Bianca Murray (0:00)

This is not a drill, but it's the final week's buildup to the Deep Dive Virtual retreat happening on the 1st and 2nd of February from 10am to 5pm Eastern Time each day, along with two other breakout sessions happening from 11am to 2pm Eastern Time on the 25th of January and the 8th of February in which you can interact with all the other delegates and ask us all your burning questions. This is our most stellar lineup to date. You'll be hearing from top editors, agents and authors about all aspects of writing and publishing. Plus every delegate stands a chance of winning one of nine life changing critiques done by the presenters themselves. We're especially proud of the 32 scholarships that have been awarded to our listeners, the most scholarships we've ever awarded for a Deep Dive. We really hope to see you there. Go to our website the Shit About Writing and go to the Deep Dive page for more information and to sign up. It's a new year and time to get fresh eyes on your work in progress. Are you looking for beta readers, some of whom might potentially become writing group members down the line? Are you wanting to be matched up with those writing in a similar genre and or time zone so they can critique your work as you critique theirs? At the same time your manuscript? It doesn't have to be complete to sign up for this 3,000 word evaluation. This matchup will be open to registrations from now until the 2nd of March, with the matchup emails going out on the 3rd of March. Always such an exciting day. For more information and to Register go to Biancamarae.com and go to the Beta Reader Matchup tab. And please spread the word. Even if you aren't joining the matchup this time, the more writers we have signed up, the better the matches will be. Hi there and welcome to our show the Shit no One Tells you About Writing. I'm Bianca Murray and I'm joined by Carly Waters and Cece Lira from PS Literary Agency. Hi everyone. Welcome to our January Comps segment. In our bonus episode we took a bit of a break so we have a a lot that we've come back to today. Emily Summer from East City Bookshop joins us as per usual to answer all your burning comp questions. Welcome back Emily. Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here. Happy New Year everybody. Yeah, well let's dive in. There's 18 requests today. I know some of you did get your requests in late, so if you don't hear your comps title in this episode, please listen out in February because we needed to get to them at a certain time. Okay, here is request number one. Hello Bianca, and I'm Lee. My novel is Echo Brothers Journey. It is a multi POV YA action adventure with sci fi elements and I don't know where to start for comp titles, so I'm sorry, I'm not any help with that. In World of Echo Beams with Superpowers, our main character Colby's family is attacked, his sister is left in a coma and his mom is killed. He and his brother go on a cross country trip to find the attacker, meeting others like him and fighting both the government who wants to kill him on site and other Echoes who wants to use his powers for their own means. The story is contemporary, although the timeline isn't exactly like ours, so it's more speculative than complete science fiction. And while he is a wise ass, I wouldn't consider it a full on humor story. But I'm finding it hard to find other books with a humor slant and why any help is greatly appreciated. So anytime I hear about action adventure with sci fi elements and a slant of humor, I immediately want to recommend John Scalzi. Not ya, but there is some YA crossover appeal I think. Ditto Martha Wells's Murderbot series which also have a sense of humor and certainly are action packed. Sci fi, again, not YA specifically, but could have some crossover appeal and might work for a comp just because they're so well known. On the other hand, maybe they are too well known. So with that in mind, shout out to my husband who gave me this great suggestion, which is another adult book that I think has YA crossover appeal, but that I think could work here. And it's a book, a recent book, it's from last year called Catch Penny by Charlie Houston. Again, action adventure, sci fi that has a real sense of humor. It's not a parody, it's not satire, it's not that. But it has that sort of wise ass humor slant that might work for this comp. So that's Catch Penny by Charlie Houston and let me know if that fits the bill. Thank you, Emily. Here is number two. Set against a sweeping backdrop of rural ranch life in southern Oklahoma, Wild Bend is a contemporary dual point of view women's fiction novel. It follows she, Ryan and Charlie Beckham through three periods in their lives as their journeys through grief intersect. After Shelby's mother is institutionalized for mental illness, Shelby revisits the role both she and her mother played in her little brother's death, while Charlie grapples with leaving his little sister behind in their abusive family home in Texas years before. Shelby and Charlie's friendship ultimately turns to love. But when the affluent uncle with whom Shelby was sent to live discovers a secret about Charlie, it threatens to tear apart two people who have already lost so much. Wild Ben is part coming of age, part family saga and all love story with themes of class, mental illness, community and self forgiveness. The natural world is just as central as a protagonist, I've been told. It's reminiscent of One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, minus the historical setting of course. I was not familiar with One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, so thank you for mentioning that because I was able to look it up and familiarize myself with a new title. Booksellers love to get recommendations from readers and customers just as much as we love to give them, so thank you for that. I immediately thought of a forthcoming novel that you all might have seen on one of the many coming soon, highly anticipating 2025 reads lists, and that's the Bright Years by Sarah Damoff. I have seen it on a lot of lists and if I were to make my own, it would certainly feature prominently. The Bright Years is not Oklahoman, but it is very Texan, so I think it would have a similar feel. I said in my blurb to the publisher that it it was so Texan that it reminded me of like Larry McMurtry and Richard Linklater, just in its sense of like Texas identity. So it will have like that strong sense of setting. It has a coming of age element because you meet the characters when they're young and follow them through the years. There is some sad backstory, but it's also a beautiful love story. You very much feel the texture of class and community. I think it just might feel like it has the same tone based on what you've described. Another book I would recommend is either just out in paperback or coming out in paperback soon, and that's Mercury by Amy Jo Burns, which doesn't have the Oklahoma Texan setting, but the small town vibes are strong so the setting is very real and clear. Again, it's family drama and family secrets and absolutely concerned with class and community. It doesn't have that focus on the natural world that was mentioned, but it does have again a strong sense of place, so I think the feel might be right. I would also look at books by Mary Beth Keane and Tracy Lang to see if those match the tone and could possibly be good comps. Marvelous. Okay, number three. Thank you so much for everything you do on the podcast. I'd really appreciate your help finding comps for a story where we have a fantasy book embedded within a contemporary book by epistolary means. Our protagonist is a jaded social worker under investigation for previous death in her care when she's given a new case involving a teenager who won't talk but does share their fantasy writing. The fantasy world takes up about a third of the novel and concerns a girl who's trying to destroy the monster that killed her mother. As the social worker tries to interpret the pages in order to help the teenager before she faces the hearing that could see her struck off, she finds her own family and professional life affected by she reads both emotionally, practically, and via some strange coincidences that give a subtle flavour of magical realism. The fantasy world has a tone similar to works by Studio Ghibli, and the real world has a flavour of cosy crime, but within a social work setting rather than a detective setting. I haven't found any comps that combine all these elements, but would particularly appreciate any ideas you might have for the magical world impacting a real world and comps where social work is written in a cosy crime type of way. Thank you so much in advance. Okay, I really had to work at this one because there's so much going on and I couldn't think of anything that felt exactly right. Which I think is a good sign because that means that you're writing something fresh and new and there's an untapped market for subtle magical realism. I would look at the works of Sarah Addison Allen because I think that that has that sort of subtle magic and kind of the coziness and warmth that might be reflected here. I also thought of the book Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkopf, but that's not particularly cozy. It's more sort of book club women's fiction, and it's also probably at least 10 years old now, but it does concern itself with a social worker, and that's at the heart of the story. So that's what made me think of that. And then also I wanted to recommend or mention not recommend, because you probably know it already. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, which is a fantasy and it is about a social worker who's working at this home for children. Very much a cozy setting, but it's not subtle magical realism. It's very much a fantasy, and it's also probably too big. So House in the Cerulean Sea might be too big, Little Mercies is probably too old, but Maybe there's something by Sarah Addison Allen, her most recent or certainly most recent popular one. For us it was Other Birds. But look and see if any of her books have maybe the right tone. And good luck. Thank you, Emily. Okay, here's number four. Hi Emily, thanks so much for doing this segment. I really enjoy it. My novel is a true blend of women's fiction and romance following the journey of Liv Riley. All her life she wanted to be an Olympic swimmer. That is until she became a 26 year old single mother raising her 11 month old son Finley with her best friend in New York City. Through therapy, spontaneous blind dates and redefining what she wants, Liv decides she doesn't want to give up on her dream. But when the other half of her heart gets a second chance at happily ever after with the love she lost long ago, Liv wants it all. This time it's told through a dual timeline of Liv's high school swimming days set in Wilmington, North Carolina and present day in New York City. As a single mother. It makes me think it's teetering the line of new adult and adult. So some comps that have come up with are Emily Henry's happy place and the people we meet on vacation, but I'm not sure if those are too big, but they are really great romance, dual timeline stories and then One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but I'm not sure if that's too old. Thanks so much. I would say that you are probably right that Emily Henry is a little bit too big. I think Taylor Jenkins Reid is also at this point probably too big and maybe One True Loves is too old. But I thought of two books that don't have the Olympic swimmer dreams, but they do have sort of the thwarted dreams and a second chance with a hit of a romance. So the first is the Nobodies by Liza Palmer. And in that the main character is not an Olympic swimmer, an aspiring Olympic swimmer, but she is a very driven and ambitious journalist and her journalism career stalls, fails and she ends up as sort of a glorified intern at this startup company. But there is a second chance for professional success. There's a relationship that develops. It doesn't have the pregnancy angle, but I think it might capture the ambition and fulfilling your dreams parts and sort of quasi new adult. She's older, but I think it, I think that could work. And then I also thought about Perfect Tunes by Emily Gould, which is about an aspiring and very talented singer whose pregnancy, young pregnancy derails her trajectory of success. And the book is sort of split into two with her first where she's heading before the pregnancy and then afterward and I that's a book I really enjoyed, so I would recommend that one. Excellent. Okay, number five Hi, I'm looking for some suggestions for comp titles for my speculative fiction novel entitled the Moonlight Diner. It takes place in 1958. Here's a short little blurb in the tranquil town of Oak Springs, New York, prairie O'Shea, young waitress, finds her quiet life disrupted when a mysterious African American drifter with an injured arm enters her family's roadside diner. As a string of unexplained murders unfolds, Prairie is drawn to the enigma surrounding the drifter, all while being pursued by her persistent ex boyfriend Billy. What secrets away Prairie on its moonlit sky of Oak Springs. The book has elements of the supernatural and a sweet romance all intertwined within the mysteries of both the murders and the drifter. Readers of my draft said it reminds me of the Suki Stackhouse series. While my novel does have a romance element, it is not super spicy, it's more sweet. I've also compared my book to the TV show the Wolf Like Me because the vibes between the characters have the same feel as Mary and Gary in season one. Looking for comps that combine that supernatural mystery element, but I'm having a hard time finding ones that don't involve that heavy layer of spice. Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it. I had forgotten about the Suki Stackhouse series, so thank you for reminding me of those. I am not a vampire really or fantasy reader or supernatural reader at all as people may have gleaned from these comp segments. But I did read some Suki Stackhouse back in the day because they were so big and they were everywhere and I was like I gotta check it out and I enjoyed it. But now we're looking for a supernatural mystery without spice. So I have two suggestions and I hope that I am correct with the spice level on these and that they might fit. The first are the books of Ilona Andrews and which I think is a husband and wife like writing duo, but they write paranormal mysteries that are also romances. But if I understand correctly they are sweeter or they're not spicy. They are more concerned with the plot and the paranormal and the mystery so people can let us know on social media how correct I am about that. But I'd suggest Ilona Andrews. And then there is a book by Lindy Ryan that came out last year 2024 called Bless yous Heart. It has a great cover. I urge you to look it up. No, we don't judge books by their covers, but sometimes we do. That's why the publishers spend so much money on these arresting covers. And I think that Lindy Ryan's Bless yous Heart also might have that sort of supernatural mystery, supernatural story element, but I think it's more funny and charming. I don't think it's spicy, so maybe one of those would work and maybe looking into those might lead you down the path towards some other similar authors. Great. Number six hello and thank you for this opportunity to get your comp title advice. My story involves 28 year old Meg, who dreams of being a successful novelist and a life beyond her small town. When her article profiling K dramas goes viral, she accepts an invitation to appear on an English language TV show in Korea. En route to Seoul, Meg begins a whirlwind romance with actor Hyun El. Weeks after reuniting in a tearful goodbye, Meg discovers she's pregnant. Not having heard from him since and fearing a scandal could ruin his career, she keeps their daughter's birth a secret while simultaneously opening a new career door with a production company in la. At work, Meg strikes up a friendship with actor Jung Bung Ho, which slowly turns romantic when one of the assistant writers quits, Meg's promoted to replace him. She travels to Korea where Hanel discovers he's a father before Meg can tell him. Meg's new relationship with young Ho makes Hano jealous and he interjects himself into their lives. Concurrently, Meg's finding her wings as a screenwriter. Caught on an emotional roller coaster between two intriguing men, Meg tries to balance her burgeoning career with escalating personal drama, ultimately finding the courage to pursue life on her own terms. It's funny sometimes I will have just done like a summer order where I'm ordering front list of books that are coming out and there'll be something that is just perfectly attuned to what is referenced here. And so I had just seen news of a forthcoming book by Lisa Cross Smith, who's had several successful and really good books in the past. I've recommended her book Half Blown Rose before on this segment, but she has a new one coming out this summer. It's called as yous Wish and the reason I thought of it is because it is about young women in Seoul, Korea and I just thought how interesting to see the Korean angle referenced in both this book and this call. And as you wish. The characters are a group of au pairs who are living in South Korea and are sort of figuring out their dreams and their romance prospects. And I haven't read it yet, but I have read her others and I think she's very talented. So I would keep an eye out for that one, even if it's too fresh to use as a comp right now. And then a book that is new and out and has done well for us in the store is called Ready or Not by Cara Bastone and that has the love triangle angle in it if I'm not mistaken, and it has a whirlwind surprise pregnancy. So that's that's the title, Ready or Not this baby is coming. So I would take a look at Ready or Not and keep your eyes peeled for as yous Wish by Lisa Cross Smith awesome. Okay, number seven Hi, it's AJ from the UK to all of you at the Shit. I adore your podcast. I need comps for my dual timeline multi POV book club fiction set in the Highlands of Scotland and the Cornish coast in the 80s and 90s. It's about two brothers who grew up on a coastal farm where a tragic accident alters the course of both of their lives. Their sibling relationship is achingly tender and the family dynamic is complex. In the later timeline, the younger brother is living a nomadic life, traveling from job to job. Having been released from prison, he's mourning the death of his older brother. In this new life he forms by the sea in Cornwall. He falls in love and wonders if he can finally start to live his life, but will his past catch up with him for comps? All I have at the moment is talking at night. Claire Daverly for the loss of sibling and the love story elements. The sea and the coast play high in the imagery and suicide, disability and sibling children as carers are themes. Hi AJ from the uk. This sounds wonderful. I love sort of an atmospheric, sad, grief stricken story story. I love. I love the sad. This sounds sad. I also loved Talking at Night by Claire Daverly, so I think that that's a lovely comp because you mentioned the importance of the sea and the coast. It sounds like grief is at the heart of this in many ways. I thought about Charlotte McConaughey's forthcoming book Wild Dark Shore, her previous book. She has two previous books. One is Migrations, one is Once There Were Wolves. They are both absolutely outstanding. I am waiting for her to be Booker long listed. I think she is just wildly underrated and I'm hopeful that Wild Dark Shore this year will really break her out and send her into the stratosphere because she deserves it. Once There Were Wolves does take place in the Scottish Highlands, while Dark Shore takes place by contrast on a very remote island in the Antarctic. But the sea and the coast are very important in that book too. We have characters who are dealing with secrets in their past grief. It's a very tender sibling story and just absolutely beautiful, so at least check it out and try to read it. Another one that is already out that might work as well, that has sort of those talking at night vibes is Emily Usher's Wild Ground, which is set in Yorkshire