my friends and family don’t read my work. If anything will mitigate a swelled head, that’s a good one.
How important do you think it is for writers to be on social media?
My poor publisher. I’m afraid that we disagree about this. Let me be clear: I think it’s probably useful for authors to be on social media. I think it’s bad for writers to do it. Writers are a peculiar kind of gregarious introvert. The exposure, interaction, impulsivity, trolling, and fashions of social media all work against the writer’s needs. I’m a good writer, but a bad author.
What do you wish you had known about writing before you published your debut?
That publishing is not a meritocracy.
How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?
My current agent worked for my former agent. When she left to start her own agency, I jumped ship and became her first client. My former agent never spoke to me again. To be clear, I abided by all the requirements of the contract. But it is kind of like a marriage and this was kind of like adultery.
You can purchase The Lie About the Truck on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here.
The Query Lab 📝🖊
This is our second to last edition of The Query Lab.
Today we’ve got a query from Rose Black, author of Til Death Do Us Bard: A Heart-Warming Tale of Marriage, Magic, and Monster-Slaying 😍:
Dear [redacted],
A grumpy adventurer must come out of retirement to stop a civil war between magic and undead, even if doing so will lose him the sunshine of his heart.
TIL DEATH DO US BARD is a 95k word adult fantasy full of queer characters, with the humour of Kings of the Wyld, and the adventure of the Witcher series. Content warning for an incident of domestic violence (not from the protagonist).
Logan “the Barbarian” Theaker never expected to be domesticated. An adventurer by trade, he sees his role as protector of the weak, and that doesn’t leave much time for making friends. Until he meets bard Pie, the sunshine to his thundercloud. Logan’s hung up his axe for pig farming and wants nothing more than to be a good husband.
Until Pie lies to him, drugs him, and vanishes into the night.
As Logan struggles to come to terms with the idea that the last six months of his life may have been a charade, the kingdom around him is in similar turmoil. A grieving king has banned magic, and the country’s spellcasters push back against the resolution. Desperate to learn if Pie is alive or dead, Logan turns to an old adversary – one of the last necromancers. Unfortunately, her help comes in the form of raising Logan’s ex-wife’s ghost, and she holds Logan responsible for her death.
From her, Logan learns Pie’s been blackmailed by the king into stealing a lost necromantic artifact, one capable of creating an army of flesh bodies. Banning magic is no longer enough for the king and he appears set to use death itself to crush any who use it. If Logan can put aside his hero complex long enough to work with his former antagonists, he can stop a civil war between undead and magic. But doing so puts him at odds with the one man who has ever made him feel happy and worthy of love – Pie.
I’m a bi woman, an IT professional, a #Pitchwars alum, and mother to the world’s wiggliest toddler. I’m lucky enough to live in the historic city of Bath. When I haven’t got my nose a book of one sort or another, I enjoy photography and making cheese.
You can learn more about Rose Black here ❤️
Til Death Do Us Bard is out now and available on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. 🥰
Click below for the downloadable version of Rose’s successful query!
Tuesday Teaser 😉
Next week’s newsletter exclusively for our paid members is another good one! We know you all love a Carly Watters essay, and on Tuesday she’s back with one about what every aspiring author hopes their manuscript will one day grow up to be: a “Breakout Book.” ✨📖
We’ve also got Cape Town-based Kerstin Hall, author of Asunder, with thoughtful, frank and practical answers in our weekly Q&A (including one that might shock you on the subject of regret 😱), and a video interview with Rachel Kranz, author of Open: One Woman's Journey Through Love and Polyamory. Rachel chats with Carly about the challenges of publishing a personal memoir, including what the experience is like for women in particular, and offers tips and tools for would-be memoirists.
And, last but certainly not least, two more, never-before-been-shared written query critiques by CeCe and Carly. ✍🏼📖
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!
All About Fantasy✨
Join Bianca on the 28th of September from 9am-5pm ET as she hosts a one-day virtual retreat specifically aimed at fantasy authors!
Whether you write YA Fantasy, Romantasy, Adult Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Dystopian Fantasy, or any other variation of the genre, you won’t want to miss out on this amazing day of learning dedicated especially to you and those writing in your genre.
The incredible lineup of speakers includes:
Author Tomi Adeyemi who is a Time100, #1 New York Times Best-Selling, Hugo and Nebula award-winning novelist and screenwriter. She has worked with Disney, Amazon, and Netflix, and penned the adaptation of her best-selling series for Paramount Studios. Her novels include Children of Blood and Bone, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, and Children of Anguish and Anarchy.
