Namwali Serpell had been named one of the best African writers under 40 before she'd even published a novel. She's a student of the craft, and now a teacher of it at the University of Berkeley. Finally, after finishing a book that will forever sit in a drawer, she's publishing her first novel, 'The Old Drift'. It's a huge project, telling the stories of 3 families across generations in the new nation of Zambia. We chat about how to tell this story she needed a rigid structure of planning and plo...
Apr 25, 2019•40 min•Season 1Ep. 59
Val McDermid is one of the most successful crime authors in the world. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages, they've sold over 15 million copies and show no sign of letting up. She has written procedural crime, cold-case crime, and even penned the first ever 'cynical, socialist, lesbian, feminist journalist'. We talk about how her method of writing has changed over the course of 38 books, moving from heavy plotting to hardly plotting at all. Also we chat about how much she cares abo...
Apr 19, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 58
C.L. Taylor has just released her 6th thriller 'Sleep', after having much success in psychological thriller over the last 10 years, even writing YA fiction too. We talk about how she works her story-telling around children, family life and Twitter. Also, we talk about the busiest year of Cally's life, writing a book having just gone back to work, with a child, and a lot of words to crack through. She's also won a prize for the 'Most Unreliable Narrator Award', which I was VERY interested to lear...
Apr 04, 2019•40 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Although she's not a fan of the word, Sarah Pinborough is a prolific author. She's written over 20 books across a wide range of genres, always looking to keep interesting and varied. Her new book, 'Cross Her Heart' takes inspiration from a real-life crime, and tells the story of a group of women all trying to keep their past a secret. It's been called a 'feminist novel', and you can hear why Sarah revels in that description. Also, we talk about her method of triple-writing, why her books have re...
Mar 29, 2019•40 min•Season 1Ep. 56
This week Adam Foulds shares his writer's routine. He's a Booker Prize nominee, being shortlisted for 'The Quickening Maze', and is now publishing his fifth novel, 'Dream Sequence' about an actor who becomes embroiled in a strange, twisted relationship. It's literary fiction, and we talk about why that genre pulls Adam's creativity in, and why he thinks different authors write in different styles. Adam is also a poet, and discusses the difference between writing novels and poetry, and what it's ...
Mar 22, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Frank Cottrell-Boyce is a Carnegie Medal Award winning author - his 2004 novel 'Millions' is incredibly successful, and was turned into a film by Danny Boyle, for which Frank wrote the script. It was even Danny's idea that Frank should write the novel in the first place. He's published 10 novels, brought back 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', and wrote the Opening Ceremony to the 2012 Olympic Games. We chat quite a bit about scriptwriting - along with 'Millions', Frank has written many scripts for Mich...
Mar 15, 2019•38 min•Season 1Ep. 54
After working for years as a criminal barrister, Harriet Tyce gave up work when she had children and decided to write. A few attempts at getting novels published later, she realised she may need a little bit of help in tweaking, cutting and getting her foot in the door, so she enrolled in a Creative Writing course at University, to study how to become a better author. 'Blood Orange' is her debut published novel, and already it's gathering speed, success and critical acclaim. It's about Alison, w...
Mar 08, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 53
HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY. To celebrate one of the top 3 days of the year, here's a little treat. A mash-up of some of the best authors we've had on the podcast this last year. You'll hear the writing routines of Ian Rankin, Cecelia Ahern, Garrard Conley, Helen Fields, Tim Marshall, Bridget Collins and Mark Billingham. Give us 5 lovely stars on Apple Podcasts if you get a chance. @writerspod writersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 07, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 52
In 2017, Nuala Ellwood's debut thriller 'My Sister's Bones' received rave reviews and was hailed as the new 'The Girl on the Train'. It propelled her onto The Observer's list of 'New Faces in Fiction' and gained commercial success - now she's back with a second novel. 'Day of the Accident' tells the story of Maggie, who wakes up from a coma to find her daughter dead, and she is being blamed for the murder. Nuala talks about the how to cope with the pressure from such a successful debut, and how ...
Mar 01, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 51
With over 30 published books, Susan Lewis is a master-storyteller that moves through genres, styles and stories as easily as turning a page. She's lived all around the world, getting inspiration from towns in France (where she had a love affair with one of the FBI's Most Wanted) to hills in LA (where she was neighbours with George Clooney) Her new novel, 'One Minute Later', tells the story of Viv Shager, who on her 35th birthday suffers a heart attack which causes her life to change dramatically...
