The Shit No One Tells You About Writing
In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe each review two query letters, in the process discussing overexplaining and taking the readers out of the scene; leaning into your scene from a reader’s perspective; having a very clear idea of the major dramatic question that is specific to the protagonist’s plot journey; prioritizing a character's interiority over their noticing other characters’ reactions to things; avoiding head-hopping; ensuring specific details are where they need to be placed; starting in the right place; making sure your character has a goal of some sort in the opening pages; connecting with zingy social commentary in a story; and integrating setup within the action of the story.
After which, Bianca chats with Richard Osman, multi-million copy bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club series, about why his novels have appealed to such a wide demographic; how he came up with his premise; why he chose the POV structure for the novel that he did; writing social commentary subtly; techniques for making readers connect with so-called unlikeable characters.
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Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra
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Website: www.biancamarais.com and www.theshitaboutwriting.
Richard can be found at @richardosman on Twitter.
Leftie's podcast can be found at: https://leftie-aubes-writing-podcast.simplecast.com/