Lit Service
Publishing pros give writing advice and first chapter critiques to aspiring writers.
- Update frequency
- every 12 days
- Average duration
- 25 minutes
- Episodes
- 151
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2024
4.10 Keeping it Grounded with Lauren Spieller
Lauren Spieller joins the Lit Service Crew to chat about the differences in tension in stakes between grounded, realistic, contemporary novels vs genre fiction.
Lauren is an agent at TriadaUSA, and …
4.9 Juggling Multiple POVs with Marissa Meyer
Marissa Meyer joins the Lit Service crew to chat about how to make different points of view in a story sound distinct, how to best utilize your different points of view, and how to avoid common pitfa…
4.8 Unlikable Characters with Kiersten White
Kiersten White joins the Lit Service crew to chat about how to help readers identify with and root for characters who aren't exactly shiny white souls.
Kiersten is the New York Times bestselling auth…
4.7 Dispatches from the Closet with Ben Grange
Join Lit Service for their first socially distanced--wait no, we're almost always socially distanced--episode about how to write good dialogue.
Ben Grange is an agent at the L. Perkins literary agenc…
4.6 It's Complicated with Misa Sugiura
The Lit Service crew chats with Misa Sugiura about creating flawed characters, why we like flawed characters, and how flaws can drive a story.
Misa Sugiura is the author of the award-winning It's Not…
4.5 Layers of Tension with Katherine Arden
The Lit Service crew chats with Katherine Arden (NYT Bestselling author of The Winternight Trilogy: The Bear and the Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower, and The Winter of the Witch as well as the two…
4.4 Authentic Kid Voice with Tae Keller
The Lit Service Crew chats with middle grade author Tae Keller about how to approach writing from a child's perspective and what we owe to the audience for whom we're writing.
Tae Keller is the autho…
4.3 Characters Are Like Onions with Rebecca Ross
Rebecca Ross joins the Lit Service crew to chat about layering characters (like onions! Imagine the Scottish accent) and how that relates to plot.
Rebecca is the author of The Queen's Rising, The Que…
4.2 Pitch Wars 101 with Sarah Nicolas
Online pitching and mentorship contests can be kind of confusing. Sarah Nicolas breaks down Pitch Wars for us.
Sarah Nicolas is a recovering mechanical engineer, library event planner, and author who…
Bonus Episode: Reactions to The Rise of Skywalker with Emily Duncan
The Lit Service Crew chats with Emily Duncan about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the Mandalorian. Spoilers abound (though not so much on the Mandalorian front!) so be forewarned.
4.1 I Made It All Up with Emily Duncan
The Lit Service crew chats with NYT Bestseller Emily Duncan about how she approaches researching high fantasy. Emily A. Duncan is the New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Saints. She was born …
Bonus Episode: Behind the Scenes in Publishing with Tony Daniel
Due to a recording snafu, we are posting a bonus episode early! Tony Daniel, who is a senior editor at Baen publishing, chatted with the podcasters about some things that go on behind the scenes when…
3.21 Getting Those Hobbits Out the Door
Caitlin, Cameron, and Kristen talk in depth about how inciting incidents relate to character and how people accidentally mess them up.
3.20 Character is Setting with Tony Daniel
The Lit Service Crew chats with Tony Daniel about how to approach building a character and how that interacts with setting.
Tony Daniel is a senior editor at Baen Books, an imprint of Simon and Schus…
3.19 How to Not Discover Witches
Cameron, Kristen, Aliah, and Caitlin chat about POV usage and how to best make your choices fit the kind of story you want to tell.
Bonus Episode: Kate Watson Query and FanX Q&A
Another in our series of query letters that succeeded (and then went on to become published books) Enjoy Kate Watson (author of Seeking Mansfield) reading the query that landed her an agent, and then…
3.18 The Emperor King's Assassin with Ben Grange
Ben Grange, agent at the L. Perkins agency, joins the Lit Service crew to talk about what "high concept" means, why everyone talks about high concept books, and why it's important to be able to put t…
3.17 Save the Dragons with Jodi Meadows
Caitlin, Cameron, and Aliah discuss with Jodi Meadows why books need themes, where themes come from, and how to make the ones that creep up on you seem intentional.
Jodi Meadows wants to be a ferret …
3.16 Heebie Jeebie Research with Susan R. Matthews
The Lit Service Crew chats with Susan R. Matthews about seeking out in person experiences that inform the sensory detail, blocking, and the plausibility of your planned plot. Extra points that in per…
3.15 Magic Systems 101 (and when to throw them out)
The Lit Service crew recorded live at FanX Salt Lake City ComiCon with Sara B. Larson and Kathryn Purdie.
Sara B. Larson is the author of the acclaimed YA fantasy DEFY trilogy (DEFY, IGNITE, and ENDU…