On Community by Paulette Kennedy

When Barbara invited me to write a piece for WWWB to celebrate my new novel, The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael, we decided to do things a little differently. Instead of talking about the novel, I wanted to share my writing journey and extend gratitude to the people who inspired and supported me when I was just starting out. 

When I started writing with the intention of pursuing a career in traditional publishing, I found a sense of community on Twitter, like many other writers during the pandemic. Through the magic of a simple hashtag, usually #amwriting or #writingtwitter, we could connect with writers all over the world who had similar goals. I made friends who were working on their first manuscript, querying, or newly published. We celebrated our wins and commiserated over our setbacks.

Through Twitter, I met some very special people who would end up changing my life. After completing my first novel length manuscript—which would eventually become my debut, Parting the Veil—I decided to enter RevPit, an ongoing contest that offers authors the opportunity to receive a full, professional developmental edit by a well-respected freelance editor. 

With no expectations of winning, I woke up early on the morning the RevPit submission window opened and uploaded the synopsis and sample chapters for my novel about an American heiress swept up in the dark, romantic allure of an eccentric English nobleman with a rambling, haunted manor house. The next day, I received an email notification from one of the RevPit editors I hoped to work with: Maria Tureaud, who is now the author of This House Will Feed. Cue the butterflies! She said she loved the opening pages and wanted to read the full manuscript. I nearly melted into the floor. I gathered my senses, and with trembling hands, submitted the full manuscript, with effusive gratitude. 

While I didn’t end up being Maria’s final choice, she sent me a lovely and generous email with copious notes after the contest ended. I answered and asked her if she would be willing to take me on as a client. She was. And thus began a beautiful professional friendship that continues to this day. With Maria’s help and guidance, I cut about 75% of the original manuscript and completely restructured the story. After an enthusiastic critique from her, she encouraged me to begin the querying process. During this time, I made several friends who were also RevPit hopefuls, including my critique partner, Thuy M. Nguyen, who is my lighthouse and still the person who always reads my words first. 

After a few months of querying, I received requests from several interested agents, but no takers. Maria suggested I pull the manuscript back for one more revision. I reworked the opening chapters and sent it out again. Another flurry of full requests came through, but still, no offers of representation. At this point, I was ready to move on. I began writing my next novel, The Witch of Tin Mountain, to distract myself from querying anxiety. Then, I heard about #PitMad, a Twitter pitch contest that helped authors connect with literary agents. I decided it was time to put all my chips on the table. 

With Maria’s help, I crafted three short, catchy pitches that captured the high concept feel of the novel. I posted them, hash-tagged, and hoped. Within a few hours, my tweets went viral, with several “likes” from literary agents. I was giddy. Overwhelmed. Running circles in my head. Maria told me to calm down and make a list of the agents who liked the pitches, and anyone else I would still like to query, and then get to work sending the requested materials.

One of the first agents on that list was Jill Marr, with Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, who I’d queried just a couple weeks before the pitch contest. She hadn’t gotten to my query letter yet but saw my pitch and was very enthusiastic. A few hours after sending Jill my full manuscript, she requested a phone call. THE call. 

When Jill offered representation, I cried. Right there, on the phone. We went out on submission with the manuscript shortly after I signed my contract with SDLA, and within three weeks, I had an offer from Lake Union’s Jodi Warshaw, who is my developmental editor to this day.

They say that in publishing, nothing happens, and then everything happens all at once. They’re right. In 2020, my life completely changed and my dreams came true within a matter of weeks. I will always have Maria, Thuy, and Jill to thank for that. My career would not have happened the way it did without the Twitter community we built back then, as writers. 

While Writing Twitter is no longer with us, the sense of community remains. I’ve managed to maintain years-long friendships and extend my sense of gratitude to others by fostering a sense of community and mutual support with my fellow authors. Every opportunity I’ve been offered, every success I’ve experienced has come about because of the genuine relationships I’ve built. I love seeing my peers shine and nothing makes me happier than encouraging their writing journey. I’ve found many ways to offer the kind of support I was so graciously given, and I hope to continue to do so for many years to come. Now, more than ever, community is everything. Find your people. Put yourself out there. Say yes, and see what happens. 

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The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael: A Novel

A young woman, perceived dead, plots to reinvent herself in a gripping historical gothic about secrets, superstition, and murder by the bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.

South Carolina, 1853. Lillian Carmichael, privileged daughter of a disgraced Charleston family, is due to be hanged for the murder of her sister when fate gives her a second chance at life.

After a catatonic episode on the long walk to the gallows, Lillian is declared dead and entombed in the family mausoleum. She awakens days later, buried alive, and flees to the Lowcountry marshes to survive on her wits and reinvent herself. All the while, a series of exsanguination murders holds the terrorized city in thrall—as do the superstitions that the vanished Lillian is some craven creature, resurrected and out for blood.

Lillian finds sanctuary in a crumbling former plantation and a friend in Kate O’Malley, a charismatic actress adept at fashioning new identities. The two form an intimate and powerful alliance, but as the body count rises, the manhunt for Lillian reaches a fever pitch. It will take both women’s cunning for her to escape the gallows again, and to find her freedom, Lillian must first cross paths with the real killer and confront her own family’s deepest, darkest secret.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing