From Audience to Impact: Crafting a Narrative That Connects

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra

How To, Books, Education, Fiction, Arts

4.8 • 733 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this special episode of Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe are joined by debut author Bryce Thomas to dive into his query letter for ‘Barracuda and the Buddha!’ Get ready for a lively discussion filled with craft insights, as they break down what’s working—and what’s not—in Bryce’s pitch. From the sparks flying between Peter and Georgie to the emotional stakes that keep readers turning pages, this episode is all about nailing character dynamics and storytelling voice.

The trio also chats about plot clarity, narrative causality and how knowing your target audience can make all the difference. Tune in for writing wisdom, a few laughs, and a behind-the-scenes peek at what makes a query letter truly pop!

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.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Beta reader matchup time is happening again. It's been so gratifying over the summer to be tagged in so many posts about beta readers who've become writing besties and who are still going strong many years after they were first matched. Some even travel to meet up and do writing weekends together, which sounds incredible. I can't guarantee
0:23.0	any of that. That's entirely up to you, but what I can guarantee is that you'll be matched with a
0:28.6	group of people working in your genre and or time zone who will critique 3,000 words of your work
0:35.0	as you critique theirs in return. You can sign up from now until the 31st of
0:40.2	August with the match-up emails going out on the 1st of September. Head to my website, Bianca Moray.com,
0:47.6	and look for the beta reader matchup tab.
0:59.3	Hi there and welcome to our show.
1:02.2	The shit no one tells you about writing.
1:09.7	I'm Bianca Murray and I'm joined by Carly Waters and C.C. Lira from PS Literary Agency.
1:17.6	Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the shit. No One Tells You About Writing. In case you haven't noticed already, because some of you do watch us on YouTube, Bianca isn't
1:21.9	here today. Our fearless leader could not make it. We miss you already, Bianca. And just so you know,
1:27.0	we've already had
1:27.7	tech issues before we started recording. So maybe play a drinking game, everyone. Take a sip of your
1:32.9	coffee every time we have a tech issue, although we'll edit it out hopefully, so you won't know.
1:36.9	But we have a very special episode today. We have the author on the show with us. Welcome,
1:42.3	Bryce. We're really excited to have you, and we'd like to ask you to
1:46.0	read your query letter. Sounds good. So I'll just kick it off the top. Dear Super duper agent,
1:55.7	obviously I'd personalize that. I'm seeking representation for my debut adult fiction novel, Barakuda and the Buddha,
2:02.8	69,000 words. It's an offbeat, character-driven adventure for readers who love the humorous
2:08.8	interplay between mismatched protagonists and Colleen Oakley's The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise,
2:14.8	the fast-paced energy of Al Casmano's Thinley Donovan is killing it,
2:18.8	and the slow burn chemistry of Emily Henry's people we meet on vacation.
	...

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