Write Or Die Podcast

Kat and Claribel discuss making friends and friend groups in publishing. And then they interview NYT Bestselling author, Victoria Aveyard about her writing process, starting a brand new series after spending so long in one world, how film school influences her writing process, and how she’s liking TikTok!

VICTORIAS BIO: Victoria Aveyard is an author and screenwriter, born and raised in a small town in Western Massachusetts. Both her parents are public school teachers, as well as avid film, television, and literature fans. Victoria grew up on a steady diet The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and LOST. She pursued a degree in Writing for Film & Television at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. After graduating college in 2012, Victoria moved home from Los Angeles and began writing the manuscript that would become Red Queen.

She has since published four #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling books, two New York Times bestselling novellas, a New York Times bestselling short story collection.

She lives full-time in Los Angeles and is hard at work on her next young adult fantasy series. The first installment is Realm Breaker!

• FOLLOW VICTORIA: website | Twitter | Instagram

Mentions:

• thread on making friends on twitter: https://twitter.com/Claribel_Ortega/status/1273357320928530437

• FOLLOW CLARIBEL: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | TikTok

• www.claribelortega.com

• Check out all of Claribel’s books

• PRE-ORDER Witchlings (Feb 2022, Scholastic)

• FOLLOW KAT: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

• www.katchowrites.com

• PRE-ORDER Once Upon a K-Prom (May 2022, Disney)

• Check out Kat’s Books

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• Write or Die Episodes

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• Learn more about Write or Die 

Claribel and Kat discuss the idea of looking back on your old writing and seeing how far you’ve come. Plus, they touch on the idea that the industry should shift to look at the story and not at the trends. Then they interview Heidi Heilig, author of the Shadow Players trilogy, about her journey with publishing, creating conscientious communities, and how the publishing community has changed since she first published 5 years ago. Plus some discussion about trilogies vs duologies and how real life events influence our writing.

BIO:

Heidi grew up in Hawaii where she rode horses and raised peacocks, and then she moved to New York City and grew up even more, as one tends to do. Her favorite thing, outside of writing, is travel, and she has haggled for rugs in Morocco, hiked the trails of the Ko’olau Valley, and huddled in a tent in Africa while lions roared in the dark.

She holds an MFA from New York University in Musical Theatre Writing, of all things, and she’s written books and lyrics for shows including The Time Travelers Convention, Under Construction, and The Hole. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and sons. They do not own a cat.

• FOLLOW HEIDI: website | Twitter | Instagram

• Order ON THIS UNWORTHY SCAFFOLD (Shadow Players #3)

• Order THE GIRL FROM EERYWHERE

MENTIONS:

• Query Shark

• FOLLOW CLARIBEL: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | TikTok

• www.claribelortega.com

• Check out all of Claribel’s books

• PRE-ORDER Witchlings (Feb 2022, Scholastic)

• FOLLOW KAT: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

• www.katchowrites.com

• PRE-ORDER Once Upon a K-Prom (May 2022, Disney)

• Check out Kat’s Books

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• Learn more about Write or Die 

Kat and Claribel discuss staying on track and Kat gets honest about her ADHD diagnosis and how it affects her author habits and life. Then they interview the beloved Becky Albertalli. Becky discusses her experiences with co-writing, what it was like watching her fandom grow, and the surreal experience of having her book adapted into film! Plus some down-to-earth advice on how authors experience doubt and connect with each other.

BECKY BIO:

Becky Albertalli is the author of William C. Morris Award winner and National Book Award longlist title, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (now a major motion picture, Love, Simon); the acclaimed The Upside of Unrequited; and the New York Times bestsellers Leah on the Offbeat, What If It’s Us (cowritten with Adam Silvera), Yes No Maybe So (cowritten with Aisha Saeed), and Love, Creekwood: A Simonverse Novella. Becky lives with her family in Atlanta.

• FOLLOW BECKY ONLINE: Website | Twitter | Instagram

• ORDER KATE IN WAITING

• FOLLOW CLARIBEL: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | TikTok

• www.claribelortega.com

• Check out all of Claribel’s books

• PRE-ORDER Witchlings (Feb 2022, Scholastic)

• FOLLOW KAT: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

• www.katchowrites.com

• PRE-ORDER Once Upon a K-Prom (May 2022, Disney)

• Check out Kat’s Books

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• Write or Die Episodes

• Join our WorDie community!

