Page One - The Writer's Podcast: Recent Episodes
Write Gear
New episodes every Friday!
On Page One - The Writer's Podcast, we talk to writers of all descriptions (authors, screenwriters, comic writers and more) about their writing process and how they craft their next great works. We also explore their career, including how their first big break happened, and discuss the ups and downs along the way. We learn something new every episode, and we hope you do as well.
Page One is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/shop.
Watch as a full video interview on YouTube
Corissa Hollenbeck is an associate agent with Janklow & Nesbit. She grew up in Massachusetts and attended Phillips Academy Andover, King’s College London, the University of Freiburg, and the Columbia Publishing Course. She has worked at VICE, Marie Claire, and The Guardian. Corissa has worked with a broad range of prize-winning and bestselling authors whilst assisting literary agent and Managing Director Will Francis, and is now building her own list of authors.
We had a really interesting chat with Corissa, hearing about how she first got into agenting, and how every part of the query package is important when submitting to agents. She also tells us about how she sometimes works with authors BEFORE she signs them, and talks about the impact of AI on the amount of queries and what that means for the future.
Links:
Query Corissa now
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video interview on YouTube
Camilla Bolton is a literary agent at Darley Anderson, having joined the Agency in 2007 and was named as a publishing Rising Star by The Bookseller in 2013 and shortlisted for Literary Agent of the Year in 2022. She has built the fastest growing new commercial brands in the thriller market with five of her authors having sold over a million copies in the UK alone. Her list includes many Sunday Times, New York Times and No.1 ebook global bestsellers. Her authors have been picked for Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Book Club, BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club and she’s had five Richard & Judy Book Club Picks. Multiple of her books have been adapted for the screen and shown on BBC 1, Channel 5 and Netflix.
We loved having the chance to speak with Camilla about her career as an agent, hearing about how she deals with so many queries (over 200 a week), what matters and doesn't matter to her in a query package, and whether authors should write to market when trying to find an agent.
Links:
Query Camilla now
Follow Camilla on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Watch as a full video episode on YouTube
Rhiannon Grist is an award-winning Welsh author of Weird, Speculative and Dark fiction, living and writing in beautiful Scotland. Her novella, The Queen of the High Fields (Luna Press), won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella 2023. Her debut novel, Home Sick, is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Rhiannon about her writing journey, starting with handwritten stories in A4 ring binders, all the way through short stories, prize-winning novellas and now her debut novel, Home Sick. We also talk about how prizes can (and can't) help grow your reputation as a writer, and talk about why marginal gains are important on the long writer's journey. Plus, we chat about horror's recent resurgence and the possible reasons behind that. (There is also a very, very minor spoiler about the movie Obsession near the end, but we give full spoiler warnings before discussing it!)
Links:
Buy Home Sick now
Follow Rhiannon on Instagram
Visit Rhiannon's website
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Watch as a full video interview on YouTube
Aki Schilz is the Director at The Literary Consultancy (TLC), where she co-ordinates partnerships and programmes. She launched the Editing Skills Training Scheme in partnership with the Publishing Training Centre, which trained over 100 aspiring editors from under-represented communities. She has been named as one of the FutureBook 40, a list of people innovating the publishing industry, and was also nominated for an h100 Award for her #BookJobTransparency campaign, as well as being shortlisted for the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize for women in publishing, and has featured in the Bookseller 150 list of the most influential figures in publishing twice. In 2020, Aki launched the Being A Writer programme at TLC, a membership platform she co-devised with novelist and coach Julia Forster, which focuses on providing a space for writers to cultivate their creativity, and build emotional resilience. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
We had a great time chatting with Aki and hearing about her work with TLC, discussing what they can offer, as well as talking about whether such consultancies are right for everyone. We also talk about her support of writers away from the page, and chat about how to take the pressure off querying.
Links:
Follow Aki on Bluesky
Visit The Literacy Consultancy
Our Drafting Notes episode discussing editoral consultancies
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video episode on YouTube
Marco is in a bad mood this week, and doesn’t hold back when discussing the march of AI into audiobooks…! Plus, we chat about the depressing reaction to a book piracy site being taken down, and wonder if Canongate’s new approach to paying authors more regularly will catch on (we aren’t optimistic…)
00:00 Intro
00:54 Here Come The Robots - AI voices taking over?
20:21 A Pirate’s Life For You? How Piracy Hurts Authors
29:38 Opening the (Canon)Gates - Will The Big 5 Follow?
35:50 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory
Links:
Bolinda creates AI cloned voice of Barbara Cartland
[Not linking to the Piracy story as it names the site]
Canongate moves to quarterly royalty payments
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more! Find all our shows here!
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Watch as a full video interview on YouTube
Chiara Bullen is a Scottish writer and academic living in Glasgow. She spends most of her days researching literature and her evenings writing novels. When she isn’t exploring hills across Scotland, she can be found wandering the fictional mountains of D&D with her party. The Inn At The Foot Of Mount Vengeance is her debut novel.
We had a great time chatting with Chiara, hearing about how she started out writing more grimdark fantasy, before switching to literary fiction while on the Faber Academy course - and how the idea for the cosy fantasy of The Inn At The Foot of Mount Vengeance grabbed her and wouldn't let go until she had finished it. We also talk about what the term 'cosy' means in terms of fiction, and chat about what other types of stories she would like to write.
Links:
Buy The Inn At The Foot Of Mount Vengeance now
Follow Chiara on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Watch as a full video interview on YouTube
Bob Bookman is a Hollywood manager and producer who has worked with some of the biggest authors in the world and helped turn their novels into award-winning movies. He has represented Michael Crichton, Tom Stoppard, Bill Broyles, John Irving, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls and Peter Moffat along with many others and has been responsible for bringing movies such as Jurassic Park, Hannibal and A Complete Unknown to the big screen.
We loved having Bob back on the podcast (check out his first episode chatting about his career here or listen here) and getting an update on what he has been doing, and how the Hollywood landscape has changed since we last spoke. We hear about changing trends, talk about the success of movies like Obsession, and much more!
Links:
Visit Bob's website
Follow Bob on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One Extra is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video interview on YouTube
Matthew Capodicasa is an award-winning playwright whose work has been developed and presented at the Kennedy Center, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the National New Play Network, among many others. A recipient of the Woodward/Newman Drama Award and the Judith Champion Launch Commission, his plays are published by Samuel French. In addition to his extensive theatre work, he has Film/TV projects in development with Annapurna Pictures, Anonymous Content, and XYZ Films, most recently being a writer on the Netflix show, Vladimir. He is also one of the founding members of the Glass Cannon Network, one of the leading TTRPG actual play podcasts.
We loved chatting with Matthew about how he realised he wanted to be a writer while on stage, how he finds the story he wants to tell through multiple drafts, and how it feels to see your words brought to life by actors on stage and screen. We also get into the realities of working in a TV writers' room, and hear how that process differs from nearly any other form of writing.
We also spoke with Matthew about his love of TTRPGs and his work on the Glass Cannon Network on our Narrative Damage podcast - listen to that episode here or watch it now on Youtube here.
Links:
Watch Vladimir on Netflix
Visit Matthew's website
Follow Matthew on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video episode on YouTube
On this week's episode, we ask if the publishing industry is "blowing the bloody doors off" author rights. From Michael Caine's voice getting cloned for an epic audiobook to Hachette and Studiocanal's book to film deal, plus 250 UK publishers signing a massive AI licensing deal, we ask if any of this is good for authors.
00:00 Intro
01:04 Hachette/Studiocanal Deal - Good or Bad for Authors?
10:40 Blow Your Bloody Ears Off - Caine's Digital Odyssey
27:49 Collective AI Licenses - Selling Out Authors?
34:16 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory
39.40 The Final Chapter - Level Up Writing
Links:
Hachette Livre and Studiocanal strike book to screen deal
Michael Caine licenses voice to narrate AI adaptation of The Odyssey audiobook
Over 250 UK publishers opt-in to collective AI-licensing scheme
Bungling career burglar caught after leaving passport photo at crime scene
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more! Find all our shows here!
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Benedict Anning is a Surrey-born author and short fiction writer living just outside of Edinburgh with his wonderful cat, Penny. An artist at heart and fan of all things eerie, Ben has a special love for twisty horror fiction where the setting is a principal character and things just aren't quite right. Atomic Coffin is his first published novel.
We had a great time chatting with Ben, hearing about his early passion for drawing and concept art, his love for customising video games like Skyrim, and his reintroduction to reading through Game of Thrones. We also talk about how he found success with Atomic Coffin after he deliberately chose to change his approach to writing.
Links:
Buy Atomic Coffin now
Follow Ben on Bluesky
Visit Ben's website
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Watch as full video interviews on YouTube
This past weekend, we travelled to London for Capital Crime, London's premier crime and thriller festival and while we were there, we took the opportunity to record some bite-sized interviews with a few authors!
We started off speaking with previous guest T.M. Logan, then chatted with Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb, before catching up with Adam Simcox to hear about his new novel, Time Jump, before finishing with the chaotic double act of Vaseem Khan and Imran Mahmood.
00:00 - Intro
00:49 - T.M. Logan
09:17 - Lucy Rose
19:52 - Adam Simcox
28:18 - Vaseem Khan and Imran Mahmood
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One Extra is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video episode on YouTube
Anna Smith Spark loves grimdark and epic fantasy and historical military fiction. She has a BA in Classics, an MA in history and a PhD in English Literature. She has previously been published in the Fortean Times and the poetry website www.greatworks.org.uk. Anna's favourite authors and key influences are R. Scott Bakker, Steve Erikson, M. John Harrison, Ursula Le Guin, Mary Stewart and Mary Renault. She spent several years as an obsessive D&D player. She can often be spotted at SFF conventions wearing very unusual shoes. Her latest books, A Sword of Gold & Ruin and Anderson versus Death, are out now.
We had a great time chatting with Anna live at Cymera Festival in Edinburgh, hearing about how neurodivergence shapes her unique writing style, her lightning-fast journey to landing an agent, and writing epic trilogies without a plan. We also talk about tackling 2000 AD IP with Judge Anderson, and we get into an interesting chat about theoverlap between ancient mythology and comic book continuity!
Links:
Buy Anna's books now
Follow Anna on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Watch as a full video interview on YouTube
Craig Robertson had a twenty-year career as a journalist with a Scottish Sunday newspaper before becoming a full-time author. His books such as Murderabilia, The Photographer and Watch Him Die have been nominated for numerous awards. Alexandra Sokoloff is the bestselling, Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of thirteen supernatural, paranormal and crime thrillers, including the Huntress Moon Series. The Grapevine, the first in The Lost Highway series, and is their first co-written novel.
We loved having Craig and Alex in the studio and catching up with them since their last (individual) visits to the podcast. We chat about what it was like to write together as a married couple (not always a great idea!) and why they felt this was a book they had to write together. Plus, we hear about their work with literary festivals such as Bute Noir and Bloody Scotland, and talk about whether writing together is something they would do again...
Links:
Buy The Grapevine now
Follow Craig on Instagram
Follow Alexandra on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One Extra is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video episode on YouTube
This week, we discuss why the publishing industry is pointing fingers at libraries for declining author incomes, but we wonder about the reasons they aren't talking about. Plus, have you heard of Elias Thorne? We talk about AI's repetition problem and why that may be good news for authors. And we revisit the thorny issue of book lists - after we criticised the Guardian's first 'Best 100 books', is their Readers' list any better?
00:00 Intro
01:14 Declining Author Income - Libraries to Blame?
14:13 Thorne in the Machine - AI Running Out of Ideas?
23:38 Guardian Top 100 - Readers vs Critics
30:40 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory
38.23 The Final Chapter - Horrifyingly Good
Links:
Authors Guild Looks at Why Author Incomes are in Decline
Chatbots Keep Telling Stories about Lighthouse Keeper 'Elias Thorne'. We Might Know Why
Wikipedia may have built the best AI writing detection guide
The Guardian Readers top 100 novels of all time
Pokémon Go data trained AI that could assist military drones in war zones
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more! Find all our shows here!
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J.D. Pennington is an award-winning creative director and copywriter with over 20 years of experience in film and television advertising, creating campaigns for major studios and leading independents. The Othello Club is his first novel. It has been developed for television by Paramount+ as The Revenge Club.
We had a great time chatting with J.D., hearing about his transition from a graphic design and copywriting background into the world of storytelling. We also talk about enduring 10 to 15 years of screenwriting rejection before deciding to write a novel, and we get some interesting anecdotes about the profound impact of reading Bram Stoker's Dracula at age 11, as well as his dedicated process of writing his debut book during the early mornings and weekends over two years!
Link:
Buy The Othello Club now
Visit J.D.'s website
Follow J.D. on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On this week's Drafting Notes, we tackle one of the great writing mantras: "Show, Don't Tell." What does it actually mean? And should you always follow the rule? We discuss where the mantra came from, and what we think it is trying to emphasise, while also discussing why it isn't always a rule that needs to (or should) be followed!
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Support us on Patreon and get access to Drafting Notes episodes early, along with other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Drafting Notes is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video interview on YouTube
Kieron Gillen is a British comic book writer and former video game journalist. He is best known for his work on high-profile titles such as Star Wars, X-Men, and The Eternals, as well as his acclaimed creator-owned series The Wicked + The Divine and Die. He is currently working on new projects like Power Fantasy.
We had a great time chatting with Kieron, hearing about his transition from video game journalism to comics, the emergent mechanics of video game narratives, and his DIY roots creating cut-and-paste fanzines. We also talk about his early doubts about writing as a viable career path, and we get some interesting anecdotes about what it's like to work on big IP projects like X-Men and Star Wars.
(Note: Kieron has also appeared on our sister podcast, Narrative Damage, talking about his love of TTRPGs. You can listen to that interview here or watch it on YouTube.)
Links:
Follow Kieron on Bluesky
Visit Kieron's Website
Come see us at Cymera: Podcast recording
Narrative Damage live show
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video episode on YouTube
David Goodman is an award-winning, multi-genre author. His debut novel A RELUCTANT SPY won the McDermid Debut Award and Bloody Scotland Debut Prize in 2025 and was optioned for television by Carnival Films. The sequel SOLITARY AGENTS is out this month, June 2026. His SF debut, SHARDS OF STARLIGHT, written as David W. Goodman, is coming from Solaris Books in 2027. He also has several published short SF stories and novelettes.
We had a great time chatting with Dave again, hearing about the emotional rollercoaster of being a debut author, winning two massive debut prizes, and the plot of his highly anticipated sequel, Solitary Agents. We also talk about why release day is actually a starting gun rather than a finish line, and of course he tells us about 5 books that influenced him as an author.
Links:
Buy Solitary Agents now
Follow Dave on Bluesky
Visit Dave's website
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One Extra is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video episode on YouTube
Callum McSorley is a writer based in Glasgow.His debut novel, Squeaky Clean, was published by Pushkin Vertigo in 2023 and won the prestigious McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year.Its sequel, Paperboy, was released in 2025 and was a finalist for the same award.His short fiction has been featured in Gutter Magazine, New Writing Scotland, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4.His latest book, Rat Race, is out now.
We had a great time chatting with Callum, hearing about his early days of mapping out fantasy epics and why he pivoted to writing crime. We also talk about the brutal realities of working grueling night shifts on the railways, and we get some interesting anecdotes about how writing a non-historically accurate Victorian serial killer book actually landed him his literary agent!
Link
Buy Rat Race now
Follow Callum on Instagram
Visit Callum's website
Come see us at Cymera: Podcast recording
Narrative Damage live show
Vote for Tariq's book The Midnight King for the Old Peculier Harrogate Crime Novel of the Year Award
Vote for Tariq's book The Midnight King for the Capital Crime Overall Crime Book of the Year Award
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On this week's Drafting Notes, we are talking about... talking! Writing dialogue convincingly is something a lot of writers find tricky, and we discuss things to watch out for, what makes dialogue sound convincing (not necessarily realistic), and talk about some examples of what to do and what not to do.
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Support us on Patreon and get access to Drafting Notes episodes early, along with other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Drafting Notes is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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This week, we're expanding on our discussion from the last episode about the depressing HarperCollins report on children's reading habits. Author and teacher Cailean Steed joins us to break down the underlying data and explain exactly how hyper-fixating on rigid literacy metrics is actively destroying the sheer joy of reading for kids. Plus, we talk about - of course - AI, as we talk about the Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner scandal, and discuss Nobel Laureate Olga Tokarczuk response to the talk of AI involvement in her work. And we find time to talk about the Guardian's "Best books of all time" list - and make Tariq talk about football again.
00:00 Intro
01:08 Literacy vs Joy: Let Kids Enjoy Reading: Cailean Steed Interview
22:15 Snake Oil Award - Prize-winning Pile On
37:50 Tokarczuk Prize - An Ignoble Use of AI?
44:02 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory
52.26 The Final Chapter - Who are books lists for?
Links:
Literacy focus ‘actively undermining’ reading for pleasure, HarperCollins finds
‘Obvious markers of AI’: doubts raised over winner of short story prize
Read The Serpent in the Grove and decide for yourself
Olga Tokarczuk has responded to the controversy over her reputed use of AI
The Guardian 100 Best Books of All Time
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Andrea Mara is a Number One Sunday Times, Irish Times, and Kindle bestselling author whose books have sold over one million copies across all formats. She has been shortlisted for six An Post Book Awards and won Irish Crime Novel of the Year for It Should Have Been You in 2025. Her 2021 novel, All Her Fault, was adapted into a critically acclaimed TV series starring Sarah Snook, which premiered on Peacock and Sky in late 2025. Andrea’s work—including hits like No One Saw A Thing and Someone In The Attic—has consistently topped bestseller lists across the UK and Ireland. Her latest gripping thriller, Such a Nice Girl, is out now.
We had a great time chatting with Andrea, hearing about her transition from a 17-year career in financial services to becoming a domestic noir sensation. We also talk about her unique "plot-first" writing process and the importance of detailed outlines, and we get some interesting anecdotes about what it was like to eat cake on a Melbourne film set with Michael Peña!
Links:
Buy Such a Nice Girl now
Follow Andrea on Instagram
Visit Andrea's website
Vote for Tariq's book The Midnight King for the Old Peculier Harrogate Crime Novel of the Year Award
Vote for Tariq's book The Midnight King for the Capital Crime Overall Crime Book of the Year Award
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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RJ Barker is an award-winning fantasy author from Leeds, West Yorkshire. He is best known for his critically acclaimed trilogies, The Wounded Kingdom and The Tide Child, the latter of which won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel. His work often subverts traditional fantasy tropes by blending elements of epic world-building, ecological science fiction, and gritty noir elements. His latest release, Mortedant's Peril, is out now.
We had a great time chatting with RJ, hearing about the massive twist wrapping up his Wounded Kingdom (Major spoilers discussed!) and his subversion of the conventional lone-hero trope. We also talk about writing his brand-new novel, Mortedant's Peril, in just seven weeks while battling chronic illness, and we get some interesting anecdotes about the socio-economics of a tiered fantasy city and a very peculiar magical power involving corpse memories!
Plus, as with all returning guests, RJ tells us about 5 books that influenced him as an author!
Links:
Buy Mortedant's Peril now!
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Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Leigh Radford trained as a broadcast journalist. She produced and presented arts and entertainment content for commercial radio, Time Out, The Times and The Sun, along with documentaries for the BBC, including Rilke’s Women for Radio 4. A former book publicist, she is a 2023 graduate of Faber Academy. She is currently developing content for film and television through her production company Kenosha Kickers. Her debut novel, One Yellow Eye, is out now.
We had a great time chatting with Leigh, hearing about how a personal tragedy gave her the ultimate "kick up the arse "to finally write her first novel and how her background in journalism helped her survive brutal feedback. We also talk about the specific challenges of writing a "zombie love story," the invaluable structure provided by the Faber Academy, and she gives us some familiar anecdotes about the "sensible plan A" her parents encouraged before she embraced the creative world!
Links:
Buy One Yellow Eye now
Visit Leigh's website
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Vote for Tariq's book The Midnight King for the Old Peculier Harrogate Crime Novel of the Year Award
Vote for Tariq's book The Midnight King for the Capital Crime Overall Crime Book of the Year Award
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Stephen Fishbach is a Pushcart Prize-winning writer and former television executive who served as a Vice President at MTV. A graduate of Yale with an MFA from NYU, he is widely recognised as a two-time contestant and runner-up on the reality show Survivor. His diverse writing background includes serving as a speechwriter for Stevie Wonder and hosting the literary podcast Paraphrase. Stephen lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and two daughters, and his debut novel, Escape!, was inspired by his unique insider perspective on reality television.
We had a fantastic time chatting with Stephen about how a harrowing monsoon in the Cambodian jungle finally gave him the focus to pursue serious fiction. We delve into his transition from the "clown music" of reality TV to winning the Pushcart Prize, and how he used his writing to reclaim narrative control in his debut novel. We also talk about his love for the social deduction game Blood on the Clocktower and the meticulous research required to capture the "texture" of life of a professional Marilyn Monroe impersonator.
Links:
Buy Escape! now
Visit Stephen's website
Follow Stephen on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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On today's episode of Adventures in Publishing-land, we congratulate Tariq on not one but two new Longlistings, and struggle to understand a story about new research that suggests a heavy focus on literacy skills in schools is actively undermining the motivation to read for fun.
Plus, the TikTok books charts have launched! What effect will they have on the industry? And as copies of Shy Girl sell for more than £100 on ebay, Tariq wonders if he should buy up as many copies as he can to fund his retirement (spoiler: he shouldn't!)
00:00 Intro
05:00 The Reading Paradox - Literacy Skills v Joy
16:52 Top of the Toks - TikTok Book Charts Launch
31:31 From Shy Girl to Prom Queen? Cancelled Book Sales Soar
41:49 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory
Links:
Literacy focus 'actively undermining' reading for pleasure, HarperCollins finds
TikTok releases first monthly BookTok Bestseller List
Copies of Mia Ballard's Shy Girl listed online for over £100
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Alessandra Ranelli is an American writer living in Vienna, Austria. Murder at the Hotel Orient is her first crime novel. She has the full support of the real Hotel Orient, and has been allowed access to all its rooms, even the secret ones. As part of her extensive book research, she left her career as a pastry chef and became a hotel receptionist. She is currently writing her second novel.
We had great fun chatting with Alessandra about how a visit to the Hotel Orient sparked the idea for the novel, and how she moved from idea to fully finished novel (with multiple agent offers along the way). We talk about her having different UK and US agents and how that works, and the nerves as she waited for Murder at the Hotel Orient to come out.
Links:
Buy Murder at the Hotel Orient now
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Visit Alessandra's website
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Charlotte Robinson is a writer and television producer. After graduating from Exeter University with a degree in English, Charlotte started working as a runner in the television industry, where she perfected the art of making teas and coffees on a wide variety of programmes before moving into drama production and becoming a script editor and story producer on shows such as FORTITUDE (Sky), THE TUNNEL (Sky), and Amazon Prime’s adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s best-selling novel THE POWER. Recently, Charlotte story produced both series of Steven Knight’s upcoming A THOUSAND BLOWS for Disney+ and produced the final three episodes of series two. Her debut novel, MARS ONE, is out now.
We had a great time chatting with Charlotte, hearing about how she got started in TV, what the jobs of script editor and story producer entail, and where she first got the idea for MARS ONE. We also talk about getting notes in both TV and fiction writing, and we get some interesting anecdotes about her work in TV!
Links:
Buy Mars One now
Follow Charlotte on Instagram
Subscribe to Narrative Damage on your podcast app and on YouTube
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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You've been querying for months, or even years, and then it happens - you get that email from an agent asking for a call! It's exciting, but also nerve-wracking. What should you ask, what green flags - or red flags - should you be looking out for? We break down the dos and don'ts of 'The Call' so that you can go into it well-prepared and hopefully land the best agent for you.
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Support us on Patreon and get access to Drafting Notes episodes early, along with other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Watch as a full video episode here
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan is a writer and game designer. Originally qualified as a computer programmer, he took a three month break to see how “this writing thing” would go. More than fifteen years later, he’s still on that break. The writing thing seems to be going. Gareth has published more role-playing games and supplements than he can even recall, including the award-winning The Laundry RPG, The One Ring and The Dracula Dossier. His debut novel, The Gutter Prayer was published by Orbit Books in 2019. His next book, The Dungeon Book, comes out later this year.
We had great fun chatting to Gar about his writing career, hearing how Nanowrimo is what got him started with novel writing and talking about how he juggles writing novels with writing for tabletop roleplaying games (which you can hear him talk about in more detail on an upcoming episode of our sister podcast, Narrative Damage!)
Links:
Buy Gareth's books now
Follow Gareth on Instagram
Visit Gareth's website
Subscribe to Narrative Damage on your podcast app and on YouTube
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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This week, we’re diving into the unmasking of one of the world’s most successful authors. Freida McFadden, the bestselling author behind The Housemaid, has officially revealed her true identity as Dr. Sara Cohen. We wonder 'why now', talk about imposter syndrome, and discuss why authors use pseudonyms.
Plus, we of course chat about some AI-related stories: we go over some of your comments about our last episode on the Shy Girl scandal, talk about the allegation that editors are using LLMs to help them decide which books to pick up, and talk about scam emails again - this people pretending to be editors.
00:00 Intro
00:46 Shy Girl Fallout - Audience Comments
14:17 Chat G-P-Cheat? - Are Editors Using LLMs?
