✨Heard of The Black List? Everything You Need to Know About the "IMDB" for Screenwriters' Expansion into Fiction✨
Plus, more HUGE Deep Dive Series news; and New York Times bestselling author, Christina Lynch shares her "objection" to a common writing rule (and we agree!)
Happy Friday, writing friends!
How’s everyone doing? If you’re reading this, you’ve survived another week and, really, don’t you think the universe owes you a special little somethin’ somethin’? Like, for instance, taking a break from it all to tune into the latest The Shit No One Tells You About Writing podcast?
This week’s podcast episode really is one you don’t want to miss. Our interview this time around isn’t with an author, but with the team behind The Black List, a platform they describe as being like the IMDB of the writing world. If that doesn’t pique your interest…maybe check to see if you have a pulse? As founder Franklin Leonard and creative director of fiction Randy Winston explain to Carly and CeCe, The Black List started in the film industry as an annual survey of Hollywood's best (but unproduced) screenplays, evolved into a platform to connect writers with people in film, television, theater, and now—as of September—has moved into the publishing space. You’ll have to tune in for Franklin and Randy’s explanation of how The Black List works, but given the platform’s track record of helping unknown screenwriters break into Hollywood (ever heard of a little movie called Slumdog Millionaire? Or maybe The King’s Speech?), and the recent New York Times profile quoting agents and publishers who believe it can do the same for aspiring authors, we think you’ll agree that it’s time well spent. ✍🏾💻🫱🏼🫲🏽
In today’s newsletter we’ve got a great Q&A with Cristina Lynch, whose Pony Confidential came out this week. Cristina is yet another author we wish was among our writing besties or, barring that, whose wisdom we wish we could channel (Editor’s note: Yes, I am aware that I say this a lot. But it’s true every time.) Among Cristina’s answers to our questions are gems about how to get the most out of feedback (in particular, feedback you don’t initially love hearing) and why you might not always have to “kill your darlings.” 📄🗡️
Last, but absolutely, positively not least, today we’re revealing the next three speakers in the Deep Dive Series line-up, along with the 12 amazing (really and truly) prizes that will be up for grabs. Today’s speaker reveal includes a Read With Jenna book club author; an Executive Editor who’s worked with the likes of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Lisa Jewell, and Jennifer Weiner (!); and a literary agency founder whose clients include New York Times and international bestsellers, book club picks and award-winners—pretty impressive, no? Here’s just a small selection of the books these three have worked on:
Spending time in the company of a trio this accomplished is absolutely worth the price of admission, but that’s not all you get when you register—there will be 12 prizes up for grabs, including one that will significantly reduce the price of next year’s admission for three lucky winners (by, like, A LOT), and one which will help nine registered delegates take their writing to a whole other level. Keep reading to find out exactly what we mean! 😉
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!), Carly and CeCe interview Franklin Leonard (founder) and Randy Winston (creative director of fiction), of The Blacklist, a platform designed to connect writers with industry professionals. They discuss:
The role of literary agents, the pricing structure of their services, the qualifications of their readers, and the impact of their recent New York Times profile;
The challenges and opportunities in the publishing industry, emphasizing the importance of quality feedback and the need for writers to aim high in their craft;
The evolving relationship between the film and television industry and literature, emphasizing the importance of educating writers about the business side of publishing; and
The ideal customer for their platform.
“I talk about this in the screenplay context a lot, but I think it holds just across art, frankly. ‘Good enough’ is not good enough. The goal here, always, is to aspire to something that makes someone say, after they finish it… ‘My God, I have to tell everybody about this.’”
- Franklin Leonard
Q&A with Christina Lynch 🙌
The author of Sally Brady's Italian Adventure and The Italian Party, both from St. Martin's Press, and Pony Confidential (which comes out today!), Christina Lynch’s picaresque journey includes chapters in Chicago and at Harvard, where she was an editor on the Harvard Lampoon. She was the Milan correspondent for W Magazine and Women’s Wear Daily, and disappeared for four years in Tuscany. In L.A. she was on the writing staff of Unhappily Ever After; Encore, Encore; The Dead Zone and Wildfire. She now lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Under the pen name Magnus Flyte, she is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller City of Dark Magic and City of Lost Dreams. She teaches at College of the Sequoias.
TSNOTYAW: Do you have a go-to mantra or pep talk for the days when writing feels hard?
Christina Lynch: I remind myself that I have a lot of animal mouths to feed! But seriously, I think if you approach writing like a profession and not a side hustle or hobby (no matter who is waiting or not waiting for your manuscript), then you can push through any reluctance you might be feeling to put your butt in the chair and put words down. My mantra for the past forty years is "roll the ball forward every day." I have a grumpy old pony who neighs every couple of hours for his next meal, and with the price of hay where it is, that's very motivating.
What would you say you’ve done right to build a strong and supportive writing network?
