This week, Eva and Katryn dive deeper into plotters and pantsers, discussing what tools and tricks to best to tame your arcs, plot, and more during the drafting process. Eva regales us all with tales of her launch, and Katryn breaks down all of her drafts in the style of romance tropes.

Note: Katryn was having trouble with her mic (mostly, speaking into it properly) and some segments are unusually quiet. This should be fixed by episode 7!

Sources

• Check out the Masterclass on finding out which kind of writer you are!

• Jane Friedman has a great article on plotters and pantsers!

• Pacific northwesters, come see Eva at her final tour stop for a while in Seattle with Rachel Griffin!

• Subscribe to Wiser Than Me, Julie Louis-Dreyfus’s wonderful podcast

Watch Maxton Hall on Amazon Prime!

It’s a Write Where it Hurts Super Special! This week, Eva and Katryn discuss debut anxiety-- everything from the wounds it opens, to self-imposed stress, to developing early expectations around the “nebulous cloud that is publishing.” Eva discusses cutting herself off from reading reviews, and Katryn acts out a whole scene from Harry and the Hendersons and it somehow works as a metaphor.

NOTE: We are taking a break for Eva's debut (out on 5/21)! We'll be back in June!

*Content warnings: This week, we talk a lot about mental addictions. These are real and toxic to our mental health, but we mention them in no way to compare or dismiss physical and substance addiction--only to speak to our experiences with this kind of psychological addiction.

Sources

• Bookseller survey finds that over half of authors reported that debut authors said the experience negatively impacted their mental health
• What is a Super Special, you ask? THIS
• Listen to our Seducing the Creative Spirit playlist!
• Watch this Harry & the Hendersons clip and WEEP
• Pre-order I Wish You Would (Eva) and We Are Not Alone (Katryn)

This week, the topic on Write Where it Hurts is ‘writing flawed characters,’ and the craft talk gets real. Eva deftly connects The Tortured Poet’s Department to the theme, and talks giving all of her characters the full enneagram-meyers-briggs workup, while Katryn gets very salty about manic pixie dream girls (but not in the way you think). NOTE: If the audio sounds a bit choppy and Katryn’s voice sounds like sad, parched smacking, this is because our heroic Eva was forced to edit out roughly 79,000 coughs. Thanks, Spring!

Sources:

• Give your character a free enneagram test!
• I sued Masterclass’s site as a baseline in framing some of my own questions and thoughts!
• Pre-Order I Wish You Would and keep an eye on Eva’s IG or subscribe to her newsletter for upcoming tour info!
• Request Katryn’s next book, We Are Not Alone, on NetGalley and Edelweiss!

This week, Eva and Katryn delve into managing your time in writing groups - from getting in (yay!) to knowing when to back off. Eva talks disappearing Homer-style into a bush when overwhelmed, and Katryn discusses getting back into the IRL social fold.

Sources:

• Lots of people out there talking about how Slack and apps like it can cause stress, anxiety and a lack of work life balance
• Pre-Order I Wish You Would and keep an eye on Eva’s IG or subscribe to her newsletter for upcoming tour info!
• Request Katryn’s next book, We Are Not Alone, on NetGalley and Edelweiss!

To kick off season 3 of Write Where it Hurts, Eva and Katryn discuss writing on contract--from the reality of deadlines after you’ve sold a book, to the creative process around pitching books after the book deal. Kate and Eva can’t stop/won’t stop talking about minotaur erotica.

Sources

• Pre-order I Wish You Would now!

• Also, for Bay Area folks, please come out to Eva’s launch in conversation with the great YA Author Kristin Dwyer at Mrs. Dalloway’s Books

• Check out the gorgeous cover of Katryn’s upcoming book, We Are Not Alone, if you missed the reveal!

• Stop everything you’re doing right now and read the summary (and some of the reviews!) for Morning Glory Milking Farm

In this bonus episode, Eva and Katryn discuss their evolution as artists & authors--from making peace with the revision process and finding your best critique balance, to the hurdles they’ve faced as artists. Katryn grieves lost pop-culture references and Eva kinda-accidentally makes her husband sound like a cannibal.

CONTENT CLARIFICATION: Hi, all! Kate here. I just wanted to clarify that, in the segment where I talk about feeling like I have the right to educate myself, I realized I was being super vague. I wanted to clarify that I was talking about bad publishing and writing advice. I realized that, bookended with my mini-rant about Barbie, it might have sounded like I was deliberately vaguepodding about something else. Did I just make up a new word? I think I did!

Sources:

• Pre-order I Wish You Would now!
• Also, for Bay Area folks, please come out to Eva’s launch in conversation with the great YA Author Kristin Dwyer at Mrs. Dalloway’s Books
• Check out the gorgeous cover of Katryn’s upcoming book, We Are Not Alone, if you missed the reveal!

Eva and Katryn celebrate the last episode of Write Where it Hurts Season 2 with a very special episode (VSE™): and Instagram Live. They discuss the ups and downs of the year, answer your craft, publishing and podcast questions, and reveal what lies in store for season 3!

Sources

• Pre-order Eva’s debut I WISH YOU WOULD out 5/21/24 and add it on Goodreads

• Please buy Katryn’s books and also add her next book WE ARE NOT ALONE on Goodreads.

  Check out our pod’s Linktree and remember to follow us on IG!

JOIN US ON FRIDAY 9/8 for our IG LIVE SEASON FINALE @writewhereithurtspod

In the penultimate episode of season 2, Eva and Katryn discuss navigating writing and publishing during tough times—from using story to process trauma, to dealing with deadlines when you’ve got a case of the mean reds. Eva exalts the glory of TSA precheck and Katryn pays homage to the healing powers of Olivia Benson. 

*Content warnings: Grief, trauma, mental illness, pandemic. CLARIFYING NOTE: Katryn talks about the type of mental illness that feels like a “choice”- this is in reference to a level of illness that affords the agency to control symptoms with therapy and/or medicine.

Sources

• Did Eva convince you to look at TSA Precheck? Look here for details!

• Glimmers and Triggers were a big focus of today’s episode

• Check out this article that discusses how the concept of “pushing through” can disrupt the healing process

• While this word wasn’t used, Eva and Katryn both discuss the healing power of stories (including their own) in a concept one book refers to as “bibliotherapy”
  

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  @evadeslaurbooks

  @katrynwrites

  @writewhereithurtspod

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