OK, first things first, before you read any more of this, go to https://www.literatureandlatte.com and get yaself 20% off Scrivener right now with the code: FAILING Done that? Brilliant. First step towards becoming a proper writer - DONE. Perfect. Now... it’s time to settle the score, turn the tables, slip the shoe onto the other foot. Tom sets up a chat with Samia Rida, who’s taking her one woman play to Edinburgh. A cunning way of encouraging Jon and Katie to crack on with their play. Will it ...
Jul 14, 2025•54 min
Hello Children, welcome to another lovely wuvvly episode of The Failing Writers Podcast in association with Scrivener, a podcast for people who love to write and want to move ever closer to the elusive realm of success. In this episode we’re looking at writing done especially for you. Yes you, my Kiddiewinklepops. All the younger humans upon this little space rock we call Earth. Why? Because we are turning the spotlight on co-host Tommy Turner. He’s been a bit of a naughty boy and not been writi...
Jul 07, 2025•45 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Poetry, as Percy Bysshe Shelley once said, lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar . And so, off we go, to try and defamiliarise the things which stare us in the face every blummin’ day. Relationships. Words. Coffee. Social Media. Prejudice. Siblings. Aging. Home. Industrial Estates. Nature. Sex. Love. Yep. We’re off to a poetry night, aren’t we? To find out what they’re all about. Who goes to them. What the poetry is like, a...
Jun 23, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Right. This week you're in for a treat. Cos, this week on the Failing Writers Podcast in association with Scrivener.... we've got a fantastic guest.... Pardon? Scrivener? You know! The brilliant writing app? Yeah. What's that? you've been thinking about buying a copy for a while? Well... you're in luck! Just use our code "FAILING" and you can get 20% off right now! just go to https://www.literatureandlatte.com and make writing easier for yourself! OK... where was I? Oh yes.... we've got a fantas...
Jun 09, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 5Ep. 6
Welcome back to the Failing Writers Podcast - Sponsored by the brilliant and indispensable writing software: Scrivener. Get 20% off Scrivener right now, by using the code FAILING at https://www.literatureandlatte.com/ OK. Now, People… buckle up. You’re about to enter the Murverse. Cos our guest this week is the lovely Mur Lafferty. A scifi / fantasy writer and podcaster whose refreshingly candid insights into writing and publishing caught our eye a while ago. Being a fan of all things brutally h...
May 26, 2025•51 min•Season 5Ep. 5
First of all, thank you SCRIVENER for sponsoring Season 5! You can try Scrivener free for 30 days. And if you love it, (which you will) you can use the code FAILING and get 20% off, you lucky, lucky duckies. https://www.literatureandlatte.com/ OK... This week, be prepared to have your beautiful, unsullied little brain absolutely stuffed to the brim with a gigantic, Haribo party-bag of sugary treats. We reveal our new sponsor - Did I mention it's the amazing writing app, SCRIVENER? We welcome the...
May 12, 2025•58 min•Season 5Ep. 4
We nattered and we caterwauled 'bout lyrics, punk and bands, and we shed a little light upon how melody can expand, and we talked of books and words and how they sometimes change a man, and by the end, our mate Paul Armfield had another couple o' fans. Lyrics. Are they different to poems? Are they an art form all of their very own? Is it best to write lyrics and then fit the music around them? How do the words of songs develop? All will be revealed in this episode of The Failing Writers Podcast ...
Apr 28, 2025•59 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Hello. Come here. A little closer. Closer. Don’t be afraid. There. That’s it. I’m going to tell you a story. A story about an author called C.J. Tudor. Who many years ago, waaay way back in season 1, episode 13, joined the Failing Writers Podcast for a harmless little natter. Back when they were just podcasting children, playing down in the basement of obscurity. Meanwhile, however, C.J. was on the way up. Climbing the stairs. Up, up she rose. Up to the very attic of literary accomplishment. And...
Apr 20, 2025•57 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Aaaaaaand we're back. Bet you missed us. Ah come on. Just a little bit? Oh. Well we're here now, so let's make the best of it. Now... let's look at the menu. What's for starters? A delicious breakfast at Bettys Tea Rooms - a proper Yorkshire institution. Then... the very antithesis of failing... Jennie Godfrey and her bestselling debut book: A List Of Suspicious Things, All rounded off with a smorgasbord of excellent questions! Bon appetit! https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454971/the-list-of-susp...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Hello Worldwrights, The Failing Writers are now on a little sabbatical, plotting, (or possibly pantsing) the next season of the podcast and maybe... maybe... even writing some stuff? I'd like to think so anyway. In absentia, they've decided to bring you all 6 episodes of Anything 4 U, which some of you may remember being occasionally mentioned on the podcast. Yes... it's the lost classic.... The cult hit that got away... it's Dave's radio sitcom! Here to entertain you while you wait for the new ...
Mar 24, 2025•31 min
Hello Worldwrights, The Failing Writers are now on a little sabbatical, plotting, (or possibly pantsing) the next season of the podcast and maybe... maybe... even writing some stuff? I'd like to think so anyway. In absentia, they've decided to bring you all 6 episodes of Anything 4 U, which some of you may remember being occasionally mentioned on the podcast. Yes... it's the lost classic.... The cult hit that got away... it's Dave's radio sitcom! Here to entertain you while you wait for the new ...
Mar 10, 2025•31 min
Hello Worldwrights, The Failing Writers are now on a little sabbatical, plotting, (or possibly pantsing) the next season of the podcast and maybe... maybe... even writing some stuff? I'd like to think so anyway. In absentia, they've decided to bring you all 6 episodes of Anything 4 U, which some of you may remember being occasionally mentioned on the podcast. Yes... it's the lost classic.... The cult hit that got away... it's Dave's radio sitcom! Here to entertain you while you wait for the new ...
Feb 24, 2025•27 min
Hello Worldwrights, The Failing Writers are now on a little sabbatical, plotting, (or possibly pantsing) the next season of the podcast and maybe... maybe... even writing some stuff? I'd like to think so anyway. In absentia, they've decided to bring you all 6 episodes of Anything 4 U, which some of you may remember being occasionally mentioned on the podcast. Yes... it's the lost classic.... The cult hit that got away... it's Dave's radio sitcom! Here to entertain you while you wait for the new ...
Feb 10, 2025•27 min
Hello Worldwrights, The Failing Writers are now on a little sabbatical, plotting, (or possibly pantsing) the next season of the podcast and maybe... maybe... even writing some stuff? I'd like to think so anyway. In absentia, they've decided to bring you all 6 episodes of Anything 4 U, which some of you may remember being occasionally mentioned on the podcast. Yes... it's the lost classic.... The cult hit that got away... it's Dave's radio sitcom! Here to entertain you while you wait for the new ...
Jan 27, 2025•26 min
Hello Worldwrights, The Failing Writers are now on a little sabbatical, plotting, (or possibly pantsing) the next season of the podcast and maybe... maybe... even writing some stuff? I'd like to think so anyway. In absentia, they've decided to bring you all 6 episodes of Anything 4 U, which some of you may remember being occasionally mentioned on the podcast. Yes... it's the lost classic.... The cult hit that got away... it's Dave's radio sitcom! Here to entertain you while you wait for the new ...
Jan 13, 2025•29 min
Hello and happy new year, you lovely lot. Please allow us a moment of self indulgence now, as all three of us bring you a bonus episode looking back on where we were 4 years ago, when we first began this lovely little writing / podcasting project. Because for some inexplicable reason, we've decided to take our first ever episode and provide a kind of 'director's commentary' over it. There will be cringing. There will be self-reflection. There might even be the odd moment of pride - as we look ba...
Jan 06, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 27
This week we have a look at the rest of our festive flash fiction competition shortlist. Warning: They’re upsettingly good. Any one of them, frankly, could have won. Which must rankle somewhat. Thankfully though, this is the moment they can shine. Here were the winners (Announced last week): Katie Holloway: https://loseyourselfbooks.wordpress.com/ James Montgomory https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com John R Preston. And here are the incredible Shortlisters: Camilla Cassidy: https://camillacassi...
Dec 30, 2024•36 min•Season 4Ep. 26
Winners winners, turkey dinners! Thanks to the absolute legends at SCRIVENER - https://www.literatureandlatte.com/ You can get 20% off a copy by using the code 'failing' until the end of 2024. ORRRR maybe... just maybe... you've already won a copy, and you don’t know it? Well there's only one way to find out isn't there? by listening to this episode.... So come on in and let's find out who's won the Failing Writers Podcast £500 Festive Flash Fiction Final! Whoop whoop! Hosted on Acast. See acast...
Dec 23, 2024•43 min•Season 4Ep. 25
Don't forget you can still get 20% off SCRIVENER using the code 'failing' until the new year - so do that first before you get side-tracked with all the less-important Christmas stuff. OK. Done that? Great. Now listen to this lovely episode featuring the wonderful Amy Daughters talking about how hand written letters can help bring people together. https://www.amydaughters.com/books Next, find out how Jon & Tom got on with a bit of letter writing ... and then for the sake of balance, lets see...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 4Ep. 24
Time to finish our letter to Bridget Phillipson, and once again thank the incredible teachers we spoke to, and the pupils for their fabulous creative writing. And hey, thank yourself too! Whether you like it or not, you're now part of our powerful army of activists, who are going to help bring about a U-turn in reading and writing! Let's start today - let's put away the smartphones - let's read more - let's volunteer as a paired-reader at a school. Let's big-up teachers - let's write something a...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 23
"Thank goodness for the Failing Writers." A phrase you've no doubt overheard people say quite a lot over the years. At bus stops. Maybe in libraries? At the off licence? No? Not even the off license? Oh. Anyway - not to worry - this week you're ALMOST CERTAIN to hear it, as Jon and Tom slip their pants on over their tights and become SAVIOURS OF THE SUBJECT OF ENGLISH IN SCHOOLS. Yes, we're making it our mission to breathe new life into our favourite school subject and bring back the joy of read...
