Erin L. McCoy
@erinlmccoy.bsky.social
UNDERLAKE (Doubleday, 2026) WRECKS (Noemi Press, 2025) Poetry & fiction in American Poetry Review, Best New Poets, Conjunctions • Assistant poetry editor, Narrative • Multilingual erinlmccoy.com
"Perhaps resurrection is a translation of evidence left behind, the poem an attempt to access that which was saved, or a doomed channeling of the savers themselves." Oli Peters for @coloradoreview.bsky.social review of Wrecks by @erinlmccoy.bsky.social: coloradoreview.colostate.edu/reviews/wrec...
A week from now, I'll be at the Southern Festival of Books to talk about UNDERLAKE, future Earths, and the allure and devastation of water alongside Alice Martin and @debolinunferth.bsky.social. Hope to see you there! #sofestbooks26 #nashville #nashvillethingstodo #nashvilleevents #literaryfiction
Pay attention Dems. Gov Beshear won twice, in a deep red state, and never threw trans people under the bus. He led with compassion rather than the fear and cowardice we've seen from some of our Ohio candidates and party leadership.
VoteHub@votehub.com · 2w agoNEWS — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear criticizes fellow Democrats who say transgender athletes should be barred from women’s sports. “That is not the party that we are. We start as a party of compassion and empathy.”
What an incredible review of WRECKS in @coloradoreview.bsky.social. 💜🪶 Thank you for your care and close reading, Oli Peters!
Noemi Press@noemipress.bsky.social · 3w ago"Perhaps resurrection is a translation of evidence left behind, the poem an attempt to access that which was saved, or a doomed channeling of the savers themselves." Oli Peters for @coloradoreview.bsky.social review of Wrecks by @erinlmccoy.bsky.social: coloradoreview.colostate.edu/reviews/wrec...
Disorienting your reader can be one of your most powerful tools as a writer—but wield it carefully. Here's what I learned from @caroclaireburke.bsky.social's novel YESTERYEAR (@aaknopf.bsky.social). erinlmccoy.substack.com/p/disorienta... #writingtips #yesteryear #novelwriting #fictionwriting
erinlmccoy.substack.com
Happy pub day to Emily St. John Mandel! I can’t wait to read EXIT FIVE (@aaknopf.bsky.social). In preparation, I returned to STATION ELEVEN to analyze what writers can learn about incorporating lyricism into their prose from one of the book’s loveliest passages. open.substack.com/pub/erinlmcc...
Since UNDERLAKE was published four months ago, I've been thrilled to see it in @barnesandnoble.com stores across the country. What a gift. 🩵 Now, you can grab a copy of UNDERLAKE for 50% off as part of the #BNBookHaul through Sept. 7! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/underlake-... #newfiction #debutnovel
This week’s craft lesson for people who are writing a novel: how to balance scene vs. summary, with an example from ATMOSPHERE. open.substack.com/pub/erinlmcc...
The Scene vs. Summary See-Saw—or, How I Learned to Enjoy the Ride
Striking a delicate balance in Taylor Jenkins Reid’s ATMOSPHERE
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So thrilled to have my book available in ebook! Check it out!
Noemi Press@noemipress.bsky.social · 2mo agoWrecks by @erinlmccoy.bsky.social, Southwest Reconstruction by @raquefella.bsky.social, and 13 Questions for the Next Economy by @utopiaminus.bsky.social are now all available as ebooks on the Noemi website!
Wrecks by @erinlmccoy.bsky.social, Southwest Reconstruction by @raquefella.bsky.social, and 13 Questions for the Next Economy by @utopiaminus.bsky.social are now all available as ebooks on the Noemi website!
This is the book living rent-free in my head this summer that I keep recommending to people. If you haven't read it yet, get on it!
Erin L. McCoy@erinlmccoy.bsky.social · 2mo agoHappy (belated) three-month birthday to UNDERLAKE 🩵
How @tomjunod.bsky.social draws a profound portrait of a character in just 12 words in his new autobiography, IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH (@doubledaybooks.bsky.social) — in this week’s installment of The Next Sentence. Plus, a prompt to try it yourself. open.substack.com/pub/erinlmcc...
Bring Your Characters to Life in 12 Words or Less
"She's famous for this, her worry—her talent for letting her worry do all the work of love" —Tom Junod
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How do you build a world? It’s a question every novelist, regardless of genre, must ask obsessively. This example from Marilynne Robinson’s seminal novel, HOUSEKEEPING, taught me a whole new way to approach the problem. Read about it on The Next Sentence: open.substack.com/pub/erinlmcc...
