Lit Service

Bonus Episode: A Special Preview

The Lit Service crew does a full cast reading of a chapter from Caitlin's upcoming book, SHE WHO RIDES THE STORM, out September 21, 2021.

If you'd like to get a copy of the book, please consider supporting your local independent bookstores!

For a signed copy, you can pre-order from The King's English (before September 19th)

Or from Anderson's Bookshop (whenever!) Both bookstores can ship to you wherever you are and each signed copy will come with a special bookmark. For either bookstore, be sure to put in the comments that you want it signed an personalized.

5.17 Historical Fiction 101 with Bethany C. Morrow and CB Lee

Bethany C. Morrow and CB Lee join the cast to talk about how to approach writing historical fiction, problems that crop up when writers don't do proper research for the time period and society they are trying to represent and the peoples and cultures that are often left out of the narrative.

Bethany C. Morrow is  an Indie Bestselling author who writes for adult and young adult audiences, in genres ranging from speculative literary to contemporary fantasy to historical. She is author of the novels MEM and A SONG BELOW WATER, which is an Audie, Ignyte and Locus finalist. She is editor/contributor to the young adult anthology TAKE THE MIC, the 2020 ILA Social Justice in Literature award winner. Her work has been chosen as Indies Introduce and Indie Next picks, and featured in The LA Times, Forbes, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and more. She is included on USA TODAY's list of 100 Black novelists and fiction writers you should read. You can find more about her and buy her books here.

CB Lee is a Lambda Literary Award nominated writer of young adult and middle grade fiction. Her works include the Juinor Library Guild selected A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix (Feiwel and Friends), the Sidekick Squad series (Duet Books), Ben 10 graphic novels (Boom! Studios), Out Now: Queer We Go Again (HarperTeen), Minecraft: The Shipwreck (Del Rey Books), From A Certain Point Of View: The Empire Strikes Back (Del Rey Books). Lee’s work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Wired Magazine, Hypable, Tor’s Best of Fantasy and Sci Fi and the American Library Association’s Rainbow List. For more about her and to buy her books, visit her website.

If you'd like to read the chapter we critiqued with our notes, you can find it here.

To find out how to support Lit Service, get extra content (like the video versions of these episodes, bonus hot seat critiques and occasional other bonus material, as well as opportunities to get critiques from the cast) visit our Patreon!

5.16 How to be a Master of Betrayal

The Lit Service Crew chats about the role of betrayal between characters and how to accomplish it so your reader is both surprised and betrayed as well.

If you'd like to see the video version of the episode (and a few other episodes that we've already recorded that aren't available on the feed yet!) check out our Patreon. There are are extra episodes and critiques to listen to as well as opportunities to get personal critiques from the cast!

We critiqued this chapter hot-seat critique-style (we read it out loud!) so there's no text chapter to look at this week.

5.15 Poetry: the Hows and Whys with Jeff Zentner

Jeff Zentner joins the Lit Service cast to chat about poetry, how it can be used in a novel, and how authors who are interested in learning to write poetry (or more poetic prose!) can get started.

Jeff Zentner is the author of New York Times Notable Book The Serpent King, Goodbye Days, Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee, and In the Wild Light which released on August 10th (with four starred reviews!). For more about Jeff and his books, visit his website.

If you'd like to read the chapter we critique and read our written notes, it can be found here.

Please consider supporting this podcast! You can find out how (along with the benefits to supporting us, like early access to episodes, video versions of the podcast, extra episodes, and a chance to get critiques from cast members) by visiting our Patreon.

 

Bonus Episode: Conlang with John Blackham

John Blackham joins Caitlin in talking about constructed languages authors create for their sci-fi and fantasy worlds.

Resources and other tidbits John mentions:

Caillou clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiSLxeszVCo&ab_channel=tovaeditshttps://www.cnn.com/2021/07/17/health/sunscreen-recall-cancer-wellness/index.html

Instant conlang generator: https://gwistix.github.io/ling/conlanger

Mark Rosenfelder’s Language Construction Kit: https://www.zompist.com/kit.html

 

For fun, some of John’s conlang, The Lord’s Prayer in Hellish-Latin creole:

Bader noṣerum, qui eḷwet in ǧevu Saṇificátus nomeus tuí foṣet. Venítus foṣet regḷeṛu tuí. Beṇorwium tuí facétus foṣet in teṛa et quoque in ǧevu. Panum nóbís dá xadix lebiére pro ǧuic dié Et iteredá nóbís debití noṣerum et iteredámus iḷós que debitátí nóbís sunet. Et non lemá nós in deṇaší, autem liberá nós ex malí.

Audio link, if you’d like to hear it spoken.

 

5.14 Writing Fantasy Horror with Erin A. Craig

Erin A. Craig joins the podcasters to chat about horror as a genre and how she approaches writing it. Erin is the New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows and Small Favors which will be out July 27th.

For more about Erin and her books, visit her website.

The chapter we critiqued with all our notes can be found here.

To learn more about how to support the podcast (or participate in a writing group with some of the podcasters!) check out our Patreon.

5.13 Creating Near Futures with Axie Oh

Axie Oh joins the podcast to talk about how to create a shiny (or not so shiny!) near future world. Axie is the author of Rebel Seoul, Rogue Heart, XOXO (releasing July 13th), and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea (Releasing February 2022). Find out more about Axie and her books here.

To read the chapter we critiqued with all our notes, go here.

If you'd like to learn how to support the podcast, check out our Patreon (we'd really appreciate it!)

Please remember to like, subscribe, comment, and tell your friends! All those things (maybe the last one most of all...) helps others to find the show.

5.12 Smaller Publishers 101 with Lori M. Lee

Lori M. Lee joins us to chat about what it's like to work with a smaller publisher (compared with some of her other publishing experiences). What kind of publisher are you interested in working with?

Lori is the author of The Gates of Thread and Stone series (Skyscape/Amazon), Forest of Souls and it's sequel Broken Web (Page Street), and Pahua and the Soul Stealer (Sept, Rick Riordan Presents/Disney Hyperion). To find out more about Lori and her book, check out her website!

You can find the chapter we critiqued with all our notes here.

If you'd like to find out how to support this podcast, check out our Patreon.

For more about upcoming guests, first chapter submission guidelines, and the podcast, visit our website.

5.11 The Power of Subplots with Liselle Sambury

Liselle Sambury joins the Lit Service crew to chat about how to use subplots to flesh out our stories (and where to find them!).

Liselle is a Toronto-based Trinidadian Canadian author. Her brand of writing can be described as “messy Black girls in fantasy situations.” She works in social media and spends her free time embroiled in reality tv because when you write messy characters you tend to enjoy that sort of drama. She also shares helpful tips for upcoming writers and details of her publishing journey through a YouTube channel dedicated to helping demystify the sometimes complicated business of being an author.

Check out her website and her book (out the 15th!)!

If you'd like to see the chapter we critiqued with all our notes, there are two version: one with swearing and one without.

To find out more about how to support the podcast, please visit our Patreon.

5.10 How to Write an Adaptation with Katherine Cowley

Katherine Cowley joins the Lit Service Crew to chat about why adaptations, both of fairy tales and other stories people love, are so common, and how to approach writing one so it becomes your own story. 

 

To learn more about Katherine and her new book The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet, check out her website.

 

The first chapter we critique with all our notes is here.

 

To learn how to support the podcast, you can visit our Patreon page. Or, to find out how to submit your chapter for us to critique and upcoming guests, you can visit our website.