YOUR WRITING BESTIES
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YOUR WRITING BESTIES •
YOUR WRITING BESTIES
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YOUR WRITING BESTIES •
Hannah and Jess discuss the mental toll of querying and how to prepare, give suggestions on what resources assist the querying process, talk about how to strategize and find agents, and so much more! Plus, Jess provides a fun "hack" for the inevitable rejections authors face in the process.
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Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Sarah Penner: Getting the Most Out of QueryTracker
Olivie Blake: Everything I Know About Querying
Alyssa Matesic: Strategic Tips for Querying Agents
Hannah and Jess get specific about the key points of writing a query letter, what to include, what to exclude, and more!
Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Hannah and Jess answer anonymously submitted questions about all parts of the writing process. Want your question to be featured next round? Don't forget to fill out our form with anything you want us to address in the podcast!
Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon (author) and Alexis Franklin (illustrator)
Hannah and Jess navigate the tricky world of log lines and elevator pitches: what they are, what purpose they serve, and what best to include within them. They also give real-world examples of log lines and discuss why they work.
TW: There is mention of SA in this episode. Hannah will prepare anyone who needs to skip, and gives the appropriate amount of time to fast forward.
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Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Guest interviewer Jordan asks Jess and Hannah about their writing journeys, spoiler-free synopses of their books, and even asks about the most unconventional writing advice they've gotten!
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Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
Hannah and Jess explore the ever-elusive concept of authorial voice, bringing practical advice to an abstract conversation, and talking through real examples.
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Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Jess and Hannah discuss the signs they follow when deciding if the manuscript is truly finished, as well as different strategies to make sure you're getting the most out of your editing time before it's time to move to the next phase.
Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Hannah and Jess discuss the importance of seeking feedback as well as taking it, spend a bit of time discussing sensitivity readers, give input on how to get the most of alpha and beta readers, and discuss the value of critique partners and feedback groups.
Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Jane Friedman: What to Ask Your Beta Readers
Between the Lines: Feedback Partners
Jess and Hannah discuss the second pass of editing: how to edit at the line level, what to look for, and all that comes with a deeper dive into edits!
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Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
Hannah and Jess discuss the first phase of editing, where you consider elements like story structure, world building (setting), character, and more. They discuss their own approaches and share important must-haves for this phase of the process.
Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
Hannah and Jess discuss how they each approach preparing their manuscripts to be edited. They also talk about the difference between different types of editing, and give suggestions on how to approach this "pre-edit" process in a way that works best for you!
Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Join Hannah and Jess as they interview their FIRST guest on the podcast. They talk all things writing process!
Aubrey B. (Aubrey Reverie) was born and raised in a working-class, small Appalachian town, and like most kids from the sticks, dreamt of leaving that town in the dust the day she turned 18.
She got as far as West Virginia University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a minor in Creative Writing. While enrolled, she placed as runner up in the university’s Waitman Barbe Creative Writing Awards with a piece of creative nonfiction, and had an essay published by NPR’s This I Believe programming. Two months after graduation, while working in corporate communications, she re-enrolled to study Digital Marketing Communications at the graduate level in the Reed College of Media, earning a master’s certificate. (Go Mountaineers).
She spent 15 years as a professional writer and digital marketer, specializing in feature writing and digital storytelling, while continuing to write creatively in her free time. Her current focus is on full time creative authorship.
Aubrey lives with her husband (her high school sweetheart) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and can usually be found barefoot and slightly feral, tending to her flower gardens and chatting with the bees.
Her creative writing style is heavily influenced by the grit of her upbringing, including themes of resilience, poverty, dark humor, and the overwhelming ache of the human condition. As an eternal pessimistic optimist, her stories (usually) have happy endings.
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Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Inclusive Writing & Editing Resources
Hannah and Jess discuss what themes and symbols are, as well as how to incorporate them in your draft after you've finished writing it.
And Jess would like to make sure the record is corrected: she is 65th on the list for her Onyx Storm library hold.
Do you have feedback or episode requests for us? Fill out this form to let us know.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Fixing your draft isn't always easy; where does one begin? This series hopes to help you figure out where to start. Hannah and Jess talk all things pace, dialogue, and repetition in plot!
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Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
In this first episode of our three-part "Fix Your Draft" series, Jess and Hannah talk about the difference between "Show and Tell" and "Show vs. Tell". And these writing wins are ICONIC!
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Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Hannah and Jess do a deep dive into story structure, Hannah provides a real-life book example to explores its structure, and they review the more popular story structures out there, with a discussion on experimenting with structure as a more experienced writer.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Jess and Hannah talk more in-depth about scene work, go off-topic about the new Wicked movie (it was new at the time of recording!), and Jess issues a writing challenge to our listeners.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
SHOW NOTES
Stephanie Danler's “The Middle Third: Beats” Article
Story by Robert McKee (Bookshop)
Jess and Hannah are back with a second season of the Fiction Lounge! Join the duo as they discuss what it's like to be a neurodivergent writer, and share tips and tricks they've collected along the way.
Don't forget to follow us on social media: @thefictionlounge on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads! And you can always visit our website!
Join Hannah and Jess as they discuss their favorite books of the year!
Hannah and Jess share the power and importance of ritual, teach about meditation and its benefits for writers, and discuss their own personal writing rituals.
SHOW NOTES