World-Building, List-Making, Texture: Lessons from HOUSEKEEPING
There are many ways to set the scene for your novel.
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When I decided to write my second novel in the third person, I was soon overwhelmed with the number of choices I needed to make. Then I read THE GARDEN (@doubledaybooks.bsky.social) by Clare Beams & realized—I might not have to choose. Read more: erinlmccoy.substack.com/p/writing-in....
Writing in the Third Person? It's Time to Break Some Rules
What Clare Beams's THE GARDEN teaches us about navigating the third-person point of view.
erinlmccoy.substack.com
Every character lives inside a moment in history. How does history drive character and story development without overwhelming the plot? This week I took a look at Chantel Acevedo’s gorgeous new novel, CAGES (@europaeditions.bsky.social). Read now: open.substack.com/pub/erinlmcc...
The One Timeline Question Most Novels-in-Progress Skip
What a lioness in Havana can teach us about placing our characters inside history
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In this week’s installment of the Next Sentence, I explore what a passage from Anna Burns’s MILKMAN (@graywolfpress.bsky.social ) teaches us about building narrative tension and revealing character at the same time. open.substack.com/pub/erinlmcc...
Tension, dread, and character-building in Anna Burns's MILKMAN
“Three times in my life I’ve wanted to slap faces and once in my life I’ve wanted to hit someone in the face with a gun.
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“When you can only see so far, what more is there to hope for? No wonder, then, that in a single country we occupy a thousand different planets.” @erinlmccoy.bsky.social in @literaryhub.bsky.social lithub.com/a-short-hist...
A Short History of America’s Drowned Towns
A Dairy Queen, a Subway, three dollar stores, a strip of half-empty storefronts along Main Street: you could hardly call it a community, where I grew up in rural Kentucky. Or rather, it didn’t feel…
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Aquatic! Southern! Gothic! @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social on UNDERLAKE by @erinlmccoy.bsky.social lareviewofbooks.org/article/unde...
Aquatic Southern Gothic | Los Angeles Review of Books
Erin McCoy’s debut novel draws out the uncanny nature of environmental histories of the American South.
lareviewofbooks.org
"Every single one of us lives inside some kind of bubble. I think the point is to try, again and again, to see it." Underwater, Unbelonging, Unknowing: @sbfeldman.bsky.social interviews @erinlmccoy.bsky.social about Underlake (@doubledaybooks.bsky.social). ➡️ buff.ly/eyzOMXO
Hey, there—are you writing a novel? Me too! And starting today, I’m launching a weekly newsletter called the Next Sentence so we can write our novels together.
The Next Sentence » by Erin L. McCoy | Substack
UNDERLAKE (Doubleday, 2026) • WRECKS (Noemi Press), 2025), Florida Book Award winner. Click to read The Next Sentence » by Erin L. McCoy, a Substack publication. Launched a few seconds ago.
erinlmccoy.substack.com
It’s publication daaaaay! My debut novel has officially launched! UNDERLAKE tells the story of two women who dive deep into a lake and discover communities who have been living underwater for decades. 📖 Pick up your copy: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/underlake-... 🙏🙏 @doubledaybooks.bsky.social
Underlake was featured in @bookriot.bsky.social's roundup of the best new sci-fi & fantasy books of April 2026! 🌊 Thank you so much to @libertyhardy.bsky.social for the lovely write-up. So excited to appear alongside @mikechenwriter.bsky.social and @neuvel.net. Link: bookriot.com/new-sci-fi-a...
Absolutely in awe of @erinlmccoy.bsky.social's debut novel, UNDERLAKE. Thanks to @clarebeams.bsky.social, Susanna Kwan, and Ron Rash for the kind words. Preorder UNDERLAKE wherever books are sold: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804090...
UNDERLAKE by @erinlmccoy.bsky.social is full of "lush prose that deftly unpacks grief, familial love, and religious zealotry" via @forbes.com www.forbes.com/sites/caroli...
For Readers, April’s New Literature Offers Something For Everyone
From a highly anticipated debut that puts tradwife content in its crosshairs, to a sophomore horror novel from one of the genre’s rising stars, to a poignant examination of class and loyalty–April’s n...
forbes.com
Join me for the official launch of my debut poetry collection, WRECKS, in Seattle this Friday!
Happy pub day to Wrecks, the debut poetry collection by @erinlmccoy.bsky.social , available on the Noemi website! www.noemipress.org/catalog/poet...