and instead of Brothers, it follows two close friends through the years. It's very tender, very sad, and the siblings and children aren't carers in that situation, but they are sort of children on their own kind of raising themselves almost. And the Yorkshire landscape is very much present. So not the sea, not the coast, but a very strong sense of place. And I loved both of those books and I hope more people will find them. Thank you. Okay, number eight Hi Emily, I'm a huge fan of this segment of the podcast and everything pertaining to the show in general. Wondering if you have any comp suggestions for my women's fiction that deals with a 30 something woman, professionally high achieving, who's coming to a crisis point in her life. Her job is at a university, so it has to do with academia, it has to do with healthcare, but it also has to do with a turbulent relationship that turns into blackmail with a student that she is supervising. So it's got themes of academia, of medicine, of therapy, and of a woman reaching her breaking point. I have a bunch of ideas, but I would rather hear yours. And I'm struggling to find anything with all of these themes. Thank you so much for listening. Okay, I like that you say you've got some ideas but you want me to go first and I'm happy to do it. I couldn't think of something that hit kind of everything, academia, healthcare, and a woman reaching her breaking point. But I could think of several that had at least two out of the three. And I think the academia and the woman reaching her breaking point were the two that felt most reachable that I could think of. Some the first, and I hope this is one of the ones that's already on your radar, is Vladimir by Julia Mae Jonas. And that is definitely a woman who is professional, high achieving, coming to a crisis point, has a turbulent relationship. It's a wild read. I loved it. So smart, so well written. I think that would be a good one at least to check out because I think when you Hear your summary, people are gonna jump to Vladimir. I, of course, thought about All Fours by Miranda July, because that is such a hot book right now. It is definitely a woman coming to a crisis point, a breaking point, and figuring out where is she going to go next. She is older, she's not in her 30s. She's in her 40s. And it is very much a book, I think, for women in their 40s and beyond. But I would look at that, too, in part because it's just such a great read. And then for another book about academia, I thought about Disorientation by Elaine Chu. So in that one, she's younger than In All Fours. She's a grad student who's completing her dissertation. But it has that sort of questions of burnout, figuring out your. Your professional life, messy relationships, I think. So that's one that's worth considering as well. Thank you. Yeah, we're seeing a lot of dark academia books coming out. I'm seeing, like, coming up. There's going to be a heck of a lot of those, which I wonder if we're going to reach a saturation point or if. What do you think? What are you predicting? I mean, everything's cyclical. And I do feel that there is something. Something. And maybe it's TikTok, although I guess it won't be for long. But something has made the secret history bubble up recently. And we've had, like, our sales of the secret history have just skyrocketed. And anytime the secret history is at the forefront of people's minds, I feel like we see dark academia taking root. I don't know. I don't know if we'll reach a saturation point. I guess it depends on the angle that they each take, because they can be done in different ways. Must be TikTok. Whenever you see an old title come up, I mean, Donna Tartt, that was published how many years ago? That was ages ago. I read it in 1998 or 1999, and it was. I think it's early 90s. And let me put this out in the universe. One of the things, if I had an official vision board and I could manifest things for other people on said vision board, a new Donna Tartt novel is right there. It's time. We're 10 years on. So, Donna, if you're listening, not that. Not that you need help with your writing, we're ready. We're ready for the next one. We are. But, Donna, also, if you're listening, allow your editor to edit your novels. Don't listen to her. Donna. You can go as long as you want. At least 30%. Donna okay, here we go. Number nine, get a book deal is on many 2025 New Year's resolution lists for our listeners. But working in the creative industry, I've seen lots of writers and illustrators feel squeamish around money conversations. And what is a book deal but a financial offer for your creative output? We should all love talking about money. As a literary agent, I love talking about money and how its growth can improve people's lives. And that's why debunking money conversations are important. Like many people think you need loads of money to start investing or they put off investing because it seems like a later problem. 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Head to acorns.com T S N O T Y A W or download the Acorns app and start saving and investing for your future today. This is a paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns Tier 1 compensation provided investing involves risk. Acorn Advisors LLC is an SEC registered advisement investor. View Important disclosures@acorns.com T S N O T Y A W I know you've been following along with my vacation updates and as you know we're off to France this summer between the French Riviera and Paris. I am going to need some French language training so I do not embarrass myself abroad. I will be working on my French with Rosetta Stone all winter to get ready. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app and it truly immerses you in the language you want to learn. My husband and I are both going to focus on Rosetta Stone together as a New Year's resolution. 