You know the famous first line, but did you also know Pride & Prejudice has a killer entire first chapter, which is almost entirely dialogue? Bri and Mer use Jane’s brilliance to chat about all the ways dialogue can be used to convey setting, stakes, personality and character dynamics when done well. They also give their hot take on eavesdropping at coffeeshops and dole out advice about when to use adverbs in dialogue tags. Come for Mer’s theatrical turn as Mrs. Bennett and stay to find out what Leonardo DiCaprio’s love of pasta has anything to do with it.

*If you'd like to read the first scene in Pride and Prejudice, check it out here!

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1342/pg1342-images.html#Chapter_I

Book Recs!

Black Bag by Luke Kennard

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley

Getting Away with Murder by Shari Lapena

How To Write a Murder by Jessica Brody

Could these references be any more millennial? Bri and Mer chat about how to add stakes–low and high–to your manuscript, how to make zany set-ups feel important, and how knowing your characters makes it all so much easier. Come for the advice about creating ticking clocks in the plot and stay for us gushing over How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

Books Discussed

Ravenous by Sara Cooper

The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies by Kate Westbury

Can you still get burnout when you’re doing your dream job? Join Bri and Mer as they chat about *gasp* ambition, tapped creative wells and figuring out how to push yourself just the right amount. Come for the commiserating over the fact that writing is really, freaking hard and stay for the ladies’ new dream job that’s everything the movies say it is.

Books Mentioned

Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray

Ravenous by Sara Cooper