About this episode
In today’s Books With Hooks, Carly and Cece co-critique two queries, discussing showing how the protagonist is propelled on their journey; dealing with major dramatic questions and stakes; dense query letters for well-worn tropes; surprises and predictability in the opening pages; line edits and synopsis-like queries; reactive protagonists vs giving your protagonist agency; “soft” women’s fiction; movement in the opening pages; and having an obviously bad love interest in the beginning of a story. After which, Carly talks with author Rebecca Makkai , author of I Have Some Questions For You , about creating a fictional podcast for her story; dealing with social media as an author and in your book; chapter lengths; judgement of authors and of characters; boarding school settings, adding real life trauma situations to fiction; and tackling the messiness of life in novels. We also play you an excerpt from the I Have Some Questions for You audiobook. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/WRITING and get on your way to being your best self. Find us on our socials: Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra Instagram: @biancamarais_author @carlywatters @cece_lyra_agent @ the_shit_about_writing Facebook: @tsnotyaw Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com , www.biancamarais.com , www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.com Rebecca can be found on Instagram @rebeccamakkai and on Twitter @rebeccamakkai . Her website is www.rebeccamakkai.com. Our Sponsors: * Check out Quince: https://quince.com/tsnotyaw * Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.com * Check out Wayfair: https://www.wayfair.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands