The writer…

Lidija Hilje is a Croatia-based book coach and author of literary fiction. Before becoming a novelist, she was a practicing attorney-at-law, spending her days trying cases before Croatian courts.

Lidija’s non-fiction essays have been hand-picked by Medium’s editorial team and featured on the Medium homepage, which earned her the title of Top Writer in fields of Psychology, Self Awareness, Personal Development, Self Improvement, and more.

She lives in Zadar, Croatia, with her husband and two children. When she’s not writing or coaching writers, she can be found sipping coffee with her husband on one of her hometown’s piazzas, or scrapbooking and buying too many books with her girls.

The book coach…

Lidija is an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach specializing in Literary, Upmarket, and Women’s Fiction. Her rich experience practising law translated beautifully into book coaching, as project management, weaving a story from seemingly random data, and understanding human psychology are skills applicable in both fields.

Her exploration of story led her to studying different story frameworks such as Story Genius and Wired for Story by Lisa Cron; Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody; Blueprint for a Book by Jennie Nash; and Story Grid by Sean Coyne. Through discussions about Literary and Upmarket Fiction in her Writers’ Book Club, she started discerning patterns in how literary fiction authors defy genre expectations and standards outlined in these frameworks that are usually geared toward genre fiction. Over time, Lidija has crafted her own unique framework, guiding writers of Literary and Upmarket fiction to structure and compose books that transcend and challenge genre conventions.

Lidija’s biggest strength as a coach is her impeccable logic, nuanced understanding of story structure, a passion for crafting and consuming lyrically written novels—and the uncanny ability to teach others what she knows.

Lidija townwall.jpg

Some fun facts about me:

✓ I adore plants, but have yet to learn how to keep them alive;
✓ Of all the sensory details, I use scents in my own writing the most;
✓ I’m a proud mama of two wonderful girls.

Recent Appearances:

 

I talked with Bianca Marais, the brilliant host of The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Podcast, about all things genre: differentiating between genres; how to use my genre guide; the differences between literary, upmarket, book club, and women’s fiction; how literary fiction moves a story deeper, not forward; what “postcard” scenes are and how to use them.

Read Like A Writer Book Club Podcast

Listen Here

I joined Robin Henry from Readerly Book Coaching to talk about Hernan Diaz’s Literary novel ‘Trust.’ Robin and I used ‘Trust’ as a starting point to our discussion about what makes Literary fiction—literary. We discussed structure, craft, scene writing and more, all in relation to works of Literary Fiction.

Some of my favorite books recently:

  • Thirst for Salt by Madelaine Lucas

  • Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

  • You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

  • The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

  • Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

  • Writers & Lovers by Lily King

  • The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

  • Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

  • The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo

  • Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

Slanting Towards the Sea

is my first novel, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in the US, and Daunt Publishing in the UK, and will be available on July 8th, 2025.