June Bonus Episode

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

🗓️ 30 June 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In part one of this month’s bonus episode, Bianca Marais chats with New York Times bestselling author Lucy Foley about her shift from historical fiction to gripping thrillers. They dive into the essential role of setting, atmosphere, and character development in her novels, and Lucy shares how she builds suspense and keeps readers guessing with techniques like unreliable narrators and meticulous editing.

In part two, CeCe Lyra sits down with Dr. Courtney Tracy, a.k.a. ‘The Truth Doctor’, for an honest conversation about the writing journey behind her new book. From choosing to write it herself—no ghostwriter involved—to embracing vulnerability and authenticity, Dr. Tracy reveals how personal storytelling deepened her connection with readers. She also reflects on how her book evolved during the process and offers practical advice for aspiring authors.

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	Hi there and welcome to our show. The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. I'm Bianca
0:12.7	Marais and I'm joined by Carly Waters and Cici Lira from PS Literary Agency.
0:19.5	Hi everyone. We have a very special guest joining us today,
0:24.4	who is a number one New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author
0:28.9	whose contemporary murder mystery thrillers have sold over 5 million copies worldwide
0:34.4	and been published in more than 40 territories. As a lifelong Agatha Christie fan,
0:39.8	she has also contributed to Marple, a collection of short stories featuring the legendary detective.
0:45.9	After several years living abroad, she recently resettled in the UK with her young family.
0:51.2	Inspired by trips to the West Country, she began plotting her latest novel,
0:55.7	a clifftop hotel with the dark past, a midsummer heatwave, tensions rising among guests.
1:02.7	Dun, don't, don, don. And so the midnight feast came to life. She is the author of amongst
1:08.2	others, the guestless, the Paris apartment, and the hunting party.
1:13.0	It's my pleasure to welcome Lucy Foley.
1:15.6	Lucy, welcome to the show.
1:17.2	Hi, thanks so much for having me.
1:19.2	Oh, we are so excited to pick your brain and climb in there and live in it for a little while.
1:24.2	I know that sounds creepy as hell, but...
1:25.9	Love it. Love the creepy. Yeah. Yeah, Thriller author, you can handle the creeper vibes.
1:30.5	Right. So I want to ask, firstly, about your change in genre. So the hunting party was your
1:38.4	crime debut. Why the pivot? Was it just because you were interested in different genres at that point,
1:45.7	or was it a very tactical choice? Oh my goodness. Well, it's easy with hindsight to think,
1:50.6	you know, it was this great sort of grand plan to kind of change genre and all of that.
	...

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