✨Got Questions About Dual Timelines? Sarah Penner's Got Answers!; Nana Malone on Finding (and Writing to) Your Strengths; & Karen Swan on Balancing "Bum Glue" and Breaks✨

Plus, the Great Beta Reader Match-Up continues, and Bianca's latest course, Circling the Building of Your Work, is just two weeks away!

Happy Tuesday, writing friends!

We’ve got three bestselling authors sharing their wisdom and insights with you today, offering advice on aspects of all stages of the writing journey, from premise and structure to getting words on the page and how to make sure those words find their audience once they’re all written.

Has your protagonist by chance just stumbled upon a shocking discovery up in Grandma’s attic? If you answered “yes” to that, you might want to read today’s essay by The Lost Apothecary author Sarah Penner, in which she answers the most common questions she hears about writing dual-timeline novels. Sarah (whose third book, The Amalfi Curse, is out today!), covers everything from the difference between flashbacks and true dual timelines, the best ways to weave two storylines together, and the importance of avoiding venturing into cobwebby attics in search of your premise (unless you’ve got a really fresh angle for this particular trope, agents and editors have already spent enough time climbing those creaky stairs). Given that Sarah’s working on her fourth dual timeline novel as we speak, we’d say she knows what she’s talking about! 🙌🏻

Next up, we’ve got a Q&A with seasoned author Karen Swan (The Midnight Secret). From “bum glue” (her take on “butt in chair”) to knowing when you’ve hit a wall and giving yourself permission to take a break, Karen’s thoughtful responses to our questions reflect the kind of perspective it takes publishing nearly 30 books in 15 years (!) to achieve. Take this snippet of wisdom, for example:

“Creativity doesn't just come to you. In my experience it's a result of both focused and lucid thought, concentrating the conscious and subconscious into a creative space where threads of ideas can start to be woven together into something solid and beautiful. That can mean spending eight hours staring at a blank screen or a white wall, waiting as you try to find the right way into a scene or hit upon the driving motivation of a character.”

One of the hardest things a writer can face is the pressure to rack up word count, so hopefully we’re slowly but surely convincing you (with a little help from our friends) that it’s not the only valid measure of a writer’s effort. 😊

BookTok, Instagram, Facebook, Threads…it seems like the menu of social media platforms authors are pressured to participate is constantly expanding—and collapsing. In this week’s author video, Nana Malone (Gold Coast Dilemma), talks about the perils of hitching your wagon to a platform that could easily lose traction, or even cease to exist entirely. Her alternative might surprise you…but you’ll have to tune in to find out what it is. And we don’t know where she gets her obvious abundance of energy and enthusiasm, but whatever Nana’s eating for breakfast, we’ll have what she’s having. (Seriously. It might not get us a spot on the Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY bestseller lists beside Nana, but we’ll absolutely settle for even just a sliver of her positivity.) 😍

Finally, Bianca’s once again offering up her services as beta reader match-maker extraordinaire, and she has a new course on offer for anyone stuck on finding the best entry point into their story—sign up while you still can!

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

❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team