Miranda and I disagreed. On camera. More than once. ๐ And I'm not talking about the similar-but-different style of disagreement. I'm talking "Are we reading the same book??" disagreement. ๐ She prefers traditional, formal fantasy voice. I loved Fourth Wing's modern slang. (That book felt written for me.) ๐ I loved the Xaden bonus chapters. She thought the story didn't need them. ๐๏ธ And our POV preferences for romance could not be more opposite. But the whole time we were recording, I couldn't stop smiling. ๐ฅฐ Because neither of us is wrong. While yes, we're both book coaches, and we have decades of combined romance obsession between us, when we read the same record-breaking book, we disagreed on almost every discussion point. ๐ That's because, craft aside, we are two COMPLETELY different readers. And we brought our own reading and life experiences into the book with us. Your reader brings part of herself to your story too. ๐ There's no one "right" way to tell a story. There's just the story YOU want to tell, written that way on purpose. So when one critique partner says your slow burn drags and a beta reader begs you to slow it down... they might both be right. For themselves. Your job isn't to obey the loudest opinion. It's to know your own story well enough to choose the best-for-you story path. ๐ช ๐ฅ๏ธ In the Fourth Wing Novel Deep Dive, we also get into: ๐ค Our unfiltered take on Violet's constant injuries (and whether her frailty works for the story), ๐ The ONE thing we wholeheartedly agreed on (how bullying is empowered in the book ๐), ๐ง And why my audiobook experience and Miranda's reading experience felt significantly different. (Narrators matter, friendโฃ๏ธ) ๐ Tune in and watch us (lovingly) duke it out! Already saved the video from Friday's email? This is your sign to bump it to the top of your "YouTube hole" queue. โ ๐ฅโก๐ โWatch the Fourth Wing Novel Deep Dive here! โ๏ธ๐กโฃ๏ธ
P.S. If you struggle with making true-to-you decisions, especially when other people give conflicting feedback, check out Enemies To Experts. Because the "right" answer rarely comes from someone else. Until you can understand the WHATs and WHYs of your hero characters, you'll always be reliant on other people's opinions. That's โ๏ธ the skill we practice inside Enemies To Experts. One editor-in-your-pocket lesson each month. One exercise on YOUR manuscript. Zero critique pressure. ๐ฐ Which feels right? ๐ฑ๏ธ๐ ๐ E2E is for me! ๐ฅฐ ๐ I need to learn more. ๐ค |
The heart of your story is in the hero's growth as a person. Learn how to start plotting the RIGHT story from your very first draft by digging deep into WHAT is holding your protagonist back and WHY they choose to become their best self. Sue's techniques break down storytelling in simple, intuitive ways that traditional writing methods often muddy. Stop wasting time spinning your creative wheels and start writing stories readers will remember... WITHOUT having to rewrite the story a million times.
Hi Reader! When I was an acquiring editor for a small press, I got to decide which books we published in my category romance lines. (Sounds exciting, right? What it really means is that I had to read a ton of slush, and that's not nearly as fun as it sounds. ๐ฅด๐) And there was this one story that I was SO excited to work on. It was the perfect fit, with all the right tropes and romantic chemistry that ๐ฅ promised to be off the charts. But when I got the manuscript, the story was kinda boring. I...
Hi Reader! Confession time. ๐ I almost DNF'd A Court of Thorns and Roses. (I KNOW. Put down the pitchforks. ๐ ) It wasn't the writing, and it wasn't because of Feyre. It was the squalor. The starving, the freezing, the hovel house, the hunting-to-survive desperation... ๐คฎ I read romance to escape. And living through Feyre's medieval survival struggle felt more like a camping trip gone very wrong. โบ๐ฉ (And I'm barely willing to glamp.) But plenty of readers LOVE that gritty opening. For some of...
Hi Reader! You know those romance books where everybody wants the heroine? It doesn't matter if she's a perfect Mary Sue ๐ฉ, a klutzy book nerd ๐ค, or a catty half-vampire ๐ง. Allll the boys (and even some of the girls) want in her pants. And I'm like, but WHY? ๐ณ๐คท I call this the "magical vagina" effect. (And yes, I said that out loud. On camera. On someone else's channel. ๐ ) It makes me crazy, because generic lust and forced relationships do not a good romance make. And it's a big reason I love...