• Learn more about Write or Die 

Claribel and Kat discuss the misperception that all authors need to be doing a lot of promotion for their own books and constantly be on social media. Then they interview N.G. Peltier about her decision to self-publish her debut romance but how their agent worked on their behalf to create a unique hybrid situation.

N.G. PELTIER BIO:

N.G. Peltier is an anime watching, book reading, video-game playing, story writing kinda girl.

A devourer of words and books from a young age, she enjoys writing romance and creeping people out with the Caribbean folklore stories she grew up hearing.

A Trinidadian born and raised, she currently lives in Trinidad with her mountain of ideas and characters battling each other for whose story gets told next.

• FOLLOW N.G. ONLINE: website | Twitter | Instagram

• Buy SWEETHAND by N.G. Peltier

• Buy UK Paperback of SWEETHAND

MENTIONS:

• Kacen Callender Blog Post: Social Media Expectations

• Kacen Callender: The Humanization of Authors

• FOLLOW CLARIBEL: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | TikTok

• www.claribelortega.com

• Check out all of Claribel’s books

• PRE-ORDER Witchlings (Feb 2022, Scholastic)

• FOLLOW KAT: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

• www.katchowrites.com

• PRE-ORDER Once Upon a K-Prom (May 2022, Disney)

• Check out Kat’s Books

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• Write or Die Episodes

• Join our WorDie community!

• Learn more about Write or Die 

Claribel and Kat discuss what “growing as a writer” means to them. Then they interview the hilarious and charming Preeti Chhibber about her time working on the other side of the table in publishing, go on a (long) tangent about the Titanic, what it was like writing IP for huge franchises like Spider-Man and Star Wars, and that one time she made Jake Gyllenhall laugh (twice!)

BIO:

Called “Spider-Man super fan and author” by Publishers Weekly, Preeti Chhibber is a YA author, speaker, and freelance writer. She worked as a publishing professional. She has written for SYFY, Polygon, BookRiot, BookRiot Comics, The Nerds of Color, and The Mary Sue, among others. Her debut original middle-grade, Orientation (Marvel’s Avenger’s Assembly #1) came out from Scholastic in August 2020 and her first picture book, A Jedi You Will Be was released by Disney this fall, she is also featured in the forthcoming YA and Adult anthologies Battle of the Bands (Candlewick, Fall 2021) and Stone Sword Table (Random House, 2022).

• FOLLOW PREETI: website | Twitter | Instagram

• Buy Marvel’s Avengers Assembly #1: Orientation

• Buy Marvel’s Avengers Assembly #2: The Sinister Substitute

• Buy A Jedi You Will Be

• Pre-Order Battle of the Bands (Candlewick, Fall 2021)

• Pre-Order Stone Sword Table (Random House, 2021)

• Mostly we just mention Titanic...

• FOLLOW CLARIBEL: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | TikTok

• www.claribelortega.com

• Check out all of Claribel’s books

• PRE-ORDER Witchlings (Feb 2022, Scholastic)

• FOLLOW KAT: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

• www.katchowrites.com

• PRE-ORDER Once Upon a K-Prom (May 2022, Disney)

• Check out Kat’s Books

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Kat and Claribel chat about Whisper Networks, what they are, why they exist, and how to use them. Then they interview the amazing Anna-Marie McLemore about their Magical Realism books, how they incorporate their heart and identity into their stories, and how they embrace their weird!

Bio:

Anna-Marie McLemore (they/them) is the author of THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS, WHEN THE MOON WAS OURS, WILD BEAUTY, BLANCA & ROJA, DARK AND DEEPEST RED, MISS METEOR (co-authored with Tehlor Kay Mejia) and the forthcoming THE MIRROR SEASON. A lot of what they write could be called magical realism. Much of it is inspired by fairy tales. Almost all of their stories find their heart in the traditions they grew up in and the communities they belong to.

• Follow Anna-Marie Online: website | Twitter

• Buy The Mirror Season

Mentions:

• Celebrity Book Club

• True Beauty

• Busted

• Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | TikTok

• www.claribelortega.com

• PRE-ORDER Witchlings (Feb 2022, Scholastic)

• Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

• www.katchowrites.com

• PRE-ORDER Once Upon a K-Prom (May 2022, Disney)

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• Write or Die Podcast Website

• Join our WorDie community! 

