Until very recently, Claire Frost worked full-time as a book reviewer for 'Fabulous'. After years reading and chatting to authors, she chose to work 4 days a week, and dedicate a whole day to writing. She has published 3 books, 'Married at First Swipe', 'Living My Best Life', and her new book is, 'The One'. It's about Lottie Brown, who has finally found The One. Leo is everything she’s ever wanted – he’s handsome, kind, funny and totally gets her. Three months into their relationship, Lottie is ...
Mar 11, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 210
Stacy Willingham has just published her debut novel, 'A Flicker in the Dark'. The novel follows Chloe Davis, whose world was torn apart at 12 years old when her father confessed to the murder of six teenage girls in their small Louisiana town. 20 years later, Chloe is a successful psychologist in Baton Rouge. But when a local girl disappears, she starts to unravel. The rights have been optioned by the actress Emma Stone, and it's currently being developed for HBO Max. We talk about how it feels ...
Mar 04, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 209
Nadine Matheson is busy. Busy, busy, busy. She works as a criminal lawyer, has found time to go back to school, and publish her debut novel, 'The Jigsaw Man'. The book is a police procedural about Inspector Henley, tasked with finding the killer of bodies found along the River Thames in London. It's set in the area she grew up and we talk about why she wanted, and how she managed, to accurately portray her ends of the City. We talk about how she gets inspiration from her work as a criminal lawye...
Feb 25, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 208
This week we chat to Rudy Ruiz, about his new novel, 'The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez'. Rudy has been a finalist for the International Latino Book Awards, and has written extensively about the Mexican/ US border. The new book weaves that social activism into a novel, telling the story of a man seeking redemption and the American Dream in the face of a mystical family curse. We talk about where the idea came from, how Mexican songs helped shaped the story, and why culture and heritage plays...
Feb 18, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 207
Ellen Alpsten has worked in TV, as a producer and presenter, she's won short story competitions, teaches creative writing, and has just published her second book, 'The Tsarina's Daughter'. It's based on Catherine the 1st of Russia's daughter, Elizabeth. We talk about research, how she knows want to look into next, and how she blends historical fact with fiction. Also you can hear how getting published completely changed the way she writes, and get inspired by her publication story. You can suppo...
Feb 11, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 206
Harriet Kline is an award-winning short story writer. 'Ghost' won the Hissac short story competition, 'Chest of Drawers', the London Magazine short story competition. Her work has been published online, in magazines and played out on BBC Radio. Her debut novel is 'This Shining Life'. It's all about Ruth, who loses her husband Rich, and sets out on a mission with her son Ollie to solve puzzles he left for them, in a bid to discover the meaning of life. It's funny, beautiful and about love and los...
Feb 04, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 205
Paul Bradley Carr has spent his career as a journalist uncovering the dark side of Silicon Valley. He's reported on it for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Private Eye, and many more. He founded NSFWCorp in Las Vegas, and hosted the nightly NSFWLive radio show. Now he's taken that experience to pen his first work of fiction, '1414 Degrees'. It's not Paul's first published book. He's written memoirs 'The Upgrade', 'Bringing Nothing to the Party', Sober is my New Drunk', and 'We'll Always Have t...
Jan 26, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 204
This week, we're joined by Anna Kent, with her sort-of-debut novel, 'The House of Whispers'. See Anna Kent, is also Annabel Kantaria, who has already published 4 books. This is her first as Anna Kent. It's domestic noir, so treads the line between eerie psychological thriller, and chilling whodunnits at home. We talk about how she learned to write genre, and what she pays attention to when structuring the novel, also how she knows when to carry on writing. 'The House of Whispers' tells the story...
Jan 21, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 203
Sarah Alderson is busy. Busy, busy, busy. So busy, she takes a break from her writing job to write the novels she loves. Sarah works as a screenwriter in LA for S.W.A.T on CBS, and finds tiny slithers of time to get books down. In the past, this has led her to getting a draft done in 10 days. She's written YA, psychological thrillers, her novel 'The Weekend Away' has been adapted for Netflix, published romance stories under a pseudonym, and her new novel 'The Stalker', is out now. It's about new...
Jan 14, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 202
Our first guest of 2022 is Rosanna Amaka. Her debut novel is 'The Book of Echoes', which tells the story of 16 year old Michael, always in trouble, who falls in love with Ngozi, a young Nigerian immigrant. It was shortlisted for The Author's Club First Novel award, also the RSL Christopher Bland Prize, and the HWA Debut Crown Award. It's a story Rosanna has tried to get published for 20 years, and she reveals the secrets to how it finally happened. We talk about the creative buzz of the area she...