25:05 Something Phishy - Fake Editor Emails Spike
33:58 Not Just The Housemaid - McFadden's Secret Revealed
45:10 Stranger Than Fiction - Nadine's Idea Factory
50:57 Final Chapter - Stellar Adaptations
Links:
Some editors 'uploading confidential manuscripts to Chat GPT'
Scam emails impersonating editors on the rise
The Housemaid author Freida McFadden reveals real identity
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Izzy (Isabelle) Broom is the author of 12 escapist books and has been published in 14 overseas territories. In 2015, she won The Great British Write Off with her short story, The Wedding Speech, which was later adapted into a prize-winning short film. Her fifth novel, One Thousand Stars and You, was awarded Contemporary Romance Novel of the Year at the 2019 RNAs. Formerly a Book Reviews Editor at heat magazine and Woman & Home, Izzy still works for magazines on a freelance basis and is an editor and mentor at Curtis Brown Creative.
We loved chatting with Izzy about her journey from journalism to fiction and how she transitioned from being a "pantser" to a dedicated plotter. She shares how her background at heat magazine made her a more resilient writer , the serendipitous way she landed her first agent , and her photographic memory for locations that helps her bring her European settings to life. Plus, we discuss her new series, starting with The House of Hidden Letters, and the discipline required to maintain a prolific writing schedule.
Links:
Buy The House of Hidden Letters now
Follow Izzy on Instagram
Visit Izzy's website
Support us on Patreon and get the podcast early and ad-free, along with other great benefits, including a bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel
Do your characters have to likeable? No! There are plenty of brilliant books and movies with horrible protagonists. So what makes them work? How do you write characters who are deeply flawed and unlikeable without turning the reader or viewer off? We discuss it all on this week's episode of Drafting Notes, while also discussing some of our favourite unlikeable characters.
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Support us on Patreon and get access to Drafting Notes episodes early, along with other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Drafting Notes is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Katalina Watt is the instant Sunday Times Bestselling author of Saltswept. They were selected for a 2025 Literature Matters Award from the Royal Society of Literature and served as the AIR Literature UNESCO 2024 Writer in Residence for Konstkollektivet in Sweden. A finalist for the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine as founding Audio Director for khōréō, Katalina is also a Writing Coach at The Novelry .
We loved chatting with Katalina about the transition from writing short stories to a full-length novel. They shared insights into their role as a writing coach and how it helps them maintain their own creative discipline, as well as the unique world-building required for their. Plus, we discuss the importance of finding a community of writers.
Links:
Buy Saltswept now
Follow Katalina on Instagram
Visit Katalina's website
Subscribe to Narrative Damage on your podcast app and on YouTube
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits, including a bonus episode with Abigail telling us about 5 books that have influenced her!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This week, we lead with the scandal that has the industry in a frenzy, with Hachette pulling the release of Mia Ballard’s horror novel Shy Girl after viral claims that the prose was generated by AI. We discuss the YouTube video with over a million views that started the fire, the author’s defense involving an "acquaintance," and what this means for the future of "human" storytelling.
Staying on AI (when don't we talk about AI?), we discuss the UK government's decision to axe plans for a broad AI copyright exception, and ask if this is a victory for authors. Plus, we chat about the announcement that NielsenIQ and TikTok are launching a monthly Top 20 chart in the UK that combines real sales data with social media engagement.
00:00 Intro
01:24 Victory for Authors - UK Scraps AI Exception
10:36 Not Shy of Shortcuts - Hachette Ditches AI Novel
22:46 Tok of the Pops - Official UK Chart launched
30:06 Off Script: Stranger Than Fiction
36:42 Final Chapter - Pitt-Perfect Drama
Links:
Axed AI Copyright Exemption Welcomed By Book Trade
Hachette Horror Novel Shy Girl Suspended
Official BookTok Chart Set to Launch in the UK
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. After a varied career including marketing, reporting for a local newspaper, and a stint as a postie, she turned her hand to writing the crime fiction she always loved. Her debut novel, Hold Your Tongue, won the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year and is the first in her DI Eve Hunter series. Her new standalone thriller, I’ll Be Watching You, is out now.
We had a fantastic time chatting with Deborah about her journey from writing "fairies at the bottom of the garden" as a child to becoming a powerhouse in Scottish crime fiction. She shares how she balanced motherhood with online writing courses to find her creative voice, the feeling of landing her first agent while standing in a supermarket aisle, as well as the unique challenges of writing a second book on a tight deadline. Plus, we discuss why she is a pantser rather than plotter, the importance of the supportive crime writing community, and why she decided to step away from her series to explore a dark, CCTV-inspired standalone.
Links:
Buy I'll Be Watching You now
Follow Deborah on Instagram
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Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel
On today's Drafting Notes, we discuss twists and reveals! Are they the same thing? What makes some twists land and others miss the mark? What are some example of good twists (some spoilers here, but we announce that in the episode!)? And do you always need a twist in a novel?
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Support us on Patreon and get access to Drafting Notes episodes early, along with other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Abigail Dean is a writer from Manchester, living in south London. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, the Times and the New York Times. Abigail’s first novel, GIRL A, was an instant Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller. Her third novel, THE DEATH OF US, is out now.
We loved chatting with Abigail and hearing about how she switched a legal career for writing, and why she likes to explore the aftermath of crime in her books. Plus, she tells us about the storytelling power of video games and how they made her want to tell her own stories, and we also chat about the pressure that comes with following up a big debut success.
Links:
Buy The Death of Us and Abigail's other books now
Follow Abigail on Instagram
Visit Abigail's website
Subscribe to Narrative Damage on your podcast app and on YouTube
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits, including a bonus episode with Abigail telling us about 5 books that have influenced her!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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A bonus episode for Page One listeners - for the next parts of this story, be sure to subscribe to our Narrative Damage podcast!
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Descend into madness with us as our cast of three authors swap pens for dice in the first part of this Call of Cthulhu scenario.
"I must know why my son took his own life."
When Lord Gladstone calls three hardy investigators to his London mansion on a cold rainy evening in October 1896, they awaken old scars - and create new ones. What was the music that Charles Gladstone was working on before his death, and why is it so unsettling?
Cast:
-
Tariq Ashkanani (author of The Midnight King) as Donovan Ramsbottom III
-
Nicholas Binge (author of Dissolution) as Rev. Tobias Ashford
-
David Goodman (author of A Reluctant Spy) as Lord Wilbur Linklater
-
Marco Rinaldi as your Keeper of Arcane Lore
If you enjoyed the descent into madness, please subscribe and hit the bell icon! Part 2 drops next week!
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This is a playthrough of Loki's Gift from the Cults of Cthulhu book from Chaosium.
Music from Monument Studios
Sound FX from Syrinscape
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This episode of Adventures in Publishing-land dives deep into the battle for the "human soul" of the industry, featuring a frontline interview on the newest weapons in the author’s arsenal. We sit down with Anna Ganley and Sam Blake from the Society of Authors to discuss their new "Human Authored" scheme which launched at the London Book Fair. We explore the strategy behind the new logo and the message behind "Don't Steal This Book," the empty protest volume signed by thousands of authors including Kazuo Ishiguro and Richard Osman.
Speaking of the London Book Fair, we also tackle the "Six-Figure Fever" that grips the industry every spring. If the headlines about massive advances are making you feel disheartened, we discuss why you need to ignore the hype and focus on your own journey. Plus, we look into the class-action lawsuit facing Grammarly and Superhuman, and discuss the latest legal action by publishers against a pirate books site.
00:00 Intro
00:53 The LBF Hype Cycle - Run Your Own Race
07:24 Human Authored - Our interview with the Society of Authors
36:12 Walk the Plank - Suing Anna's Archive
44:20 Grammarly's Gamble - Not So Superhuman
51:57 Off Script: Stranger Than Fiction
Links:
Human Authored - learn more about the scheme and how to sign up
Thirteen US Publishers Bring Suit Against Anna's Archive
Grammarly Superhuman Expert Review Article
And why they are being sued
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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In the final of our cross-over interview episodes with Narrative Damage, we chat with the brilliant Mike Mason!
Mike Mason is an award-winning game designer and writer, and the creative director for the Call of Cthulhu tabletop roleplayinggame. As well as being the commissioning editor and lead writer for the line, Mike also works closely with artists and cartographers to shape the look and art for Call of Cthulhu.
It was great speaking with Mike and hearing how his love for storytelling and Call of Cthulhu led to him landing his dream job. He tells us about how he writes scenarios and campaign books, and how that differs (and doesn't differ) from writing other forms of fiction. Plus, we talk about writing effective horror, and discuss why mystery fiction of all kinds is so popular.
Links:
Follow Mike on Instagram
Visit Chaosium's website
Watch the trailer for our actual play of Loki's Gift
Follow Narrative Damage on YouTube or its own podcast feed to get more interviews with TTRPG writers, creators and more, plus actual plays with some of your favourite authors: https://linktr.ee/narrativedamagerpg
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Dennis Detwiller is an illustrator, writer and designer who has worked in the field of video games, card games and tabletop roleplaying games. He worked on Magic: The Gathering, and is a co-creator of the award-winning TTRPG, Delta Green, including being author of the legendary Impossible Landscapes campaign.
We loved having the opportunity to speak with Dennis, who told us how he stumbled into and then out of the world of video games, and how he created Delta Green. We talked about the impact of his philosophical views on his TTRPG writing, and discuss the whole 'railroading v sandbox' styles of storytelling in TTRPGs. Plus, he discusses why reading TTRPG books can help writers of all kinds, and we discuss how to make horror have an impact in writing.
Links:
Follow Dennis on Bluesky
Buy Delta Green now
Follow Narrative Damage on YouTube or its own podcast feed to get more interviews with TTRPG writers, creators and more, plus actual plays with some of your favourite authors: https://linktr.ee/narrativedamagerpg
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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On today's episode of Drafting Notes, we are talking about the dreaded imposter syndrome - what is it and why do so many writers feel it? Is it only writers starting out, or do all writers continue to feel like they are imposters? Plus, we discuss dealing with comparison to other writers' successes - how do you stop the envy getting to you when another writer is getting a big deal and you are not?
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This week on Adventures in Publishing-land, we’re heading to San Francisco to look at Bindery Books. This startup is turning "bookfluencers" into acquiring editors, letting communities choose their own bestsellers. Is this the "Taylor’s Version" of publishing, or a risky bet on "tastemakers"? Plus, we discuss top literary agencies sounding the alarm on "formulaic" and "flattened" AI-generated queries, and also return to the topic of genre snobbery, and why fantasy is making everyone think again about it.
00:00 Intro
01:17 Facile & Formulaic - Agents Ban AI Queries
12:21 The Tastemaker Model - BookTok Becomes The Editor
21.39 Myth-understandings - Fighting Genre Snobbery
34:35 - Off Script: Stranger Than Fiction
39:53 Final Chapter - A Wonderful New Take on Superheroes
Links:
Literary agents urge writers to avoid AI as they see ‘change in nature of submissions’
Bindery Books Influencer-led Publishing Model
Myth, monsters and making sense of a disenchanted world: why everyone is reading fantasy
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Welcome to the first in a short series of cross-over episodes with our new podcast, Narrative Damage - a podcast where some of your favourite authors gather together to rolll dice, craft worlds and tell stories together through the medium of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs)!
For our first guest, we are delighted to chat with the brilliant Sydney Amanuel. Sydney is an actor and designer from New York. While she is usually spotted in films and TV, she also appears on multiple TTRPG podcasts on The Glass Cannon Network where she plays various characters full of improv comedy, fantasy and fun.
Sydney tells us about how she sort of stumbled into the world of live TTRPGs and tells us about the avenues that these games give for storytelling. We talk about the many similarities between the writing process and roleplaying games, including how she crafts characters, worlds and more.
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to Narrative Damage on YouTube and on its own podcast feed as we have many more brilliant guests and our own live play games with authors coming very soon!
Links:
Listen to Sydney on the Glass Cannon Network
Follow Sydney on Instagram
Visit Sydney's website
Follow Narrative Damage on YouTube or its own podcast feed to get more interviews with TTRPG writers, creators and more, plus actual plays with some of your favourite authors: https://linktr.ee/narrativedamagerpg
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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TM Logan is the bestselling author of thrillers that have sold over three million copies in the UK and been translated into 22 languages worldwide. A former national newspaper journalist, Tim is also the author of The Holiday — a Richard & Judy Book Club pick adapted for TV — as well as The Catch, The Dream Home, The Mother, The Curfew, Trust Me, Lies and 29 Seconds. His latest novel, The Weekend, is out on 26 February.
We had a great chat with Tim, hearing about his time as a journalist, and why he wanted to move into fiction writing. He tells us how a series of events allowed him to try his hand as a full-time author, and we talk about the pressure of success and the expectation that can bring, as well as hearing about TV adaptations of his work.
Links:
Buy The Weekend and Tim's other books now
Follow Tim on Instagram
Visit Tim's website
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This week, we’re unpacking the controversy surrounding Emerald Fennell’s "Wuthering Heights" adaptation. From historically inaccurate corsets to Margot Robbie’s "raunchy" take on Cathy, we debate how far a retelling can stray before it loses the source material entirely.
Plus, we look at how one writer used AI to publish 200 novels in a single year, allegedly earning six figures. But is she a writer? And after a century of dominance, are paperbacks shuffling toward extinction?
00:00 Intro
01:25 200 'Books' A Year - The AI Romance Gold Rush?
12:48 Pulp Fiction No More - The Death of Paperbacks?
23.35 Raunchy Brontë - Straying Too Far From the Source?
37:38 - Off Script: Stranger Than Fiction
43:15 Final Chapter - Best RomComs
Links:
Can AI Chatbots Write Romance? NY Times Article
The Death of the Mass Market Paperback?
How Different Is Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” Compared to Emily Brontë’s Book?
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Rebecca Hannigan has an MA in Creative Writing Crime Fiction from UEA, graduating in 2023. She won the UEA/Little Brown Crime Prize for her dissertation. She has also been shortlisted for Virago/The Pool’s Best New Crime Writer. Her first novel, Darkrooms, is out now.
We had a great chat with Rebecca, hearing about her experience of getting a masters in crime writing and how that helped her with her debut, Darkrooms. We also discuss the anxiety that can build up as a debut writer in the lead up to launch, and get into a big discussion about what makes twists work (or fail), as well as talking about writing unsympathetic characters.
Links:
Buy Darkrooms now!
Visit Rebecca's website
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Jacob Rollinson was born in England in 1984. He is currently based in East Sussex, employed as an academic librarian. Jacob has a PhD in creative and critical writing from the University of East Anglia. He is always looking things up, and he never knows where his next interest is going to take him: he has delivered papers and joined panels on topics ranging from literature and archive work to translation of Classical Chinese poetry, journalism and human rights, and crime fiction. He enjoys weird books.His debut novel, The Truth of Carcosa, is out now.
We had a really interesting chat with Jacob, talking about weird fiction - what it is and how it can be unsettling - and learning about how The Truth of Carcosa grew out of a fever dream during Covid. Plus, we discuss the role of luck in publishing, and the value of writing courses.
Links:
Buy The Truth of Carcosa now (can be bought in the UK via Amazon)
Follow Jacob on Bluesky
Visit Jacob's website
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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On this week's Drafting Notes, we are discussing whether professional editing/critique services are useful to first-time authors. On the one hand, you are getting professional feedback on your writing, but on the other, they are often very expensive! So is the reward worth the cost? We discuss our own thoughts and experiences!
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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In this week's episode of Adventures in Publishing-land, we dive into the heated debate surrounding Val McDermid and the use of sensitivity readers to revise backlist titles. Should books be treated as historical artifacts, or is updating them a necessary step for modern audiences?
Plus, we’re tackling two massive shifts in the industry: We break down the Society of Authors' "Brave New World" report, which reveals a staggering 86% of creators are already seeing their earnings hit by Gen AI. And the Literacy Crisis: Are we losing a generation of readers? We discuss the alarming reports of Gen Z arriving at college unable to read full sentences and what "scanning" culture means for the future of the book.
00:00 Intro
01:00 Brave New World? AI Already Impacting Creatives
16:23 Editing the Past - Should Old Books Be Revised?
27:52 Can't Read or Won't Read? Is There a Gen Z Literacy Crisis?
39:33 Stranger Than Fiction
44:40 Final Chapter
Links:
All 2.4m of Britain’s creative workers are at risk — and we know why
Brave New World? Justice for Creators in the age of Gen AI
Val McDermid was assigned ‘sensitivity reader’ to cut offensive language from old books
Gen Z are arriving to college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Screenwriter and editor James Alistair Henry first started writing while working as a bookseller. He joined the writing team for Channel 4’s Smack the Pony and went on to write the BAFTA-award winning Green Wing, ITV comedy Delivery Man and cult hit Campus as well as episodes for smash-hit children’s television shows Bob The Builder and Hey Duggee. His Radio 4 sketch show, Wosson Cornwall, was selected as BBC Radio Comedy of the Week and his newest sitcom, Piglets, has been commissioned for a second series. His debut novel, Pagans, was an instant Times bestseller, and has been optioned for TV.
We had a really fun and interesting chat with James, hearing about how he first got into the world of screenwriting (including some great anecdotes) and why he decided to write Pagans as a novel. We talk about how TV writing and novel writing differs, and have a chat about how structure is so important, and how once it is in place, then you can go wild with your ideas and characters.
Links:
Buy Pagans now
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Vaseem Khan is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India and the bestselling Quantum of Menace, the first in a series featuring Q from the James Bond franchise. His debut, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020. In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House, the first in the Malabar House novels set in 1950s Bombay, won the CWA Historical Dagger. Vaseem was born in England, but spent a decade working in India. Vaseem is a former Chair of the UK Crime Writers Association. His latest book in the Malabar House series, The Edge of Darkness, is out now.
It was great fun having Vas back on the podcast, hearing about what he has been up to writing-wise in the past few years. He tells us about how he landed the job writing the James Bond Q book, Quantum of Menace, and why he loves going back to his Malabar House books. We also chat about films, and hear about five books that influenced him as an author.
Links:
Buy The Edge of Darkness and Vaseem's other books now
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Visit Vaseem's website
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Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Lyndsey Croal is a Scottish author published in over eighty magazines and anthologies, including Apex, Analog, Weird Tales, and Mslexia’s Best Women’s Short Fiction. She’s a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardee, Shirley Jackson Award and British Fantasy Award Finalist, and former Hawthornden Fellow. Her longer works include Have You Decided on Your Question (Shortwave), Limelight and Other Stories (Shortwave) The Girl With Barnacles for Eyes (Split Scream Volume Five, Tenebrous Press), and Dark Crescent (Luna Press).
We had a great chat with Lyndsey in our studio, hearing about how she has written 100 published stories (!), the differences in writing short and long fiction, as well as dealing with the ups and downs of the publishing industry. We talk about dealing with rejection, changing agents and why she always like to have a dark element to her stories.
Links:
Buy Dark Crescent and Lyndsey's other books now
Follow Lyndsey on Instagram
Visit Lyndsey's website
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India which have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 15 languages. His books have won numerous awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel, the Prix du Polar Européen, the Wilbur Smith Award for Adventure Writing and the Amazon Publishing Readers Award for E-book for the Year. Alongside fellow author, Vaseem Khan, he also hosts the popular Murder Junction podcast, where every fortnight, joined by special guests from the media and literature, he takes a wry look at the world of books, writing, and the creative arts, tackling everything from bestsellers to pop culture.
It was great fun having Abir back on the podcast as he catches us up on his writing endeavours since he was last on, including how he called on "the Avengers of crime writing" to help him with his award winning thriller, Hunted. Plus, we talk about the differences in writing series fiction compared to standalones, what he has coming up, and he tells us about five books that influenced him as an author.
Links:
Buy The Burning Grounds and Abir's other books now
Follow Abir on Instagram
Visit Abir's website
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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We're back! On this week's episode, we discuss the show everyone is talking about - The Traitors! With crime author Harriet Tyce's appearance, we chat about the impact it has had on her book sales, and also wonder which reality show we would choose to go on to boost our publicity (there is also some spoiler discussion about this season of the UK Traitors, so be careful if you are not up-to-date!)
Plus, we talk about big money's interest in Romantasy, and whether that will crowd out the market for other genres, and also discuss the rapid rise of scam marketing emails that are being sent to authors thanks to AI...
00:00 Intro
01:34 Dollars & Dragons - Is Big Money Skewing Fiction?
16:52 The Flattery Trap - Predatory Promo Offers
27:30 Killer Marketing? - The Traitors Effect
44:14 Off Script - Nadine finds another stranger than fiction story for inspiration
49:33 Off Script - Final Chapter: What we've been watching and reading
Links:
Chernin Group invests in Romantasy publisher Entangled
Authors hit with deluge of scam emails from fake marketers
Why crime writers make good Traitors contestants
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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We are joined by three brilliant returning guests for our bumper-length festive special to mark the end of the year! Fiona Cummins, Cally (C.L.) Taylor and Ed James return to tell us all about their year in writing, what they are looking forward to writing-wise in 2026, and what their favourite reads and watches of the year have been. Plus - our Between The Lines game returns as they all try to guess the first and last lines of some Christmas classics (and some not so classics...!)
00:00 Intro
04:45 Writing over the holidays
25:28 Writing Christmas-themed stories/short stories
34:26 Writing Highlights of 2025
51:42 Writing Hopes for 2026
01:03:30 Book, TV & Film Highlights of 2025
01:18:24 Between the Lines - Our Christmas Game (NSFW!)
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Links:
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Joe Hill is a Sunday Times bestseller and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box, The Fireman, and Full Throttle. He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long-running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with artist Gabriel Rodriguez. Much of his work has been adapted for movies and television. His second novel, Horns, was translated to film in 2014 and starred Daniel Radcliffe. His third novel, NOS4A2, is now a hit series on AMC, starring Zachary Quinto. The first season of Locke & Key was released on Netflix in early 2020 and became an overnight smash. His latest book, King Sorrow, is out now.
We had a great time speaking with Joe, learning why he wanted to keep his identity as Stephen King's son a secret when he first started out, how he nearly gave up on novel writing, and why he doesn't plan his novels. He tells us all about his latest, King Sorrow, and its epic structure and story that spans both fantasy and horror, and we talk about why horror is having a bit of a resurgence just now. Plus, we get into the whole AI debate, and Joe even takes time to ask us some either/or questions at the end!
Links:
Buy King Sorrow and Joe's other books now
Visit Joe's website
Follow Joe on Instagram
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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A good ending can stay with you long after you've finished a book or a film, but a bad one can ruin everything that came before. On this week's episode of Drafting Notes, we talk about what makes a good ending, and talk about some of the ways to think about crafting that ending to try and give a satisfying conclusion to your stories. Plus, we talk about some of our favourite endings (slight spoilers for Marvel Endgame and Star Wars: A New Hope!)
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Kesia Lupo is the commissioning editor at MacMillan Children's Books, as well as being a former agent and author of three YA books.
We had a great chat with Kesia, learning about how she first got started in the publishing industry, and the differences between working for a smaller and larger publisher, and the impact that has on acquisition decisions. Plus, we discuss the differences in the US and UK markets, talk about the all-important query letter to agents, and hear about times that authors have pushed back against editing suggestions.
NOTE: We know Marco's audio is bad on this one - he unwittingly used the wrong mic when recording - we have cleaned the audio up as much as we can, but fortunately you are here for Kesia, not him!
Links:
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Visit Kesia's Substack
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You only have one chance to make a first impression, so you better make sure you offer your prospective agent/editor/reader the best you can! On this week's episode, we chat about what makes a good opening compared to bad and why it matters. Plus, we discuss some of our favourite openings — as well as some not-so-good ones...
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Jenny Brown established Jenny Brown Associates in 2002. She was previously Head of Literature at the Scottish Arts Council, presenter of book programmes for Scottish Television, and founder Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She was shortlisted in 2014 and2020 for Agent of the Year Award. She is former Chair of the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival (2011–21). She was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2021 and awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List in 2024. She represents 50 writers and likes to work closely with her writers and for this reason, almost all the writers she represents are based in Scotland.
We loved speaking with Jenny and hearing why she first moved into the world of agenting, and what she looks for in the queries that she reads. We also discuss how publishing has changed over the years, and discuss current trends in the market, along with her general advice for writers looking for agents.
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Richard Swan is a critically acclaimed British genre writer. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Empire of the Wolf and Great Silence trilogies, the Decurion Saga (2026), and various short fiction for Black Library and Grimdark Magazine. His work has been translated into nine languages.
We enjoyed having Richard back on the podcast, catching up with him since we last spoke with him back in November 2022 (Episode 141 of the main pod!) and hearing about what he has been writing since then. We chat about writing books that will lead readers to your older work, and hear about his two new books - The Scour, out now, and The Infinite State (out next year). Plus, we chat about space roofers (blame Tariq) and of course hear about 5 books that influenced him!
Links:
Buy The Scour and Richard's other books now
Follow Richard on Instagram
Visit Richard's website
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Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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On this week's episode of Drafting Notes we are discussing that thing every writer hates: The Synopsis! Nobody enjoys them, but how do you write them? What should you include? What should you leave out? We discuss all this and even talk about why synopses can help you find the heart of your story.
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Phoebe Morgan is the Executive Fiction Publisher at Simon & Schuster, with a career spanning major publishing houses including HarperCollins, Orion, Octopus Books, and Hodder & Stoughton. Specialising in crime fiction while also working across general and book club fiction as well as romantasy, she has published numerous Sunday Times, New York Times, and Kindle bestsellers. A passionate champion of new voices, she was shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the British Book Awards (2022) and has received both a Shooting Star Award (in association with The Bookseller) and a Trailblazer Award (with the London Book Fair). She also runs a very informative blog for authors called The Honest Editor, as well as being a successful author in her own right, with five novel published, the latest one being The Trip.
We had a great chat with Phoebe, hearing all about how she first moved into publishing and what her day-to-day as an editor for one of the Big 5 publishing houses is really like. We also talk about the role of sales and marketing in publishing houses' decisions on what to acquire, hear about how book auctions work, and get into whether the mid-list is sometimes a neglected part of publishing.
Links:
Phoebe's website
Follow Phoebe on Instagram
Visit her Honest Editor site
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video interview on YouTube now!
Francesca T. Barbini is an award-winning editor, translator, and founder of Luna Press Publishing, the acclaimed independent press specialising in speculative fiction and academia. Born in Rome and now based in Edinburgh, her work has earned multiple British Fantasy and British Science Fiction Awards. She also supports the Tolkien Society and designs the BSFA Awards booklet.
We had great fun chatting with Francesca and learning why she decided to start a small press, and discuss the advantages that a small press can have over the larger publishing houses. We also talk about what makes a book a success from her point of view, and why she loves to nurture authors and see them grow into huge successes.
Links:
Luna Press Publishing
Follow Luna on Instagram
Follow Luna on Bluesky
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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David Headley is the Managing Director and co-founder of Goldsboro Books, one of the UK’s leading independent booksellers, and founder of the D H H Literary Agency. Originally from York, David studied theology before building a 25-year career at the heart of the publishing industry. Through Goldsboro, he created the UK’s largest collectors’ book club and became a major influence in hardback fiction sales, while as an agent he represents a wide range of bestselling and award-winning authors.
We had a really interesting chat with David hearing about how he set up Goldsboro Books and then moved into literary agency. We hear what he catches his attention as an agent (in good and bad ways!) and also talk about the state of the industry, what types of books he thinks are selling at the moment, and why he thinks it is the toughest environment for authors he has seen in over twenty years.
Links:
Submit to David at DHH Literary
Goldsboro Books
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Watch as a full video episode on YouTube!
Self-publishing has become a serious and viable route for many authors who can't or don't want to find a traditional publisher. But can it work for everyone? We discuss why some genres are more suited than others, and also talk about all the extra work that is needed to make a real success of self-publishing.
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Watch this episode as a full video episode on YouTube
Ed Wilson is an agent and director of Johnson & Alcock, representing a vibrant list of fiction and non-fiction, from new voices to established, bestselling and award-winning authors, including RJ Barker, Shauna Lawless and Sam Holland.
We had great fun chatting with Ed about all things agent-related. He tells us about how he first got into agenting, and we discuss the all-important query letter and the mistakes that will result in a quick pass. We also talk about the role that luck can play in the publishing world, as well as the current state of the industry and whether the outlook is getting bleaker for authors. Plus, he tells us about the time a client named a car after him...
Links:
Ed's page at Johnson & Alcock
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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On this week's episode, we discuss Ireland's UBI experiment for artists and writers, and why we would love to see other countries follow suit (but aren't holding our breath). Plus, we look at why indie presses are pressing the panic button, and discuss the latest BookTok marketing scheme - theme-scented books (a topic Tariq gets very excited about!)
00:00 Intro
01:10 Luck of the Irish - UBI for writers
13:45 Indie Presses - Time for trade support?
24:34 Smell of Success? TikTok, Trends and Garlic Mayo
39:56 Off Script - Nadine finds another stranger than fiction story for inspiration
46:18 Off Script - Horror Movie updates and True Crime chat
Links:
Ireland's Basic income for the Arts Scheme made permanent
Indie Presses in existential crisis call for support
Garlic Mayo Book Marketing
Nadine's Stranger than Fiction story
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel.
Liza DeBlock began her publishing career as an assistant at Eccles Fisher Associates in 2018, where she gained a deep understanding of the international book market. After moving into literary agenting and working with Robert Caskie and Silé Edwards, she honed her skills selling rights for bestselling authors including Richard Osman, Claire Douglas, Abigail Dean, Saara El-Arifi, and Hannah Kaner and was named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2022. Now at Greenstone Literary, she is building her own curated list of fiction and non-fiction authors, including them Sally Abé, Dominic Franks, Stacey Thomas, Natalie Chandler, Carys Green, and Pim Wangtechawat.
We had great fun chatting with Liza and hearing how she moved into agenting after being a literary scout and what she wants (and doesn't want!) to see from a query letter. Plus, we talk about the importance of international rights to an author, and hear her views on the latest literary trends and what direction the industry may take in the future.
Links:
Liza's agency profile at Greenstone Literary
Follow Liza on Instagram
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel
We all know that querying is the main method for finding an agent, but are there other ways? Many of the guests on Page One have spoken about different experiences in how they finally found an agent, and we ourselves have also tried things like competitions and so on. On this episode, we discuss the pros and cons of some of these alternative methods.
Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
You've finished your book and you're ready to send it off - but what should you include in the query letter? And perhaps more importantly, what shouldn't you include? We discuss it all on today's Drafting Notes!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Drafting Notes is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video on YouTube
On this week's episode, we are talking about a scarcity of books for the Booker Prize and wondering if that is due to poor books or too narrow a category for prizes. Plus, we join the Alchemised train and wonder if fanfic turned to publishing gold shows publishers are unwilling to gamble on new stories, and more generally discuss how risk-averse the industry can be and why that narrows the chances for new authors.
00:00 Intro
01:04 Anthropic Settlement Update
03:22 Booker Prize in crisis?
17:46 Alchemised success - Turning FanFic into Gold
24.20 Betting on Bestsellers - Do Publishers Play the Odds?
36:56 Off Script - Nadine finds another stranger than fiction story for inspiration
43:14 Off Script - Our Favourite Horror Movies
Links:
Sign up for Anthropic settlement
Doyle says Booker Prize struggled to find good novels
Alchemised - Fan fiction turned into a bestseller
Why Romance Readers can't quit Dramione
The Publishing Industry has a Gambling Problem
Nadine's Stranger than Fiction story
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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On this week's episode we share some exciting awards news involving Tariq and Marco (both winners at the recent Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival!), Nadine reveals a new cover (check her instagram to see it!), plus we discuss the latest in the Anthropic settlement, wonder about whether cosy crime is a reductive term, and in the wake of the Evelyn Clark author reveal, wonder whether marketing gimmicks work for the general public. Plus, Nadine finds another strange story to inspire some fiction, and we pay tribute to Robert Redford with a discussion of our favourite movies featuring him.
00:00 Intro
00:26 Bloody Scotland Prize Winners!
05:26 Is the Anthropic AI settlement in trouble?
17:38 Richard Osman says "cosy crime" is a reductive term - is he right?
28:01 Evelyn Clark reveal - are hidden author reveals marketing genius or gimmicks?
38:22 Off Script - Nadine finds another stranger than fiction story for inspiration
44:56 Off Script - Robert Redford - Our Favourite Movies
Links:
Judge stalls Anthropic settlement
Sign up for Anthropic settlement
Richard Osman says cosy crime is reductive
Evelyn Clark reveal
Nadine's Stranger Than Fiction story
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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We are taking a short break, but don't despair, we will be back with some exciting new episodes soon!
In the meantime, enjoy this chat that our STET Podcasts colleague Nadine Matheson had with MW Craven!
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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We are taking a short break, but don't despair, we will be back with some exciting new episodes soon!
In the meantime, enjoy this chat that our STET Podcasts colleague Nadine Matheson had with Elvin James Mensah!
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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We are taking a short break, but don't despair, we will be back with some exciting new episodes soon!
In the meantime, enjoy this chat that our STET Podcasts colleague Nadine Matheson had with Louise Minchin!
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Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a video episode on YouTube!
Ideas are like gold dust, they say. But are they? Should you hold some back to put in future books, or should you put everything you have into the one you are writing now? We discuss the common pitfalls that some new writers can make.
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
You've finished your book and you're ready to send it off - but what should you include in the query letter? And perhaps more importantly, what shouldn't you include? We discuss it all on today's Drafting Notes!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Drafting Notes is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video interview instead!
Elodie Harper is a bestselling author whose Wolf Den trilogy has won wide acclaim. The first book The Wolf Den, was a book of the month for both Waterstones and Barnes & Noble, won the Glass Bell Award and was shortlisted for Page turner of the year at the British Book Awards. The second in the series, The House with the Golden Door, was a Sunday Times top 10 bestseller. Elodie's first standalone novel set in the ancient world - Boudicca's Daughter - publishes in the UK and US in August 2025.
We had great fun chatting with Elodie in the studio and hearing about what made her move from journalism to fiction writing, and why your first books don't need to be your big break (Wolf Den was book 3). Plus, we talk about her love of Ancient Rome and what inspires her to write her stories.
Links:
Buy Boudicca's Daughter and Elodie's other books now
Follow Elodie on Instagram
Visit Elodie's website
Adventures in Publishing-land on Apple Podcasts
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Adventures in Publishing-land on YouTube
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a video episode on YouTube!
You've finished your book and you're ready to send it off - but what should you include in the query letter? And perhaps more importantly, what shouldn't you include? We discuss it all on today's Drafting Notes!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
You've finished your book and you're ready to send it off - but what should you include in the query letter? And perhaps more importantly, what shouldn't you include? We discuss it all on today's Drafting Notes!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Drafting Notes is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Natalie Jayne Clark is a neurodivergent writer and poet based in Perth, Scotland. The view as she writes is the ever-changing vista of trees and clouds lining the top of Kinnoull Hill. Her debut novel, a darkly funny sapphic crime tale called 'The Malt Whisky Murders', is out now and is nominated for best debut at Bloody Scotland 2025.
It was great fun chatting with Natalie and hearing how a 2.5 minute pitch at Bloody Scotland's Pitch Perfect competition led to a pre-emptive book deal and an agent within a week. Plus, we talk about writing stories you want to read, and how modern tech can ruin crime stories.
Links:
Buy The Malt Whisky Murders now
Follow Natalie on Instagram
Visit Natalie's website
Adventures in Publishing-land on Apple Podcasts
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Adventures in Publishing-land on YouTube
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a video episode on YouTube
We all know the old saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" - but the trouble is, many people do! That's why trad publishers spend lots of money on designers for book covers! We discuss the difference a good and a bad cover can make, how self-published authors can make covers like the pros, and how to push back on trad publishers if the cover they suggest isn't working.
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Drafting Notes is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube
Catriona Silvey was born in Glasgow and grew up in Scotland and England. After collecting an unreasonable number of degrees from various universities in the UK and the US, she moved to Edinburgh where she lives with her husband and children. She is the author of Meet Me in Another Life (2021) and the time-travel romantic comedy Love and Other Paradoxes (2025).
We had great fun chatting with Catriona in our studio, and hearing about how she wrote many novels before finding the one that would get her first publishing deal. We also talk about the intricacies of time travel, and why she wants to explore different types of stories in her writing.
Links:
Buy Catriona's books now
Follow Catriona on Instagram
Visit Catriona's website
Adventures in Publishing-land on Apple Podcasts
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Adventures in Publishing-land on YouTube
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel
Whether you are just starting our or are established, feedback can be invaluable for a writer. When should you seek feedback, and how can you find reliable people to provide feedback? And if you are giving feedback, what is useful and what isn't? We discuss it all on this week's Drafting Notes!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available months earlier if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize–winning American playwright, screenwriter, director, novelist, and essayist, born November 30, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois. He is renowned for his breakthrough in theater during the 1970s with works like American Buffalo and Sexual Perversity in Chicago, later earning the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross. His distinctive writing style—sharp, staccato dialogue, often referred to as "Mamet‑speak"—redefined modern theatrical and cinematic storytelling. Beyond the stage, Mamet penned acclaimed screenplays for The Verdict, The Untouchables, and Wag the Dog, earning Academy Award nominations, and has directed notable films such as House of Games and Homicide. He also co-founded the Atlantic Theater Company, has taught at prestigious institutions like Yale, NYU, and Goddard College, and authored novels, essays, and memoirs. His new book, Recollections of St Ives, is out now.
We had a very interesting discussion with David about how he first started writing, and what keeps him going today. We also talk about the differences in writing for the screen, stage and page, and he tells us why he wanted to write his latest novel, Some Recollections of St Ives.
Links:
Buy Some Recollections of St Ives
Watch Henry Johnson
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Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel
On this week's Drafting Notes, inspired by the publication of Tariq's book, The Midnight King, we are talking book launches. How important are they? Do they make a difference to sales? And what happens for the author after the book has been launched?
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available months earlier if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube
MK Hardy is the pen name for two geeky women living and writing together in Scotland. Their debut Sapphic Gothic Horror, The Needfire, comes from Solaris in the UK in July 2025. They were mentees in the Pitch Wars 2020-21 programme, and mentors for Queery Fest 2022. They are organisers and facilitators for Scotland’s Cymera Festival.
We had great fun chatting with Morag and Erin, hearing about how they first came to write together, and talk about the (ever evolving) process of how that works. We also hear about what inspired their debut, The Needfire, and why they want to keep exploring a variety of stories.
Links:
Buy The Needfire now
Follow MK Hardy on Bluesky
Visit their website
Adventures in Publishing-land on Apple Podcasts
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Adventures in Publishing-land on YouTube
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky
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It's one of the most common pieces of writing advice: Write what you know. But what does it really mean? Does it mean that if you're from a small village, you shouldn't write about people in big cities? If you're a man, you shouldn't write about women? We think it's a bit more nuanced than that, and that the phrase is often misunderstood. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available months earlier if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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M. H. Ayinde was born in London’s East End. She is a runner, a lapsed martial artist, and a screen time enthusiast. She is the Sunday Times bestselling author of epic fantasy novel A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST (Orbit UK/Saga Press). Her short fiction has appeared in FIYAH Literary Magazine, F&SF, Fantasy Magazine, and elsewhere, and she was the 2021 winner of the Future Worlds Prize. She lives in London with three generations of her family and their Studio Ghibli obsession.
We had great fun chatting with Modupe live at the Cymera Festival back in June, and heard all about her amazing journey to winning the Future Worlds Prize and how that kickstarted her career as an author. Plus, we talk about her inspirations including Black Panther and A LOT of Final Fantasy!
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Intisar Khanani is an award‑nominated American fantasy author and former public‑health consultant. Born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, she spent her childhood moving around—living in five U.S. states and time in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia—before settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters. Her writing career began with the self‑published YA fantasy Thorn and has since expanded into acclaimed series such as The Dauntless Path and The Sunbolt Chronicles. Her latest work, Debts of Fire, continues the adventures in The Sunbolt Chronicles and is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Intisar and hearing about what made her want to start writing, and why she thinks diverse fantasy stories are so important. We also talk about how she moved from self-publishing to traditional and back to indie again, as well as chatting about the perceived "necessary" rate of books for indie authors.
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J.R. Dawson's debut, The First Bright Thing, is a Golden Crown award winner. Her shorter works are in places such as F&SF, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, and Lightspeed. Dawson lives on Dakota land in Minnesota with a loving spouse and three dogs. She is a professor at Drexel University's MFA program. Her second novel, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World, is a loose sapphic retelling of Orpheus, and releases from Tor in July 2025.
We had great fun chatting about how she quickly learned playwriting wasn't for her, and how she found her community writing short stories and novels. We also talk about the retelling of myths and legends, hear about the scary step of changing agents and much more!
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Carlo Lucarelli is an acclaimed Italian crime writer, journalist, screenwriter, and television presenter. He is best known for his detective novels, including the De Luca Trilogy and the Inspector Grazia Negro series, which have been widely translated and adapted for screen. Alongside his fiction, Lucarelli has hosted popular true crime TV shows in Italy and remains a prominent voice in Italian cultural life. His latest English-translated novel, The Darkest Winter, is out now.
We had a really interesting chat with Carlo, hearing about how he uses his different recurring characters to explore the different time periods he wants to explore in his crime novels. We also talk about where he gets his inspiration, including from some real-life mysteries that he examined when presenting his TV show.
Links:
Buy The Darkest Winter now
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Laura Shepherd-Robinson is the award-winning, Sunday Times and USA Today bestselling author of four historical novels. Her books have been featured on BBC 2’s Between the Covers and Radio 4’s Front Row and Open Book. Her fourth novel, The Art of a Lie, is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Laura and hearing how she decided to move from working in politics to writing, and learn about the research that goes into her novels. We also talk about planning, the effect of awards and more!
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Sarah Pinborough is a New York Times bestselling and Sunday Times Number one and Internationally bestselling author who is published in over 25 territories worldwide. Having published more than 25 novels across various genres, her recent books include Behind Her Eyes and Insomnia, both of which have been adapted for TV. Her latest book, We Live Here Now, is out now.
We had a really fun chat with Sarah, hearing about what she has been up to since she was last on the podcast, chatting about the realities of book to TV deals, and hearing about 5 books that influenced her as a writer (and influenced this latest book).
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Amelia Blackwell has a master’s degree in Creative Writing, a corn snake called Colin, and a deep love of the works of Jane Austen. Although the Boleyns appear in her family tree, it’s through marriage, not blood, which is probably just as well. Georgiana Darcy’s most persistent suitor in her novel A Crime Through Time, Baron John de Halighwell, takes his name from one of Amelia’s distant great-grandfathers, who lived in a mansion that even Lady Catherine de Bourgh would admire. She has previously published YA under Lisa Glass.
We had great fun chatting with Amelia and hearing about the ups and downs of her career as an author, including several agent changes, as well as what led to her writing her new novel, A Crime Through Time. We talk about Jane Austen, the research she did for the novel and why she wanted to tell this time-skipping story.
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Novelist and TV showrunner Jonathan Lee is the author of four novels, including High Dive and The Great Mistake. He is creator, executive producer & lead writer of the BBC/ Netflix drama series “The Bombing of Pan Am 103”. Other TV projects include originating and executive producing the documentary series “Who Killed Jill Dando?” (Netflix, 2023), a Top 10 show on the streamer in 47 countries.
We enjoyed chatting with Jonathan and hearing how his experience as an editor taught him to be a better writer. We also chat about the differences for writing for novels as opposed to for the screen, and talk about the sensitivities around making a show on real-life events.
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Beth Lewis is the author of five novels so far, including her debut, THE WOLF ROAD. My latest novel, THE RUSH, came out in the UK on 10th June 2025 and is out in the US on the 7th October. It was July’s Goldsboro Books Prem1ere Book Club pick and a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick.
We had a great chat with Beth, hearing about the influences that went into writing The Rush, and how she researches her historical fiction. Plus, we talk about how westerns have romanticised the period and erased the part that women often played.
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Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel
D. V. BISHOP writes the award-winning Cesare Aldo historical thrillers, published by Pan Macmillan. A writer of many narrative forms, his love for Italy and the Renaissance meant there could only be one setting for his crime fiction. He has previously guested on the main podcast way back in Episode 69. His latest book in the Cesare Aldo series, Carnival of Lies, is out on 26 June 2025.
We had great fun chatting with David and hearing about his huge success since we last spoke with him as the Cesare Aldo books have led to many awards and nominations! Plus, we quiz him on the five books that influenced him as an author for Carnival of Lies!
00:03 Intro
00:42 David tells us all about Carnival of Lies and what he has been up to
23:08 Book number 5
27:19 Book number 4
29:55 Book number 3
33:04 Book number 2
38:17 Book number 1
41:19 Outro
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Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Welcome to the very first episode of Adventures in Publishing-land! Join us as we discuss some of the biggest (and strangest) stories in publishing over the past few weeks.
This week:
00:17 Intro
01:32 The Unbound Saga continues
15:19 Authors hounded off social media - is it worth it?
24: 41 Literary Estates and copyright - how long should it last?
38:05 James Frey - the self-proclaimed literary bad boy is back, but should anyone care?
44:55 Off Script - Nadine and Marco argue over the latest cinematic iteration of Superman
Unbound
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/unbound-authors-will-not-receive-unpaid-royalty-payments-until-new-publisher-boundless-is-cash-stable
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/boundless-position-morally-and-financially-unacceptable-says-unbound-co-founder-john-mitchinson
Social media bullying
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-buzz/ali-hazelwood-leaves-instagram-after-bullying-over-hunger-games-joke-controversy-explained-article-152076401
Conan Doyle Literary Estate Deal
James Frey
https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/pompidou-plus/magazine/article/james-frey-i-use-artificial-intelligence-because-i-want-to-write-the-best-book-possible
https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/next-to-heaven-james-frey-review-zvg5mnftt
Adventures in Publishing-land is brought to you by STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing podcast needs, featuring Page One - The Writer's Podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and more!
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Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist and a graduate of the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course. Rattle, her debut novel, was the subject of a huge international auction and has been translated into several languages. It received widespread critical acclaim from authors and reviewers. She has since written bestsellers The Collector, The Neighbour, When I Was Ten and Into the Dark in which she introduces DC Saul Anguish, a brilliant young detective with a dark past. Fiona lives with her family in Essex. Her latest book, Some of Us are Liars, is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Fiona, hearing about the highs and lows of being a journalist (including her favourite celeb encounters), and also about how that experience has helped her as a fiction author. We also talk about what draws her to writing dark fiction and why every author needs tenacity to keep going in publishing.
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Jane Johnson is a novelist, historian, and publisher. She is the UK publisher of many bestselling authors, including George R.R. Martin. She has written for both adults and children, including the bestselling novels The Tenth Gift and The Salt Road. Her latest book is Secrets of the Bees.
We really enjoyed chatting with Jane and hearing how it was working with the Tolkien estate and bringing us the version of Lord of the Rings we all now know and love, as well as how she came to found the Voyager imprint at Harper Collins. We also talk about how her experience as an editor informs her own writing, and chat about the latest book, Secrets of the Bees.
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Michael Cordy's debut novel,The Miracle Strain/Messiah Code, was published in over twenty-five languages and reached the top five in the Sunday Times Bestseller List. Disney bought the film rights for $1.6 million. Another five novels followed: Crime Zero/The Crime Code, The Lucifer Code, The Venus Conspiracy, The Source and The Colour Of Death. All were published in the UK by Bantam Press and Corgi, and translated into several languages. Warner Bros optioned the film rights to The Source and the producers of Lord of The Rings and The Golden Compass optioned The Crime Code. His latest novel, Manhattan Down, is out now.
We had a great chat with Michael, hearing about how he decided to take a year out to write his first novel - and how that ended up paying off handsomely. We also chat about how he gets his inspiration for his novels, and why the siren calls of Hollywood don't always end up being what they appear.
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Networking. It's a word that is very corporate and as a result off-putting to a lot of writers, but can it help? What are the best ways to go about it, either in person or online? And what shouldn't you do (learn about Marco's "Don't Be A Dick" rule...)
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available months earlier if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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C.L. Taylor is the nine times Sunday Times bestselling author of eleven gripping stand-alone psychological thrillers: THE ACCIDENT, THE LIE, THE MISSING, THE ESCAPE, THE FEAR, SLEEP, STRANGERS, HER LAST HOLIDAY, THE GUILTY COUPLE, EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE and her newest book, IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND, published on 5th June 2025.
We loved chatting with Cally and hearing perhaps the most unique story ever about how she got her agent, why she moved into writing psychological thrillers, and how she has drawn on some personally traumatic events to inform her stories.
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It's often assumed that writing novels and short stories use the same skill sets, but is that really true? What can writing short stories teach you about writing novels and vice versa? Should you always start out writing short stories? We discuss all this in the latest episode of Drafting Notes!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available months earlier if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
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Kate Foster worked as a national newspaper journalist for more than twenty years before becoming an author. Growing up in Edinburgh, she became fascinated by its history and often uses it as inspiration for her stories. Her previous novels include The Maiden, which won the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The King’s Witches. The Mourning Necklace is her third novel.
We had a great chat with Kate, hearing about how taking a writing course helped her develop her first novel, The Maiden, and how she found an agent in part thanks to success in Bloody Scotland's Pitch Perfect competition. Plus, we learn about her approach to writing historical fiction and why every story starts with a character for her.
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On this week's Drafting Notes, we are discussing that issue that every writer needs to deal with: Rejection! How do you handle it? Is there ever a point in your career where you don't have to deal with it (spoiler: no). And what are our thoughts on being resilient when you receive those rejections?
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available at least three months early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Stuart MacBride is the Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae and Ash Henderson novels. He’s also published standalones, novellas, and short stories, as well as a slightly twisted children’s picture book for slightly twisted children. His latest book, This House of Burning Bones, is out now.
Despite some technical difficulties (explained at the start!) we enjoyed chatting with Stuart and hearing about how he loves the thrill of the blank page and how every story starts with him writing the cover copy for the novel. We also chat about true crime and the danger of sensationalising it, as well as whether he prefers writing long-running series or standalones.
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Andrew Hunter Murray is a writer, broadcaster and comedian. He co-hosts the award-winning podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, which has received 500 million downloads and toured the world. He also writes jokes and journalism for Private Eye magazine, hosts the Eye's podcast Page 94, presents BBC Radio 4’s Friday night comedy The Naked Week, and spent 14 years writing BBC2’s QI.
His first novel, The Last Day, was a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, and one of the top 10 fiction debuts of 2020; his second, The Sanctuary, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month; and his third, A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering, was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic literature.
We had a great time speaking with Andrew all about how he got into writing for TV and Private Eye, and how that differs from writing fiction. We also discuss why his first two books were more speculative, with the latest being more humorous. Plus, we strangle a few metaphors along the way...
