Whether you’re polishing your first draft or chasing down a book deal, the award-winning Writing Break will keep you informed, inspired, and ready to write.
What Your Characters Aren't Saying: Writing Dialogue That Reveals Character
What are your characters really saying when they speak?
This week on Writing Break, we examine how to write dialogue that reveals character, builds tension, and keeps readers engaged.
Through a series of increasingly revealing conversations between Vivian, a professional mourner, and Dimitri, a mysterious funeral guest, we'll explore character voice, subtext, hidden motivations, emotional range, and power dynamics.
You'll also learn why memorable dialogue goes beyond clever exchanges, how to write convincing accents and multilingual characters, and what to look for when editing conversations in your manuscript.
Plus, this week's Overthinking Prompt challenges you to write a confrontation in which two characters are determined to keep their secrets.
Next episode: unreliable narrators.
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Home : America's Editor (https://americaseditor.com/) - Let's work together.
More Writing Tips (https://medium.com/@rosemi)
Music licensed from Storyblocks.
17 Sept 2026
What Literary Agents Want But Aren't Getting
This week in the Writing Break cafe, we're digging into QueryTracker's live data to map the real supply and demand of the slush pile. Two genres are topping agents' wish lists while barely showing up in submissions, and five genres are facing the opposite problem.
Then we head to the querying trenches for a reality check: current response timelines, why silence is the new rejection, the brutal math of agent signings, and what agents actually wish writers knew before hitting send.
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Overthinking Couch Topics:
What authors are submitting vs. what literary agents are requesting
The two genres lit agents want but aren't receiving
The five genres with more supply than demand right now
Why you shouldn't chase trends but might want to rethink your genre label
Three practical querying strategies: batching, tracking, and writing the next book
Self-publishing vs. traditional publishing
Subscribe because you deserve a Writing Break.
Publishers Marketplace (https://www.publishersmarketplace.com)
Alyssa Matesic's Book Genre Trends 2026 Breakdown (https://www.alyssamatesic.com/free-writing-resources/book-genre-trends)
Top 10 Fiction Genres | QueryTracker (https://querytracker.net/agents/top-genres)
Home : America's Editor (https://americaseditor.com/) - Let's work together.
More Writing Tips (https://medium.com/@rosemi)
Music licensed from Storyblocks.
9 Sept 2026
Writing Multiple Points of View: Who Gets the Camera?
This week we kick things off with a publishing conundrum: a major publisher is now offering editors optional disclosure of AI use by writers after contracts are already signed. What's the point? We want your thoughts.
Then we settle onto the Overthinking Couch for a deep dive into multiple points of view.
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Overthinking Couch Topics:
What multi-POV actually is
Three reasons to use multi-POV
The downsides to multi-POV
How to choose who gets a POV and why some central characters should not get a POV
Four practical rules for switching narrators without confusing your reader
How to make every voice distinct
Next Episode: We're giving the narrator a break and heading to the query trenches for updates and a reality check.
Subscribe because you deserve a Writing Break.
Home : America's Editor (https://americaseditor.com/) - Let's work together.
More Writing Tips (https://medium.com/@rosemi)
Music licensed from Storyblocks.
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6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
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