By the Pricking of Our Thumbs: On Writing Villains

The Author Industrial Complex, Part 2

We're back with Part 2 of The Author Industrial Complex, a series that was totally planned and not just us having too many feelings and very little discipline! This week, we discuss how to balance serving your readers without losing your mind or your voice (you can only choose one, so choose wisely); pen names for fun and profit*; why romance writing is for everyone; ARC reviewer entitlement; and how writing about an awful person does NOT equal endorsement despite whatever some rando on Threads named Monica may accuse you of. (Seriously Monica, that is not what Nabokov was writing about.) Plus in Hot Goss: an update about the fake literary agency that turned out to be a book marketing campaign powered by unfeasible amount of AI. Gross. Very gross. So gross. No one was harmed in the making of this episode except our faith in humanity. Again. *Bad Lit Friends does not guarantee any profits from your writing. No backsies, no giveses, so there. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://bsky.app/profile/badlitfriends.bsky.social]  Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.threads.com/@badlitfriends]  Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/badlitfriends/] YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠⁠ [⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends] Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠ [https://www.badlitfriends.com/] Show notes: * Meagan's underappreciated Woodward and Bernstein moment on Bluesky about the literary agency that wasn't: https://bsky.app/profile/thecrumpet.bsky.social/post/3mlm6epvbyc2w [https://bsky.app/profile/thecrumpet.bsky.social/post/3mlm6epvbyc2w]

The Emotional Craft of Fiction Writing

This week, Meagan is away, and Kirk is joined by fantasy author Anne Wells for an in-depth conversation about the emotional craft of fiction writing: how to bring all the feels instead of just pelting readers with plot points and explosions for 300 pages. We talked about interiority, emotional layering, flawed characters, trauma done well versus trauma...um...not done well, and why you should give readers a chance to breathe (hint: so you can emotionally destroy them again.) Also discussed: horror novels, Soviet bowling alleys, Studio Ghibli, Heath Ledger’s Joker, and the deeply cursed YA Tough Girl archetype. Anne breaks down how she approaches emotional arcs in her own writing, including the challenge of balancing dread, wonder, longing, and fear. Kirk mostly uses this as an opportunity to realize he now has to go back and rewrite all his books. Again. No Hot Goss this week (booooo!) but you're gonna love us anyway! Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://bsky.app/profile/badlitfriends.bsky.social]  Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.threads.com/@badlitfriends]  Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/badlitfriends/] YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠⁠ [⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends] Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠⁠ [https://www.badlitfriends.com/]⁠ Show notes: Go visit Anne's website and sign up for her newsletter so you can get her free short story! https://aewells-writes.com And give Anne a follow on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/a.e.wells.writes/ Books: Craft books: The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass Story Genius by Lisa Cron Kirk's recommended horror reads: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter American Rapture by C. J. Leede Anne's recommended Fantasy read: Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

The Author Industrial Complex

This week we're talking about all the ways authors are pulled in opposing directions: branding, marketability, genre expectations, comp titles, platform anxiety, and the increasingly cursed reality that writing a book also requires becoming a product. We unpack the push-pull between art and commerce, why publishing wants your book to be both completely original and exactly like three recent bestsellers, and the emotional consequences of trying to stay authentic while also remaining marketable. And in Hot Goss: a querying writer decides to get a little too creative, and we remind everyone that a query letter is, in fact, a professional document. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠ [https://bsky.app/profile/badlitfriends.bsky.social]  Threads: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.threads.com/@badlitfriends]  Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/badlitfriends/] YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠ [⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends] Website: ⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠ [https://www.badlitfriends.com/]⁠

BLF Court Is Now in Session: Archetypes on Trial

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! The Court of Bad Lit Friends is now in session, and the defendants have been waiting a looooong time for their day of reckoning. In this episode, we don our very snazzy judicial robes and put character archetypes on trial, because after five thousand years of showing up in every story ever told, it's time to ask some tough questions. Are these archetypes still earning their keep, or just showing up for a paycheck? Are they so trite and ubiquitous that they need to be escorted from the building post haste? The BLF tribunal will decide and while the quality of mercy is not strained, not every ruling will droppeth as the gentle rain. The verdicts may surprise you. Or not. You know what we’re like by now. Plus: Hot Goss takes a hard right turn into territory we cannot fully explain that will become immediately obvious when you listen to the episode. What we will say is this: some aesthetic choices are not defensible in a court of law or anywhere else. No further questions; the prosecution absolutely rests. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠ [https://bsky.app/profile/badlitfriends.bsky.social]  Threads: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠ [https://www.threads.com/@badlitfriends]  Instagram: ⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/badlitfriends/] YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends [⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends] Website: ⁠⁠badlitfriends.com [https://www.badlitfriends.com/]⁠ Show notes:  RMFW Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards – submissions open through May 25, 2026: https://www.rmfw.org/colorado_gold_rush_literary_aw.php [https://www.rmfw.org/colorado_gold_rush_literary_aw.php] Romancing the Stone trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LX2zfbF0Rs [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LX2zfbF0Rs] The Pirate and the Pagan by Virginia Henley – the book Meagan was convinced had a main character named Rogue, but it’s not, it’s Ruark, and Meagan probably needs to take some Prevagen: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/886620.The_Pirate_and_the_Pagan [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/886620.The_Pirate_and_the_Pagan]

By the Pricking of Our Thumbs: On Writing Villains

Description: This week, we’re talking villains: the delicious ones, the flat ones, and the ones you love to ruin your main characters' lives with. We get into what separates a villain from an antagonist, why your best bad guys need motives beyond “mwahaha” and twirly mustaches, and how to make them compelling. We also talk about why the most interesting villains are usually just your protagonist flipped inside-out (gross). We also unpack their own resident monsters, and why sometimes the real villain is, as ever, capitalism. In Hot Goss: the deeply suspect Manning Literary Agency, its eerily static TikTok “agent,” and the increasingly plausible theory that Nigel Carlisle is involved in a water-wasting, energy-sucking, environmentally-unfriendly AI-powered romance. We have questions. Rude questions. Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We’re glad you’re here, even if none of us know what we’re doing. Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty. Show email: ⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠ [⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com]⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠ [https://bsky.app/profile/badlitfriends.bsky.social] Threads: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.threads.com/@badlitfriends] Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/badlitfriends/] YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends]⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠⁠ [badlitfriends.com⁠] Show notes: Meagan has a $20 off coupon code for Dabble to share! Check show notes. https://app.dabblewriter.com?referralCode=8XMRGP2P [https://app.dabblewriter.com?referralCode=8XMRGP2P]  The Manning Literary Agency: Google it, we can't bring ourselves to actually link it. The Hamspsterdance song: https://youtu.be/6WpMlwVwydo [https://youtu.be/6WpMlwVwydo] The Pikes Peak Writers: https://pikespeakwriters.org/ [https://pikespeakwriters.org/] Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference: https://www.rmfw.org/conference_homepage.php [https://www.rmfw.org/conference_homepage.php] BLF After Dark: https://badlitfriends.com [https://badlitfriends.com]