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
3.14 The Jack Skellington Effect
Our guest, Stacy Whitman, is the founder and publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of Lee and Low that focuses on diverse middle grade and YA books. Stacy was a founding member of the CBC Diversity Commi…
3.13 The Weeds in Frodo's Garden
This is our fiftieth episode!!! The Lit Service crew discusses when to go "into the weeds" with your writing and when to stay out and summarize
Bonus Episode: Query Examples with Nicki Pau Preto
Nicki Pau Preto, author of Crown of Feathers shares the query that got her an agent along with thoughts from her agent about why it worked.
Nicki Pau Preto lives just outside Toronto, Canada. After g…
3.12 Beta Readers (and how to get them to email you back)
Livia Blackburne joins the Lit Service crew to discuss beta readers, who you should ask, and, most importantly, how to politely follow up with them. They also critique a bit of fantasy involving elve…
3.11 Contemporary Worldbuilding
As it turns out, writing contemporary novels requires just as much worldbuilding as writing fantasy! Kate Watson and the Lit Service crew discuss the process of researching the real world for your wr…
3.10 The Horcrux Principle
Caitlin, Cameron, and Kristen discuss the Horcrux Principle (closely related to the objective correlative) with Lisa Mangum. Enjoy fun jokes, references, and a little Regency romance!
3.9 Protagging 101
People like characters who move, who make decisions, who want things. Caitlin, Cameron, and Kristen discuss how to make this happen on the page.
Books and media we talk about:
Harry Potter
The Hunger…
Bonus Episode: Query Examples with Charlie Holmberg
Charlie Holmberg reads the query that got her an agent (and some feedback from her agent about why it worked!)
Born in Salt Lake City, Charlie N. Holmberg was raised a Trekkie alongside three sisters…
3.8 Brick by Brick (but only the bricks that matter) with Nicki Pau Preto
This week we talk to Nicki Pau Preto about how she approaches world building and how to keep yourself from feeling overwhelmed and also how to create a lush secondary world.
Nicki Pau Preto is the a…
3.7 The Query Monster
Caitlin and Cameron chat with Ben Grange from the L. Perkins agency and Amy Jameson from A+B Works about how to craft the perfect query.
3.6.5 Bonus Q&A with Charlie Holmberg and Brian Lee Durfee
Bonus episode! Listen to our our fabulous guests at FanX (Charlie Holmberg and Brian Lee Durfee) answer questions from the audience.
Charlie N. Holmberg is a Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestsellin…
3.6 Surviving your First Novel
Have you started a novel you've never finished? Wanted to write a novel and never started? Award winning authors Charlie Holmberg and Brian Lee Durfee join us to talk about their first novels and sha…
3.5 Pacing your Backstory
You have your fabulous main character, their deliciously dark past, their wealth of relationships, habits, memories, and everything else that makes them who they are-- and then you have to write the …
3.4 Writing from your Heart with Emily R. King
Powerful themes and well-explored issues often make the difference between a good story and a great one. However, many writers struggle to find the balance between exploring issues and sounding "prea…
3.3 The Anatomy of a Fight Scene with Tricia Levenseller
Tricia Levenseller is the author of the Daughter of the Pirate King duology and standalone Warrior of the Wild. She likes to describe her books as young adult alternate–world historical fantasies wit…
3.2 The Art of Misunderstanding with Kelly Barnhill
Kelly Barnhill received the Newbery Medal in 2017, won the World Fantasy Award, the Parents Choice Gold Award as well as many other honors. She is a New York Times bestseller, and the author of THE …
3.1 The Need for Evil
We're back with an all new season of Lit Service!
Announcement!! We are going to be doing live shows at the Life the Universe and Everything Symposium in Provo, Utah, Saturday February 16th. If you h…
2.20 Horror Elements with Dan Wells
For our final episode of the season we chat with Dan Wells about how to incorporate horror elements into our work. Because Dan is really smart, we let this one go a little long.
Some of the things we…
2.19 Crucibles with Kathryn Purdie and Ben Grange
Ben mentioned during the podcast that this is one of the most important topics for newer writers to learn about. #1 NYT bestseller Kathryn Purdie joins Ben, Caitlin Sangster, Aliah Eberting, Kristen …
2.18 Writing Original Characters
Literary agent Ben Grange joins the Lit Service crew to chat about how to approach writing original characters.
Some things we mention:
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Avatar: The Last …