The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

Seize the Day and Write the Book!

01.05.2023 - By Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe LyraPlay

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

In today’s Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe critique two queries each, in the process discussing extraordinarily long query letters; why it’s tricky to have a character whose ultimate goal is death; including dual-POV in the metadata; the importance of curiosity seeds in the opening pages through interiority and emotionality; how not being specific enough in a query letter makes agents hesitate to request pages; lack of interiority in the third person; using spelling according to the country the story takes place in and/or where you’re pitching it; framing your memoir so it’s written for the reader, not the writer; starting a memoir with a bird’s-eye view or a summary of what happened; stripping the tension at the beginning of a story; and writing tightly on a scene level After which Bianca chats with Abby Maslin, author of Love You Hard, about being clear as to why you’re writing a memoir; the universal threads of struggle that connect us as humans; removing shame from experiences; structuring a memoir; getting the reader to invest in the characters before throwing them into the action; not telling too much too soon; recognizing what parts of your memoir need to be cut out because they belong to a different memoir; and writing for therapy vs writing to tell a story Find us on our socials: Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra Instagram: @biancamarais_author @carlywatters @cece_lyra_agent @ the_shit_about_writing Facebook: @tsnotyaw Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.com Abby can be found at www.abbymaslin.com and on Instagram at @abby_maslin

Our Sponsors:

* Check out undefined and use my code TODAY for a great deal: undefined

* Check out undefined and use my code TSNOTYAW for a great deal: undefined

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

More episodes from The Shit No One Tells You About Writing