✨Veronica Roth on the evolution of her drafting and outlining process ✨
In this week's Books with Hooks, our hosts discuss a literary fiction and a high concept YA fantasy query. Then CeCe interviews Divergent series author Veronica Roth, and The Query Lab returns!
Greetings you gorgeously creative minds!
How did it get to be mid-May already?! It seems like only yesterday we were kicking off the year full of writerly ambition, eyes locked on our computer screens, only to look up a few minutes later and find it’s almost summer. Hopefully it’s been as productive a period for you as it has been for us, with words blossoming on the page like those proverbial May flowers, but if not, fear not—your friends here at The 💩 are back with some fresh new fertilizer for your creativity!
In this week’s episode, Carly and CeCe share their insights on two listener queries (and CeCe plants her flag firmly on the writing hill she’s willing to die on), then CeCe is joined by publishing phenomenon Veronica Roth to discuss her latest novella, When Among Crows. We’ve also got a contest for you and another round of The Query Lab, taking you behind the scenes on a query letter that got that “Yes!”.
Looking for more inspo and insights? Don’t forget we offer our TSNOTYAW Membership Program so you can get even more The Shit No One Tells You About Writing goodness! Our podcast episodes and Friday newsletter issues will continue to go out free of charge (we *love* sharing all this amazing content with writers like you). But as TSNOTYAW has grown, so too have the many, many hours our team pours into it, and in order to be able to keep showing up for our lovely listeners, we ask that you consider joining our paid community.
Here’s what you get for just $8USD a month or $80USD a year:
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!
Thanks for reading ❤️
The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team
This Week’s Podcast✨🎙️✨
In this week’s 📕Books with Hooks🪝, Bianca, Carly, and CeCe critique a literary fiction query and a high concept YA fantasy query. They discuss:
The necessity of being specific with plot details and your protagonists' motivations in your query
Homing in on world-building when your novel takes place in a reality that's different from ours
The issue with not grounding readers strongly enough in scene
Avoiding jumping around in time too much in your opening pages
The need to correctly specify your genre so an agent knows what to expect from your pages
Being mindful of spelling errors and putting your best foot forward
Interiority vs. dialogue in opening lines
Avoiding info-dumping, and
The importance of showing characters' reactions to the things that are happening to them
“This is a hill I will die on. Start your books with interiority. Do not begin your books with dialogue…Seriously, it's going to make it better. Try, just try. [I] challenge everyone out there.” — CeCe
After which, CeCe interviews NYT bestselling author Veronica Roth. They discuss:
Veronica's latest novel, When Among Crows
The Polish folklore that underpins the novel
Why Chicago inspires Veronica
The length of the novel
The allure of modern fantasy
Veronica's entry point into a story
Not throwing any ideas away
Veronica's drafting and outlining process and how/why it's changed, and
What she would tell her younger writer self
More information about Veronica can be found here. She's also on Instagram.
You can purchase When Among Crows 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 📚❤️
Tuesday Teaser 😉
In next week’s newsletter exclusively for our paid members, author Nicolas DiDomizio shares the two most important questions he asks himself in order to “hit the sweet spot of really good fiction.” With a buzz-worthy novel (Nearlywed) coming out May 21st, and a debut (Burn It All Down) that was praised as “unforgettable” by no less a person than James Patterson (!), we think his advice for aspiring writers is something you won’t want to miss.
Plus, author Rachel Kapelke-Dale goes to bat for the prologue. If you’ve been following the prologue wars, you’ll want to read her incredible essay.
Not a paid member? Don’t miss out—upgrade today!
Giveaway 😍🌟
Win a signed copy of I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This by Chelsea Devantez, one of the incredible speakers in the All About Webinar lineup tomorrow.
A dynamic memoir-in-essays by comedian, screenwriter, and podcaster Chelsea Devantez, detailing her tumultuous upbringing and uproarious career path into Hollywood.
There are things Chelsea Devantez probably shouldn’t be telling you. Many of them are in this book: some are embarrassing (like her three-year spell of celibacy that she tried to break with a guide of seduction tips). Some are confessional (getting sentenced to the “hell hill” at Mormon church camp). Some are TMI (a series of outrageous doctor visits that ended with one doctor misdiagnosing her as “pregnant.” Woopsies!)
Then there are things Chelsea really shouldn’t be telling you: like the time her biggest family secret got publicly outed, or about the drive-by shootings and the precipitating domestic violence she survived. Yet through the ups and downs, it’s the women in Chelsea’s life who kept her going – from the lowest points of her childhood when she and her mom had only $100 left to their name, all the way to her career highs as the Emmy-nominated Head Writer for The Problem with Jon Stewart and sensational podcaster deemed “the memoir whisperer” by her fans.
In I Shouldn't Be Telling You This, Chelsea centers each story around a different woman who shaped her life, taking us on a tour of friends and strangers, fictional characters and celebrities, heroes and villains who will destroy any Netflix algorithm for a “strong female lead.” Reading this book will feel kinda like that moment at a party when your friend beckons you close, sloshes her martini around, and covertly whispers, “I really shouldn’t say this, but…”
To enter, click below!
Registration closes on the 31st of May.
Winners will be notified directly.
The query lab 📝🖊
Welcome to The Query Lab where each Friday for the next few months we
will share a successful query letter that got an author their agent
AND their book deal. Today we’ve got Aime Alley Card’s, author of The Tigerbelles: Olympic Legends from Tennessee State 😍
You can purchase The Tigerbelles on our Bookshop.org affiliate page here 🥰
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.
The next live Q&A session for the course is May 23rd! So sign up before then to access the content and get in on the live Q&A action.
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.
The Return of Bianca’s Great Beta Reader Match Up 😍🌟
Are you looking for beta readers, some of whom might potentially become writing group members down the line?
Are you wanting to be matched up with those writing in a similar genre and/or time zone, so they can critique your work as you critique theirs at the same time?
Your manuscript doesn't have to be complete to sign up for this 3,000-word review!
Registrations are open from now until the 2nd of June with the match emails going out on the 3rd of June!
For more information and to register, click below!
Join CeCe to learn everything about interiority 🤓
The 3+ hour class covers various aspects of writing interiority into your story, including:
Foundation of interiority (and how is it different from, say, emotions?)
Functions of interiority in a story
Leveraging interiority into plot developments (tension, conflict, and reveals)
The relationship between interiority and various point-of-view
Striking the balance between interiority and mystery
Most common mistakes in writing interiority (and how to get it right)
Common challenges in writing interiority (and how to turn them into successes), and
Tips and tricks to effectively convey interiority
Plus, there’ll be a live, cozy Q&A session on June 10th at 8pm ET in which attendees will be able to turn on their camera (optional) and ask questions to CeCe. Don’t miss out on learning from our resident Queen of Interiority 😍🌟
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.