Insights from Acquisitions Editors & Working on Author Collaborations

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 March 2024

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today's Books with Hooks segment, Carly, CeCe, and Bianca are joined by two acquisitions editors at Atria Books, Elizabeth Hitti and Melanie Iglesias. Melanie is a senior editor at Atria Books and has worked on various bestselling titles, including It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover. Elizabeth joined Atria in 2022 and has worked on various bestselling titles as well as The Crescent Moon Tea Room by Stacy Sivinski, a Simon and Schuster Top Shelf Pick for this fall.

The four discuss the difficulties associated with writing a query with a larger cast of characters; the importance of having an overarching reason for having a large cast and why their worlds are colliding; whether publisher interest in historical fiction is waning; an example of how to make a hook punchier; the importance on having a strong sense of place; and the need for interiority to be realistic to your character.

After which, Bianca interviews Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti, co-authors of Bury the Lead. They discuss how Liz and Kate's joint project came about; tackling the challenges of collaborating with another author, particularly when it comes to two established authors; the drafting process; keeping track of details like how characters and settings look; when descriptions are necessary and when they don't make sense; and whether or not Kate and Liz work with separate agents for their collaborative works.

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More information about Elizabeth can be found at: https://www.elizabethrenzetti.com/

She's also on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/lizrenzetti and on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/lizrenzetti/

More information about Kate can be found at: https://www.katehilton.com/

She's also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KateHiltonAuthor/ and on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/katehiltonbooks/

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's a new year and time to get fresh eyes on your work in progress.
0:04.8	Are you looking for beta readers, some of whom might potentially become writing group members
0:09.2	down the line?
0:10.2	Are you wanting to be matched up with those writing in a similar genre and or time
0:15.0	zone so they can critique your work as you critique theirs at the same time?
0:19.5	Your manuscript doesn't have to be complete to sign up
0:22.1	for this 3,000 word evaluation. This matchup will be open to registrations from now until the
0:28.5	2nd of March with the matchup emails going out on the 3rd of March. Always such an exciting day.
0:35.4	For more information and to register, go to Bianca Moray.com and go to
0:39.7	the beta reader matchup tab. And please spread the word, even if you aren't joining the matchup this
0:45.7	time. The more writers we have signed up, the better the matches will be. Hello from CC.
0:52.6	I'm so excited to announce an all new class called Starting It
0:56.4	Right, which is all about how to begin your story in the best place and in the best way. Now,
1:01.6	this is going to be a four-day class, so come prepared to take lots of notes. We'll cover the different
1:06.9	types of beginnings and how to choose the best one for your story, how to frame your
1:11.6	inciting incident in a compelling way, common mistakes writers make when starting a story,
1:17.3	how to balance exposition and mystery, how to make readers connect with your protagonist, and how
1:23.6	to make the reader want to turn to the next chapter and so much more.
1:28.3	And guess what?
1:29.3	For the first time ever, there will be an interactive component to my class.
1:34.3	Everyone who is registered will have the option of sending in the opening scene of their work
1:40.3	for a chance to be critiqued during the webinar.
	...

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