Where to Start When You Want to Write a Book

Date: August 15, 2024
Name of podcast: Where to Start When You Want to Write a Book  
Episode Number: 1

Brief summary of the episode: In the inaugural episode of "3 Lesbians and a Pen," bestselling authors Kimberly Todd, KC Luck, and Jamey Moody introduce their podcast focused on the joys and challenges of self-publishing. The trio kicks off with an update on their current writing projects, including a secret project from KC, a new book release from Jamey, and Kimberly's work on the final book of her V.A.M.P. series.

The main discussion centers around where to start when writing a book. The hosts emphasize the importance of just getting started—writing the book you want to read and not being afraid of the process. They delve into the value of understanding your genre, researching tropes, and finding your writing style, whether you're a plotter or a pantser. They also discuss the significance of beta readers and ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) teams in refining your manuscript before publication.

The episode concludes with a "Question of the Week," inviting listeners to suggest topics they'd like the hosts to discuss in future episodes. The hosts encourage aspiring writers to reach out for advice, underscoring the supportive nature of the writing community.

Listeners can connect with the podcast and hosts via their website (www.threelesbiansandapen.com) and social media platforms, where you can also submit questions and engage with the show.

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Author Websites:
KC Luck: https://www.kcluckauthor.com/
Jamey Moody: https://www.jameymoodyauthor.com/
Kimberly Todd: https://kimberlytoddauthor.com/

Copyright 2025 3Lesbiansandapen
Disclaimer: This podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. We are not liable for any losses or damages resulting from its use. The views expressed are personal opinions. Always consult multiple sources for your writing journey.

Transcript

3L&AP Episode 1 Final Transcript
August 15, 2024

Kimberly: Hi, everyone. We're glad you're here. This is the three lesbians and a pen podcast. Get ready to have your world rocked. As we dive into the wild and sometimes wacky world of self-publishing. We are three fabulous bestselling authors. I'm your host, Kimberly Todd with my best friends.

KC: K. C. Luck.

Jamey: and Jamey Moody. 

Join us as we discuss the joys of writing challenges of self-publishing and anything else that tickles our fancy. 

Kimberly: Hey there, welcome to the first episode of the three lesbians and a pen podcast. I'm Kimberly Todd, and I'm here with my friends, KC Luck and Jamey Moody. In today's episode, we're talking about where to start when you want to write a book. But before we jump in, let's check in with everyone and see what's happening.

KC, why don't you start us off?

KC: Well, thanks, Kimberly. What's going on with me? I am actually working on a super-secret project. It has to do with writing. Yes, super-secret. Well, not as secret as I would like, but I'm outlining a book that's going to come out after the first of the year. Something I've never done before, style wise.

 But as KC Luck. So, it's all good. It'd be a lesbian romance, but it's going to have some twists in it. So, I'm working on that. It's pretty fun. It takes a lot more planning than I had thought it would, but I'm a planner. So, it works out fine. But you're not telling us anything about it really.

No. It's a super-secret! Super-secret!

Kimberly: But we're your friends. You're

 supposed to tell us your secrets. Yeah, wait a minute. it may be super-secret, but we're 

Jamey: your super Podpals. 

KC: I can't tell you because other people who are not necessarily the Trio Podpals will be listening. But more to come in the future, I promise. 

Kimberly: What are you working on, Jame? 

Jamey: I've got a book coming out, August the 18th and I'm really excited about it. I've told the folks in my newsletter, I think it's the best book I've written. And I don't always feel like that when I finish a book. So, I'm just really excited about it and, can't wait to release it. It's called Until We Weren't, and it's available for pre order right now on Amazon.

KC: Cool. 

Jamey: Thanks. What are you up to, Kimberly? 

Kimberly: I have just got my edits back for my final book of V.A.M.P., Book Four, and I'm just delving into them now, and it's going pretty well, actually. I'm excited. 

And that's what I have going on for writing right now.

Jamey: I bet your readers very excited too. 

Kimberly: Actually, have a couple saying, when is it going to be out? They always want to know when it's going to be out. I'm like, as soon as I get it done. 

KC: The date will be announced when I have it done, yes.

Kimberly: Yeah. Oh, by the way, my book is out now. 

KC: Surprise. I saw that you had some stuff on social media. So that was pretty cool. Little teaser. It's coming out a little graphic of it. 

Kimberly: Yeah 

Try think of something to put out there.

KC: Yes. Always tricky marketing. So, I guess today our topic is where to start when you want to write a book? So, KC, do you want to kick it off?

