The Chosen Ones and Other Tropes
Episodes
S5.E8 - The Truth about Literary Agents
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A deep dive into literary agents, meeting them, signing with them and the continued relationship. Naomi Gibson, author of Every Line of You, Game Ove...
S5.E7 - How Much Input do Authors get on their Covers?
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We are chatting about book covers, being asked to make mood boards, cover art "leaking" early online and Naomi gives an exclusive reveal about which o...
S5.E6 - What are Book Acquisitions and How Do I Get One?
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We are talking about acquisitions, how they happens, who is involved and which bits authors are let in on and which bits they are not. Naomi Gibson, ...
S5.E5 - Bookshops, Booksellers and Launch Parties
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We chat about the realities of doing events, launch parties and just walking into bookshops and asking to sign your books. A great episode for authors...
S5.E4 - Not All Marketing Budgets are Made Equal
30 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It's all marketing and PR this week as we get into the realities of it, talk about how different books get different budgets and the things that autho...
S5.E3 - How Much Control do Editors Really Have?
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It's time to chat about editorial, the relationship between editor and author and how much power editors have over an author's manuscript.PSA: Kesia L...
S5.E2 - The Truth about becoming a Full Time Author
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We're diving into what it means to be a full-time author, the realities of reaching that point and why most authors have another source of income. Na...
S5.E1 - The Gatekeepers of Publishing
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We're back for a new season all about publishing and in the first episode we are chatting about gatekeepers and the various hurdles they represent! N...
S4.E8 - Children's Publishing ft. Philip Kavvadias
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Middle grade author, Philip Kavvadias is here to chat about some of the publishing myths and struggles within children's books. Naomi Gibson, author ...
S4.E7 - The Second Novel and Post-Publication Blues
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is about that moment when the marketing cycle is over and the dust has started to settle on the publication of your debut novel. What hap...
S4.E6 - Getting Paid as an Author after Publication
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's all numbers and percentages this week as Naomi and Melissa walk us through the financial breakdown of publishing a novel from the authors point o...
S4.E5 - Book launches, Marketing and Publicity
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Melissa and Naomi walk us through everything they learned and experienced with the releases of the debut novels and reflect on how differently they ap...
S4.E4 - Signing a Book Deal
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Naomi and Melissa compare notes about their first book deals and are surprised at how different some of their experiences were. Naomi Gibson, author ...
S4.E3 - Going on Submission with an Agent
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this one we're chatting about what happens between signing with an agent and going out on submission to try and secure a book deal. Naomi Gibson, ...
S4.E2 - Finding an Agent
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're back with more publishing myths and this week it's all about literary agents. Naomi Gibson, author of Every Line of You, Game Over Girl Meliss...
S4.E1 - Writing Your First Manuscript
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This season, we're diving into the many myths and tropes of publishing a novel. From inception to writing, to querying agents, working with editors, a...
S3.E10 - New Adult or maybe Crossover
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this season finale we are jumping in on the much discussed topics of new adult and crossover, what they mean and where they fit into the publishing...
S3.E9 - Sports Romance
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This was a fun one! None of us have much experience with this genre and so it was a massive learning curve but I think it might have inspired us to pi...
S3.E8 - Cosy Crime & Fantasy
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jamie and Melissa are loving the rise of cosy genres at the moment and get into some really fun tropes in this one, whilst Naomi wrestles with how who...
S3.E7 - Psychological Thrillers
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Naomi takes point on this one telling us all about one of her absolute favourites, the Unreliable Narrator. Jamie and Melissa try to chip in as well. ...
S3.E6 - Paranormal Romance
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some Harry Potter follow up at the start and then we jump into some familiar tropes in the fun genre fusion of paranormal romance! Naomi Gibson, auth...
S3.E5 - Contemporary Fantasy
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fantasy is in a fascinating spot right now with romantasy being more popular than ever and Brandon Sanderson breaking crowdfunding records left and ri...
S3.E4 - Crime and Mystery
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're onto crime and mystery tropes, so it's all detectives, law enforcement and being trapped together! Naomi Gibson, author of Every Line...
S3.E3 - Romantasy Tropes
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing the theme of the season, this episode we each pick a romantasy trope! If you want a deeper dive on each of these we did an entire 10 run se...
S3.E2 - Horror Tropes
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This season we are going to pick our favourite tropes from the genres that we discussed and think might be popular this year in publishing. First up, ...
S3.E1 - Publishing Trend Predictions for 2024
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're back and we're kicking off the year with some predictions for what we think is going to be popular in the world of writing, books and publishing...
S2.E10 Trope Tier List 2
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To wrap up our second season, the loosely romance themed one, we're going back to the tier list. Tune in for lots of arguing about which trope goes wh...
S2.E9 - Forced Proximity
09 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Making two characters who would never otherwise spend time together is always a great recipe for conflict and intrigue, but there is a pretty intense ...
S2.E8 - Stalking as Romance
02 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's weird, creepy and rarely works but we get into the weeds with this one. This trope is pretty toxic. Naomi Gibson, author of Every Line of You, G...
S2.E7 - Miscommunication
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's a weird one to talk about because it only really comes up when it's done badly. Tune in to hear us try and define it, whilst constantly contradic...
S2.E6 - Opposites Attract
19 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Opposites Attract is a classic but does it need some sprucing up? Can it sometime be used as an excuse to cover up some troubling issues? Naomi Gibso...
S2.E5 - Forbidden Love
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We all know it from Romeo and Juliet, but we went a bit darker than I think any of us expected in this episode. Maybe it was forbidden for a reason! ...
S2.E4 - Grumpy and Sunshine
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Always interesting to see people coming together, clashing and eventually overcoming their differences to bond and become closer than they could ever ...
S2.E3 - Fake Dating
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Fake dating and relationships come in more shapes and sizes than any of us realised. It's not just Noah Centineo movies! Naomi Gibson, author of Ever...
S2.E2 - Enemies to Lovers
21 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Enemies to Lovers to rivals to friends. It's an unending rollercoaster of twists and tales. Tune in to hear about how much we love this trope even tho...
S2.E1 - Slow-Burn Romance
14 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Well paced and satisfying or drawn out and boring. Hear all about how Melissa approached the slow burn romance in her brand new novel, 'My Love Life a...
S1.E10 - Trope Tier List 1
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To wrap up our first season, we're kicking off our tier list. Tune in for an extra long episode of us arguing about which grade to assign to each of t...
S1.E9 - Helpless Window Deaths
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Heart-wrenching, infuriating or something else entirely? Here's one we'd never really thought about before but once we started down the rabbit hole, i...
S1.E8 - Badass Female Characters ft. Kesia Lupo
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Special guest episode! Author and editor Kesia Lupo is here and she's put one of her most disliked to the team. It's the trope of super strong, badass...
S1.E7 - Prophecies and Chosen Ones
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"It’s one thing to think that you’re the center of the universe—it’s another thing entirely to have this confirmed by an ancient prophecy."- D...
S1.E6 - Forced Motherhood
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why is it that so many female characters have their journey totally redirected at the last second to make room for a pregnancy. Sometimes it's fine, s...
S1.E5 - Orphans and Absentee Parents
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes it can feel like there are more orphaned fictional characters than not. But is the trope really all that bad? Naomi and Melissa have both wr...
S1.E4 - Mary Sue and Gary Stu
27 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What started out as a parody of old school Star Trek fan fiction has transcended its humble origins and evolved into a term that is liberally used to ...
S1.E3 - Killing Mentors
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Shoutout to all of the mentor characters, risking their lives in service of a protagonist who would probably be lost without them! Tune in to hear us ...
S1.E2 - Love Triangles
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A problematic polygon of paramores. Tune in to find out which of us is team Love Triangle! Naomi Gibson, author of Every Line of You, Game Over Girl ...
S1.E1 - Unreliable Narrators
06 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is there such a thing as a reliable narrator? Tune in for our totally 100% reliable ramblings on the subject! Naomi Gibson, author of Every Line of Y...
Trailer
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bookish, writer friends Jamie, Melissa and Naomi talk about their favourite tropes, their least favourite tropes and everything in between! Naomi Gib...