You can’t control which agents just picked up a similar project. You can’t control whether the market is currently hungry for your genre.

You can’t even control whether your book — a genuinely excellent, well-crafted book — gets a single “yes.”

But there’s one thing you can control: what you write and why.

Trust that by following your creative instincts and committing to the stories that mean something to you, your story will find its home. That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy or straightforward, but you’ll keep your spark alive.

In today’s interview, author and editor Laura Silverman shares why “perfect” isn’t always enough in publishing, the fast-drafting technique that unlocks her characters’ voices, and the internship twist that led to her landing an agent.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Laura Silverman

Editor and Author

Those Summer Nights, available now!

What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

You can write the perfect book, and it still might not get published. Many writers ask me what they are doing wrong, and while we can all continue to improve our writing craft, sometimes the gates of publishing say “no” even when a book is excellent. Not only does a book have to be good, but it has to land on the right agent’s desk at the right time.

Perhaps the agent just picked up a book similar in subject to your book. Perhaps the market just shifted, and the genre you are writing is temporarily defunct. All we can do is continue writing the stories we are passionate about and hope the timing strikes it right a few times.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

I recommend that you write for yourself and not the market. Chasing what the market is after is often a futile effort. Publishing is a slow beast. By the time you are done writing, editing, and querying your manuscript, likely the market will have shifted onto something else.

You must write what you are passionate about. Write the story you want to tell. This is what will fuel you and keep your love for writing alive. Then, we hope for luck and that the market aligns with that passion.

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

I love the technique of fast drafting. Often, when I get into the zone, there is so much my characters want to say and share. If I slow down to fill in details like setting, I will lose the flow, so I fast draft pages of dialogue to let my characters speak.

Once I am done, I can fill in all of the details like description and internal thought and trim unnecessary dialogue, but it’s a great feeling to just let the words fly while drafting.

Are you querying this year?
Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

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What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

You have to refill the creative well. Many people advise you to write every day. If that works for you, then that is wonderful. But I believe it’s important for many writers to take breaks and refill the creative well by taking in other art. Read books, watch TV shows, listen to podcasts, go to museums, visit a botanical garden, play video games, play board games with friends. I could go on. There are so many ways.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?

I was an intern at a literary agency when I queried my first novel. I spent my days reading the submissions’ pile, the dream internship. I sent my novel out to about ten agents. I asked my supervisor at my internship agency if I should send my novel to one of their agents, and my supervisor recommended who to send it to. I received a few offers of representation. One of those offers came from the agency I was interning at.

According to my agent, Jim McCarthy, he was reading a submission one morning and thought it was good. He went to check who wrote it and realized, “Hey, that’s one of our interns!” I was grateful for the offers from every agent, but I decided to go with the agent at my internship since I knew we already worked well together, and he’s a fantastic agent.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share 6 surprising trends that are reshaping publishing — as reported by the CEO of Hachette.

Watch the video!

When you’re starting a new project, it’s easy to think possibility means leaving everything wide open. But sometimes the most generative thing you can do is define what your story isn’t.

Who are you writing for, truly? What conversation do you want to enter? What are you definitively not writing?

Protect your vision before you let other voices in.

The longer you sit with your intentions — and really interrogate them — the harder it becomes for outside feedback to pull your story off course.

Because once readers, editors, and critique partners weigh in, you need to continue to be able to hear your own voice. And the strongest work always comes from knowing exactly what you’re trying to say first.

In today’s interview, author Sarah Bruni shares the unusual writing exercise that opens up creative possibility, why she holds onto manuscripts before sharing them, and the underrated practice that brings her the most joy as a writer.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Photo credit: Michelle Kaffko / Organic Headshots

Sarah Bruni

Author

New novel, MASS MOTHERING, available now!

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

One of my teachers, the writer Yuri Herrera, offered the advice when starting a new story to begin by making a list of the words you will not use in it. I found this advice to be tremendously useful, allowing me to create more space and possibility while beginning to imagine the terms of a fictional world.

Working this way, you can write without getting distracted by specific terms and any weight they may carry with them—whether they may be sensational, geographical, political, or otherwise—from the story you’re trying to tell.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

I reread what’s on paper. I reread the texts that were on my mind while writing, my journals, my notes of my intentions for a piece of work. I try to keep interrogating those intentions at every juncture as I go, because once you have more voices in the room encouraging different edits or ideas, it can become increasingly difficult not get swayed by them.

I also tend to hold onto projects for a long time before sharing them with outside readers, until I know what they are and are not, what I’m willing to budge on and what is not negotiable for me as an artist.

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

I don’t. I don’t think it’s realistic for most writers to expect for it to be a regular practice at every stage of life. When I was teaching high school fulltime, I didn’t write for years. When I first became a parent, I barely got sentences down.

For me to get writing done, it’s often been the case that I save up money and hoard free time to be able to carve out the years where I can afford to dedicate myself to the practice of it. But I also think that living in the world and doing other things informs the work, that if you’re living with curiosity and intention, part of the writing is already happening in the moments when you’re not putting pen to paper.

Are you querying this year?
Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

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What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

Take breaks. I read, take walks, play the guitar (badly) and sing along, dance in my kitchen, play with my kids. I don’t really believe in forcing the writing forward. I never feel like I’m in a rush to move a project until the writing feels good again. I believe when you’re bored and just going through the motions, the prose reads that way.

More often than not, I get ideas for how a piece of writing will evolve while engaging in an activity that has nothing to do with writing.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

Reading aloud, particularly at the juncture when a project is already in motion but there is still a lot of possibility for the direction it could take. I love to read aloud as I write, to hear dialogue, to feel the words in my mouth, when nothing on the page feels firm or finalized. When it still feels like it’s mine alone and it could go anywhere. It feels like whispering a secret, like taking a drug—it really never gets any better than this moment for me.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share 5 tricks for making readers love your WORST character — maybe even more than your protagonist.

Watch the video!

Readers know when a writer has truly lived inside a topic — when the emotional details are pulled from real experience, real research, real conversations.

That’s what makes a book feel alive instead of just well-written.

The deeper you go, the more readers will follow.

The themes that scare you to write about are often the ones readers are starving to see on the page. The darkest, most terrifying parts of your story are the hardest to articulate, but usually exactly the parts that will make your story unforgettable.

In today’s interview, author Leodora Darlington shares how she shaped her novel’s emotional core, the title that sparked her novel idea, and her nontraditional querying approach that led to 11 agent offers.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Leodora Darlington

Author

Good Morning America book club pick, THE EXES, OUT NOW!

What’s the best piece of feedback you ever received? How did it change your story?

The best feedback came from the therapists in my life. A massive part of The Exes is about healing, and I wanted to get the emotional texture of sitting in a therapist’s office exactly right. I showed these scenes to experts to aid authenticity. Their feedback helped The Exes become a compelling psychological deep dive as well as a pacy thriller. It ensured that Natalie’s journey to self-forgiveness—and her terrifying quest to uncover the truth about her dead boyfriends—feels incredibly grounded and real.

What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

They don’t tell you how intimately readers will connect with the darkest, most terrifying parts of your story. The Exes explores some heavy themes—the subtle red flags that masquerade as care, the danger of power imbalances in dating, and the universal impulse to figuratively (or literally) murder your ex.

I thought, as a former publisher, I knew what to expect from the market. But seeing readers feel so deeply seen by Natalie’s unapologetic female rage and her messy journey to break generational trauma has been a revelation. It turns out people are incredibly hungry for thrillers that tackle the reality of navigating dating where there’s a stark imbalance in power.

What’s been the toughest moment in your publishing journey, and how did you get through it?

The Exes began with a title that just popped into my head: To All the Boys I Killed Before. I adore the romance genre—I’m a huge fan of tropes, from enemies-to-lovers to fake dating. But that love for romance exists alongside a growing frustration with how heteronormative relationships are increasingly becoming a less safe space for women.

That convergence of feelings made me wonder: what kind of girl would write letters to former flames, not out of love, but out of despair? I wanted to write a revenge fantasy, but my protagonist, Natalie, isn’t a confident, wisecracking assassin. She’s a woman who feels absolute terror at what she is capable of.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my querying guide written with the creator of QueryTracker!

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What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

Building in the twists brings me immense pleasure. Because I spent a decade commissioning thrillers, I know exactly where to place a reveal for maximum impact. But the true joy with The Exes was using those gasp-out-loud moments to build deep reader empathy.

I love making readers understand the dark, messy impulses of a woman who has been pushed to the edge by fractured family and failed romance. I hope the surprising things that happen to Natalie lead people to feel that as is the case for her, it’s never too late for anyone to choose healing and a better life for themselves.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?

My querying process was a bit of a chaotic undercover sting. I actually created a fake identity to test the waters. As a commissioning editor in crime fiction, I wanted to see if the story was irresistible on its own merits, without my industry CV attached. I was pitching a high-stakes thriller featuring a woman grappling with memory, coercive control, and the cost of survival. It ended up sparking an 11-way agent beauty contest.

It proved to me that the market is desperately craving fresh, diverse voices in the thriller space—books that offer the familiar gasp-out-loud twists but with a new and authentic lens.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share why most writers get exposition wrong, along with the 5 most common backstory mistakes I see in opening chapters.

Watch the video

You can write an excellent book. You can publish with a major house. And your next manuscript can still get rejected.

Not because the writing isn’t there — you’ve already proven you’ve got the chops — but because publishing is an incredibly subjective and ever-changing business.

So fall in love with writing itself.

The authors who make it aren’t the ones chasing bestseller lists or trying to write toward whatever’s trending. They’re the ones who sit down at their desk, forget about the industry for a few hours, and remember why they started telling stories in the first place.

Because the only thing in publishing you can actually control is the words on the page.

In today’s interview, author and editor Elayne Audrey Becker shares the hardest truth she’s faced since her debut, how patience landed her four offers of representation, and the mindset shift that’s keeping her creative flame alive.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Elayne Audrey Becker

Author and Editor

Her novels FORESTBORN and WILDBOUND are available for purchase now!

What’s been the toughest moment in your publishing journey, and how did you get through it?

After I received a contract for the Forestborn duology, a not insignificant part of me thought, “This is it. My author career has officially launched.” It wasn’t that I expected the books to become bestsellers out of the gate; having worked in publishing for so many years, I knew well how rare it was to have a debut break out and attract the attention of the masses. (I knew, too, that when a debut does “hit the list,” it is usually due to the publisher’s marketing push more so than the content or quality of the book itself.) Rather, I thought, “Okay, I’ve auditioned for this job and proven myself capable of doing it.” I thought it would be easier to secure another contract for a new book, now that my writing had passed the test.

Working as a novelist, however, turns out to be a role you have to audition for over and over again. In the three years since Wildbound was published, I have struggled to secure my next contract. Not because my manuscripts are bad, not because the quality of my writing isn’t there, but because publishing is, as my agent Tia Ikemoto puts it, “A moving target market based entirely on subjective opinions,” and my books have not fallen into whatever profitable trend happened to be dominating the fantasy market at the time of submission.

I won’t lie. To work on a novel for so many months—years—only to have the door shut in your face over and over is difficult. Demoralizing. Heartbreaking. But writers like myself don’t get into this business because we’re looking to make money. We write because we love it. Because we must. Because the stories taking shape in the corners of our minds demand to be told.

Reconnecting with that creative joy, nurturing its tiny flame, is my mission now. Here is what I tell myself: You can write an excellent book, and after all is said and done, it might be published. Or, you can not write the book, and then it definitely won’t be published. Always, I choose to take the option that comes with a chance. And as I continue drafting my newest novel, I don’t sit down at my desk and think about the publishing industry. I sit down and write because I love it. Because I must.

How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?

I queried a relatively small number of agents—about twenty in total—over the course of approximately eight months. I didn’t throw spaghetti at the wall; I was very intentional in deciding to whom I’d reach out, and I didn’t rush the process, choosing instead to gauge the initial response to my manuscript and let full requests play out. The waiting was hard, as were the inevitable rejections I received along the way. But I continued to believe in the quality of my work, and I carried on.

Around the eight-month mark, I sent out a query to another agent on my list, and less than a week later, I had received an offer of representation. A dream come true! In the end, I received four offers of representation and accepted the one that felt right in my gut, and that blossomed into a wonderful partnership. Eight years later, I have since switched agents within CAA to someone who works more closely with the kind of fiction I aim to write, and I am so thrilled to be there!

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

Changing up my space makes an enormous difference when I’m in a writing rut. I go to my favorite coffee shop, treat myself to an oat milk latte and perhaps a pastry, and choose a table where I can feel my creativity surfacing. Often, this is enough to do the trick and kickstart productivity.

When that fails, however, I put the book down entirely and take a break. Stepping away from a manuscript for a couple of weeks can feel really counterproductive, but by now, I’ve realized the opposite is true. Doing so allows me to return to the manuscript with fresh eyes and a recharged creative battery.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my querying guide written with the creator of QueryTracker!

Preorder now!

What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?

That the quality of a book determines whether or not it sells, and that authors have a large degree of input in how their books get packaged and marketed.

In reality, authors have next to no control in the publishing process. That relinquishing of control begins as early as submitting one’s manuscript to publishers. You can and should make your book the very best it can be, but at the end of the day, market positioning and commercial appeal are two of the biggest determinants in whether or not a publisher offers on a book—and while you should be cognizant of the market in which you’re aiming to write, you cannot control what will be popular at the time your book happens to go out on sub. This can be thoroughly depressing to creatives who just want to tell good stories because they are good. But it is the reality. Publishing is a business, and its leadership wants to make money.

Then, if you manage to land a contract and a good editor, they may include you in various parts of the decision-making that happens on the 18-24 month road to publication. But even with the very best and most inclusive editors, 95% of meetings about your book will still happen in-house, outside the author’s sphere of awareness; authors do not control the cover art given to their books, the manner in which the books are typeset, the degree to which their books are pushed by the publisher. When I worked as an editor at a major publisher, I was privy to that 95%. As an author, I wasn’t, and boy was that hard at times! Our books are our babies, the characters real to us, and we want to ensure they’re taken care of properly.

Ultimately, though, the only thing in publishing that writers can control is the words on the page. So we just have to focus on making those as good as we can make them.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

What’s the best piece of feedback you ever received? How did it change your story?

One of the best things I’ve ever done for my writing is to learn to take feedback, period. When I was younger, I used to balk at the prospect of being told to change things about my stories. I had trouble separating the work from the person, and so took critical feedback on my work as personal insults.

Now, I love receiving critical feedback on my manuscripts. I crave it. As someone who works as both an author and an editor, I know very well how important it is to receive an outsider’s perspective on one’s novel. As writers, after picking away at a manuscript over and over and over again, at a certain point, we lose the ability to actually see what is on the page. We become blind to our books. Because of this, it’s impossible to maximize our story’s potential and make it the best it can be without gaining feedback from a trusted source.

You don’t want to make changes based on just any person’s opinion, of course. I don’t take critical feedback from “randos” on the internet who have negative things to say about my books—why would I? I know nothing about their professional background in writing or editing. I do, however, immensely value feedback from editors, my agent, and writer friends. The day I receive feedback can sting, but my books are always, always, better once I implement their notes.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

This is something I’m in the process of figuring out right now. To make a very long story short, what I keep coming back to is this reminder: “Do not write to sell. Write because you love it.”

Nowadays, when I sit down to work on my newest novel, I try to divorce thoughts of my book from thoughts of publishing as much as possible. I try, instead, to simply sink into the joy that writing and telling stories brings me. I try to lean into the fun of it all. And when I do that—when I can manage to forget about the industry and marketability and sales tracks for a brief time—my writing comes out better, and I am happier. So I will continue down this path.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share the signs that indicate you’re querying or self-publishing too soon (and setting yourself up to fail).