Sure. So, I thought about this because luckily we had this question in advance to do a little studying on. And, I think the most important thing to do when you want to write a book is actually to write the book. That is the biggest thing. I've talked to a lot of authors, or aspiring authors, who have big ideas about writing a book, and they tell you all about the book, but when you ask them, where is the book, it's not yet written.

So, that's the biggest thing, and it's also probably one of the hardest things. Is to go from point A to point Z and get the book finished to the end. 

Jamey: Along those same lines, one of the things I thought of, and it goes right along with this, don't be afraid When I first started, I'd always heard, write the book you want to read. And so, I had come up with a storyline and so that's what I sat down and did.

And I, I decided not to be afraid. And you've got to sit down and write that first sentence and go. 

KC: Absolutely, true, yes. Write the book you want to read, for sure.

Jamey: Right.

KC: Especially our niche of lesbian fiction or sapphic fiction, for sure. Other people listening to the podcast may be in different niches, but this is a pretty small little community and definitely helps write what you want to read, for sure. Kimberly, you had something along those lines as far as genre goes. 

Kimberly: Yeah, for me the same thing, like obviously you're going to try to find as many books as you can that you like to read. And I know for me and probably a lot of you guys as well, you read a book that you like and eventually when you start thinking about doing your first book, you tend to write something that you like to read.

And you think, I could do that. And during that time frame, you start to pick and choose a few different genres. You're not sure whether you want to do romance or mystery. and then you finally settle on one. And then from there, you can get into the tropes and things that people. expect within that genre. And I think one of the things that helped me a lot was also for romance specifically, going to Amazon and doing some research, looking at the top 100 in lesbian fiction and lesbian romance, and you kind of see what's out there. And then you can pick and choose, read a couple of them.

Or if you don't want to read them, you can go and look at the reviews for the books and see what people say, or use the look inside. feature if you have time. And I think that helps a lot to get to know your genre and also the different kinds of tropes that you might want to write in. 

KC: Right.

Jamey: Well, exactly. I'm the romance. That's what I read. That's what I love. And so that's what I write. I've been, approached at different times, you know, like, why don't you try a mystery or. Why don't you try this or that? I can't do it. I mean, romance is my jam and I love it.

And that's what I decided on. And so, I tried to learn a little bit more about it. 

KC: And how'd you learn more about it? Just reading about it? 

Okay. So, I went about this in a little strange way. I know that, y'all like to read books about writing KC, you even suggested taking a class. I was really lucky and I'm going all back to high school. I had a really good junior and then a senior English teacher that taught me how to write.

So, I knew I had the basic skill to write a decent sentence, but on my first book, I, got a very good editor and paid the money for that and learned through her. And then it just kind of took off from there. And what I try to do is learn during the year, that my knowledge so that each book is better and better.

I'll put it that way. But I started with that idea and thought, well, I can sit down and do this because I do know how to write a sentence. And that's how it started. I wasn't afraid because nobody has to read it, but me, right? At the beginning. And so, I sat down and here I went. I had a little outline because I am not a planner. I have general ideas, but I just sat down and I wrote.

Kimberly: Yeah. I remember that too. When you're starting, I had an editor friend of mine that helped me too. And you learn a lot from your friends you're like, is the chapter, when you're first starting, you're like, does the chapter end now and a new one starts?

 I remember asking myself, when is the chapter supposed to start and end? Because I also did not do, any kind of outline. I just, I'm a pantser. But what about you, KC? Did you have it all plotted out when you tried your first book.

KC: So, I've written ever since I was pretty young. But not published anything because I didn't know, how to get a publisher. Agents didn't reply. So, what I did when I was ready to really start seriously writing was I just totally jumped in and tried to learn everything I could about writing a book.

How to structure chapters and how to do character arcs because you do learn a lot of that stuff in high school and in college, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be proficient at it when you sit down to write the perfect book. And that's the problem is that I tried to write the perfect book out of the gate and that really held me up in the beginning.

But take the time to learn the skill. And then it'll make the book writing process a lot easier. 

Jamey: I have to say, in the romance genre, there is a formula that you go by. And I have written 22 books now, I think, and maybe two or three actually, could be characterized as going by that formula. First, I did not really know about the formula when I started, and what I'm talking about is that when you get 75 to 80%, through the book, the couple usually breaks up and then they have to get back together.

And I would get to where I loved these characters so much, there wasn't any way I was going to break them up. So, I had to come up with a different way to make the book still interesting so it, satisfied my readers. And so, a lot of times what I will end up doing is shooting different problems at them that they have to solve together, but they don't have to break up.

But just because that works for me does not mean that will work for anybody else. There is a formula. And for example, I don't know when I actually found out you start with a goal of so many words and then each chapter supposedly is It's supposed to be around, let's say, 2, 000 words, something like that.

And those are just parameters to go by, but I didn't know that for a while. And so that's part of learning something new every time you write a book. And I would pick up little tidbits here and there you know, I hope I've gotten better at it.

Kimberly: Yeah, I definitely did not know that.

Jamey: Yeah, I didn't know that. 2, 000 words, really? I mean, like, oh, okay. 

KC: But I'm the plotter and I did know that I had a little checklist and everything and spreadsheets.

Jamey: Maybe you could give us lesson. 

Kimberly: I was about to say, can you share your checklist?

Jamey: Can you give us a lesson on plotting someday so that... 

KC: I can have it in a future episode of How to Plot a Book. 

Jamey: Yeah, that might be a good idea. 

KC: It makes it a little easier, I think. It makes it a little easier. 

Jamey: Yeah. 

KC: Some people might say it might break down the creativity, but I think it actually still works just fine. 

Jamey: Oh, I think it would help you get in the chair every day and write what you were supposed to do. You know, I mean, if you knew your place on the outline and what you were supposed to do, I would think that would help. 

Kimberly: Yeah, I've had some friends that they just sit down, they know every day. Like today I have to write a chapter on the girls are going to meet at a bakery. And so that's all they focus on and they get their 2000 words or whatever out. Whereas when I don't know about you, Jamey, but I sit down and go, okay, what's happening today?

Hehehehehehe Did someone die? 

Jamey: Happen, but

Kimberly: Hehehehehehe 

Jamey: I'm really happy for those people, but that doesn't seem to work for me.

KC: That's too funny. Well, you mentioned tropes, Kimberly. would say as far as tropes go, if you're just starting out, I would pick a trope that you like and that you want to write. I wouldn't try to fit into a box and say, or as you look at all of the different, the top 100 on Amazon and you notice that, oh my gosh, there's so many enemies to lovers or friends to lovers or whatever the trope might be age gap.

Jamey: Yeah. Everybody loves age gap. I would not try to write that. I would try to write what you feel on your story and your idea.

KC: Yeah. And tropes, for those who don't know what tropes are. it is basically what we were just saying. It's enemies to lovers. It's age gap. It's kind of a theme that goes with the book. 

Jamey: Fake relationship is big right now. I hadn't really, written a fake relationship until probably maybe a year ago, something like that. And, I decided I will try things and if it doesn't work out, then it doesn't. I don't write many enemies to lovers. I can think of maybe once or twice, but this book that's coming out, it starts out as enemies to lovers and I can't tell you how much fun I had with it.

I think that's why I think it's better than the rest of them. I was, committed to it because I thought, oh wow, this could be fun. And so as long as it was fun to me, then I think that shows in my writing. And so that's why I think the book turned out well. So that's something to think about.

Pick a trope that you love and you feel comfortable with and for your first book for sure. And start there.

Kimberly: Or you could just write the book if this is too much for you and you're really like, Oh my God, it's too much information. You could just start to write your first book. And then later on when you're reading it, you'll realize that you probably picked up a trope or two in your story. And you'll start to feel that each time you write a book, you'll get better and better at where you'll start to plan and say, okay, these are the tropes like Jamey was just saying that I want in my book. 

KC: Yeah, 

Jamey: Right. 

KC: Definitely true. 

Jamey: It'll feel natural. It will happen. It goes back to trusting yourself. You got to trust yourself. 

KC: Yeah, for sure. So, another thing though, I think when it comes to writing a book is once you have that book written and you've figured out, that you like it now, you need a beta reader. Now you need to have someone you trust, read the book, not your mom, not your best friend, has to be someone that will give you, criticism Yeah. Constructive criticism or honest criticism. 

Kimberly: Helpful, not hurtful. 

KC: Helpful not hurtful, exactly, that's perfect, constructive criticism and make sure that your book is on spot. So that's really important to find. 

Jamey: Do you do that every time before you send it to your editor or is this when it comes back from your editor? 

KC: I usually have a beta reader, yes. And my beta reader usually goes chapter by chapter with me. 

Jamey: Wow. See, that is not my process. So that's cool. that's good. I 

I hope that's helpful for people there. 

 Kind of lets me know if I've really gone off the deep end. Like suddenly have cannibals or something. They're like, no, no, no, rewrite that chapter. That's not going to work. write mine and then I have my editor look at it because I'm paranoid and I won't show it to anyone and then I have someone to look at it first before I send it out.

