Miriam (mainly updates) 🐸 🍉
@chamomeriam
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🏳️🌈🇮🇹 || they/she || AALA associate agent at @arthouselit || Writing & Publishing MA
Chicago, IL
Joined October 2017
I am out there, in blue skies and instant grams, if you know what I mean
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re-reading your book fifteen times a month for revision should count toward your goodreads challenge.
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people who draft in Google Docs, your power scares me.
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✨what are you good at, writing-wise?✨. 🔪no self-deprecation, short-selling, or “I don’t know”.
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okay hear me out . not enemies-to-lovers . but enemies while lovers 😏.
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writers, what was the most mind-boggling comment you’ve ever received on your work, that non-constructive critique that made you go, “,. you okay?”.
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if you see this tweet, I’m so sorry, you’re legally obliged to share a line you’ve written that you unabashedly love. one line. one sentence. no more. can you do that? 😏.
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if you’re a queer author (and! comfortable!), shout out the books you’ve written and the books you’re writing and the books you’ll write. right now. I’m waiting . loud always, even louder this month. I want to see them 🏳️🌈.
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me: *has a breakdown*. also me: hold on let me write this down so I can give this problem to a character 💅🏻.
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⚠️the news⚠️. 2023 Miriam started the year jobless but resilient. 2024 Miriam starts this year as an Associate Agent at ArtHouse Literary 💙Many thanks to follow, but first and foremost, are you ready?. ✨I’m open to queries!!✨
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✒️Here are some query writing tips I've picked up by interning at two literary agencies ✒️.
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reason why I’m usually more skeptical about reading enemies-to-lovers: many times the trope is used as free pass for the LI to act abusive, sexist, and toxic toward the MC—all magically forgiven when the magical smooch occurs.
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if you’re a writer, it’s important not only to surround yourself with friends that support you, but also with friends that will kindly let you know what and how to improve your craft. echo chambers don’t get you anywhere in the long run.
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does your book/wip have a non-binary character?. and no, I’m not talking about a one-page cameo.
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be honest, are you an eros & psycho, patroclus & achilles, or Persephone & hades girlie*?. *girlie here is used as gender-neutral.
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a book is written one chapter at the time, not in a single night. a missed day, week, month, year doesn’t define you . you can do it.
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pitch your book BUT NOT from the protagonist’s pov. Any other perspective. Just not the protagonist 👀♥️.
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I think we should start rephrasing “your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect” to. your first draft *won’t* be perfect. inevitable. unavoidable. so have fun and focus on making it the book you love instead.
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let's do a little shameless (I mean it) promo this sunday. pitch your wip/book as "if you like these [tropes, comps, vibes. ], you'll love [wip]". my self-deprecation sensor is ON, you're all advised.
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“I love my characters so much” prove it. post a snippet where they’re happy. I’ll wait.
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gonna be frank: writing can be grueling, tedious, unglamorous, full of rejections and revisions. so the least you can do is write the book that excites you, the characters that fuel you, the scene that spurns you, unabashedly, boldly, taking no apologies, asking no permission.
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show the first line of spoken dialogue in your book without context 👀.
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pitch your book as a one-star Goodreads review 😈.
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for drafting I’ve learned that “show don’t tell” doesn’t matter. seriously. forget it. you GOTTA tell the story first—paragraphs of character work, scene discovery, plot tinkering, dialogue unraveling. you can show once you have told. so draft with a lighter heart, friends 💕.
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if you’re a YA writer,. how are the parents?.
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Go to page twenty, line 23, of your book. That will predict how this year will go for you 👀🫶🏻.
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“If your book bores you, it means it’s not good enough” . have you considered that this is my 18374th time reading it and my eyes are about the consistency of soup?.
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writers wanting to write vs. the day job they must keep bc publishing pays no bill.
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sometimes writing is sitting at your desk and typing pretty words. sometimes writing is pacing your living room like a madman while shouting a drunk history version of your plot to your boyfriend to understand how to fix it.
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do you ever think—as unagented author—about twitter & pitch events dying, extinct mentorship programs, AI theft, smagents, agents dropping clients, agencies dropping agents, imprints dropping editors, publishing houses not addressing book bans?
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pitch your book like a Google search 👀. (for example, lord of the rings, “how to defeat an evil eye dude on a cross country hike?”).
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It’s absolutely okay to feel jealous of your peers, even of friends, and at any point of your journey. It’s NOT okay to act maliciously upon it, NOT okay to forgo responsibility + accountability, and NOT okay to turn envy into shunning and mocking.
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what’s a book idea of yours that you’re not writing rn, but that relentlessly haunts and teases you 👀♥️.
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🍸WRITER’S MIXER🍹. If you see this, you’re obliged by twitter law to stop & tell us what you’re working on or what you’ve finished (comment or QRT). however you prefer (pitch, aesthetic, snippets, tropes)—as long as you don’t forget to grab a drink, chat, and follow others ☺️.
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no context, no explaination, no apologies . post a single line from your book/wip that you know will emotionally devastate readers forever 👀.
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how it started / how it’s going. but it’s the first spoken dialogue of your main character vs the last (even if you’ve not finished the book) 👀💕.