Dec 02, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 22
If Tom & Jon wrote poems ‘spose it will be assumed They won’t be as good as Henry’s Normal service will be resumed. In this episode, we meet up with Henry Normal: poet, writer of famous sit-coms, TV producer and poetry festival founder, and have a blummin’ lovely natter. (After we did that - we watched him perform all his lovely poems, so effortlessly. So fluidly. So naturally. And thus, inspired by his performance, we wondered how hard it would be to knock off a quick poem and perform it al...
Nov 18, 2024•44 min•Season 4Ep. 21
Sorry? Did you just say you'd love to enter an almost free* festive flash fiction competition to win £500? I thought you did! Well as coincidence would have it, that is exactly what we've got going on in this very episode. So step this way, my cheeky little word-purveyor, and cast your well oiled ears at our glorious 350 word Flash Fiction Competition. That's it.... yep... cast them freely.... mmmm.... that's the ticket. *I say 'almost free', cos it's only a pound to enter. And we only did that ...
Nov 04, 2024•37 min•Season 4Ep. 20
What is ergodic literature? Well, it's when a story becomes more than just something you read, and you become part of it. But pretend you haven't read that, so that you can find out from listening to this wonderful episode. In which, we have a chat with "S" co-author Doug Dorst and You Say Which Way author Deb Potter, in our quest to get to the bottom of what ergodic fiction is and why it's so blummin' good. Enjoy! Here's some links for things in the show and stuff... https://dougdorst.com/ http...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 19
Should you treat yourself to a writing retreat? If you did it twice would you be re-treating yourself to a writing retreat? If you tweeted about treating yourself to a writers retreat would you be tweeting your re-treat of retreating to a retreat? And if you then re-tweeted your... OK, I'll stop. Tom & Jon not only answer the first of these pressing questions, but as they disappear into the wilderness (sort of) to sample a writers' retreat, they seek to answer the biggest question of all. Th...
Oct 07, 2024•57 min•Season 4Ep. 18
Are you querying? or nearly querying? Maybe you’re fearing querying? Or merely getting weary and a bit teary querying? Well let’s hear from three writers who’ve been down in those querying trenches for a while now. Find out how they're approaching it, what agents' responses have been like and how they’re holding up under pressure. Because when it comes to finding an agent, it’s more often than not, a long and painful process. No matter how talented a writer you are. Byddi Lee: Byddi’s website: h...
Sep 22, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 17
... What? Did 2 weeks just fly by since the last episode? No flippin' way. Time, I think, we had a chat about time. The fact that there's never enough of it. Especially for writing. Why is that? Well Oliver Burkeman might just have some answers. Prepare to face the subject of time and limitation face-on. Get ready to completely re-think how we view those precious hours, minutes and seconds. And ask... 'what would happen if we spent less of it worrying about the fact it's running out, and more of...
Sep 09, 2024•47 min•Season 4Ep. 16
Well, that’s the summer hiatus done with - and we're back with an episode which asks the question, "how do you know if your writing is good enough?" In an attempt to answer that question, we’re going to be looking at a couple of Tom’s flash fiction stories and asking if, why, and how, one of them is slightly less rubbish than the other. Both stories were entered into the same competition, but only one of them got published. Can Dave guess which one is which? Can YOU guess which one is which? Wel...
Aug 26, 2024•44 min•Season 4Ep. 15
Do you have what it takes to quit your day job and follow your dreams to become a full time author? Well, there's only one way to find out...and that's to listen to our interview with J C Duncan! Hear how he bravely decided to give himself a year to become a professional writer and, even bravelier, decided to tell everyone about it! Plus home made knives, Vikings and our usual top quality chat! Find out more about our most excellent guest (and check out that sword!) HERE: www.jcduncan.co.uk . Bu...
Jul 08, 2024•53 min•Season 4Ep. 14
A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet...but would he have written that line if he wasn't called Shakespeare? This week Jon, Tom and Dave (or possibly Rod, Jane and Freddy) look into pseudonyms, nom-de-plumes, pen names...and basically just being someone else for a bit. Does your name affect your chances of success? Does it even have an impact on how you write? Join us to find out as the Failing Writers try to become the not-so-failing writers....for at least one chapter. Hosted on ...
Jun 24, 2024•57 min•Season 4Ep. 13