Topic: Writing the Breakout Fantasy Debut Novel (a one hour presentation followed by a half an hour Q & A).
Author Amber Chen who is the UK #1 bestselling author of the YA silkpunk fantasy novel, Of Jade and Dragons. She is currently based in sweltering Singapore and spends much of her free time living within Chinese fantasy novels and dramas. She also drinks one too many cups of bubble tea. One of her webnovels, The Cutting Edge, has been adapted for television.
Topic: Pacing in YA Fantasy Through a Screenwriter's Lens (a one hour presentation followed by a half an hour Q & A).
Author Andrea Hairston who is a novelist, essayist, playwright, and the artistic director of Chrysalis Theatre. She is the author of Redwood and Wildfire, winner of the 2011 Otherwise Award and the Carl Brandon Kindred Award, and Mindscape, short-listed for the Philip K. Dick and Otherwise Awards and winner of the Carl Brandon Parallax Award. In her spare time, she is the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College. Hairston has received the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts Distinguished Scholarship Award for outstanding contributions to the criticism of the fantastic. She bikes at night year-round, meeting bears and the occasional shooting star.
Topic: Dramatic World Building: How to make Setting, Cosmology, and Backstory part of the Action in Fantasy (a one hour presentation followed by a half an hour Q & A).
Literary Agent Mary C. Moore who has represented the Nebula-nominated The Unbroken by C.L. Clark (Orbit,2021); and Indie Next and Book of the Month pick The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker (Inkyard, 2021). Mary’s first career was in field biology, which took her around the world, from Ghana to Costa Rica to Maui, before settling at the San Francisco Zoo. But her love of books proved to be just as strong as her love of animals. While working at the zoo she earned her MFA in Creative Writing and English at Mills College, Oakland. She worked as a literary agent at Kimberley Cameron & Associates before moving to Aevitas. Mary represents a wide range of fiction as an Aevitas agent based in the Bay Area.
Topic: Mary will critique 3-4 query letters submitted by delegates ahead of the retreat. (This one-hour critique session will be recorded a few days ahead of the retreat as Mary is unable to attend it live, but every delegate will have the opportunity to have their work potentially selected by Mary for the critique).
Elizabeth Hitti who joined the Atria editorial team in 2022 and works on a range of bestselling fiction that includes fantasy, rom-com, cozy mysteries, and speculative fiction. She acquires romantasies, cozy fantasies, and romance novels that are plot-driven, swoony, and escapist, while seamlessly layered with emotional and intellectual depth. She is especially drawn to novels featuring observant social commentary, poignant family dynamics, nuanced characters, chemistry that leaps off the page, and any form of magic. Her upcoming fantasy titles include The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski (S&S's Top Shelf Pick for Fall 2024), Hopelessly Teavoted by Audrey Ruoff, and The Underachiever's Guide to Love and Saving the World by Sloane Brooks.
Topic: Romantasy and the Cozy Fantasy - Everything You Need to Know About These Two Best-Selling Trends (a one hour presentation followed by a half an hour Q & A).
Sanaa Ali-Virani who is an Assistant Editor at Tor Publishing Group.
Topic: How to Make an Editor Fall in Love with Your Book (a 45-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute Q & A)
The retreat will be taped, and the recording and materials will be sent out to all registered delegates the next day. Each session that includes a Q & A will allow you to ask the speakers all your burning questions.
A closed Facebook group will be created so that delegates can interact with one another before and after the retreat as a way of building and maintaining community.
The Story Engine, who is sponsoring the retreat, is hosting an awesome giveaway of an "All Things Fantasy Storytelling" package that contains a copy of each of their decks, Story Engine Deck and Deck of Worlds, each with their associated Fantasy Expansions, the Mythology, Dystopian, and Fairy Tale Boosters valued at $237 CAD. All registered delegates will automatically be entered into the draw for this incredible prize. The winner will be announced at the end of the retreat.
The Story Engine will offer an exclusive 15% limited discount code for all delegates when they shop on the website.
The regular registration fee is US $ 149.00.
An early bird discount will apply for today only, (on the 16th of August), when the fee will be US $109.00
For more information, and to book your spot, go to:
Be Part of Carly’s Masterclass 😍📝
Carly’s class includes 10+ hours of writing and publishing video lessons you have lifetime access to, monthly Q&A sessions, and fresh content every quarter.
Did we mention there’s an app, too? You can keep learning on the go. Don’t miss a minute of Carly’s top career advice for aspiring, emerging and published writers. Get the writing career you’ve always dreamed of.
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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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.