Watch the video!

Including me.

At first, I was bummed that the big publishers passed on my book, a nonfiction guide to querying written with the creator of QueryTracker. I worked at both Macmillan and Penguin Random House (on the fiction side) and was most familiar with the big corporate publishing environment. It was where I’d hoped my own book would eventually land.

So when rejections rolled in from big house after big house, they stung. Some thought our book was too niche, others said there was too much overlap with other books they already bought.

But then we got enthusiastic interest from a published I’d never heard of before: Matt Holt Books (an imprint of BenBella Books), which my agent had suggested putting on our submission list.

And it turned out that not having my book published by a Big Five house might have been the best possible outcome for me and my co-author.

Let me tell you why.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my querying guide written with the creator of QueryTracker!

Preorder now!

The publishing plot twist I didn’t see coming

BenBella is known for being an author-friendly house, which feeds into how they approach the editorial process, cover design, and marketing. Working with them turned out to be a completely different experience from what I’d been preparing for.

Working with an independent house totally reframed what I consider a “good” book deal and expanded my view of the current publishing landscape.

So today I want to share everything that has surprised me about working with an independent publisher over a Big Five house: the benefits, the downsides, and the tradeoffs nobody talks about.

Because there are so many more publishing avenues available today than ever before, and sometimes the less-obvious paths are the more rewarding ones.

1. The edits were shockingly minimal

As a developmental editor, I was 100% expecting my co-author and I to have to tear our book apart and rebuild it from scratch. After all, neither of us had written a nonfiction book before.

I’d braced myself for months of structural overhauls, painful cuts, and revision letters that ran ten pages long. That’s the kind of edit I deliver to my own clients (sorry, it’s out of love, I promise!), and it’s what I’d seen authors receive from the houses I worked at.

But here’s the email we got from our editor instead…

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After countless mornings and nights spent just you, your laptop, and your story, it’s easy to feel like being a writer is isolating.

But the authors who level up are the ones who let people in. Because getting input from other people is what will actually move your craft forward. They could be critique partners, trusted editors, or fellow writers who get what you’re doing.

So share your work, even when it’s scary.

Putting your draft in front of someone you trust is how you find the gaps you can’t see on your own. It’s also what keeps you grounded when rejection inevitably knocks you.

In today’s interview, acclaimed author and creative writing teacher George Jreije shares the one technique that transformed his writing, why person-to-person connection sustains him through the harder parts of publishing, and how he stays creative when life gets impossibly busy.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

George Jreije

Acclaimed Author and Creative Writing Teacher

Latest novel, BASHIR BOUTROS AND THE JEWEL OF THE NILE, available now!

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

The one technique that transformed my writing and leveled me up as an author was sharing my work with others for feedback. Without a doubt, I couldn’t have achieved the success I’ve had on my own. Not without the wonderful critique partners, editors, and of course, my wife (the first person who reads any manuscript).

Sharing my work with professionals and readers who I trust challenges me to put out the best work I can, and I’ve grown so much since I began to bake it into my process.

What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

I most enjoy sharing my love of writing and all that I’ve learned as an author to connect with others. This might be working with clients who aspire to get to where I am now, but it also manifests in getting to visit schools and helping to motivate students to read and think like authors themselves. Without that person-to-person connection, I couldn’t sustain the harder parts of being a writer myself.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

It’s fundamental to my writing that I’m always placing a piece of my identity in my characters or the story. For example, many of my characters are Lebanese or Lebanese-American, like I am. Some even have alopecia like I do!

Being sure to establish that very personal connection allows me to write authentically and craft characters who feel like real people.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

Preorder now!

What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

Rejection comes at every stage of an author’s journey. Before getting to choose from several literary agents, I amassed dozens of rejections. I wasn’t ready for the fact that, even with an agent, publishers can still pass on my work.

It’s happened with every project I’ve put out, and the first few publisher rejections were especially difficult, but I got through them by continuing to do that one thing which I knew how to do best — writing!