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That's lifetime Access to all 25 language courses Rosetta Stone offers for 50% off a steal. Start the new year off with a resolution you can reach today. The shit about writing listeners can take advantage of this Rosetta Stone lifetime membership offer for 50% off visit RosettaStone.com today. That's 50% off. Unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your Life. Redeem your 50% off@RosettaStone.com today. Today I am looking for comp titles for my memoir, which has dual timelines. The first timeline opens up with the FBI arriving at my home to arrest my husband, leading to the loss of his career with the nypd, his incarceration and raising our teenage children. The second timeline is set a decade earlier, reveals our financial struggles being a mother to our young children. This earlier period sheds light on the circumstances that would ultimately lead to my husband's imprisonment. The narrative explores the impact of these experiences on my identity as a mother, a wife, and a woman, as well as the strain that they placed on our marriage and family dynamics. It examines the resilience of love, the journey of personal growth, and the challenges of parenting with honesty. The target audience would be any person who can relate to the rug being pulled out from underneath them and surviving. Okay, I love a memoir. I would read this in a heartbeat, so best of luck to you because I want this on my shelves so that I can read a copy. I can't tell from your description what led to your husband's incarceration. And I also can't tell if the marriage survived. So those two things I would want to know to be able to give probably the best comps. In the meantime, I think these two books are old, but even if they're not worth mentioning in a query letter, I think that you could look at them because they're, they're good. The first one is After Perfect by Christina McDowell, and it is not about a husband who is pull. You know, the rug is pulled out because of a husband, but it's because it was her father. And so she grew up very wealthy in Northern Virginia, just outside of D.C. here they had the finest of everything and then it turns out her dad was embezzling. Their life falls apart. She goes from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. But it's a very good memoir. She is now writing fiction. She had one just a couple years ago called the Cave Dwellers, but I thoroughly appreciated her memoir, After Perfect, so I urge people to check that out. And then another one is also old, probably too old, but it's called Perfection, A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz. And in that one her husband dies. And after he dies, she discovers this whole secret life he had and philandering and just it's such a lots of betrayal and upheaval. And that one I thought of because in addition to sort of her life blowing up, she is left alone to raise her young daughter. So she talks in that about being a single parent and the struggles of raising her child alone. So both of those are probably too old, but I would look at them anyway. And good luck to you. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but it sounds like a really good memoir might come of it. I would also recommend the Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards by Jessica Waite. We had her on the podcast recently. That was one heck of a memoir as well. So check that one out. And I don't know that one, so I'm gonna check that one out. I know. Such a good title, right? Okay, we are past the halfway mark. Number 10. I'm seeking pumps for my novel by the light of the Auroras, a post apocalyptic family drama set in southern Virginia, Matilda is languishing. She suffers from spiraling anxiety and functional depression and is trying to pace over the deepening cracks in her life in all the wrong ways until day zero, when a mysterious event fries the grid and plunges society into chaos. Matilda, her husband and kids bug out for her prepper parents mountain compound. But when raiders confiscate their truck and supplies. The six hour drive turns into a fight for survival against the backdrop of societal breakdown and impending winter. If Matilda can tap into the primitive skills she learned growing up, rekindle her sputtering marriage, and reconnect with her children, they might just make it and reclaim Matilda's sense of self along the way. Told in first person, present tense, the novel explores society's obsession with comfort and technology, our drug like dependence on social media, its effect on relationships, and the healing and purpose found in the simple and natural. The tone is at times gritty but always hopeful. It contains a southern vibe and light speculative elements as well as stark survival and romance. Okay, this again. Please get this published so that I can read it and sell it. My co worker Dana would be all over this. We're ready for this book. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller might be a good comp. It is old, but Peter Heller is marvelous. He's still writing, he still has plenty of new stuff. And the Dog Stars is, if I'm not mistaken, and if things haven't gotten derailed, it's about to be made into a movie with Paul Mescal. So that will bring the Dog Stars back into the public light and popularity. As it should be. The Displacements by Bruce Hulsinger is a recent post apocalyptic family drama. In that one, it is a hurricane, the likes of which has never been seen before that throws everything into upheaval and ruins the grid, and a family from Florida ends up in a displaced person's camp. And it's very much a fight for survival, even once they make it to this refugee camp. And it is, I would say, also gritty but hopeful. I don't think there are any speculative elements in that one, but it's. It is a family trying to survive so that one could work. And then of course I also thought about Leave the World behind by Ruma Lam, which might be a little too big, based on the Netflix movie with Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke, but that is sort of, you know, all of a sudden, everything. We're living our best, most comfortable lives and he does a really good job of describing that. All our creature comforts and dependence on them. And then we come to an event that changes everything and we've got to make it from there. Thank you, Emily. Yeah. Exit west was so good. By Mohsen Hamad. Yes. Yeah. So did you mention that as a comp? I did not mention that one. I did not. But it is a great book. I said the wrong title, which could very well happen well, maybe I'm reading Emily's mind, but for the listeners, while exit west. Or maybe sometimes I'm thinking of one book and I say another one. So that very definitely could have happened. Okay, number 11. Hi, my name is David Barrett. Here's my novel's hook. A despairing and broken demigod who would curb the extremes of humanity's evils, attempts to come to terms with who and what he is. But as all our pasts and futures come under threat by an ancient horror, he fears he may be something even worse. Redacted is centered upon Darren, a man who is both very human and very much not. And his battles against the ways of the world, against those who would unmake the universe so that it has never been, and against himself. Even numbered chapters are in third person close in the past tense with a handful of POVs. Odd numbered chapters are in first person present tense. For Darren, it is run through with despair, sulfate ridden loss, but also with hope, albeit very much against the odds. As for comps, I am completely out of ideas. I think the sense of sadness from here, the sense of scale from there. I hope you can help