Lit Match

The first episode in a new Author Interview + Writing Tips and Assignments series on LIT MATCH!

In today’s episode, Abigail pulls one of her favorite interviews from her  her old podcast (pub. 2020) and revamps it for the Lit Match listeners. 

Abigail sits down with the bestselling author of the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID series, Jeff Kinney. Listen to this episode to get an inside look at the makings of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, writing comics, and other valuable writing tips. 

Then, join Abigail for Part II of this episode, where Abigail explores five big takeaways from Jeff’s advice. Abigail follows each takeaway with a writing assignment that she encourages every writer to apply to their WIP, or at the very least, to their writing practice.

The 5 Big Writing Takeaways Include:

Find Jeff: www.wimpykid.com

Find Abigail: www.abigailkperry.com   

After writing a book comes publishing it, and to do so (or if you want to do it well), you need to know your target readers and the market. One of the most important tools a writer, literary agent, editor, and publisher uses to give a quick, clear, and catchy idea of what a story is about—and what everyone can predict for sales—is comparable titles (or comps). That’s what Abigail covers in this episode. She pulls from her first-hand experience as an editorial intern and various insightful articles (linked below) to teach: 

Resources reference in this episode:

Want to sign up for Book Notes (a virtual book club with Savannah Gilbo and Abigail)?

We're back with the final episode! 

Abigail sits down with certified editor and book coach Savannah Gilbo to discuss and analyze the first chapter of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS.

This is a particularly special episode in the series being the final Harry Potter book and first chapter episode, as well as Abigail's favorite book in the series.  

In this conversation, Abigail and Savannah discuss how the first chapter sets up expectations for the big picture and delivers a well-structured scene on the micro level (or small picture). To do this, they use tools like the seven key questions to ask about first chapters (Paula Munier's THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO BEGINNINGS) and Story Grid's five commandments. Plus, Savannah and Abigail dig into other valuable topics like how this chapter is the most omniscient perspective in the series (and why this is important), the chilling and high stakes set up in this opening scene, and more.  

 Why do you think the first chapter in Deathly Hallows is great? We'd love to hear your perspective!

P.S. If you enjoyed these first chapter episodes, you might love Abigail and Savannah's virtual book club, Book Notes! Learn all about it (and join us!) here. 

Connect with us:

Twitter: @abigailkperry | @savannahgilbo

Instagram: @abigailkperry | @savannah.gilbo

Website: www.abigailkperry.com  | https://www.savannahgilbo.com/

Taking a different direction for this week’s episode, Abigail speaks directly to listeners about ten pieces of writing (and life!) tips she absorbed from what she considers her favorite in-person author presentation. 

Last month, Abigail was lucky enough to attend bestselling author Fredrik Backman’s book tour for the third book in his Beartown series trilogy, THE WINNERS. 

Abigail had been wanting to read Backman’s books for years but constantly failed to prioritize them on her reading list—until she saw Fredrik Backman was coming to town. 

Now, Abigail easily and enthusiastically calls Fredrik Backman one of her favorite authors —of all time. She’s obsessed with his writing and ability to create characters—and even more so with his raw, sincere ability to answer thought-provoking questions. 

In this episode, listen to the ten invaluable pieces of writing and life advice that Abigail learned from Fredrik Backman’s presentation. These lessons have sat with Abigail ever since she listened to him, and they offer advice and writing tips Abigail purposefully carries with her as she moves forward with her own writing and editing. 

Find Abigail

[email protected]

IG & Twitter: Abigail K. Perry

Read THE WINNERS by Fredrik Backman

Purchase here

We're back with book six!

Abigail sits down with certified editor and book coach Savannah Gilbo to discuss and analyze the first chapter of HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.

This is an extra special episode since HBP is Savannah's favorite book in the series—plus, both Abigail and Savannah agreed that this first chapter was the most difficult to analyze, at least so far in the series—which makes for a fun challenge and discussion.  

In this analysis, Abigail and Savannah discuss how the first chapter sets up expectations for the big picture and delivers a well-structured scene in the small picture. They use tools like the seven key questions to ask about first chapters, taken from Paula Munier's THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO BEGINNINGS, and Story Grid's five commandments of storytelling—along with other thoughts and opinions. 

 What do you think makes up the first chapter of HBP? We'd love to hear your perspective. 

P.S. Don't miss out on Savannah's amazing podcast: FICTION WRITING MADE EASY

Connect with us:

Twitter: @abigailkperry | @savannahgilbo

Instagram: @abigailkperry | @savannah.gilbo

Website: www.abigailkperry.com  | https://www.savannahgilbo.com/

Abigail sits down for a first chapter analysis of the bestselling and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, COUNTERFEIT. She takes a deep dive into the first chapter analysis—and she enthusiastically welcomes the author and editor of the book to join her in this dissection and discussion. 