I believe that all of my friends' successes are my successes, and mine are theirs. Success is not a pie with a finite number of slices—that mindset leads to self-destructive jealousies and schadenfreude. It sounds pollyanna-ish, but I am genuinely happy for anyone who has a book that is selling well, and very happy to talk through any roadblocks friends run into during the writing process. I participate in an annual writing workshop with a great group of writers, plus I keep in touch with writer friends from Hollywood, my time in journalism, and grad school as well as courses I've taken and taught. My community is essential to me.
What one piece of advice (craft- or publishing industry-related) has always resonated with you?
If you get feedback from a trusted reader/editor that seems off or makes you bristle, ask yourself what the note behind the note might be—it's possible that a scene that they are bumping on and asking you to cut is not properly set up a hundred pages earlier, and if you adjust the earlier pages, they will love that later scene as much as you do. At the same time, I remind myself about ten times a day during revisions that a book can always get better. Open a new version, execute the note, and then see which version feels stronger to you. Taking a note is not a defeat—it takes a team to make a great book, and that doesn't detract from your authorship one bit.
How do you ensure you have enough time to write amidst so many obligations competing for your time?
I make it a top priority to write something every day, even if it's a sentence. Sometimes my teaching has to come first, sometimes getting exercise has to come first, but most days, I can carve out at least an hour if I remind myself that it's central to my identity. I always feel better after a writing session, even if it's a hard one, than I do on days when I skip it. That said, every day when the alarm goes off at 6 a.m., I want to roll over and keep sleeping...and then the ancient pony issues his piercing call, and I get to work.
What's one writing "rule" or commonly followed piece of advice that you decidedly break?
I love a good adverb. There's a rule that "less is more" that came out of the Gordon Lish school of editing in the 1970s, and while I respect and adhere to some of those ideas about killing your darlings and crossing out unnecessary words, I also love lush, funny, digressive writing that feels unique and unexpected. Sometimes writing students come out sounding like their mentors, and that's a teacher failure in my mind. A writer's education should lead them to sound more like themselves. I humbly, lovingly, warmly, mischievously submit my objection to cutting all the adverbs.
What is something you’ve learned about yourself later in your writing career that would have surprised your younger self?
That I can find a huge rewrite to be exhilarating and fun. Fun! It shocks me to write that, but it's true. I wrote a novel in my twenties, sent it to one very famous editor who actually read it (!) and gave me what in retrospect was helpful, fairly minor feedback. I was crushed that he didn't say it was perfect, and I put the book in a drawer and didn't write fiction for the next twenty years. I was a ridiculously fragile flower! Now I can tackle a page one revision (and have, many times) without much agonizing. It's a great opportunity to try telling the story a different way, and you can always go back to the previous version (though I never have).
If you could travel back in time and meet your past self in the year after the publication of your debut, what words of encouragement and/or warning would you give yourself?
I don't think I would want to ruin the surprise of what was to come! Every book has been its own strange, beautiful, difficult odyssey. I guess I would tell myself that the market changes, the publication process changes, tastes change, so just tell the stories you want to tell. Heed the Toni Morrison advice to write the book you want to read and leave the rest of it to the fickle whims of fate, because that's where it lives anyway. The only part you can control is the writing, so that's what you have to train yourself to derive joy from. If you are only going to be happy when your book sells, or sells well, or wins prizes, then you are going to spend the majority of your life miserable. Don't do that to yourself, as so many writers have. Find satisfaction in good and bad days at the keyboard and you will be fine.
What question do you wish an interviewer would ask you? (And what’s the answer to that question!)
Where should I send the million-dollar check? Ha! The answer would be: deliver it directly into the money pit of my life, which thanks to my love of many animals and an old house, is quite deep.
You can purchase Pony Confidential on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here. 📚❤️
But Wait! There’s More: Three New Deep Dive Speakers Revealed! 🥳
Bianca and CeCe have 12 incredible speakers lined up for the upcoming Virtual Deep Dive, 9 of whom are agents and editors—and all of whom have a wealth of knowledge and experience they’re looking forward to sharing with you. So far, we’ve told you about Jenny Jackson, Cherise Fisher, Annabel Monaghan, Pilar Garcia-Brown, Mark Tavani and Jami Attenberg, and we’re super-excited to reveal the next three speakers today!
And as if that weren’t enough, today we’re also announcing the fantastic (and we really do mean it!) prizes that registered delegates will be eligible to win. Intrigued? Read on…
First up is Sarah Cantin who is an Executive Editor at St. Martin’s Publishing Group, where she edits a list of upmarket commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction, and pop poetry.
Her bestselling and critically acclaimed authors include Emilia Hart (Weyward), Rachel Hawkins (The Wife Upstairs), Carola Lovering (Tell Me Lies), Jessica George (Maame), Laurie Albanese (Hester), Mikki Brammer (The Collected Regrets of Clover), and Lynda Cohen Loigman (The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern).
Prior to joining SMPG, Sarah spent nine years at Atria Books, where she edited Taylor Jenkins Reid, Lisa Jewell, Jennifer Weiner, and Lucinda Riley, among others.
Sarah’s topic: How to Infuse a Story With Suspense Even When You Don’t Write in the Suspense Genre
You know that feeling when you just fall into a story, when the pages seem to practically turn themselves? When you tell yourself that you’ll read just one more chapter before turning out the light?
