✨Renée Rosen Persevered...and So Can You!; and Padma Venkatraman on Writing From the Inside Out✨

Plus, the better than ever Great Beta Reader Match Up, and Time's running out on our Deep Dive Contest!

Happy Tuesday, writing friends!

How’s everyone doing? Although the days are supposedly getting longer, if you’re feeling like you could use more light in your life, your friends here at The 💩 have got some bright spots for you today in the form of a Q&A with a bestselling historical fiction author, and an essay from an award-winning MG and YA writer.

Our Q&A today is with Renée Rosen, the USA Today bestselling author (Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl and The Social Graces, among others) whose latest, Let’s Call Her Barbie (yes, that Barbie!), is out today. This one’s for you pantsers out there, wondering if you really can write a successful book amidst all the chaos. Not only doesn’t she outline, Renée is basically the anti-John Irving; she doesn’t even know how her books will end until she gets there! 🫨 (Editor’s note: Shocked face emoji for effect only. My little planster heart was actually quite warmed to hear this, and I suspect I’m not alone!) And bless any author who is willing tell a thousand total strangers what Renée shares with our paid subscribers today about her first published novel—honesty and vulnerability are some of the best teachers out there. ❤️👩🏼‍🏫

When dreaming up characters for your latest and greatest, do fill in character bio sheets? How often have you downloaded a file someone swears is “the best character worksheet ever” and if you actually filled it in, did you refer to it? If knowing your protagonist’s hair colour isn’t exactly driving your plot forward, you’ll want to read this week’s essay by award winning YA and MG author Padma Venkatraman, whose novel-in-verse, Safe Harbour, is out today. In “Creating Characters Who Make Us Laugh and Cry,” Padma breaks down the process she follows to bring empathetic characters to life by evoking emotional complexity. She swears by the five steps she shares with readers today—check them out! 📃✔️

Finally, don’t forget to check out details on our Deep Dive Virtual Retreat contest and Bianca’s Great Beta Reader Match Up.

That’s all for now. Happy reading!

❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team