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What is the premise of Olivia Haberman’s novel *Nobody Panic*?
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Welcome to our show, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. I'm best-selling author Bianca Murray, and I'm joined by Cece Lira of Wendy Sherman Associates and Carly Waters of P.S. Literary. Hi everyone, welcome back to another Box with Hooks. It's a really special one today because we have got the guest joining us and you know how much we love that because we love speaking through everything and brainstorming and all the things. So Olivia, welcome to the show. Thank you, I'm so excited to be here. We're excited to have you. So as per usual, we are going to dive straight in. Will you please read us your query letter? You got it.
Dear Bianca, Carly and Cece, You've heard it before, but it bears repeating. Thank you so much for the podcast and all the incredible work you do for the writing community. You're the highlight of my Thursday. I'm excited to introduce Nobody Panic, an upmarket novel complete at 95,000 words. With its quirky setting and ensemble cast, including a colony of troublemaking honeybees, Nobody Panic will appeal to fans of Shelby Van Pelt's remarkably bright creatures and Annie Hartnett's The Road to Tender Hearts. The Halcyon Apartments have a bee problem. Notorious resident Fenella Fineman has kept a hive on the roof for decades, and she'll admit it, they're the worst honeybees in the Hudson Valley. Her bees are spoiled, opinionated, and overly curious, but Fenella keeps them in check.
Unfortunately, Fenella has disappeared. Shy clock repairman Arthur Finch is Fenella's downstairs neighbor and closest friend. Fenella may be 40 years his senior and a ruthless, rummy opponent, but for Arthur, who's so risk adverse he won't even try oat milk, she's his anchor. When she leaves without explanation, he's unmoored. Worse still is her baffling choice in bee-sitter, her charming but impulsive great-niece, Hank, whose haphazard approach to both beekeeping and life threatens to upend Arthur's quiet world for good. Hank Norris knows she's not a good person. She's just good at playing one. A lifelong grifter and occasional thief, she's on the run from a man seeking to put a very permanent end to her schemes.
When she stumbles on a letter detailing the real circumstances behind Fenella's absence, Hank sees salvation. pose as the missing woman's relative and root out her rumored fortune. She'll just have to dupe Arthur and his nosy neighbors long enough to pull it off. When Fenella's neglected bees invade the halcyon, they kick off a series of events that forces the other residents into the fray. As chaos mounts, Hank, Arthur, and their neighbors must work together if they've got any hope of finding Fenella and saving her wayward honeybees. And if they're lucky, they might save one another, too. I earned my MFA from the University of Virginia, where I was a Henry Hoynes Fellow. After a decade on the East Coast, I now live in Washington State, where I work for a community nonprofit and spend my free time birdwatching, painting, and cuddling my sweet cat, Sunny.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the premise of Olivia Haberman’s novel *Nobody Panic*?
0:00–7:08
2
How does the query letter for *Nobody Panic* capture the story’s hook?
7:08–14:14
3
Why do the agents praise the query letter and what specific elements impressed them?
14:14–21:58
4
How does Olivia handle omniscient point‑of‑view without falling into head‑hopping?
21:58–28:13
5
What are the pros and cons of using a “sneaky omniscient” narrator for dramatic irony?
28:13–35:14
6
How does the ensemble cast and the bee subplot create tension and dramatic irony?
35:14–41:15
7
Should writers pursue an MFA and what practical advice does Olivia share about it?
41:15–46:31
8
What final takeaways do the hosts give about intentionality in query letters and manuscript revisions?
46:31–47:07
Speakers
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