In this presentation, we’ll discuss how to inject that feeling into your work, regardless of genre. We’ll do a deep dive into what suspense actually is, and the different forms it can take. We’ll learn how to recognize the techniques other authors are employing to grab our attention, and how we as readers react to those techniques.
In the process, we will look at a range of novels that deploy suspense in clever, unexpected ways, and explore the alchemy that makes a book “unputdownable.”
Next up, we have Stephanie Delman who spent 10 years building her list at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates before co-founding Trellis Literary Management in the fall of 2021.
Stephanie is focused on adult fiction: stylish writing, high-stakes and high-concept literary thrillers, upmarket fiction, socially conscious fiction, untold or underrepresented historical fiction, psychologically propulsive suspense, maximalist storytelling (in ambition, not in word count), and literary novels that play with genre. She enjoys fiction that’s grounded in reality but tinged with something else: a bit of surrealism, a touch of horror. A very small part of Stephanie’s list is nonfiction: specifically, braided/speculative memoir projects by authors with established platforms and diverse perspectives.
Her clients include Zakiya Dalila Harris, Vanessa Chan, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, Serena Burdick, Julia Fine, and many others; they have been New York Times and international bestsellers, GMA Book Club and Book of the Month picks, National Endowment for the Arts, Tin House, and Kundiman fellows, Rona Jaffe and Harper Lee award winners, Barnes & Noble Discover authors, and more.
Stephanie’s Topic: Why I Said Yes:
In this session, we’ll look at:
the queries that dazzled;
the sample pages that won Stephanie over; and
the moment she knew she wanted to sign each of her newest clients.
Lastly in today’s lineup reveal is Diane Marie Brown, who is a professor at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California and a public health professional for the Long Beach Health Department. She has a BA and MPH from UCLA and a degree in fiction from USC’s Master of Professional Writing Program.
Her work has appeared in Bomb Magazine, Hear Our Voices, Scary Mommy, Women Writers, the Audible Blog, and the Daily Bruin.
Her debut novel, Black Candle Women, is a Read With Jenna book club selection.
Diane’s Topic: Asking Why – Bringing Intentionality to Our Stories
Writing with purpose can help stories become more satisfying and engaging for readers. In this session we’ll discuss what it means to write with purpose.
Then, we’ll look at examples of intentionality when it comes to plot, acts, chapters, scenes, character, setting, point of view, voice, and pacing.
Along the way, we’ll get tips and techniques that encourage us to craft purposeful stories that connect with audiences.
Make sure you check next week’s edition for the exciting reveal of the next 3 incredible speakers!
For those of you who enjoyed the breakout rooms and discussion sessions during the 10-week Deep Dive earlier this year, have no fear! We’ll be having two additional sessions on the 25th of January (11am – 2pm ET) and on the 8th of February (11am – 2pm) specifically to incorporate those sessions which will enable you to build community and ask questions.
Prizes:
Every registered delegate will automatically be entered into a draw which will be done live at the end of the retreat. Twelve (!) lucky participants will win one of the following incredible prizes:
A 10,000-word critique done by one of our speakers — 9 of these prizes available (the list of speakers offering critiques will be revealed once all of the remaining speakers have been unveiled)
Free Registration for Deep Dive 2026 — 3 of these prizes available
Pricing:
Standard pricing for the Deep Dive Virtual Retreat is $ 499, but on November 29th only we’re offering amazing discounts. Check it out!
the first 50 delegates to sign up after 8am ET will pay only $299
the next 50 to sign up will pay $349
and the next 50 after that will pay $399
After those first 150 discounted slots have been filled, standard pricing will apply.
Scholarship applications will open in January.
If you’d like to register for a reminder email that will go out the day before our early bird pricing opens on November 29th, sign up here:
Tuesday Teaser 😉
If you’ve ever found yourself at a tricky part in your manuscript, not sure how to proceed and daydreaming about how much better your writing would be if only you were more skilled in area X, it may have occurred to you to wonder what it would be like to have a writing partner. And if you’ve ever found yourself daydreaming about a writing partner, you won’t want to miss our video from co-authors Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne in next week’s newsletter exclusively for our paid members. They get into what makes a collaboration work, the personality types best suited to this kind of partnership, and more!
Also in next Tuesday’s edition, we’ve got an essay from multi-talented author Emma Grey (she’s written YA, non-fiction, memoir, and even musicals!), whose adult fiction debut, The Last Love Note, was selected for the Book of the Month and Target Book clubs, and was a bestseller in the U.S. With 37 years of writing experience under her belt, and a second adult novel out next week, Emma has seen a lot, and in her essay generously shares with us the three big lessons her experience has taught her.
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!
The Ultimate Planner for Writers, 2025
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.
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.
I just bought your digital planner and it looks very cool. I like the idea of having a planner that is only for writing, that you can print out, but also have on all devices. Very smart!
Is your pod anywhere else? I havent had an iphone for a while and cant access my apple id.