Samantha Wekstein's guest appearances

Samantha Wekstein

The Manuscript Academy

Authors and Agents

Elizabeth Bishop

Jorjeana Marie

Vivian Lee

Kristy Hunter

Helen Gurley Brown

Barbara Poelle

Mike Chen

Gordon Warnock

Kelly Thomas

Juno Dawson

ERIC SMITH

Whitney Gardner

Julie Falatko

Andrea Bartz

Norma Perez-Hernandez

OwlTail

Caitlin McDonald

Taj McCoy

Thao Le

The votes are in! Science Fiction, Fantasy, Speculative &amp; Supernatural won—and we’ve built this panel to that theme. But even if you’re writing serious nonfiction, or in a completely other genre, this is a great view into what agents love within genres—and how agenting, in general, works. With Q&amp;A, trivia, live #MSWL and a class on dialogue, this is a fun event we’re thrilled to share. Want YOUR genre to be the theme for our next panel? Vote here!https://manuscriptacademy.com/mswl-livePrefer to watch the video version? Check it out here! https://manuscriptacademy.com/mswl-live-sffToday’s episode includes (in order of appearance): *Caitlin McDonald, agent at Donald Maass Literary, with a SF/F Trivia Quiz*Samantha Wekstein, agent at Thompson Liteary, with a query critique*Thao Le, agent at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, with a visual #MSWL (check the video version!) presentation*Taj McCoy, agent at Rees Literary, with a class (slides in the video version!) on dialogueToday’s event was filmed in front of our Manuscript Academy members. Want to be there live next time? Join us! Learn more here: https://manuscriptacademy.com/membership

The votes are in! Science Fiction, Fantasy, Speculative &amp; Supernatural won—and we’ve built this panel to that theme. But even if you’re writing serious nonfiction, or in a completely other genre, this is a great view into what agents love within genres—and how agenting, in general, works. With Q&amp;A, trivia, live #MSWL and a class on dialogue, this is a fun event we’re thrilled to share. Want YOUR genre to be the theme for our next panel? Vote here!<a href="https://manuscriptacademy.com/mswl-live" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://manuscriptacademy.com/mswl-live</a> Prefer to watch the video version? Check it out here! <a href="https://manuscriptacademy.com/mswl-live-sff" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://manuscriptacademy.com/mswl-live-sff</a> Today’s episode includes (in order of appearance): *Caitlin McDonald, agent at Donald Maass Literary, with a SF/F Trivia Quiz *Samantha Wekstein, agent at Thompson Liteary, with a query critique *Thao Le, agent at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, with a visual #MSWL (check the video version!) presentation *Taj McCoy, agent at Rees Literary, with a class (slides in the video version!) on dialogue Today’s event was filmed in front of our Manuscript Academy members. Want to be there live next time? Join us! Learn more here: <a href="https://manuscriptacademy.com/membership" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://manuscriptacademy.com/membership</a>

#MSWL Live Agent Panel: Caitlin McDonald, Samantha Wekstein, Thao Le & Taj McCoy

Lani Forbes

This week we speak with author and teacher Lani Forbes about her YA fantasy novel, The Seventh Sun, and her agent, Samantha Wekstein at Thompson Literary Agency. Samantha represents a wide range of authors from picture books up through adult. We talk about how they knew they were the right fit--how they work together on edits--and how Samantha actually stayed up all night to read this book by the offer deadline. (#Dedication.)Then the main part of the episode—worldbuilding!9:48: How Lani approaches worldbuilding14:03: Common worldbuilding problems Samantha sees in her submission pile 14:56: How to get the reader into your world without info dumps 17:23: The part of querying that’s hardest on fantasy writers—and what to do about it 19:56: Strong female characters versus the Strong Female Character trope27:02: Lani’s method for adding tension 33:06 Their editorial process working together as author and agent, and what authors should look for in this relationship 43:53: The mistakes Lani made along the way (even successful published authors make them) You can find Lani's work here: https://bookshop.org/books/the-seventh-sun-9781982546090/9781982546090 and https://laniforbes.com/You can find Samantha at @SWekstein on Twitter, and at https://manuscriptacademy.com/samantha-wekstein

This week we speak with author and teacher Lani Forbes about her YA fantasy novel, The Seventh Sun, and her agent, Samantha Wekstein at Thompson Literary Agency. Samantha represents a wide range of authors from picture books up through adult. We talk about how they knew they were the right fit--how they work together on edits--and how Samantha actually stayed up all night to read this book by the offer deadline. (#Dedication.) Then the main part of the episode—worldbuilding! 9:48: How Lani approaches worldbuilding 14:03: Common worldbuilding problems Samantha sees in her submission pile 14:56: How to get the reader into your world without info dumps 17:23: The part of querying that’s hardest on fantasy writers—and what to do about it 19:56: Strong female characters versus the Strong Female Character trope 27:02: Lani’s method for adding tension 33:06 Their editorial process working together as author and agent, and what authors should look for in this relationship 43:53: The mistakes Lani made along the way (even successful published authors make them) You can find Lani's work here: <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-seventh-sun-9781982546090/9781982546090" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://bookshop.org/books/the-seventh-sun-9781982546090/9781982546090</a> and <a href="https://laniforbes.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://laniforbes.com/</a> You can find Samantha at @SWekstein on Twitter, and at <a href="https://manuscriptacademy.com/samantha-wekstein" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://manuscriptacademy.com/samantha-wekstein</a>

Worldbuilding, Tension, and A Healthy Editorial Relationship with Lani Forbes and Samantha Wekstein

Samantha Wekstein, agent at Writers House, was generous enough to join us for a #TenQueries episode. We chat with her about how she got into publishing (she worked with Jessica first!), some amazing things she's created along the way--and how this shapes what she looks for. Then we asked her to go through her queries inbox, choose ten at random--and tell us what they are, why they work, what they can do better--and what this means for you at home. You can book a meeting with Samantha at https://manuscriptacademy.com/10-minutes-with-an-expert and find her online at https://twitter.com/SWekstein

Samantha Wekstein, agent at Writers House, was generous enough to join us for a #TenQueries episode. We chat with her about how she got into publishing (she worked with Jessica first!), some amazing things she's created along the way--and how this shapes what she looks for. Then we asked her to go through her queries inbox, choose ten at random--and tell us what they are, why they work, what they can do better--and what this means for you at home. You can book a meeting with Samantha at <a href="https://manuscriptacademy.com/10-minutes-with-an-expert" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://manuscriptacademy.com/10-minutes-with-an-expert</a> and find her online at <a href="https://twitter.com/SWekstein" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/SWekstein</a>

46: #TenQueries with Samantha Wekstein, Writers House