When to Begin With ‘The Big Terrible Thing’

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

🗓️ 15 June 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today's episode is sponsored by Riverside.fm. Using the promo code TSNOTYAW offers you a 15% discount on all individual plans! Click here for more info!

In today’s episode, Hazel Gaynor joins Bianca, Carly, and CeCe to critique Books with Hooks submissions while also talking about The Last Lifeboat. During the episode, they discuss different book titles in international locations; the order of paragraphs in a query letter; line-level writing with specificity and varied sentence lengths; how to achieve the right voicey-ness and what that means; opening with a chaotic and dramatic prologue; advice about where to start stories; fact vs fiction in historical fiction; withholding context and backstory; relatability in world building; and how to keep readers invested in both timelines in a dual-POV novel.

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More information about Hazel can be found at hazelgaynor.com. She's on Instagram @hazelgaynor and on Twitter @HazelGaynor.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there and welcome to our show. The Shit No One Tells You about writing. I'm Bianca Murray and I'm joined by Carly Waters and Cici Lira from PS Literary Agency.
0:19.6	It's a new year and time to get fresh eyes on your work in progress.
0:24.2	Are you looking for beta readers, some of whom might potentially become writing group members down
0:28.9	the line? Are you wanting to be matched up with those writing in a similar genre and or time
0:34.4	zone so they can critique your work as you critique theirs at the same time.
0:38.8	Your manuscript doesn't have to be complete to sign up for this 3,000 word evaluation.
0:44.3	This matchup will be open to registrations from now until the 2nd of March
0:48.7	with the matchup emails going out on the 3rd of March.
0:52.5	Always such an exciting day.
0:54.9	For more information and to register,
0:57.1	go to BiancaMoray.com and go to the beta reader matchup tab.
1:00.9	And please spread the word,
1:03.0	even if you aren't joining the matchup this time.
1:05.5	The more writers we have signed up,
1:08.1	the better the matches will be.
1:10.6	Hello from Cici.
1:12.1	I'm so excited to announce an all-new class called Starting It Right,
1:16.3	which is all about how to begin your story in the best place and in the best way.
1:20.8	Now, this is going to be a four-day class, so come prepared to take lots of notes.
1:25.3	We'll cover the different types of beginnings and how to choose
1:28.2	the best one for your story, how to frame your inciting incident in a compelling way, common
1:33.8	mistakes writers make when starting a story, how to balance exposition and mystery, how
	...

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