And see, for me, I send it off to my editor and I do all the, corrections and edits, and then I send it to my ARC team. I got an ARC team together and, I trust them. I have some that will tell me the enjoyment factor. For example, others are, editors themselves and we'll find the typos and those kinds of things, or find formatting errors because you're always going to come across some kind of error in there. But I don't have just one person to it. I send it out to that team. 

Kimberly: I was gonna say, or the best thing is they're like, it was just daytime and how come it’s nighttime now on the page. 

Jamey: Yes. Things like that. Or, hey, you called her so and so, but isn't her name so and you know, or something like that.

Kimberly: How did it go from April to July?

Jamey: And it will surprise you because readers will be invested. They want to help you. And they want you to succeed, and they want the story to be good. Cause I flat tell my ARC team, you know, you're helping me make a better book. So, I count on you.

Kimberly: Do you want to tell them, like KC did, what an ARC team is, in case they don't know what that is? 

Jamey: Yes. ARC stands for advanced reader copy. And, what I did when I started my newsletter, I asked if anybody would be interested in being on the ARC team and people replied, or, if you don't have a newsletter yet and you're new at this, you could just put it out on the socials, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, wherever, and say, I'm a new author.

I've got a book and I would love to have some, ARC readers or advanced readers. You're giving them a copy of the book is what it amounts to. And for their time, will they help you check for errors or anything that they see, that isn't good.

 And that's how my arc team started. 

KC: Right. But the ARC team is a little further down the road. The ARC team is actually usually after its benefit editor, right? 

Jamey: Oh yeah. The ARC team is usually three weeks to, I give my ARC team a lot of time, either three to four weeks before release date. When I give it to the ARC team, I've gone through it. The editor's gone through it. I've gone through it two or three more times. It's as polished as I can make it because after you've read it that many times, you can't spot some of the errors, you know, your eyes will just go over them. And so that's why you need them. That's why I chose the ARC team because I didn't really have anybody that I wanted to ask that's close to me to beta read.

KC: Gotcha. 

Jamey: I trusted myself, but there's also a little fear, you know, and do I want my friend to read this? 

Kimberly: That's my fear, too. I'm like, uh uh. Not until an editor has looked at it. 

KC: Yeah. But beta readers can help you tell you if you're really off course from the very on the storyline, you mean?

Or a character is really unlikable, if it's boring, yeah, like you said, Kimberly, if it's boring, they'll give you a heads up, but luckily that's not, the boring parts never happened to me, so, that's good, 

Kimberly: No. 

KC: That would be... 

Kimberly: But you always ask, right? You're like, was it boring? 

Jamey: One other thing I wanted to mention too, though, and this is a little further down the road. But I don't know of an author in our community that wouldn't help a new writer. So, there's nothing wrong with reaching out to them on the socials or whatever, or emailing them. You can find author's email addresses everywhere and just asking them, hey, and if they don't have time, they'll tell you, or if they do have time, they'll point you in the direction maybe you need, or point you somewhere that someone could help you. Don't be afraid to ask for help. 

KC: Usually on their website.

Kimberly: And you also can write into podcasts like ours, if you have a you have a question. 

KC: Yes. 

Kimberly: And we might answer. 

Jamey: That's what we're for. 

KC: That is what we are for, exactly. We're here to help. So, if you have a question, send it our way. 

Jamey: Hey, does that bring us to our question of the week? 

KC: Good little segue there, Kimberly. 

Jamey: We're going to try to have a question of the week. So that our listeners can write in and tell us, basically whatever they want to, but we'll give you a question of the week to answer. So, one of you take it away. 

KC: Okay, the question is, What topic would you like to hear us discuss in future episodes? 

Jamey: And we will give you all of the ways to reach us. We're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. We have a website and you can email us. Yeah. So please answer our questions. 

KC: Yeah. 

Jamey: What do you want to hear us talk about? 

KC: To get to all those socials, to find out about each of us, you just gotta go to www threelesbiansandapen.com and everything is listed there.

Jamey: This is episode one and we are learning, but we want to help. 

KC: Yes. We are here to help. For sure.

Kimberly: And each week we'll come back with a new topic to cover and we might not do a question that you ask us right away, but we will get to them as we go through each week. We'll choose a topic and hopefully one of them will answer a question that you asked us.

 KC: And next episode we're going to talk about what do you need to know if you're going to actually publish this book that you have written.

Jamey: It'll be fun. We promise. 

Kimberly: Thanks for listening. If you'd like to reach out to us, you can contact us by email at contact@threelesbiansandapen.com with the number three spelled out or on Instagram, Facebook and X at three lesbians and a pen using the number three. And finally on our website at threelesbiansandapen.com. We look forward to hearing from you, see you next week.