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share the very last line of your first chapter, no context, only a cliffhanger.
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@KaitlynAbdou I really don’t understand people that read YA and then get mad that teenagers act like teenagers. Literally ordering a chocolate chip cookie and getting mad there’s chocolate.
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tell me the one-liner that *defines* the main duo dynamic (romantic/platonic/familial) of your wip. one line. no context. wreck me.
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for me—a uni workshop where a fellow classmate said my piece was emotionally hollow and he absolutely felt nothing, w/o explaination. it was just weird, and they commented pretty much every other piece like that.
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happy pride month 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 of you’re a queer writer, I beg of you, show me your queer characters 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈.
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this is your tweet to quote with a snippet of your WIP where you show off. not kidding. flex your prose muscles, hype yourself, bite, cut, capture us ⚔️. ✨show off ✨.
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a fav theme of books for me is when the protagonist transitions from. “I love the institution I belong to and I believe in their ideals”. to. “What they did to me was horrible”.
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share one line, no context, no explanation, no apology . that doesn’t seem like much but in the book, it will take readers apart.
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Are you normal, or are you a writer listening to a specific song that connects to a specific tragic moment in your book, and crying?. *and if so, which song is it? 👀.
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You know what? I’m tired of gushing about main characters. Protagonist there, protagonist here… Gush instead about a side character in your book 👀.
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celebrate your work in progress (at *any* stage, from idea to published) w/ #wipfeast 🍇, an impromptu positivity event. join by pitching your WIPs (plural, w/ whatever format & tone + aesthetic you feel comfy) *and* celebrating other writers through the hashtag
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ICYMI, hi! I'm the newly promoted Associate Agent at ArtHouse Literary! 💃. While you may find my full #mswl in the comments, I wanted to offer a non-exhaustive visionboard of what I love and—therefore—am looking for in my query inbox. Anything that matches w/ you?
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I’m sorry, I’m a walking cliche. If your book title appears anywhere in your book, I’m required to see it.
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what’s your writerly Achilles’ heel? Something craft-wise that always needs extra attention?. *this isn’t a call for self-deprecation, I’m watching you.
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🍸Anyways, if you’re looking for new writing people to follow, and perhaps friends, let me be your wing-enby ✨QRT or comment this tweet w/ what you’re writing & an aesthetic. You can browse the responses and commence the proper screeching ritual 😉.
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You’re not as slow as you think, and being slow itself isn’t a bad thing. Social media + this industry (aka recent releases) make you feel like you should move faster. But would you rather rush a book you’ll come to despise, or take your time for a book that matters to you?.
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writing every day burns you out vs. if I skip a day, I forget how to write.
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what’s your author’s brand? 👀. recurring themes, tropes, imagery, anything ✨.
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no, you don’t understand. I need to see ALL of your OCs and characters in this style 🥺♥️. and if you’ve done this already, post pics here 👀.
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normalize shitty drafting and normalize editing while drafting and normalize writing out of order and normalize re-writing the same chapter thrice and normalize just literally letting people write as they best can, as best suits them. as long as it gets done 💪🏻.
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all I’m saying—some of you still have högwarts houses in your bios, but the moment a woc author indulges in a moment of pride, there your bias shows, times and times again.
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tell me that they love each other without telling me they love each other. aka share a snippet from your wip/upcoming book about romantic/familial/platonic love where their actions/words speak louder than “I love you”.
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kisses are so overrated—share a romantic or platonic snippet that does NOT involve a kiss (or thinking of a kiss), but something else of your choice 👀💕.
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chapter don’t have to be of the same length chapter don’t have to be of the same length chapter don’t have to be of the same length chapter don’t have to be of the same length chapter don’t have to be of the same length chapter don’t have to be of the same length chapter—.
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describe your main character’s intro scene with a gif 👀✨.
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On this last day of 2022, go ahead. Manifest your wildest dreams, big, little, personal and passionate. Shout them.
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if you are an agent/editor/beta/critique partner/reader, please, tell your writer when you like something. sometimes highlighting what is working is as beneficial as explaining what is not.
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cat’s out of the bag at last 🫶🏻 I’m so stoked I get to announce my first deal, and for such a wonderful book ♥️ Peyton’ an amazing writer with such a bright future ahead.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Thank you to my agent, @chamomeriam, my editor, @kristintallard, and the whole team at Norton Children’s for believing in my book. I started writing this story in 2016. Next summer, it’ll be out in the world. I can’t wait for you to meet my beloved disasters.
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social media tends to (justly!) highlight the wins, the accomplishments, shiny stuff. What’s a writing “failure” you’ve experienced? A set back, a wrong start, a tough book? . Let’s celebrate these too. And share how we’re still writing anyway ❤️.
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pitch your book… except, let your main character pitch it in their voice 👀✨.
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I personally love when authors talk about (and show!) things they added/removed during revisions, and not just after the first draft. makes me feel like it’s okay if I don’t get it perfect right away.
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What’s a soft dream of yours, when it comes to writing? Not the huge universal manifesting of fan art and movie rights, but something smaller & closer to your heart ♥️.
