Today Bianca, Carly, and CeCe critique a coming-of-age submission set in the 80s, as well as a speculative literary fiction query.

They chat about the importance of details in a query, as opposed to big-picture themes; an example of a prologue that induces curiosity; layering emotion to create more realistic interactions with characters; including emotion and interiority during narration/exposition to elevate your work; how the emotional complexity of your characters can heighten your readers’ connection to them; figuring out ways to show what characters want, rather than explicitly telling readers what that is; the risk of writing experimental fiction; and avoiding using narration in your first line.

Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

Find us on our socials:

Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/

https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/

https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAW

Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.com

Bookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwriting

To register for CeCe’s upcoming Hacking Writing on A Line Level course, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xDo7-fz8Q-GrnyE6Nw41qA#/registration

For more information about the Deep Dive Virtual Retreat, go to https://www.theshitaboutwriting.com/deep-dive-series-2025.html

Join Bianca in our October bonus episode as your favourite book person, Emilie Sommer from East City Book Shop, answers all your comp requests!

If you’re looking for our usual Q&A segment, that now gets published as part of our end of the month Substack newsletter. Subscribe to get access to that, and so much more: https://theshitaboutwriting.substack.com/

Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

Find us on our socials

Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/

https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/

https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAW

Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and ww.cecilialyra.com

Bookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwriting

To ask us a question, go to: https://sayhi.chat/TSNOTYAW

To register for CeCe’s upcoming Hacking Writing on A Line Level course, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xDo7-fz8Q-GrnyE6Nw41qA#/registration

To sign up for the Beta Reader Match Up, go to https://www.biancamarais.com/beta-reader-match-up.html

Today Bianca interviews NYT bestselling nature writer, Leigh Ann Henion. They discuss Leigh Ann's latest work, Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark; the inspiration behind the book; the process of getting a book like this written and published; being able to illustrate how your non-fiction work fills a gap in the market; scene-setting in non-fiction; including relevant and interesting information without overwhelming the narrative; and always paying attention to what a character knows at that particular point in the story.

Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

Find us on our socials:

Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/

https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/

https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAW

Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.com

Bookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwriting

You can find out more information about Leigh Ann on her website at https://leighannhenion.com/

She's also on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/leighannhenion

and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LeighAnnHenion.Author/

To register for CeCe’s upcoming Hacking Writing on A Line Level course, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xDo7-fz8Q-GrnyE6Nw41qA#/registration

Carly's course for writers, The Author's Publishing Playbook, is available at carlywatters.com/course. If you haven't grabbed it yet, podcast listeners can use discount code POD15

Today, Bianca, Carly, and CeCe critique a speculative fiction query and a literary fiction one.

They discuss avoiding confusion in your query letter; using names, rather than pronouns, in queries; ensuring your plot and climax match your genre; writing interiority that reflects your characters' realities; title expectations for literary fiction; avoiding being too vague with your plot; and the challenges of writing in epistolary form.

Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

Find us on our socials:

Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/

https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/

https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAW

Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.com

Bookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwriting

Carly's course for writers, The Author's Publishing Playbook, is available at carlywatters.com/course. If you haven't grabbed it yet, podcast listeners can use discount code POD15

In today’s episode, Bianca interviews the Hugo-Award winning and NYT bestselling sci-fi and fantasy author, Alix E. Harrow. They discuss Alix's latest novel, Starling House; her journey to publication and being chosen for Reese's Book Club; novellas and the fantasy/sci-fi genre's flexibility in the length of a work; Alix's process with world-building and her thought-process behind writing a book within a book; using secondary characters to up the stakes and shed light on your main character; the use of footnotes in the novel; maintaining and upping tension; writing beautiful prose in the drafting rather than the editing phase; and balancing the divulging of backstory while maintaining curiosity.

Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

Find us on our socials:

Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/

https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/

https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAW Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.com

Bookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwriting

You can find out more information about Alix on her website at https://alixeharrow.wixsite.com/author

She's also on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/alix.e.harrow

and Substack at https://writtenworld.substack.com/

To register for CeCe’s upcoming Hacking Writing on A Line Level course, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xDo7-fz8Q-GrnyE6Nw41qA#/registration

Carly's course for writers, The Author's Publishing Playbook, is available at carlywatters.com/course. If you haven't grabbed it yet, podcast listeners can use discount code POD15

Today, Bianca, Carly, and CeCe critique a family saga submission and a psychological thriller.

They discuss whether there's a need for personalization at the top of your query; the importance of having POV information at the beginning of your letter; being concise with your wording; ensuring you illustrate how your multiple POV characters connect through plot and theme; examples of how to successfully share biographical details of characters; ensuring your metaphors don't take your reader out of the pages; avoiding over-writing in opening pages; the importance of reading your work aloud; ensuring your plot paragraphs speak to each other; an example of great interiority; making sure your character's behaviors are plausible; and balancing scene work and interiority.

Note: Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra are literary agents at P.S. Literary Agency, but their work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly and CeCe on this podcast are solely that of them as podcast co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

Find us on our socials:

Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/

https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/

https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAW

Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.com

Bookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwriting

Carly's course for writers, The Author's Publishing Playbook, is available at carlywatters.com/course. If you haven't grabbed it yet, podcast listeners can use discount code POD15

In today's second Bonus Episode of the month, Emilie Sommer from East City Bookshop answers all your burning comp title questions!

To connect with Emilie Sommer go to https://www.instagram.com/emiliegsommer/ and you can find East City Bookshop at https://www.instagram.com/eastcitybookshop/

To ask for your own comp title recommendations, go to: https://www.theshitaboutwriting.com/submit-a-question.html

If you get your question in by the 10th of October, we'll try and get it answered for you.