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Julian Simpson is a London-based writer and director known for his work across film, TV, and audio, including on Spooks, Hustle, Hotel Babylon, New Tricks, and Doctor Who. He’s also the co-founder of Storypunk and the creator of acclaimed audio dramas like The Lovecraft Investigations. He is currently running a Kickstarter for the next chapter of The Lovecraft Investigations, focusing on 20th Century occultist, Aleister Crowley.
We had great fun chatting with Julian and hearing about how he first got started in TV and film, as well as hearing about the project he very nearly made with a huge Hollywood star. He tells us why he moved to audio, and how he came up with the idea for the acclaimed Lovecraft Investigations series, and the future plans for that series.
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Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and storyteller, whose 21 books—translated into 58 languages—include The Island of Missing Trees, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, and The Forty Rules of Love. A fellow and Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature, she holds a PhD in political science, has taught at Oxford University, and is a celebrated voice for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and freedom of expression. Her latest book, There Are Rivers in the Sky, is out in paperback now.
We loved speaking with Elif and hearing about how and why she moved from writing in Turkish to English, and how she found the transition. We also speak about censorship, including the need to not self-censor as you write, and how she uses her writing to explore important and topical themes.
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Robert is the author of The Tainted Cup, The Divine Cities trilogy and The Founders Trilogy. A Drop of Corruption, the sequel to The Tainted Cup, is out now. His work has received the Edgar Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Phillip K. Dick Citation of Excellence, and he has been shortlisted for the World Fantasy, British Fantasy, and Locus Awards. He also dug a very good french drain in his backyard back in 2019.
We had a great chat with Robert, hearing about why he moved into writing fantasy after early award success with other genres, and why he believes it is a framework for any kind of story you want to tell. We also hear why he now plans his novels rather than pantsing as he did before, and we talk about the importance of finding the heart of the story before you start writing.
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On this episode of Drafting Notes, we talk about the importance of research: how it can spur ideas, how to go about it with difficult topics, what to include (and not include) in your writing and much more! And once you have all your notes, how do you organise them?
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes episodes are available at least three months early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageonehttps://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
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Frances White is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Voyage of the Damned, a queer fantasy murder mystery at sea. A Nottingham resident, Frances is a creative writing graduate from Royal Holloway University of London. When not writing, Frances can be found sewing nerdy costumes or researching obscure historical facts.
We loved speaking to Frances and hearing about how Voyage of the Damned came to be, and why she thinks it has found such success. We also talk about the importance of queer representation in books, and what it's like to develop a loyal band of fans as an author.
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On this episode, we are talking about how to deal with those days that every writer has when you just aren't feeling it. What do you do if you are doubting what you've written? Push through or stubbornly try and fix it? We offer our thoughts and possible solutions - some more serious than others!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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David Hewson’s novels have been translated worldwide, from Italian to Japanese, with his debut, Semana Santa, filmed with Mira Sorvino. His work spans Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Amsterdam, including the Nic Costa series in Rome, the Pieter Vos books in Amsterdam, and his adaptations of The Killing in Copenhagen. A former journalist for The Times and The Sunday Times, he turned to fiction full-time in 2005. His latest book, When the Germans Come, is out now.
We had a great chat with David, hearing how he began his career in journalism before moving into the world of fiction. We talk about all the different types of novels he has written, from historical to contemporary crime, as well his adaptations of series such as The Killing. We also chat about how he approaches writing his historical fiction, and why enjoys writing for audio as well.
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Nicholas Binge is a bestselling author of speculative thrillers, literary science fiction, and horror. His novels include Extremity (2025), Dissolution (2025), Ascension (2023) and Professor Everywhere (2020). Binge is based in Edinburgh, UK, where he also lectures in creative writing.
Regular listeners will know Nick as he has been on the pod not once but twice (does this make him our first three-peat guest?) We had a great chat with Nick, hearing about the influences on his new speculative thriller, Dissolution, out now!
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Nadine Matheson lives in London and is a criminal solicitor. In 2016, she won the City University Crime Writing Competition and completed the Creative Writing (Crime/Thrillers Novels) Master’s Degree with distinction in 2018. In 2019, Nadine signed with A.M. Heath Literary Agents and her debut crime fiction novel, The Jigsaw Man, was won by HQ (HarperCollins) in a six-publisher auction. The best-selling ‘The Jigsaw Man’ was published in 2021, has been translated into fifteen languages and has been optioned for television. She also has her own podcast where she interviews authors called The Conversation with Nadine Matheson.
We had great fun chatting with Nadine all about her writing career, how she nearly didn't do the Creative Writing Masters, and how that helped her career. Plus, we talk about the things that aren't always discussed, like choosing between agents and why having your book go to auction can be a very scary process (but it worked out okay!)
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How to find the time to write? Even published authors often have day jobs, and so it can be tricky to find the time to write. In this episode of Drafting Notes, we discuss how we manage to do it, and what writing habits and techniques help us get words on the page. Let us know if you have any different methods!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them! This series is a timed-exclusive for our Patreon backers - support us on Patreon for that and other great benefits!
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Simon Scarrow’s passion for writing began at an early age. After a childhood spent travelling the world, he pursued his great love of history as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer. His Roman soldier heroes Cato and Macro made their debut in 2000 in UNDER THE EAGLE, and have subsequently appeared in many bestsellers in the Eagles of the Empire series, including CENTURION, THE GLADIATOR and THE BLOOD OF ROME. His latest book, DEATH IN BERLIN, is out now, and his is on a tour of the UK for that right now.
We had a great chat with Simon, discussing how he researches his novels, and talking about the differences between historical fiction and historical fantasy. Plus, he discusses why his latest book is sadly prescient in many ways, and we chat about why certain historical periods are viewed as more sellable than others.
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We often hear that authors shouldn't write to market, shouldn't chase trends... but how true is that? Is it always a bad thing? And even if not writing to market, how important is it to keep an eye on the market as you write? We discuss it all in this episode of Drafting Notes.
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them! This series is a timed-exclusive for our Patreon backers - support us on Patreon for that and other great benefits!
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Trevor Wood served 16 years as a Writer (not what you think it is) before branching out into journalism and then writing plays. From there, he moved into writing novels, with his debut, MAN ON THE STREET, winning the CWA New Blood award and the Crimefest Debut Crime Novel of the Year. His latest book, The Silent Killer, was published in July 2024 and is just out in paperback.
We had a great chat with Trevor, learning what a Royal Navy Writer actually does, hearing about why he moved away from comedy plays to crime writing, and why he wants to explore serious societal issues with his stories. We also talk about planning vs pantsing and his iterative editing process.
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Self-promotion for authors of all levels is increasingly important in today's busy publishing world - even with a traditional publishing deal, authors are encouraged to promote their own books. But what works, what doesn't - and how do you get over that "cringe" factor of promoting your own work? We discuss it all in this episode of Drafting Notes - a Patreon timed exclusive!
Drafting Notes episodes are available at least three months early if you join our Patreon - check it out and get this and other great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
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Chris McQueer is a Scottish writer and spoken art performer. Writing in the Scottish vernacular, he is known for his dark comedy and surreal humour. He is best known for his two published collections of short stories Hings and HWFG. His debut novel, Hermit, is out now.
We had a great chat with Chris, hearing about how he first decided to start writing his stories on Twitter, and why becoming a full-time writer wasn't all it is cracked up to be. We hear about why he has moved from short stories to novels, and why he wanted to write the story of a vulnerable young man in Hermit.
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Annabel Campbell writes fantasy with fierce female characters and disaster wizards, and believes everything is improved by dragons. She lives in a tiny village in Scotland, where most of her neighbours are sheep. She has a PhD in cardiovascular science, and when not making things up for a living, she works as a Medical Writer. Her debut novel, The Outcast Mage, is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Annabel and hearing that The Outcast Mage grew from a story she wrote when she was 14! Plus, we hear how she made the scary decision to change agents before she had a publishing deal (and how it all worked out!) and talk about why special editions are such a big thing in fantasy publishing.
(Annabel also asked us to note that Chris Simmons, who drew character art for her, worked on a graphic novel called Prehistoria!)
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What books influenced you as a reader and writer? We continue our countdown of the top ten books that influenced us as writers - from number 5 to number 1!
(Before the comments fly in, we want to stress again: This is NOT a list of the ten best books we have read! We wanted to discuss books that have stayed with us for whatever reason and have influenced the stories we want to tell.)
Let us know books that have influenced you in the comments below!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them! This series is a timed-exclusive for our Patreon backers - support us on Patreon for that and other great benefits!
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Delilah S. Dawson is the New York Times bestselling writer of Star Wars: Phasma, Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade, The Secrets of Long Snoot, The Perfect Weapon, and Scorched; Disney Mirrorverse: Pure of Heart, It Will Only Hurt for a Moment, Guillotine, Midnight at the Houdini, Bloom, Mine, The Violence, the Blud series, Servants of the Storm, the HIT series, Wake of Vultures and the Shadow series (as Lila Bowen), and a variety of short stories in anthologies such as Death & Honey, Robots vs. Fairies, Hellboy: an Assortment of Horrors, Violent Ends, Carniepunk, Three Slices, and Last Night a Superhero Saved My Life.
We had a great chat with Delilah, hearing about how she is so prolific, and what it is really like writing for IP projects like Star Wars (spoiler - Disney trips are a bonus!) We also walk about how structure helps her plan her stories, and she explains why letting go of the idea of writing a perfect book has helped her.
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What books influenced you as a reader and writer? That's what we're looking at on today's special episode of Drafting Notes as we break down numbers 10-6 on our own list of 10 books. Before the comments fly in, we want to stress again: This is NOT a list of the ten best books we have read! We wanted to discuss books that have stayed with us for whatever reason and have influenced the stories we want to tell.
Let us know books that have influenced you in the comments below!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them! This series is a timed-exclusive for our Patreon backers - support us on Patreon for that and other great benefits!
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now
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Jay Kristoff is a #1 international, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction. He is the winner of eight Aurealis Awards, an ABIA, has over two million books in print and is published in over thirty five countries. His latest book is The Empire of The Damned, the second book in his Empire of The Vampire trilogy.
We had great fun chatting with Jay, hearing about he moved from marketing into writing, and how some encouraging words from agents early on really helped him to continue writing. We also chat about how he loves to play with the formatting of his books, and chat about how he writes his visceral fight scenes.
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We're joined by not one, not two, but three brilliant authors for our end of year Christmas special!
Anna Mazzola is the award-winning author of five historical crime or Gothic novels. She is now also writing legal thrillers under the name Anna Sharpe. Her latest book, Notes on A Drowning, is out January 2025.
Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India which have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 15 languages. His latest book, Hunted, is on many of the best crime thrillers of the year lists for 2024.
Vaseem Khan is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India and the upcoming Quantum of Menace, the first in a series featuring Q from the James Bond franchise. His debut, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020. In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House, the first in the Malabar House novels set in 1950s Bombay, won the CWA Historical Dagger. Vaseem is the current Chair of the UK Crime Writers Association.
We had great fun chatting with Anna, Abir and Vas about their writing highlights of 2024, their favourite books and movies, and most importantly, Abir's ranking of eggs... Plus, we test their writing skills with a game at the end.
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We had great fun chatting with Anna, Abir and Vas about their writing highlights of 2024, their favourite books and movies, and most importantly, Abir's ranking of eggs... Plus, we test their writing skills with a game at the end.
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Jo Callaghan works full time as a senior strategist, carrying out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. She was a student of the Writers’ Academy Course (Penguin Random House) and was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Writing Competition and Bath Novel Competition. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing In the Blink of an Eye, her debut crime novel, which explores learning to live with loss and what it means to be human. It went on to win huge prizes, and her latest is a follow up entitled Leave No Trace.
We had a great chat with Jo, hearing about how she dealt with initial rejection, including two books failing on submission, and how personal grief led to her finding her authentic voice and writing In The Blink of An Eye. We also chat about AI more generally, and the threats it can pose, and whether it is all doom and gloom from writers' perspectives.
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Barnaby Walter is (as B.P. Walter) the author of A Version of the Truth (published in the US as The Couple's Secret), Hold Your Breath, The Dinner Guest and more. He was born and raised in Essex and after spending his childhood and teenage years reading compulsively, he worked in bookshops then went to the University of Southampton to study Film and English followed by an MA in Film & Cultural Management. His latest book, Scuttle, is published under the name Barnaby Walter.
We had great fun chatting with Barnaby and hearing how he is a meticulous planner, and also why his process isn't one that many would follow (if you don't like listening to music when writing, you really won't like his approach...!) Plus, we talk about when it is okay to write to market, and why books that don't immediately sell can be valuable for the future.
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Adam Howorth was until recently Communications Director for Apple, helped launch the iPhone and once bought Steve Jobs a hot chocolate. Now he spends his time creating tense and otherworldly storylines such as with his debut novel FALLEN FEATHERS, which Stephen Fry has called "Enthralling."
We had a good chat with Adam, hearing how he came to writing fiction late on, what he loves about it, and why he chose a different route to getting published than the normal trad route.