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I’d love more books where the protagonist doesn’t know what they want. Or they yearn, but they don’t know what for. Where an event sent them spiraling directionless. Where they embark on a chance adventure and discover who they are all over again. Think Disney’s Treasure Planet.
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at the fifty page mark of a novel, more or less, you'll see your hero locked into inevitable purpose. the point of no return. so. share a small snippet of the very end of page fifty of your book 👀.
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do this challenge with me, posting and liking both 👀. QRT w/ your book aesthetic & for every like you get, comment w/ one reason you love your WIP. A theme, scene, character, detail, fun fact, line ♥️. and check this to prompt other ppl to love their work too.
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if your book/wip were a scented candle, what would it smell like? 👀✨.
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I now understand why they encourage “write what you know” . *me, who’s never ridden a horse, trying to describe what it feels like*.
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are other languages beside English spoken in your wip, real or fantasy ones?. (as bilingual writer this question interests me, and I crave good bilingual/polyglot rep in anglophone books).
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what do you mean you can add character & plot depth in revision? that you don’t have to nail every single aspect in a first draft? YOU GUYS ARE LYING.
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that the more busy you are, the more you want to write . (and then when you aren’t busy you actually don’t write a single word sorry didn’t make the rules).
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I think we all know the one true enemy to humanity is Pages.
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pitch your book by filling. “have you ever wondered what happens when [pitch]. you shouldn’t.”.
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Pst pst. come closer. I gotta tell you a secret . You’re allowed to like your book. Seriously. You’re not being arrogant or hasty. You’re not doing it wrong. You’re not being stubborn. okay bye.
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hey hey! that first draft you’re working on? . it just has to exist, I promise. no checklist, no requirements, no judgments, no comparison . I know it’s hard but I promise you, do you have words on a page? then you’re doing everything right already 💕.
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pitch your book with this template 👀. “how are you?”. “Idk, man. I [pitch of what your protagonist has done/must do]. You tell me.”.
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I hate how social media punishes inactivity. How am I supposed to write the books I need to market on here?.
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I mean, if Twitter is really heading toward self-destruction 👀. I see no reason why you shouldn’t Shout Out your book as loud and as fiercely as you can 🔥 scream it! show it! this is Sparta! 🔥.
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writing is. hard. which is no secret, but I just wish I could churn out thousands of words a day & breeze through revisions instead of agonizing over one sentence for hours, feeling utterly ridiculous even attempting a coherent draft.
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so you *must promote your book while drafting, you must promote your book while querying, you must promote your book while editing, you must promote your book while on sub, when announced, before release, for the release, after release, while writing another, five years later—.
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I know publishing & writing are bleak. An hashtag won’t solve, change, pay, or restore jobs. I don’t seek forced positivity. But! If you want to—pitch your books with #wiphug 🫂. Your (trad/self) published, contracted, on sub, querying, drafting, idea kernel books ♥️.
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Make a hyper specific list of audiences for your book 👀. (For example, for The Lord of the Rings:.💍jewelers collectors.💍short people.💍hikers.💍retired wizards who smoke pipewèed.💍tree-lovers).
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Your main character has the chance to write a little note for the readers before you book begins. what does it say?.
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are there any characters with disabilities in your book? if so, show them off! especially if own-voice rep!.
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if you’re an author writing in English, when English isn’t your first language . I see you. I am you. I want your stories. We rock ✨.
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so 👉🏻👈🏻 10 thousands followers uh? that’s a lot of ya 👉🏻👈🏻. while I plan something for mid April, maybe introduce yourself with . ✨book you’re writing.✨book you’re reading.✨a favorite author of yours.✨book you can’t wait to read . Just wanna place names to faces ♥️.
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writers—show me out of context the first line of dialogue your villain/antagonist speaks.
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🧵A list of reasons I pass on a query (to show that truly, it’s not always about you & the quality, so keep querying 🫵🏻).
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you (yt) guys are so quick to tear down BIPOC authors, who do happen to sometimes make mistakes, but as soon as your favorite precious white monoliths are mention, then it’s “why are people so mean, stop hating on books!”.
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flash prompt & no cheating ➡️ what is the first line of dialogue your main character speaks?. no snippets, no context, no names. the first line only.
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I’m in a first-line crave 👀 so feel free to show off yours. and just the wip’s first line, no paragraphs 😤.
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forget first lines, share the line in your book, and ONLY the line, corresponding to your birthday (5th if born on the fifth…). and if you were born on the first, you scammed the game 😉.
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hey-oh! it’s me again!. if you’re querying and I like your #questpit pitch, please, you’re more than welcome to query me (submission guidelines in comment) . if you aren’t and I still like your pitch, take it as an hell yeah of support 🫶🏻.
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WELCOME TO #wiplift!. 🦆qrt or tweet your pitch (only one per wip).🦆any writer, unagented/agented/published .🦆any pitch is valid, including only snippets.🦆don't forget the hashtag.🦆remember to gush! and praise! .🦆make friends, be supportive, and have fun
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post a snippet of your wip/book, as vague and short as you wish, that you know will make readers file a lawsuit against you.
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