Feb 22, 2019•32 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Fiona Barton is an award-winning journalist, worked as a senior writer at the 'Mail on Sunday' and reported on many high profile cases. After covering crime for so long, she thought it time to invent some of her own. Her third book, 'The Suspect', details two 18 year old girls who go missing on a gap-year, which reminds journalist Kate Waters of her own son, who is off travelling, that hasn't been seen in 2 years. You can hear how Fiona came up with the idea, and what she immediately did when it...
Feb 08, 2019•32 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Bridget Collins has published 7 Young Adult books, a few plays, and now her first full adult novel, 'The Binding', is due to be one of the biggest of 2019. It's been lauded as a 'genre defying fusion of history, magic and a powerful exploration of mental illness'. It tells the story of Emmett Farmer, a book binding apprentice, whose job is to help people forget their darkest secrets. We talk about why it's taken her years to finally write this book, and how volunteering at the Samaritans gave he...
Jan 17, 2019•39 min•Season 1Ep. 48
James Oswald is a farmer for 12 hours of the day, then at night he'll head to his bespoke writing room atop his garage, and bash away at the keyboard. He's known for the 8 novels of the 'Inspector Tony McLean' series, and also his fantasy saga 'The Ballad of Sir Benfro', and you can hear what it's like to start a brand new series - 'Constance Fairchild'. She makes her first appearance in the new novel 'No Time to Cry', and we talk about why having the idea for her name pretty much gave him the r...
Dec 21, 2018•40 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Tim Marshall worked for some years as the Diplomatic Editor for Sky News, travelling and living all over the world to get the stories. His book 'Shadowplay: The Overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic' is widely regarded as one of the best accounts of life in the former Yugoslavia. Tim reported in the field from Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, and has since found huge writing success for his book 'Prisoners of Geography'. 'Prisoners of Geography' looks at how maps of the ...
Dec 14, 2018•41 min•Season 1Ep. 46
After working as a stage manager, running all over the place in a theatre, then being shackled to the desk writing for soap operas, Liz Nugent became bored with dull, desk-driven office work, and became an author. Well... became an author over 6 years of writing her first book 'Unravelling Oliver'. It won an Irish Book Award, became a bestseller and gave her a career of being a proper writer. She's back with her third novel 'Skin Deep', all about an enigmatic, alluring and alarming socialite, an...
Nov 29, 2018•37 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Ben Schott designed 'Schott's Original Miscellany' as a whimsical Christmas present to his closest friends, and after much pushing and prodding, finally published it to the world. Over the next few years, he had created a series of bestselling works providing an entertaining and informative analysis of the year's events. He's releasing his debut novel 'Jeeves and the King of Clubs', an homage to PG Wodehouse - a writer many see as the greatest comedic novelist of the 20th Century, perhaps even o...
Nov 23, 2018•42 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Since publishing her debut novel when she was 21, Cecelia Ahern has written, pretty much, a book a year. That debut went on to become a blockbuster film, and she's one of the biggest, and bestselling authors around today. Her new book 'Roar' comprises 30 short stories about 30 different women. You can hear why a script-meeting in Los Angeles gave her the idea for the book, and how she developed that whilst on a family holiday. We talk about why she needs an office to write in, what she does to c...
Nov 16, 2018•30 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Elizabeth Foley and Beth Coates both work in publishing as editors, and when they had one idea too good to give away, they hurried to the office on Saturdays to write it themselves. That became 'Homework for Grown-ups', and since they have written many other works of novelty non-fiction. Their latest is 'What Would Boudicca Do? Everyday Problems Solved by History's Most Remarkable Women'. It looks at what heroines of the past would do about, self-confidence and taking the perfect selfie. We talk...
Nov 08, 2018•39 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Sir Ian Rankin is one of the biggest selling crime authors in history. His most famous character 'Detective John Rebus' has transcended novels, and is an icon of literature. He's appeared in TV shows, radio plays, and now his 22nd book, 'In a House of Lies'. As a teenager, Ian found himself being thrust into a life of economics and accountancy, but after time (and some poor maths exam results) he started writing, and 30 years later is a crime-literature institution. We talk about the very first ...
Nov 01, 2018•39 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Gabriel Tallent was working full-time in a restaurant, whilst doing some pretty serious mountain climbing on the side, when he felt the compulsion to tell this story. He would lie on his floor, as soon as he got home from work, fill himself with coffee and try to write 30,000 words a week. 'My Absolute Darling' started off as something else, what he describes as a 'brainy, environmental novel', until he realised that the peripheral Turtle Alveston needed to be the protagonist. It needed to be he...
