In today's Books with Hooks, Bianca, CeCe, and Carly critique an upmarket/southern-gothic query and a book club romance. They discuss a "perfect" first query paragraph; the importance of accurate framing in a query; when a content warning is necessary; tips for elevating your line level writing along with examples of sophisticated writing; writing protagonists' thoughts in a realistic way; mistakes writers make that make their writing appear less polished; and examples of how to build curiosity into your pages. After which, Bianca interviews Elba Iris Pérez, debut author of The Things We Didn't Know. They discuss Elba's winning of the Simon and Schuster "Books Like Us" award and Elba's subsequent journey to publication; the benefit of taking writing courses; writing magazines as good resources for finding contests; immersing readers in scenes that are unfamiliar to them; and writing children in first person in a convincing manner. Find us on our socials: Twitter: @TSNOTYAW @BiancaM_author @carlywatters @ceciliaclyra Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shit_about_writing/ https://www.instagram.com/biancamarais_author/ https://www.instagram.com/carlywatters/ https://www.instagram.com/cece_lyra_agent/ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TSNOTYAW Websites: www.theshitaboutwriting.com, www.biancamarais.com, www.carlywatters.com and www.cecilialyra.com To ask a question, go to: https://sayhi.chat/TSNOTYAW Bookshop.org affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/shop/theshitnoonetellsyouaboutwriting More information about Elba can be found at: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Elba-Iris-Perez/195715113 She's also on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/elbaip?lang=en Our Sponsors: * Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.com/ Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands