What does it actually take to turn an idea into a finished book?

In the first episode of Unpublished, aspiring author Angela Mattes introduces cohost Daniel Stevens to the strange, solitary, exhilarating, and occasionally tear-soaked world of writing fiction. Angela traces her path from childhood bookworm and journalism student to fan-fiction writer, manuscript author, and proud creator of hundreds of thousands of words read by hundreds of thousands of people online.

She also opens up about the heartbreak, grief, career detours, creative communities, and hard-earned confidence that helped her finally see herself as a writer. Along the way, Daniel learns the language of AO3, works in progress, beta readers, query packages, and several other concepts previously unavailable through doomscrolling and Wikipedia.

Then Angela unveils the story at the center of this podcast: Eros et Flamingo, a literary novel about a heartsick assassin who has fallen for one too many of her marks and devises a slightly unhinged plan to find someone capable of loving her back.

The manuscript has not been written. There is no literary agent. Nothing is guaranteed. But the idea is ready, the characters are waiting, and it is finally time to begin.