Carinn Jade is a lawyer, writer, and cohost of the Pop Fiction Women podcast. Her essays have been published in the New York Times, Daily Worth, and Motherwell. She has attended the GrubStreet Novel Generator, Yale Writers' Conference, and the Northern California Writers' Retreat. Carinn grew up on the North Fork of Long Island and lives with her family in New York City. The Astrology House is her first novel.

In this episode:

• The origin of this thriller based around an astrology-themed retreat [3:21]

• Her use of time constraints as a plot device to build dramatic tension [8:36]

• Books Carinn read that informed her idea of the book’s structure and premise [8:48

• Carinn’s process of writing multiple POVS in short chapters [11:00]

• How her literary go-to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and other realityTV was one of many touchstones and guided her in writing dramatic scenes[11:43]

• How she dropped clues to characters throughout the book [12:54]

• Why she included astrology cheat sheets as a plot device and touchstone [15:28]

• How much of Carinn is in her novel [18:21]

• Building tension and twists into each page [19:44]

• The art of writing authentic dialogue [22:01]

• The process of revision and what that required [23:11]

• Carinn’s querying journey and how she found her agent [26:16]

• The synchronicities between being a lawyer and a writer [31:09]

Photo credit: Erin Schiffman

Connect with Carinn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carinnjade/

X: https://x.com/carinnjade?lang=en

Pop Fiction Women website: https://popfictionwomen.com/about-us/

Buy Her Book on Estelle’s Bookshop

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-astrology-house-carinn-jade/20704948?aid=98827&ean=9781668045961&listref=authors-who-have-appeared-on-freelance-writing-direct&

Connect with Estelle

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Priscilla Gilman is the author of two memoirs, The Anti-Romantic Child (Harper, 2011) and The Critic’s Daughter (Norton, 2023) and a former professor of English literature at Yale University and Vassar College. The Critic's Daughter was a Washington Post Best Book of 2023, a New York Times Book Critics' Favorite Book of 2023, a Good Morning America Must-Read, one of the Los Angeles Times' book critic and Book Maven Bethanne Patrick's Top 10 Non-Fiction Books of 2023, one of the "18 Books Lilith magazine Loved in 2023," and 3rd on Bookreporter's Harvey Freedenburg's Favorite Books of 2023. Nick Hornby called The Critic’s Daughter “beautiful: honest, raw, careful, soulful, brave and incredibly readable," and Kiese Laymon declared: “The Critic’s Daughter is an exquisite and rare example of how the memoir needs as much inventiveness in scope and form as our most lush fiction and poetry…I’ve read few books in my life as skillfully executed and willfully conceived as The Critic’s Daughter.” Gilman’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, O, the Oprah Magazine, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.

In this episode:

• Priscilla’s search for her father as the genesis for 'The Critic's Daughter'

• Outlining the ways she lost her father throughout her life

• Her hypervigilance as a result of a childhood spent with famous and powerful parents

• Crafting an elegy for a lost New York

• “Streaks of love” and loss as throughlines of her book

• Setting up the book as a series of acts straight from the theater

• Reflecting on the brilliance of her father's writing and power as a critic while writing her own story

• The challenges of navigating a personal and public persona

• Priscilla’s journey to processing grief and healing as she “brought her father back” and gained clarity on his life through research and writing his story

Connect with Priscilla

Website: www.priscillagilman.com

Episode #52 Mentioned in this podcast

A Conversation with Claire Dederer About Monsters

https://estelleserasmus.com/a-conversation-with-claire-dederer-about-monsters/

Connect with Estelle

​​FREE PITCHING GUIDE: Find out more about this episode at

https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast. You also get a free pitching guide if you sign up for her newsletter.

Sign up for Estelle’s Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest

https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/writing-the-personal-essay-101-fundamentals

Sign up for Estelle’s NYU Classes

https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/faculty/e/1068-estelle-erasmus.html

Get Her Book

Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published: https://rb.gy/5ihwp0

Order Her Audiobook:

https://shorturl.at/4uG2P

Sign up for her Substack https://estelleserasmus.substack.com (with craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests

Follow Estelle:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus

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