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

Life’s always busy when you wear multiple hats, so to speak. For example, I’m fortunate to have a thriving freelance editing career helping other aspiring authors, but there’s also the business of publishing my own novels as well as my speaking engagements.

That’s why I seek out the few minutes between daily tasks, when I can whip out my laptop (or even my phone) and type up a few sentences. You’d be surprised how much those precious minutes, day after day, can add up!

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I review three manuscripts (submitted by you!) that make the same mistake on page 1.

Watch the video

It’s unclear what your protagonist actually wants.

The writing might be beautiful. The setting might be vivid and immersive. But if I can’t pinpoint what’s driving the protagonist forward, the plot will feel directionless — and the story will fall apart.

That’s how important your protagonist’s objective is. It’s the foundation your entire plot is built on.

But it may not be coming through in your draft as clearly as you think.

What “plot” really boils down to

I’ve seen too many writers tie themselves in knots trying to “get the plot right.” In an attempt to make the process easier, countless resources, methodologies, and worksheets for plotting have emerged:

• Save the Cat!

• The Hero’s Journey

• The Three-Act Structure

• The 7-Point Story Structure

• The Snowflake Method

The list goes on. And as helpful as they can be, in actuality, you don’t need to follow any of them to create a solid plot.

I’m going to strip the complex concept of plot down to just three core elements. That’s truly all you need to create a compelling, page-turning story.

Then, I’ll walk you through a simple exercise that will help you stress-test your novel’s plot.

Are you querying this year?
Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

Preorder now!

My 3-ingredient plot recipe

Plotting is a lot like cooking.

It might feel like there are a million things that you need to plot effectively, but you don’t actually need a kitchen full of ingredients to make something delicious. The best recipes are the ones that get a few key ingredients exactly right.

At its core, every plot is built from just three elements working together:

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Every writer dreams of that magical flow state — the one where the words pour out, time disappears, and writing feels effortless. But that magic rarely happens. 90% of the time, writing is messy, clunky, and hard.

If you only write when it feels easy, you’ll never finish your book.

Show up anyway — even if you have to trick yourself into it.

Don’t wait for inspiration. Set the bar absurdly — hilariously — low. Light a candle, pour a drink, or do whatever silly little ritual it takes to get yourself in the chair.

In today’s interview, editor and USA Today bestselling author Halley Sutton shares why her first drafts are intentionally rough, the seduction trick she uses to coax herself into writing on hard days, and the simple plot advice from grad school that still guides her novels today.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Halley Sutton

Editor & USA Today Bestselling Author

Latest novel, THE HURRICANE BLONDE, available now!

What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

I love when I get into the flow state with writing, where time melts away and you feel like you’re under the skin of the story. I love it when it feels like the words come out in the exact right order, and it’s all easy.

That said, that happens maybe...ten percent of the time I write?

When I was younger, I used to want to write only when I got into that flow state. What I’ve discovered, particularly in writing books, is that that’s a nice-to-have, not a need to have.

Now, my first drafts are often very, VERY messy because I’m not living under the skin of the book yet—I’m teaching myself how to get there. That’s also a necessary part of the process, especially to actually get through a draft of a book!

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

Sometimes I have to seduce myself into writing, when the writing gets hard. For me, this looks like cleaning up a corner of my house, lighting some candles, turning on my record player (because it’s way vibey-er than Spotify) and pouring myself a little nonalcoholic beverage. I have to coax myself into writing like a scared little fawn into a meadow by cosplaying a Romantic Writer Who Writes, Dammit.

That may not be what your romantic writing setup looks like, and if I had to do this setup every time I tried to write, I’d never get anything done. BUT when you’re really struggling, I’ve found that sometimes really making the effort to curate my setting signals to my brain that we’re serious about our creativity, we’re making the time and space for it, and now we need to get into it.

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

In grad school, I had one professor give me a really simple piece of plot advice that I’ve held onto ever since. This is something that I suspect many of us know intuitively, but hearing it spoken aloud really clicked for me: You should solve your plot strands in reverse order of importance.

