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The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

Letting the Story Be Bigger Than You

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra

How To, Books, Education, Fiction, Arts

4.8733 Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2022

⏱️ 82 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe discuss having a strong sense of place in your work; an example of a good prologue; when it can work to put comps at the end of your query;  examples where you can be too detailed in a query; the idea of stakes going in both directions; and the perfect query letter.

After which, CeCe chats with Melissa Fu, author of Peach Blossom Spring, about how she began her fiction writing journey; the genesis of her debut; using memoirs and collections of oral histories to do research for your historical fiction novel; how her agent found her; leaving your “writing fingerprint” around for people to discover; starting with a sneaky prologue; books that start conversations; and letting the story be bigger than you.

 Find us on our socials:
Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra
Instagram: @biancamarais_author @carlywatters @cece_lyra_agent @ the_shit_about_writing
Facebook: @tsnotyaw
Website: www.biancamarais.com and www.theshitaboutwriting.com
Melissa can be found at www.melissafu.com, Twitter at @MelissaLFu, and on Instagram at @MelissaFuWriter


Our Sponsors: * Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/TSNOTYAW * Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/TSNOTYAW Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

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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