me. Thank you for your time. Hi, David. This is a great hook that you're describing. I can't exactly tell what is the plot. I can tell that we have this despairing demigod who seems to be having a crisis of identity and is faced with lots of strife. But I can't tell exactly what the nature of the conflict is. But I would say based on what you've said and the. The conflicts and stresses that the protagonists. Demigod are going under, I might look at the library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. That has sold very well for us. And I think it may have. It might have that sort of human God conflict, wild upheaval to the universe. That might work. And I also might look at Robert Jackson Bennett's Founders trilogy. The first one is Foundryside, then it's Shorefall and Lachlan. And in those books, Lachlan's, I think came out in 202022 or 2023. All three are selling steadily for us. And that is a trilogy where it's God versus human. Who are we? What are we capable of? Very high conflict, large scale. That might work too. So check those out and see if either of those might be right. Thank you so much. Okay, number 12. Hi, I'm looking for comp titles for my contemporary literary fiction novel about a young woman who assists in the death of her terminally ill best friend. The Book focuses on the aftermath of her friend's death, where the main character goes away and comes back just before it is announced that the UK Parliament will vote on whether to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill patients. In the months leading up to the vote, our main character sees stories in the news that match her experience and she decides that she wants to add her story to the fight and free herself from the weight of the secret she's been carrying around, despite knowing it could cost her her freedom. There is also a focus on our main character's relationship with her mother and paternal grandmother, and how her secret impacts her other relationships and friendships. I have links with Jojo Moyes Move before youe series and Candice Carty Williams's Queenie for Style, but I would love to know if there are titles that fit more closely. Thank you. Of course, I think you're. You're right to mention me before you because I think anytime someone hears that a book is about assisted suicide, that they will think of me before you. I do think maybe it's too big, too old to be an effective comp. So I'm glad that you also mentioned Queenie for Tone. I loved that book. And because you mentioned Queenie, I will also mention Mame by Jessica George, which I just loved. So that is another young woman in the uk. That one is not about assisting the death of a terminally ill friend, but it does have like a caregiving angle. It absolutely deals with balancing, like your relationships with your parents, just sort of how you move on from taking care of others and taking care of yourself. So not exactly on the assisted suicide angle, but it might work. In Love by Amy Bloom is a memoir of Amy Bloom's marriage and her husband's descent into Alzheimer's and then their quest to find a humane way to end his life as he wishes. So that's a memoir, but that might be worth looking at too, because she really, it's very concerned with the ethics and morality and the logistics of carrying out a humane end for your loved one. And then you also might look at the brilliant life of Eudora Honeyset, which has sold well for us. But I think that one is more like a woman is about to. Is in her twilight years and is about to explore assisted suicide and then has her mind changed so that one might be like the opposite and not the message that you're looking for. But it is about that and it's recent and has done well, so I would. I would at least look at it. Thank you, Emily. Next one. Hi Emily I'd love help with comps. My book is about a widowed mother who is barely holding her life together as she juggles work and caregiving for both her ailing parents and an autistic son. After a panic attack, her therapist prescribes self care, but yoga and salt caves aren't cutting it. She begins shoplifting and performing minor acts of vandalism, the thrill of which invigorates her with the energy she needs to get through her days till one of the pranks goes wrong and threatens to jeopardize everything she holds dear. I think Amazing Grace Addams is a solid comp for its portrayal of a woman going off the rails in response to the unwinnable challenges of modern motherhood. I'd love my second comp to address the unique experience of parenting a neurodivergent child. The life circumstances of Richard Powers, protagonist and bewilderment are spot on, but my tone is more like Little Wood than Powers. His book is just so heartbreaking. I'm not sure it feels right. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated and thanks for all you do for the T snot community. I love the phrase the unwinnable challenges of Modern Motherhood because I think that that is so accurate and I think that that will really like ping in a query letter. Any mother who's hearing that is going to be like, yeah, that feels right. I also love this premise of sort of light acts of vandalism that are invigorating this woman. I think that you're absolutely right that Amazing Grace Adams sounds spot on, so I'm glad that that one is on your radar. I also agree that it sounds like bewilderment does not have the right tone. So in terms of a book about parenting an autistic child, I love, love love the book Be Frank with Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson. It came out in 2016, so a little bit old, but it did very well. Then it continues to sell for us in part because we love it so much and it's not Richard Powers tone. It is definitely more a Where'd you go Bernadette tone. An Amazing Grace Adams tone. It has a wonderful first line, so I urge everybody to find a copy. Once you start reading it, you won't want to stop. Caveat that Julia is a good friend of mine, but she said that she was driven to write this book when her daughter was reading To Kill a Mockingbird in school and she thought to herself how hard it would be to be Boo Radley's mother. So that is what inspired the book, and I urge everybody to go find it a backlist gem. Be frank with me. Yeah, shout out to Julia. We have had her on the podcast. We've interviewed her before, so go back and listen to that as well. Okay, next one. Hi there. I'm looking for comps for my memoir. Its working title is Blood, Love and a Pharmaceutical Scandal. My one comp is Love youe Hard by Abby Maslin. Yet it's also reminiscent of the immortal life of Henrietta Lacks for the ethical issues told as a love story. The narrative begins on Halloween in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, when my charming and funny neighbor Day