For example, your C plot should be resolved first, then your B plot, and finally, your A plot. I think this is most helpful when you get into really plotting out the second half of your book — whether you plot ahead of time, or do a reverse outline after a first draft — it basically gives you a roadmap to the end of your book.

Like I said, this is something that I think a lot of us intuitively understand, but hearing it said out loud was a lightbulb as I was trying to figure out how to bring all the strands of my first book together.

Psst: I wrote a book! Check it out ☺️

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

The current best tool I have for protecting my writing when things get busy is to set the bar for writing as low as it can be. For me, that looks like telling myself I only have to write two hundred words a day. And they do not have to be good words! Two hundred words is a really small chunk for me but sometimes, even that might not be manageable. Then I halve it — one hundred words.

The point is forcing myself to sit down and engage with my manuscript daily, even on days when I’m exhausted. That doesn’t mean I manage to write every day. But even on most of my busy days, I can manage, if I make the goal small enough, to achieve it.

Life comes in busy seasons and less busy seasons. I think the key is just to not let the busy seasons take you so far away from your manuscript that it’s really hard to get back to it.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

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What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

There’s so much waiting! When you start to query, you’re waiting to hear back from agents. When you’re out on submission, you’re waiting to hear back from editors. You’re even waiting for your editor’s feedback for different lengths of time, depending on how busy they are.

You really, really, REALLY need good outlets to distract you during all that waiting. That might be starting a new book if you can manage it, or taking up a new hobby, or watching every single James Bond film in order. Whatever it is, find something to distract yourself that you can submerge yourself in for many, many, many long waits!

What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?

That your book has to be a big hit to be a success. Most books that get published do not sell hundreds of thousands (or even tens of thousands!) of copies. Most books do not earn out. That doesn’t mean your publisher didn’t make money on it, by the way. That’s another myth.

But besides the feeling of personal accomplishment, being published can bring other opportunities your way: speaking opportunities, book review opportunities, teaching opportunities. Your career is not over if your book doesn’t hit the NYT bestsellers list!

In your publishing journey, there are going to be things that happen that disappoint you majorly, and there are going to be things that happen that are beyond your wildest dreams. I think that’s true of every book, from biggest hit to smallest launch.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I’m sharing which overused character tropes are hurting fiction right now and what I’d love to see instead.

Watch the video

It’s the tough truth every aspiring author needs to be prepared for. Even with glowing reviews, big launch day buzz, and a perfectly curated social media campaign, nothing guarantees your book will break through.

What actually moves the needle is simple: readers telling others they have …

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I honestly thought I was late to the game, that the Internet had already moved onto the next bookish drama.

Boy, was I wrong.

The video instantly shot up to my most-watched in months and is now at more than 115,000 views. It’s tracking to be my most-viewed video of all time.

If you haven’t watched it yet or have no idea what I’m referencing, check it out here.

There are still so many unknowns with the Shy Girl case that aren’t worth further speculating on, but what’s abundantly clear is that authors are rattled. They’re worried that they’ll be the next ones “burned at the stake” in the AI witch hunts.

So let’s talk about it: what can — and what should — you do if you’re accused of using AI to write?

No one is safe from AI accusations (myself included)

I’ve personally received two AI accusations: one person suggested that I used AI to write an Instagram caption, and another person claimed to run my two-sentence YouTube video description into an AI detection tool and said it came back as AI-generated. (In that very video, I discuss how AI detection tools are not completely reliable, but that’s beside the point.)

I didn’t use AI in either case. But does it even matter? Once someone is convinced you used AI, can you ever dig yourself out of that accusation? Can you prevent these accusations upfront?

Luckily, these comments were isolated and didn’t negatively impact my business. But the same can’t be said for Mia Ballard — whether Shy Girl contained AI writing or not, her name will now be associated with it.

And I suspect that anyone who publicly posts or publishes content is going to face an AI accusation at some point.

So…how do we respond?

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Even after you sign with an agent and sell your book to a major publisher, you might face challenges in your publishing career.