Jan 07, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 201
For our last episode of the year, we chat to psychological thriller debutant Alice Hunter. Her book is 'The Serial Killer's Wife', and tells the story of Beth Hardcastle, whose perfect marriage is obliterated when the police show up and report her husband Tom is missing. Alice worked in prisons, part of a team offering rehabilitation courses to in-mates, often those who'd committed violent crimes. That, and her psychology degree, offered her vast experience to write the book. We talk about how c...
Dec 10, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 200
This week, we're joined by Joanne Harris MBE. She became phenomenally successful over 20 years ago for her novel 'Chocolat', which became an Oscar nominated movie starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche. Her new one is called 'A Narrow Door', it tells the story of the first headmistress at a traditional school who discovers a body in the grounds. It's billed as 'magical realism', we discuss how much she considers genre while she's writing. She's best known for her novel, 'Chocolat', which chan...
Dec 03, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 199
This week, Ken Follett shares his writer's routine. He's one of the UK's most successful authors, selling over 170 million books across 80 countries. He has a staff of over 20 working on all aspects of book selling, so he can concentrate on book writing. We talk about whether that puts pressure on his writing, knowing he has staff relying on him for a salary. Also, what his writing routine of a year looks like, and why his outline is the most important thing he works on. Ken's made a career publ...
Nov 26, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 198
This week's guest is Helen Paris. She's worked in performing arts, writing, performing and directing, for 2 decades, and has just published her debut novel, 'The Lost Property'. It's all about Dot, who strives to reunite lost property with their owners. It all came from a spell of unusual research she undertook at the London Transport Lost Property Office, the characters she met there, and their poetic conversations. We discuss memories, how the characters drove the story, and why she had to esc...
Nov 19, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 197
This week we're chatting to Steve Cavanagh. He's won the CWA Gold Dagger Award, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, has published many Sunday Times Top 10 Bestsellers, and his new book has just been named as one of the Best Crime and Thriller Books of the Year by Waterstones. It's called 'The Devil's Advocate', and is the newest Eddie Flynn book. Telling the story of Andy Dubois, sent up for a killing Alabama, and the lawyer who tries to get him free. He talks about the jaw-dropp...
Nov 12, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 196
Lucy Foley joined us back at the start of 2020... pre-pandemic! She spoke about her 2nd mystery thriller, 'The Guest List'. It's set at a dream wedding, on a remote island, where someone gets killed and everyone has a motive. We talk about the fundamentals you need to include in writing whodunnits, and how to flip the tradition on its head. It comes after the huge success of her first whodunnit, 'The Hunting Party'. It was also set on an island, and we chat about where she got that idea from, wh...
Nov 09, 2021•8 min•Season 1Ep. 195
Xanthi Barker has published novelettes and short stories, penned columns and articles, and has just released her debut book, 'Will This House Last Forever'. It's a memoir of her time with her dying father, the poet Sebastian Barker. She is also the granddaughter of George Barker and the cult novelist, Elizabeth Smart. We discuss whether because of her highly and successfully creative family, she was destined to be a writer. Her relationship with her father was troubled, and we talk about whether...
Nov 05, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 194
For this week's Random Routine, we chat to Rob Hart, who came on back in 2019 to talk about 'The Warehouse'. 'The Warehouse' is in the mold of 'Farenheit 451' and '1984', and focuses on one big business that suffocates all others, and the stories of 3 people who work there. Because of this, his characterisation needs to be truly believable and authentic, we talk about this struggle and how he became his characters in writing. It's also his first proper foray into standalone novels, having made h...
Nov 03, 2021•8 min•Season 1Ep. 193
This week we're joined by Joe Thomas. He's just released the 4th in his 'Sao Paulo Quartet', with 'Paradise City', 'Gringa', 'Playboy' and the new one 'Brazilian Psycho'. He grew up in Hackney, before spending 10 years in Sao Paulo, and being inspired to tell its story. It mixes fiction, true crime, historical fact, and high literature, in an utterly compelling style. We talk about how his routine has changed since having a child, where he likes to escape to write, how perfect his first draft is...
Oct 28, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 192
This week's random routine, our bitesize chunk of inspiration, comes from Trent Dalton who came on the show back in 2019. Not many authors have debut success like Trent Dalton. His book 'Boy Swallows Universe' won the 'Debut Fiction Prize' and 'Book of the Year' at the Australian Indie Awards, and went straight into the top 10, selling over 100,000 copies. It's a semi-autobiographical story about all Eli, in Brisbane in 1983, muddling through family life, trying to not be coaxed into drug-dealin...