KIRSTIN CHEN is the New York Times best-selling author of three novels. Counterfeit, her latest and the book discussed in this episode, has sold the translation rights in seven languages and television rights have been optioned by Sony Pictures. Kirstin holds an MFA from Emerson College and a BA from Stanford University. 

JESSICA WILLIAMS is an editor at William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. She edits a range of fiction and nonfiction projects and is most interested in upmarket/literary fiction and narrative nonfiction/memoir with cultural underpinnings. Jessica completed a master’s in comparative literature at Georgetown University and worked at a literary and scouting agency in New York.

Together, these women discuss how COUNTERFEIT’s first pages set up expectations for the story’s big picture. They use the seven key questions to ask about a first chapter in order to determine its strengths. (These questions are pulled from Paula Munier’s book, THE WRITER’S GUIDE TO BEGINNINGS.)

Afterwards, Abigail, Kirstin, and Jessica discuss how the first chapter, (seen as one scene) works on a scene (or small picture) level. 

Full of wisdom, this episode includes additional discussion on invaluable writing and editing advice, like:

Plus, more!  

Follow Us:

Abigail Perry: [email protected] | Twitter and IG: @abigailkperry 

Kirstin Chen: kirstinchen.com | Twitter: @kirstin_chen | IG: kirstin.chen

Jessica Williams: @JWillsNYC

We're back with book five!

Abigail sits down with certified editor and book coach Savannah Gilbo to discuss and analyze the first chapter of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

Abigail and Savannah return with a discussion on how the first chapter in the OOTP sets up expectations for the big picture and creates, to the reader's discretion, the most exciting first chapter in the Harry Potters series yet. 

Once again, Abigail and Savannah use tools like the seven key questions to ask about first chapters (to analyze the big picture), taken from Paula Munier's THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO BEGINNINGS, and Story Grid's five commandments of storytelling (to analyze the scene's "workability"). 

Along the way, Savannah and Abigail share perspectives and insights on important topics like:

What do you think makes up the first chapter of OOTP? We'd love to hear your thoughts. 

P.S. Don't miss out on Savannah's amazing podcast: FICTION WRITING MADE EASY

Connect with us:

Twitter: @abigailkperry | @savannahgilbo

Instagram: @abigailkperry | @savannah.gilbo

Website: www.abigailkperry.com  | https://www.savannahgilbo.com/

In today’s episode, Abigail sits down with another amazing Trellis Literary Management co-founder, Allison Hunter. 

Allison is an expert in commercial fiction and shares exactly what she’s looking for in a manuscript wishlist, as well as other invaluable writing and publishing tips like:

Do you want to send a query letter to Allison? 

Find Us

Twitter: @abigailkperry | @AllisonSHunter

Instagram: @abigailkperry | 

Website: www.abigailkperry.com  | https://www.trellisliterary.com/allisonhunter

We're back with book four!

Abigail sits down with certified editor and book coach Savannah Gilbo to discuss and analyze the first chapter of HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE.

Abigail and Savannah return with a discussion on how the first chapter in GOF sets up expectations for the big picture story using Paula Munier's seven key first chapter questions (THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO BEGINNINGS). They also nerd out about whether or not GOF is a thriller or an action story, why Frank models a sympathetic character, and much more!

Abigail and Savannah then zero-in on the small picture and break down the first chapter of GOF with the five commandments (Story Grid). 

What do you think makes up the first scene in GOF? If you don't remember it, feel free to read the first chapter of GOF—and then join us for this lively conversation. 

P.S. Don't miss out on Savannah's amazing podcast for writers: FICTION WRITING MADE EASY

Connect with us:

Twitter: @abigailkperry | @savannahgilbo

Instagram: @abigailkperry | @savannah.gilbo

Website: www.abigailkperry.com  | https://www.savannahgilbo.com/

This is the third episode in a three-part series of episodes on how to write a query letter. Abigail teaches writers how to write the third (and final!) paragraph of the query letter, or the author bio. 

Sometimes writers overthink the author bio, putting undue stress on themselves and this paragraph. This episode covers some tips on how to write this paragraph, som including:

Plus, Abigail shares one of her favorite tricks from Kelly Simmons’ article: Why a P.S. can create one final, special connection to the queried agent! 

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t miss out on the other two episodes in the three-part series:

And don’t forget to check out Kelly Simmons’ article on Career Authors: