On today's Books with Hooks segment, Carly and CeCe are joined by Caroline and Sammy who submitted their work for critique. During the discussion, Carly and CeCe remind us to lean into specificity in opening pages; the importance of plausibility as well as newer comp titles; the ‘movie trailer’ trick for dealing with interiority; avoiding generic interiority; and advice for researching the speech patterns of characters from a different time period.

After which, Bianca chats with Riley Sager, NYT bestselling author of The House Across the Lake, about having various pen names; pivoting as a writer; making setting a character in and of itself; showing vs telling, particularly in the thriller genre; the benefits of not giving too much away and making readers do the work; and writing an effective prologue. Find us on our socials:Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyraInstagram: @biancamarais_author @carlywatters @cece_lyra_agent @ the_shit_about_writingFacebook: @tsnotyawWebsite: www.biancamarais.com and www.theshitaboutwriting.comRiley can be found at @riley_sager on Twitter and @riley.sager on Instagram, and at www.rileysagerbooks.com