Episodes
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
5.12 Smaller Publishers 101 with Lori M. Lee
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
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.
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
5.11 The Power of Subplots with Liselle Sambury
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
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.
Wednesday May 26, 2021
5.10 How to Write an Adaptation with Katherine Cowley
Wednesday May 26, 2021
Wednesday May 26, 2021
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.
Wednesday May 12, 2021
5.09 Orphaned Manuscripts (and what happens if your imprint closes!) with Erin Beaty
Wednesday May 12, 2021
Wednesday May 12, 2021
We chatted with Erin Beaty about the closing of Imprint/Macmillan and Simon Pulse and what happens to books that are orphaned because the imprint that acquires your book closed or your editor moves, leaves the business.
To find out more about Erin and her books, check out her website.
Here's the first chapter we critiqued!
To find out how to support the podcast, check out our Patreon.
Wednesday Apr 28, 2021
5.08 Anagnorisis: Characters Discovering Their True Circumstances with Erin Beaty.
Wednesday Apr 28, 2021
Wednesday Apr 28, 2021
Erin Beaty joins the Lit Service crew to teach them a new word (it's pronounced AnagNORisis, if you were wondering.) which is the moment when a character realizes the truth of the situation they're in or who they are or that another character is not who they thought they were.
Erin Beaty is the author of The Traitor's Circle Trilogy (and provides many lovely moments of anagnorisis for readers to chew on). To find out more about her and her books, check out her website.
For the first chapter we critique, go here:
To learn how to support the podcast, check out our Patreon.
Want a first chapter critique from us? Our list of upcoming guests is on our website, as are our submission guidelines.
Wednesday Apr 14, 2021
5.07 Setting as Character with Lisa Maxwell
Wednesday Apr 14, 2021
Wednesday Apr 14, 2021
Lisa Maxwell joins the Lit Service cast to talk about injecting your setting with that special something that makes it interactive and immersive, almost like an additional character in the story.
Lisa is the NYT bestselling author of The Last Magician, The Devil’s Thief, The Serpent's Curse, and Unhooked. She grew up in Akron, Ohio, and has a PhD in English. She’s worked as a teacher, scholar, bookseller, editor, and writer. When she’s not writing books, she’s a professor at a local college. She lives in Virginia with her husband and two sons. Check out Lisa's books here or follow her Instagram.
To see the chapter we critiqued with our notes, go here.
To find out how to help support this podcast, visit our Patreon.
We'd love to see your first chapter! To see who will be coming on the show next and how to submit your work, visit our website.
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
Bonus Episode: Hot Seat Query Critique with Tricia Levenseller
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
Tricia Levenseller joins Caitlin Sangster and Kristen Evans to live critique a few queries.
Tricia Levenseller is the author of the Daughter of the Pirate King duology, Warrior of the Wild, The Shadows Between Us, and forthcoming Blade of Secrets. She writes young adult high fantasies with heavy romantic subplots. You can find more about Tricia and her books here, or preorder her new book (do it!) here.
If you'd like us to do more episodes like this or have suggestions about what would help you the most, let us know! You can email us at litservicepodcast@gmail.com or can talk to us on facebook, instagram, or twitter.
If you'd like to know more about how to support our podcast, you can find out more here.
To find out who will be coming on the show to critique first chapters next, check out our website.
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
5.06 The Mentor Always Dies: How to Write Mentor Figures
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
Caitlin, Kristen, and Aliah chat about the roles mentors take in (mostly!) fantasy and sci-fi narratives, their purpose and the shape of their place in a story.
For the chapter we critique with all our notes go here!
To find out how to support the podcast, go here! (We're about to do a live q&a, so if you want to come as us questions in person, now's the time to join our Patreon!)
For more about the podcast and how you can submit your work for a critique (and our next upcoming guests!) visit our website.
Wednesday Mar 10, 2021
5.05 Satisfying Relationship Arcs with Eric Smith
Wednesday Mar 10, 2021
Wednesday Mar 10, 2021
Eric Smith joins the Lit Service crew to talk about what it is (and what authors can do!) that makes relationships arcs in stories satisfying.
Eric Smith is a literary agent and author living in Philadelphia. An agent with P.S. Literary, he's worked on New York Times bestselling and award-winning books. As an author, his books include Don't Read the Comments (Inkyard Press) and the forthcoming You Can Go Your Own Way (Inkyard Press) and the co-edited anthology Battle of the Bands (Candlewick) with Lauren Gibaldi. Find out out more about him and his books here.
The chapter we critique with all our notes is here.
If you'd like to find out more about how to support this podcast (we'd really appreciate it!), you can visit our Patreon.
For more about the podcast, how you can submit your work for a critique, and an upcoming guest list, visit our website.
Wednesday Feb 24, 2021
5.04 Author - Editor Relationships with Sarah McCabe
Wednesday Feb 24, 2021
Wednesday Feb 24, 2021
Sarah McCabe joins the Lit Service crew to talk about the publication process once a book has been acquired and what to expect from editing and collaborating with an editor.
Sarah is an editor with Simon & Schuster/McElderry (which is pronounced "mackle-derry", who knew).
For a look at the chapter we critique (with our notes!) go here.
Don't forget to check out our Patreon for extra content (want to hear Caitlin's story about the haunted house she came very close to renting? It's up now!) here.
If you'd like a first chapter critique from us or an upcoming guest, check out our submission guidelines here.