In today's Books with Hooks segment, Carly and CeCe discuss focusing on trauma and conflict rather than the perfect life that came before; not taking up too much space for a set up in a query letter; starting with the inciting incident; the problem with objectivity in omniscient POV; how curiosity comes from active emotion; writing well on a line level; pitching plot rather than feelings; and the golden rule of dialogue.

 After which, Bianca chats with  Megan Abbott, author of The Turnout, about the themes writers return to; the research that goes into a novel; how you don’t need to just write what you know, but what you’re curious about; the struggle to write authentic movement and gestures as your characters make their way through the world; making the reader do the heavy-lifting; and writing an unreliable narrator.