appears at my doorstep dressed as Dracula. We begin dating and I learn he has hemophilia, a bleeding disorder. One year later, Dave learns that the blood product used to treat his hemophilia has infected him with hiv. Ten months later, we married, but neither of us possessed the tools to handle the uncertainty of Dave's health and the effects of the secrets we hold and the lives we tell to prevent the scourge of AIDS discrimination. The layers of the blood scandal are woven into the highs and lows of our 12 years together with the themes of love, betrayal, and resilience. Thank you so much. Okay, two calls in a row. I get to mention dear friends, I adore Abby Maslin, so I'm so glad that you mentioned Love you Hard. That is a fantastic book. Anyone who has experienced either loving someone through a traumatic brain injury or just experiencing the overwhelming stress of caregiving to a spouse or loved one, love you hard. You gotta read it. Please find that. It's so wonderful. Shout out to Abby, who is an E City customer, friend and neighbor. And I also thought about an older one in a similar vein as Love you Hard which is together by Judy Goldman. And in that one, Judy Goldman's husband goes in for. If I remember correctly, it's kind of a routine surgery that goes terribly awry and then their wife changes and her. Her status as a caregiver changes. So that's. It's old, but that's worth looking at. I also would recommend, not as a comp necessarily, but just as a fantastic read. My own country by Abraham Verghese, who of course we know from. For. From Cutting for Stone and the Covenant of Water. Most recently, this is his memoir because he is also a physician and in the early days of the AIDS crisis, he was practicing in rural Tennessee and was one of the only doctors who would take AIDS patients. And his practice was suffering AIDS patients who were had been ostracized from their families. He was an immigrant, so it is mirroring, you know, his outsider status with theirs. Absolutely fabulous book for everybody to go back and find. And if you've read his fiction, you know what a beautiful writer he is. And then I don't know if this is. This is not a comp either, but it is the most recent book that I can think of about the blood scandal and the hemophiliac blood crisis in the 80s that you've referenced. And it's called Blood farm by Kara McGoogan. It's nonfiction, and it came out, I think, last year in 2024, specifically about that crisis. So I would at least look at it and have it on your radar. Thanks, Emily. Yeah. Geez. Cutting for Stone is one of my favorite novels of all time. I didn't realize he wrote a memoir, so now I'm gonna have to go and get that. He's written two. He's written two memoirs. He has another one called the Tennis Partner, which I have not read. But My Own country is one of those books that I read in college way back in the 90s, and I think about it all the time. Wow. Okay, that's on my list. How many have we got left? We have three left. Okay, here we go. Next one. Hi, Bianca and Emily. I'm looking for comps for my YA dual POV novel, Bahini, which means little sister in Nepalese. My novel is set in Kathmandu during the mid-90s and is complete at 65,000 words. The parallel narratives of Canadian expatriate Nora Robertson and Nepalese villager Rita Tomong collide, resulting in a friendship complicated by privilege and poverty. Their friendship is further tested when Nora and Rita both fall in love with the intelligent and perceptive Sujan. Child traffickers abduct Rita's sister Maya, and they must work together if they have any hope of rescuing her. Set in a country that often devalues girl children, Bahini follows these young people from rural Nepal to the streets of Kathmandu as they seek to find their place in Nepalese society. I'm having trouble finding a comp. There are a number of non fiction books about Nepal, but I can't find very many novels set there. I was thinking of sold by Patricia McCormick, but it's from 2006. I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks. Okay. I love it when someone comes up with something that is so different from anything that I can think of. I really. I can't think of a Nepalese YA dual POV novel or any sort of combination thereof it sounds wonderful. I agree that it's easier to find nonfiction comps rather than fiction, so the only two things I have to recommend are not really. I don't know, they'll be exactly right comps for a YA novel of this type. The first one is Shobha Rao's book Girls Burn Brighter, which is not ya, although I think it has crossover appeal for YA readers who want something really sad. It takes place in India, not in Nepal, but otherwise I think there's a lot of similarities. It is very much a story of friendship, tested friendship. It is a story of class, and it is very much a story of survival under the darkest of circumstances and the highest of stakes. So I would look at Girls Burn Brighter and then just in terms of fiction that's set in Nepal. I can't. There's not that much. But one recent book, it just came out. It's a. It is a honker. Like this is a big brick of a book. It's called Dark Motherland by Samrat Upadhyay. And I would look at that just as one of the few books set in Nepal that have that have come out just in the most recent past. So consider that just because of the setting. Wonderful. Okay, next one. Hi, I'm looking for comps for my novel Godfall. It has similar divine power dynamics in the scheming gods of Hannah Keener's God Killer with similar found family vibes. Times I'm struggling to find a comp that matches the more light hearted and banterfield tone of this multi POV coming of age fantasy. I like to think of it as if Neil Gaiman's American Gods were written in the style of Jonathan Straub's Bartimius trilogy. 