Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

maggie

@maggiesbooks.bsky.social

3K followers 5.8K following 2.6K posts

#amquerying author of contemporary fiction || 🇨🇦

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 8d

Excited to share "Dating Swamp" an upmarket novel I've been hard at work editing over the last week. Inspired by "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Bridget Jones' Diary," this take on modern dating culture and zillennial weddings isn't quite a love story. #writingcommunity #amwriting

an agent’s guide to
Dating Swamp
upmarket fiction

the pitch
Madi has a plan: if she doesn’t fall in love by Labour Day, she’s moving to London.

As she moves through a summer of her friends’ draining wedding events, Madi meets the sweet, charming Felix and reconnects with her charismatic ex, Jonah, with whom she has unfinished business. When the two find out about each other, they are both unwilling to let Madi go. An obssessive Jonah insists she date both of them, turning a harmless love triangle into a chaotic arrangement.

Will Madi choose Felix, Jonah, a new life in London, or some of the above?

Comps
bitter texas honey: Snarky third-person narration
magnolia parks: A twisty love triangle
Social engagement: Upmarket millennial wedding satire

first lines
Madelyn didn’t think she was one of the monsters in the dating swamp. An ex-tennis player and employed, she thought she was a diamond in the muck. But she hadn’t had a second date in over a year now, and she wondered if she had a rotten personality or if the men were the problem.

Madi didn’t catch the bouquet at Sydney’s wedding. She missed it because she was drunk on white wine and watered-down Aperol Spritz wandering around the venue.

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 29m

I made him sound so creepy oof

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 52m

currently the opening is her meeting one of her suitors at a wedding. i could change it to going to the doctor with her friend or coming up with something completely new, maybe related to her tennis injury

#PlotTober #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompt #WriteSky

Ange @gunsmile.bsky.social · 10h

#PlotTober Day 13: Story beginnings

Answer the prompt on the card by quoting this post. Remember, answering a prompt is always optional. Even if you don't share it publicly, I hope the prompt encourages you to think about it privately.

#WritingCommunity #WritingPrompt #WriteSky

#PlotTober - a WIP plotting game by @gunsmile.bsky.social

13. Let's begin brainstorming the main plot points of our WIPs. Knowing what you know of your main character(s), what are a few potential ways you could begin their story?

Remember: Use the #PlotTober hashtag, engage with others, and have fun!

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1h

Welcome to a new week of #WIPSnips

The word for October 13th is "push"

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

He followed me up the stairs to my room. As soon as I shut the door, he pushed me against it and cupped my jaw in his hand. “I told you that I was going to kiss you later. Did you forget?”

I had because he had made me so upset.

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 20h

I never have #writingq

Susan Savage Lee @susansavagelee.bsky.social · 21h

Do you show your WIP to anyone before you finish it? I never do until my stories shape shift into their final form #writingq #WritingCommunity

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 20h

How I’m feeling:

Longhorn in a cowboy hat and boots

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 21h

Had to go see dueling pianos after reading bitter Texas honey #booksky #writingcommunity

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 23h

🤣

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 23h

🤣

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

someone should invent new romance tropes i am struggling with coming up with ideas #writingcommunity

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

reading margo's got money troubles helped me learn how to write in an upmarket tone #writingq

Susan Savage Lee @susansavagelee.bsky.social · 1d

Does your reading affect what you write? For me, only in the sense of making me think differently about the act of writing #Writingq #WritingCommunity

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

the men on her hinge #writingq

danricewrites @danricewrites.bsky.social · 1d

It's time for Sunday's #WritingQ!!!!!!!

What spooks your MC? #WritingCommunity #QOTD

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

writer's block is great because i have 5 netgalley books expiring in the next 2 weeks and physical library books too #writingcommunity

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

her indecision, but also the boys not cooperating #plottober #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompt #WriteSky

Ange @gunsmile.bsky.social · 1d

#PlotTober Day 12: Antagonists

Answer the prompt on the card by quoting this post. Remember, answering a prompt is always optional. Even if you don't share it publicly, I hope the prompt encourages you to think about it privately.

#WritingCommunity #WritingPrompt #WriteSky

#PlotTober - a WIP plotting game by @gunsmile.bsky.social

12. What could you use to represent obstacles that try to stop the main character(s) from achieving their goals and from growing into the person they could potentially be? Consider other characters, forces of nature, difficult circumstances, etc.

Remember: Use the #PlotTober hashtag, engage with others, and have fun!

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

the 'sometimes girl' bit. i almost called the book 'sometimes girl.'

#writingcommunity #BookSky #BookSky💙📚 #authorchat #WIPsnippet #WritingLifeMonthly

“Well, yes. But I don’t consider it a costume since I actually was a tennis player. I think people forget I played in D2 NCAA. The only thing people remember about me is that I’m the one friend who isn’t getting married this summer.” That’s how Madi felt all the time. She was the fourth friend. The girl who only got invited to things sometimes. Madi thought of herself as a ‘sometimes girl.’ And sometimes, that made her happy. A lot of the times, it didn’t.

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

The #WIPSnips word for October 12th is "hope"

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

After we finished dessert, the DJ called everyone to the middle of the room to dance. My mom was on her fifth glass of champagne, her Louboutin heels traded for socks, pulling my dad on to the dance floor. In May, they’d be married thirty-five years. I hoped I never had to get married more than once.

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

He gave up

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 1d

Jasper has two older siblings. Her sister Jade is getting married and one of her teenage hookups drives the plot. Her brother Julien is skeptical about her relationship and the guy’s family being toxic. #writingprompt

Ian Haramaki 🏳️‍⚧️✨ @cometkins.bsky.social · 2d

Does your MC have any siblings? Are they part of the story? What are they like? #WritingPrompt

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 2d

The #WIPSnips word for October 11th is "welcome"

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

“I think you have your shit together,” I said. But how would I even know? Julien was right, I didn’t know him.

“No, I don’t. What are you doing here, Jasper?” he folded one leg over the other and glared at me as if I was no longer welcome in the room he invited me to.

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you lol

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 2d

Canonically two of my characters got engaged this morning #writingcommunity

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 2d

Any chance left of a #fullrequestfriday

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 2d

Jonah the erratic dentist. He started off sweet then became kind of obsessive #writingq

Susan Savage Lee @susansavagelee.bsky.social · 2d

What’s the weirdest character you’ve ever created? In one of my stories, I have a kid who turns into a monster. He likes to eat the bad guys #writingq #WritingCommunity

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 2d

bsky.app/profile/magg... my pitch with an aesthetic pic

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 5d

Madelyn’s sick of Montreal’s dating ‘swamp.’ If she doesn’t find love in summer, she’ll upend her life and move to London. When the two men she’s dating meet each other at one of the many weddings she’s a bridesmaid in, a triad forms, and the chaos makes her reconsider her desires. #DVPit #A

Dive into the sea

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 3d

What should I write next #writingcommunity

maggie @maggiesbooks.bsky.social · 3d

Realizing I never think of this? I just see where it goes. I remember finishing a draft of NOTWR and thinking my character was too unlikable and then I made the LI even worse #weeknightwriters

Weeknight Writers @weeknightwriters.bsky.social · 3d

Q2: What aspects of character development do you consider most important to your story planning process? #WeeknightWriters

Notepad that says “#WeeknightWriters What aspects of character development do you consider most important to your story planning process?"