A New, Feminist Breed of Noir
Halley Sutton on “The Lady Upstairs” & book #2
Hi Bleeders!
I’m excited to be back again with a brand new episode. If you need to catch up, here’s episode one with Samantha Allen.
Episode two features feminist noir writer Halley Sutton on “The Lady Upstairs” & Feminist Noir Book #2.
Halley Sutton wrote the first draft of her debut novel, The Lady Upstairs, while getting her MFA at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, so we got into the pros and cons of MFAs for writers. We also talked about book #2 since Halley’s currently in the home stretch with her second novel. Halley shared how Pitch Wars helped her first book find its footing, how she turned a rejection letter into an agent, the importance of a midpoint, and other sage advice for fledgling writers.
Here's a preview about the rejection letter from her future agent:
"So after about six months of querying, I got a really, really nice rejection letter from an agent, Sharon Pelletier, and she sent me like eight paragraphs of feedback. Here's what I like about the book. Here's what's not working. Here's what I think you should revise. But it's always up to you. If you revise in a way that you think is something I might want to see again, I would see it again — and it was like a lifeline in the dark."
Where I write:
I'm asking each guest to give us a peek behind the scenes. This is where Halley is making her revisions happen:
Episode links:
🏃♀️ Follow Halley Sutton on Twitter @halley_sutton and Instagram @halleysutton25.
🛒 Order Halley’s debut novel, The Lady Upstairs.
📖 Read Damsels Get Even: Noir’s New Feminists by Savy Janssen for the Los Angeles Review of Books. This is one of the articles that turned me on to Halley’s work.
🎧 And, of course, pop in those earbuds and listen to Halley Sutton on “The Lady Upstairs” & Feminist Noir Book #2 on your favorite podcast platform.
Online reading about writing:
A PSA on (not) returning ebooks from K. Bromberg -
Lydia Conklin on Writing Residencies and the Invaluable Gift of Permission - I’ve never been to a writing residency, though I’m eager to remedy that soon. Regardless, this piece by Lydia Conklin has inspired me to give myself permission in my everyday life by carving out a simple, sustainable practice.
Other works of note and inspo I’m diggin’:
Peaky Blinders - The sixth glorious season is now on Netflix. I miss Helen McCrory’s Aunt Polly terribly, but the show still manages to be so good I finished the entire season in one night. Hot damn, Cillian Murphy.
For All Mankind - What if we funded NASA the way NASA wants to be funded, and the space race never cooled down? This show endeavors to answer that question, and it’s very intriguing. Don’t get too attached to certain beloved characters, though — it turns out space can be inhospitable to human life.
I’ll leave you with this interior that makes me horny to read, write, nap, and host a swanky soiree:
Until next time, HAPPY BLEEDING!
So… ROLL CALL! 🗣️
What’s your main writing project right now, and what’s the genre? I’m working on a coming-of-age memoir-in-essays about my quest to "make it" in Hollywood that definitely has a feminist bent.
Let’s connect on social media! I’m at @courtneykocak on Twitter and Instagram. For more, check out my website courtneykocak.com.