Making Mindful Choices Regarding Characterization

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

In today's Books with Hooks, Carly and CeCe critique three query letters. During the segment, they discuss the need for physicality of movement as well as inner life in opening pages; 'wrong shoe theory' to emphasize the importance of making surprising choices as a storyteller; causality when writing about plot points in a query; and the need for character depth.

After which, Bianca interviews Chantel Guertin, author of It Happened One Christmas. The two discuss the various genres in which Chantel writes; how her holiday romcom came about; keeping your characters' perspectives in line with who they are as people; breaking common rom-com genre expectations; tips for balancing genre tropes with putting a unique spin on them; the difference in mindset when writing YA versus an adult novel; and determining whether a novel should be YA or adult fiction.

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