Oct 27, 2021•8 min•Season 1Ep. 191
Zen Cho is a multi-award nominated and winning author. She's published 3 novels and many short stories, and is back with her first ghost story... although that's not what she thought it'd be at the start. It's called 'Black Water Sister', and all came from one word she read in the dictionary. It's based on ancient Malaysian folklore, and Zen has taken great joy in playing with old language, and presenting it in a ghostly manner. We talk about switching genre, and how having a baby helped with th...
Oct 21, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 190
Along with Dan Gillespie-Sells, from The Feeling, Tom MacRae wrote the hit musical 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie'. It follows Jamie New who is determined to wear a dress to his school prom night. It's based on a a real story, explored in a BBC documentary. The musical is now a film, also written by Tom, which you can watch on Amazon Prime now. In this bitesize chunk, you can hear about his writing routine in the sun, how exercise gives him space to think, and why weekends are sacred. You can ...
Oct 19, 2021•7 min•Season 1Ep. 189
This week, we chat to Claire Allan. Her new book is 'Ask No Questions', a psychological thriller about Ingrid Devlin, on the search to find the truth of her best friend's disappearance 25 years ago. Claire started her career as a journalist, has written women's fiction under the name Freya Kennedy', and is back with a brand new psych thriller. She's written almost 20 books across different genres. We talk about how switching genre changes style and method of plotting and planning, also about her...
Oct 15, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 188
It's a BOOKSHOP DAY SPECIAL. Bookshop Day is on Saturday 9th October, and Books Are My Bag are encouraging you to spend time in your local bookshop, be it big or small. This week, we're chatting to children's author Piers Torday. He's published 7 books, they've been translated into 14 languages, he's won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, and been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His new book is 'The Wild Before'. It's a prequel to 'The Last Wild' trilogy, and tells the story of Littl...
Oct 07, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 187
Bella Osborne has had a busy year. In the last 3 months, she's had 2 different books out with 2 different publishers. 'The Promise of Summer' is a romance novel with Avon. 'The Library' is a bookclub read with Aria. We try to talk about both of those, but it's mainly about the former. All in, Bella has published 9 books. 'The Promise of Summer' is about Ruby and Curtis, trying to reunite a engagement ring with its owner, and find love along the way. We talk about how these two characters wouldn'...
Sep 30, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 186
Alex Michaelides is the only ever UK debut writer to go straight in at number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list. His novel, 'The Silent Patient', was the 2nd bestselling novel on Amazon in 2019, they named it their 'thriller of the year'. He's followed it up with 'The Maidens', about an exclusive set of students at a University under the influence of a sinister Professor, and a murder he knows more about than he lets on. We discuss his screenwriting career in Hollywood, why that didn't wor...
Sep 10, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 185
Paul Rudnick is an acclaimed Hollywood scriptwriter. He's worked on 'Addams Family Values', 'The Stepford Wives' and the 'Sister Act' movies. Now, he's just published his 3rd novel, 'Playing the Palace'. It's about a New York event planner who falls in love with England's gay Crown Prince, Edgar. It's a satirical look at romance stories and Royal life. We talk about writing for movies, working with improvising actors, changing things on set and coming up with at least 10 jokes for every line. Al...
Sep 03, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 184
A few years ago, Bridget Collins came on the show to talk us through her novel, 'The Binding'. It was a huge, genre-defying success, and she's gone on to publish 'The Betrayals' to equal acclaim. Before then, Bridget published 7 Young Adult books, a few plays, and she's beavering away on her 3rd book right now. Here's a little snippet from our chat, as Bridget runs us through her writing space and working day. Scan back in your podcast feed to hear the full episode. You can support the show at p...
Sep 01, 2021•8 min•Season 1Ep. 183
Christina Sweeney-Baird works as a lawyer. It's a busy full-on job, working all hours under the sun, and she had barely any time to write. Until a life-changing moment changed everything, and forced to her sit up, to sit down and write. 'The End of Men' is her debut novel. It tells the story of a pandemic that wipes out 90% of the male population. We talk about the idea, how she developed it, planned it, and at one point had to cut 30 characters from it. We also chat what it was like writing and...
Aug 26, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 182
Helen Fields first came on the show back in 2018. Starting with 6 DI Callanach thrillers, Helen has written standalones, and her newest novel introduces a new cahracter, Dr Connie Woolwine, an American Psycological Profiler who arrives in Edinburgh to pursue the Shadow Man. After working in Law with police, social services and Doctors for many years, Helen has a peculiarly accurate insight into the crimes she writes. She's also told stories using every method available to her, running a film pro...
Aug 24, 2021•6 min•Season 1Ep. 181
