Finding Your Voice

In today's Books with Hooks, Bianca, Carly, and CeCe discuss an example of an excellent hook and query letter in general; the issues with beginning your novel with a cliched scene; the importance of emotional layers in interiority, especially with big, messy emotions; framing your query letter in a way that gives your protagonist more agency and 'protagonism', or that shows how a character's lack of agency pushes the plot forward; the problem with using self-published books as your comp titles; the difference between third person close POV and omniscient third person; and the difficulties with using an omniscient third person POV.

After which, Bianca chats with Estelle Erasmus about her book, Writing That Gets Noticed. They also discuss Estelle’s credentials and experience; writing essays and op-eds; finding your voice; writing your essays for yourself; literary fiction vs purple prose; finding your rhythm and syntax; asking yourself “so what?”; personal universal elements; and revealing vs concealing.

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More information about Estelle can be found at https://estelleserasmus.com/. She’s on Twitter @EstelleSErasmus, Instagram @EstelleSErasmus, TikTok @EstelleSErasmus, and Facebook @Estelle.Sobel.Erasmus.

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