Kat and Claribel discuss the Book Twitter scandal that happened around the book HANDBOOK FOR MORTALS the NYT Bestseller’s List in 2017

Mentions:

• Handbook for Mortals author fires back after publishing fiasco https://ew.com/books/2017/08/26/handbook-for-mortals-lani-sarem/

• An Anniversary of a Scandal: One Year After Lani Sarem https://bookriot.com/lani-sarem-scandal-anniversary/

• Jenny Trout Recaps of HANDBOOK: http://jennytrout.com/?p=11574

• Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | TikTok

• www.claribelortega.com

• Check out Claribel’s books

• PRE-ORDER Witchlings (Feb 2022, Scholastic)

• Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

• www.katchowrites.com

• Check out Kat’s Books

• PRE-ORDER Once Upon a K-Prom (May 2022, Disney)

• Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram 

• Write or Die Podcast Website

• Join our WorDie community!

Claribel & Kat discuss joining TikTok. Then they interview Kosoko Jackson about his debut sci-fi romance YESTERDAY IS HISTORY, how to push a trope to new limits, and writing in Adult romance after writing primarily in YA. Plus some advice from Kosoko's day job in Social Media marketing and content creation!

KOSOKO BIO:

Kosoko Jackson is a digital media specialist, focusing on digital storytelling, email, social and SMS marketing, and a freelance political journalist. Occasionally, his personal essays and short stories have been featured on Medium, Thought Catalog, The Advocate, and some literary magazines. When not writing YA novels that champion holistic representation of black queer youth across genres, he can be found obsessing over movies, drinking his (umpteenth) London Fog, or spending far too much time on Twitter. His YA debut, YESTERDAY IS HISTORY, is out now, published by SourceBooks Fire and his adult #OwnVoices queer Romcom, I’M SO (NOT) OVER YOU will come out in 2022, by Berkley Romance.

• FOLLOW KOSOKO ONLINE: website | Twitter | Instagram

MENTIONS:

Add WITCHLINGS on Goodreads

Claribel’s TikTok

Kat’s TikTok

Order YESTERDAY IS HISTORY

Add I’M SO (NOT) OVER YOU on Goodreads

• FOLLOW CLARIBEL ONLINE: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | TikTok

• www.claribelortega.com

• FOLLOW KAT ONLINE: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

• www.katchowrites.com

• FOLLOW WRITE OR DIE ONLINE: Twitter | Instagram 

• Write or Die Podcast Website

• Join our WorDie community! 

Claribel and Kat dive into some Book Twitter news and gossip for your entertainment and education. 

Mentions:

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Order GHOST SQUAD

Add FRIZZY on Goodreads

www.claribelortega.com

PRE-ORDER Witchlings (Feb 2022, Scholastic)

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Order WICKED FOX!

Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)

PRE-ORDER Once Upon a K-Prom (May 2022, Disney)

www.katchowrites.com

Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram 

Write or Die Podcast Website

Join our WorDie community! 

Claribel & Kat look back on how far they’ve come since 2016 & how their goals for their author careers have changed in 5 years. Then they talk with NYT Bestselling authors & co-founders of FORESHADOW: A Serial YA Anthology, Emily XR Pan & Nova Ren Suma about how they became friends & advice about how to find your voice!

Emily X.R. Pan is the New York Times bestselling author of THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER, which won the APALA Honor Award and the Walter Honor Award, received six starred reviews, was an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist, and was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal. She co-created the FORESHADOW anthology and lives on Lenape land in Brooklyn, New York.

Nova Ren Suma is the author of A Room Away from the Wolves and the #1 New York Times bestselling The Walls Around Us, both finalists for an Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She also wrote the novels Imaginary Girls, 17 & Gone, and Dani Noir and is co-editor of the story & writing craft anthology FORESHADOW: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading & Writing YA. She has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and teaches creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania and Vermont College of Fine Arts. She grew up in the Hudson Valley, spent most of her adult life in New York City, and now lives in Philadelphia.

Follow Nova Online: Website | Twitter | Instagram

Follow Emily Online: Website | Twitter | Instagram

MENTIONS

Emily’s Fashion suggestions:

Nova Ren’s Bookstore suggestions:

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Write or Die Podcast Website