17 year old Brant, heir to a broken throne, was raised in exile after his people escaped a genocidal attack, one that claimed the life of their gods. When a prophecy is revealed to Brandt that he must complete a pilgrimage to his people's former kingdom or his people will be destroyed for good, he quickly sets off with his mischievous cousin. Along the way he meets young twins and fellow exiles, as well as loyalists to the throne that would have been his. What starts as a pilgrimage quickly becomes a movement to reclaim his birthright. What Brandt doesn't know is that his people's dead gods have orchestrated the prophecy to return themselves to power and take revenge on those who betrayed them, including their former followers. Okay, because you said lighthearted tone, I will mention Martha Wells again and her Murderbot books and maybe Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh which has been compared to God Killer and has some of the same readers. I think it might be a little bit lighter than that. I'm not entirely sure. It comes highly recommended by my coworkers who read in this genre, particularly my coworker Danny. So shout out to Danny. And then one that might work the best is Shigeti and the Brass Head of Obalaphon by Wole Talabi. I may not have pronounced any of those words correctly, but Wole Talabi, the last name is T A L A B I. And that one, it's very recent. It is gods who are for sure up to no good. They are definitely scheming, but the tone is kind of snarky. It's not just dark and serious. So I would look at that one by Wole Talabi and see if it might fit. Love that title. It's a good cover too. It's a. It's amazing. Very appealing. I'll look it up. Okay, last one. Thank you, Emily. I'm stuck on comps for my debut novel, beyond the Breakwater. It's deeply researched, atmospheric historical fiction with themes of sacrifice, family and community, and guilt and redemption. Likely readers, Portuguese Americans, dog lovers, and people who want to share something with the kiddos that isn't dumbed down. 1918 Azores Islands, when enemy U boats lurk beyond the breakwater to destroy an Allied convoy on a mission of mercy. It's not the powerful US Navy who saves the day. It's Manny, a carpenter's apprentice with help from villagers and their dogs. Manny wants so badly to prove himself to his father and the Americans he idolizes and maybe even heal his guilt over his sister's drowning death. For comps, I thought of Pietro Houdini, but my book doesn't have graphic violence and the tone is very different trajectories. Eleanor seems a much closer fit, but that's ya. Manny's inner torment reminds me of Ted Lasso or George Bailey. I appreciate you and any guidance you may have. Thank you. Thank you for listening and you're welcome for the comps. I love deeply researched atmospheric historical fiction. Because this is set in 1918, I have to recommend one of my favorite works of historical fiction of all time. Truly of all time. And that's In Memoriam by Alice Wynn, which is a World War I historical fiction that came out in 2023. Very deeply researched. I still can't believe that it wasn't written contemporaneously. If you told me it was written by one of the world the war poets of World War I, I would believe you. Instead, Alice Wynn is, I don't know, 30 and manifested this absolute masterpiece. But I don't know if it's the right comp here because it is gritty, it is dark, it is very much. You're in the trenches of the war, so I don't think it's the right comp. But I had to mention it because anytime people are in that time period and we're talking about good historical fiction, I gotta shout it out. Something that is warmer and more pleasant and might have a better tone match is the Hazelborn Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson. She is best known for Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. But the Hazelburn Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club came out just this past year. It is immediately post World War I. It's in England, so we're not in the Azores. But the time period is roughly the same. And it's very much about how it takes a village. It's about a sense of community, people saving each other, people finding. But just I think the warm hearted nature of it. Trying to heal people, trying to heal might work. Some inner torment, but ultimately hope. And then I also think it's worth considering Whalebone Theater by Joanna Quinn, which is also set in England. So the setting's not exactly right, but this one is very much along the sea. And the sea is important because the bones of this, the body of this giant whale washes up. It is also during wartime. I think it starts in World War I or thereabouts. And the main character also is young when we start, which it sounds like Manny is young because he's. He's still an apprentice. So it's not as cozy as Helen Simonson, but it is not the dark, gritty war novel that In Memoriam is. So maybe in somewhere in that continuum one of those will work. Amazing, Emily. Thank you so much. Those were a lot of comps we got through. There was one that we had a bit of a glitch on. Somebody did get their comp in early, but unfortunately we had a glitch on that. If that was you, please message me or send me a. I don't know how you say it. I don't say tweet me because we're not on X anymore, but I say threads me, send me a thread. I don't know if you, if you send me a message on Threads, I will try and amplify that for you. Or if you send us a message on Instagram, I'll try and amplify that for you and see if we can crowdsource some comp titles for you. For the rest of you, please go to our website the Shit About Writing and look at the Ask a Question page and you can ask your question there. Get it in as early as you can so that we can make sure Emily answers it for you next month. Emily, thank you so much. Thank you Bianca, and thank you everybody for listening. And that's it for today's episode. I hope you'll join us for next week's show. In the meantime, keep at it. Remember, it just takes one yes, this is not a drill, but it's the final week's buildup to the Deep Dive Virtual retreat happening on the 1st and 2nd of February from 10am to 5pm Eastern Time each day, along with two other breakout sessions happening from 11am to 2pm Eastern Time on the 25th of January and the 8th of February in which you can interact with all the other delegates and ask us all your burning questions. This is our most stellar lineup to date. You'll be hearing from top editors, agents and authors about all aspects of writing and publishing. Plus every delegate stands a chance of winning one of nine life changing critiques done by the presenters themselves. We're especially proud of the 32 scholarships that have been awarded to our listeners, the most scholarships we've ever awarded for a Deep Dive. We really hope to see you there. Go to our website the Shit About Writing and go to the Deep Dive page for more information and to sign up. It's a new year and time to get fresh eyes on your work in progress. Are you looking for beta readers, some of whom might potentially become writing group members down the line? Are you wanting to be matched up with those writing in a similar genre and or time zone so they can critique your work as you critique theirs? At the same time, your manuscript doesn't have to be complete to sign up for this 3,000 word evaluation. This matchup will be open to registrations from now until the 2nd of March, with the matchup emails going out on the 3rd of March. Always such an exciting day. For more information and to register, go to Biancamarae.com and go to the Beta Reader Matchup tab and please spread the word even if you aren't joining the matchup this time. The more writers we have signed up, the better the matches will be.