Sep 26, 2018•39 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Keith Anthony has waited some time before finally penning his debut novel, although he always knew he would write, and indeed the room in which he would work. It took a cruise-trip with his Mum, and a week away in a silent retreat to finally give him the focus and idea for 'Times and Places' The story stars Fergus, who escapes on a cruise to come to terms with the death of his daughter. Whilst there, in the tension-filled floating hotel of no escape, simmering stress reaches boiling point as his...
Sep 13, 2018•40 min•Season 1Ep. 39
One Christmas, Eve Makis went home-made for her Dad's present. She bought a notebook and along with her friend Anthony, a fellow creative-writing teacher, she filled it with prompts and exercises to encourage her Father to write down the stories of his life that he was unable to express with words. When that went well, they took it to a publisher, and a few years later 'The Accidental Memoir' is out! Today, we hear the story of how they wrote it. How they would meet for 3 hours a day in a local ...
Jul 27, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Thriller author Jacqui Rose talks us through the story of how her brand new urban gangland story, 'Toxic' got written! Jacqui has written many books in a huge range of genres, and she's back with new thrillers to add to the 6 already published, that have sold over 100,000 copies. She plans almost nothing. Jacqui simply has a tiny idea, a little flicker of a character, and she'll sit down to write. We talk about this slightly casual way of novel-writing during the show. Also, you can find out why...
Jul 19, 2018•40 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Mindfulness coach, teacher, writer and warrior in spirit, Jay Tepley brings us this week's 'Writer's Routine'! For Jay, everything in the world is energy, and because of this, everything is interconnected and the realisation of this can give humans the closest thing to superpowers. It allows her to see through time, talk to the dead, interact with the inanimate, and she teaches these tricks of extended perception in her 'Ariya Mind Training' programme. Her book 'The Lightwatch Chronicles: The Gu...
Jul 06, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 36
This week we take a skim through the daily diary of Garrard Conley! Garrard's memoir 'Boy Erased' has just been released in the UK, it's critically acclaimed in the USA and will be released as a film starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe later in 2018. It tells the story of how he escaped gay conversion therapy, after being outed to his Baptist parents and given an ultimatum to change, or to leave. It's an incredible conversation as Garrard, thankfully, completely gets and is fascinated by th...
Jun 22, 2018•45 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Thirty Four, let's get some more. This week, we're hearing Marianne Kavanagh's Writer's Routine! She has just published her 3rd novel, 'Should You Ask Me', which is a story of mystery, of murder and of history. In this episode I describe it as 'villainous Countryfile' - which in the best way, tells you everything you need to know. Marianne has worked around words for a long time, writing novels, columns and working as a journalist, and she thinks very careful about the words on her page. We talk...
Jun 14, 2018•38 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Thirty Three, have a look see. This week's author, sharing the intricacies and eccentricities of her working day, is Natasha Scripture. Natasha has worked as a journalist, a humanitarian worker, and she's been on a lot of dates too. Finally, after being sick of hearing her Mum say she needed to find a man, Natasha decided to go on an international adventure to find out if that was true. What was originally meant to be a sassy, fun guide to the dating detox, turned into a globe-trotting transform...
Jun 07, 2018•35 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Thirty-Two, this is an incredible treat for you. This week's guest is one of the UK's bestselling crime-authors, Mark Billingham. In June 2018, Mark will publish his 18th novel, his 15th in the incredibly successful 'Thorne' series. This time copper Tom Thorne gets involved in a case that takes much inspiration from a real-life crime and mystery that still hasn't been solved today. We talk about how Mark's writing style and method has changed in the 17-or-so years since he published his first no...
May 31, 2018•40 min•Season 1Ep. 32
WE'RE AN AWARD WINNING PODCAST! On Saturday, in a ceremony alongside BBC Radio 2, Radio 4, Radio X and countless other titans of broadcasting, we managed to bag SILVER in 'Best Culture' at the British Podcast Awards. Thank you. Thank every single one of you. Even if you were going to download this but have been put off by this sycophantic blurb - THANK YOU. Sophie Jenkins is our guest this week, sharing the Writer's Routine which helped get her debut novel published! It's a romantic comedy, 'The...
May 23, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Dirty Thirty! (no swearing in the pod though) It's the Pearl Anniversary of our very first podcast! Debut thriller writer James Buckler brings us the details, crevices and crannies of his working day, with his Writer's Routine. James' debut 'Last Stop Tokyo' tells the story of Alex, an Englishman on the run in Japan, and his adventure with the the alluring and illusive Naoko, as we discover the who, what and why of his chasers. It's a thriller without anything not of the ordinary. You'll find no...
May 10, 2018•35 min•Season 1Ep. 30