Your publisher could restructure. Your agent could retire. The deal you thought was your big break could fall apart — putting you back at square one.

But giving up …

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Sending out their manuscript way before it’s actually ready.

I get it: you finally reached “the end,” and you should feel incredibly proud and excited for the next steps! Few authors reach this milestone.

But the hard truth is that your manuscript probably isn’t the strongest it can be yet. That …

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I saw debut authors sign massive book deals. I saw agents launch new talent onto bestseller lists. And, sadly, I saw hundreds of queries get rejected.

But the most exciting days were the ones where we received that rare query that made the agent sit up in their chair. One that they pounced on immediately.

“Request the full right now,” they’d tell me. And then we’d read it immediately.

Sometimes these queries would end up getting multiple agent offers, and the author would have to choose between them in what the industry calls a “beauty contest.”

Looking back, I realized that those select queries that got so much buzz and excitement had one thing in common:

The stories were all what the publishing industry calls “high-concept.”

You’ve probably heard this term thrown around. Maybe you’ve seen it on a literary agent’s manuscript wish list and wondered: Does my book need to be high-concept to get published? And what the heck does that mean, anyway — that I have to throw in a bunch of explosions or set it in a speculative world?

(The answers are no, by the way.)

Today, I want to talk about the power of high-concept storytelling and why every author should harness it, even if your story is “quiet.”

Because it can make agents and readers pay attention (and buy in) even before they’ve read a single word of your writing.

OK…but what is a high-concept book?

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Editing isn’t a single item you check off your to-do list and move on from. Drafts are rewritten, restructured, and revised — often more than once. You think you’re finished, and then the story needs more from you.

Revisions can be draining. Discouraging at times. But as an editor, I truly believe the…

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Publishing one, or even multiple, books doesn’t automatically mean the rest of your career is made. Your next book might get a lowball offer or outright rejected. You might switch agents or editors.

So, how do you get through it?

Lean on your author friends.

They’re the ones who have been with you fo…

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I’d finished it in a single sitting.

Granted, I’d read several novels in bursts like that — but they were mostly manuscripts I was required to read quickly for work. This one was purely for enjoyment. I didn’t even mean to read it so quickly. It just happened.

Today I want to show you how to write like that. How to make readers addicted to turning the pages. How to make your story unputdownable.

The science behind addictive storytelling

The novel was called Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips.

If you haven’t read it, here’s the premise: a mother and her four-year-old son are trapped inside a zoo after closing time when shooters open fire. The entire story unfolds over roughly three hours. It’s raw, visceral, and uncomfortably intimate.

I physically couldn’t stop reading it.

The writing was strong, yes — but that wasn’t the crux of what made the novel so compulsively readable. Plenty of beautifully written books don’t grip you like that.

So what was Gin Phillips doing that made it impossible to look away, page after page?

It turns out I wouldn’t be able to articulate the answer until years later, when I discovered a powerful psychological principle that master storytellers know how to harness.

And once you understand it, you’ll never approach your story the same way again.

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Rejection after rejection can be difficult to face, especially if you’ve been in the query trenches for years and have queried multiple manuscripts. It can feel like your dream of being published isn’t on the horizon.

But that’s not true.

Success is ahead of yo…

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A writer’s curse is that you will hear “no” far more than you’ll hear a “yes.” That doesn’t mean you can’t write. That doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. That doesn’t mean your publishing dreams will fail.

It just means you’re in the game.

So write for yourself, always.

Who are you writing for, really? No, …

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Do you wait for feedback from your critique partners or revise as you go? Do you tackle the edits in chronological order or jump around?

Just as there’s no right way to write, there’s no right way to revise.

Slow down to work through the issues.

If you’re writing on deadline, you may be tempted to speed through your revisions ASAP. But s…

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When you let what you think readers want dictate your writing, it’s easy to lose your personality and voice — and your story will suffer.

Instead, stay true to yourself. The story you want to tell. The people you want to write about. And the right readers will find you.

Be authentically yourself, and …

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