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Genoveva Dimova is a Bulgarian fantasy author and archaeologist based in Scotland. Her debut novel inspired by Slavic folklore, Foul Days, came out in June 2024, with the sequel, Monstrous Nights, just out in October. When she’s not writing, she likes to explore old ruins, climb even older hills, and listen to practically ancient rock music.
We had a great chat with Gen, hearing about how she started to write in English, how she found her agent and how fantasy has changed from the old Anglocentric approach in recent years. We also hear about how her day job as an archeologist helps her writing - and why she would never want to write a story about an archeologist.
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On this week's episode, we talk about that age-old writing divide - Planners v Pantsers! Some writers need to outline every plot detail before they start to write, while other like to, well, fly by the seat of their pants. Is one method better than the other - and are they as different as they first appear?
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes (which after the first few episodes will be timed exclusives for our Patreon members!) in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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CHLOE C. PEÑARANDA is the USA Today bestselling author of The Nytefall Trilogy and An Heir Comes to Rise Series. A lifelong avid reader and writer, Chloe discovered her passion for storytelling in her early teens. Her stories have been spun from years of building on fictional characters and exploring Tolkien-like quests in made up worlds. During her time at the University of the West of Scotland, Chloe immersed herself in writing for short film, producing animations, and spending class time dreaming of far off lands.
We had great fun chatting with Chloe, learning about how she got into writing, and how she grew her TikTok following from zero to over 74k which led to a surge in her readership. We also talk to her about moving from self-pub to trad, and the pros and cons of both.
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On this week's episode, we ask the question many writers face: how do we deal with all the waiting? Whether it's from agents, editors or others, much of publishing involves waiting hopefully for news. We discuss some of the ways we try and deal with that, and also suggest ways that others can try to minimise the anxiety!
Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes (which after the first few episodes will be timed exclusives for our Patreon members!) in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone
Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Graham Bartlett is a former police officer, having risen to Chief Superintendent of Brighton and Hove before turning to writing when he left after 30 years in the police force. Working first with renowned crime author (and former Page One guest!) Peter James on two non-fiction books gave Graham the writing bug and he has now written three crime novels, with his latest, City on Fire, just out. In addition, he has set up a consultancy for all budding and established crime writers where Graham and his team of experts offer accurate, expert advice to writers such as Peter James, Mark Billingham, Elly Griffiths, Antony Horowitz and many more.
We had great fun chatting with Graham and hearing about how he set up his consultancy business and why he was tempted to try his hand at fiction writing. We also talk about him choosing to "write what you know" with his books, and ask about the police stories he couldn't include in his books.
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The Andromeda Award was launched in 2024 by UTA and C&W to seek out and support the best new emerging science fiction and fantasy writers.
Literary agents Clare Conville from C&W in the UK and Byrd Leavell from UTA join us to tell us why their agencies wanted to launch this new award for unpublished sci fi and fantasy authors, and tell us about the prizes and rules for entry.
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Welcome to the first episode in a new series of podcast episodes (which after this episode will be timed exclusives for our Patreon members!) in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!
This week, we are chatting about revisiting old material, and how easy (or difficult) it can be to rework that when doing redrafts or even taking the material into a new project.
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Harry Fisher is a native of Leith (the port for Edinburgh) so that’s where his crime thrillers are set. Prior to his debut, Harry had never written a word of fiction, so he just launched in – cold turkey for authors. Now he has three books published, with his fourth, "48 Hours and Then She Dies" out now.
We had a good chat with Harry, hearing how he only ever intended to write one novel, why he chose to self-publish, then go trad, and then back to self-pub again. We get into how tricky it can be to buy back the rights to your books and whether he prefers trad or self-pub.
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John Connolly is a bestselling author of mystery and supernatural fiction. With over 30 published works, including the popular Charlie Parker series, his books have captivated readers around the world. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, and Macavity awards in the US, a CWA Dagger in the UK, and an Irish Book Award, as well as numerous international accolades, and has published more UK Sunday Times Top 10 Hardback Bestsellers than any other Irish writer. His collection of short stories, Night & Day, is out at the end of October.
We loved speaking with John and hearing how he began to write his supernatural crime novels featuring Charlie Parker, and discussing what authors who write cross-genre should (and shouldn't) tell agents and editors when pitching such stories. We also loved getting into a proper craft discussion about writing in general, and how to write in a way that is sustainable for a whole career.
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Kate Mosse is the award-winning author of novels, short story collections, essays, non-fiction, and a much-loved playwright. Her books include the multimillion-selling Languedoc trilogy which begins with the unmissable Labyrinth, and the bestselling more recent series, The Joubert Family Chronicles. The final book in that series, The Map of Bones, was published on 10 Oct by Mantle (Pan Macmillan) and is available as a hardback, ebook and audio recording. Kate’s live one-woman stage show, Labyrinth, will be on tour in 2025. Dates and info can be found here: www.labyrinthlive2025.com
We loved having the chance to speak with Kate and hearing how she had never originally planned to become a novelist until a suggestion from a friend. She tells us how it felt when Labyrinth became such a smash hit, and how she never plans her novels, but instead spends years researching the history of the stories she wants to tell.
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David Goodman is a novelist and short fiction writer of thrillers and science fiction. His debut novel, A Reluctant Spy, is out now from Headline Books in hardback, eBook and audiobook.
We've known Dave for a while outside the podcast, and so it was brilliant having a chance to sit down with him and hear him tell us all about his his brilliant debut got published. It's a story that includes tales of rejection, perseverance and why building up a body of work is so important for authors, because you never know when that opportunity will come along.
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Lee Child is the author of more than two dozen New York Times bestselling Jack Reacher thrillers, with most having reached the #1 position, and the #1 bestselling complete Jack Reacher story collection, No Middle Name. Foreign rights in the Reacher series have sold in one hundred territories. Andrew Child (as Andrew Grant) is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Even, Die Twice, More Harm Than Good, RUN, False Positive, False Friend, False Witness, Invisible, and Too Close To Home. He began to take over the mantle of writing Jack Reacher from Lee starting with The Sentinel, and his most recent Reacher novel is In Too Deep.
We loved having the opportunity to chat with Lee and Andrew, and hearing about how Jack Reacher was born out of necessity after Lee lost his job in TV. Both of them explain their writing processes, and Lee tells us how rather than a list of ideas about Reacher, he began with a list of the things he didn't want from the character. We also talked about them writing the last few Reacher novels together, and how Andrew feels about taking the series forward.
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As we get ready to launch Episode 200, we wanted to do a short thank you video for sticking with us over the past five years - and to let you know of our exciting plans to come!
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Deborah Harkness is the best-selling author of numerous novels. Her debut, A Discovery of Witches, was an immediate best-seller, hitting #2 on the New York Times list, and was also a bestseller in the UK, France and Germany. The initial trilogy in the All Souls series has been translated into 37 languages. Her latest book in the series, The Black Bird Oracle, is just out.
We loved chatting with Deb and hearing how she became an author almost by accident thanks to a rainy holiday and a visit to a bookshop. What started as an academic thought experiment about what would happen if witches and vampires are real soon ballooned into a 1100 page draft, leading to her debut novel. We discussed her process, research, and also why you shouldn't chase trends as an author.
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Mark Lawrence is a best-selling fantasy author. His first trilogy, THE BROKEN EMPIRE, has been universally acclaimed as a ground-breaking work of fantasy. Following The Broken Empire is the related RED QUEEN’S WAR trilogy. THE BOOK OF THE ANCESTOR trilogy is set on a different world and is followed by the related BOOK OF THE ICE trilogy. There is also THE IMPOSSIBLE TIMES trilogy, a D&D/sci-fi work set in London in the 80s. All of these trilogies can be read in any order. His latest series is THE LIBRARY trilogy, with the second book, THE BOOK THAT BROKE THE WORLD, out now.
It was great having the chance to interview Mark live before an audience at this year's Cymera Festival in Edinburgh. We chatted about his journey to becoming published, and he told us how he hates planning and never does for his books. He also talked about how success in publishing is such a lottery, and why he created the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) to try and help authors with that lottery.
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Dan Malakin is a crime/thriller writer and data security consultant. His short stories have been widely published both in print and online, and he has twice been shortlisted for the Bridport prize. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from Brunel University, and his debut novel, THE REGRET, was published by Bloodhound Books in Summer 2019. His next thriller, THE BOX, was published by Viper Books in 2022, and his latest, THE WRECKAGE OF US, is just out.
We loved chatting with Dan and hearing how he honed his craft over the years before publishing his first novel (400 short stories!) We also hear how is is constantly revising his writing process to get the most out of his writing time, and why an early start is essential for his writing habits...
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Conn Iggulden is one of the most successful authors of historical fiction writing today, with bestselling series on Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and the Wars of the Roses, as well as two stand-alone novels: Dunstan, set in the red-blooded world of tenth-century England, and The Falcon of Sparta, in which Iggulden returns to the Ancient World. Both instalments of his Athenian series, The Gates of Athens and Protector, and his recent Golden Age series, Lion and Empire, are Sunday Times bestsellers. With his brother, he also wrote the award-winning The Dangerous Book for Boys. His latest book, Nero, is just out.
We had a fun chat with Conn, talking about his journey which began with sending manuscripts direct to publishers across a variety of genres before his first novel was picked up. He tells us how his approach to writing historical fiction has changed over time, and why he loves every one of the characters he writes, no matter how despicable they may be.
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Ilaria Bernardini is one of Italy’s leading novelists, now writing novels in the English language, and an exciting emerging screenwriter. She has film and television projects in development and in production with Lorenzo Mieli's The Apartment, Andy Harries’ Left Bank Pictures, The Russo Brothers/Amazon Studios, Francesco Melzi D’Eril's (SUSPIRIA, BECKETT) MeMo Films. Ilaria helped adapt her own novel CORPO LIBERO for producers Indigo/ALL3MEDIA and Rai & Paramount+. She is also continuing to develop Bernardo Bertolucci’s final script (which Ilaria co-wrote with him) THE ECHO CHAMBER. For Amazon Studios, the Russo Brothers (as directors and creators) & Cattleya she is writing the international science fiction TV series, CITADEL. Her book, WE WILL BE FOREST, is just out in the UK.
We enjoyed speaking with Ilaria and hearing about her unusual route into publishing via approaching publishers and then authors directly (not a route that she recommends others follow!) Plus, we hear why she chooses to write some books in Italian and some in English, why she translated her own English novel, The Portrait, into Italian, and what it is like working with the Russo brothers on Amazon's CITADEL series.
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Bob McDevitt is festival director for Scotland's premier crime writing festival, Bloody Scotland, and programmer for Glasgow's Aye Write literature festival. He has also worked in both sales and commissioning roles at Headline.
We had a fun chat with Bob, hearing about how he found himself organising two of Scotland's biggest literary festivals and just what goes into their organisation. We also hear why literary festivals are so important for authors and culture in general, and discuss the thorny and topical subject of festival funding as well. Plus, we get a preview of this year's Bloody Scotland programme!
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Have a look at Bloody Scotland's 2024 lineup and grab your tickets now!
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Gillian Redfearn is deputy publisher at Gollancz, publishing authors from Joe Abercrombie to Brandon Sanderson.
We had a great chat with Gillian, hearing how she broke into the publishing industry, what. the day-to-day of an editor involves, and what sort of stories catch her eye when they are submitted by agents. Plus, we find out that she was less than impressed with Joe Abercrombie's first chapter... but fortunately she kept on reading!
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Becky Brown and Norah Perkins are both literary agents with a twist - they founded and head up Curtis Brown's Heritage section, meaning that they represent the estates of authors such as AA Milne, Iris Murdoch and many more. They also recently won Literary Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024 for their pioneering work in this field.
We had a fascinating chat with Becky and Norah about how they got started in this field, and learned about the differences (and similarities) with the "normal" world of agenting. We also chatted about why all authors with published works should think about their posthumous rights.
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Julie Crisp is a literary agent and editor with over fifteen years’ experience working for three major houses across a broad spectrum of commercial titles within fiction, non-fiction and children’s. This also included three years spent working in the Australian publishing industry. For nine years, she headed up the UK arm of one of the largest global brands of science fiction and fantasy, Tor. She has worked on bestselling and award-winning authors such as Ann Cleeves, Peter F. Hamilton, China Miéville, Neal Asher, Amanda Hocking, Naomi Novik and TV/Game partnerships including Halo, The Returned, The Walking Dead and Twin Peaks. As an agent she is actively looking to build my list and is looking for historical fiction, crime/thrillers, bookclub fiction and science fiction and fantasy. Her clients include John Gwynne, Devin Madson, C.T. Rwizi and Sam Hawke.
We had a great time chatting with Julie and hearing how she got her start in the publishing world as an editorial assistant, and learn how she uses her editorial experience in her role as a literary agent. We also talk about the growing popularity of genre fiction, as well as talking in detail about queries: the importance of the query letter and comp titles, and what highlights certain things as red flags in some queries that she sees.
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Visit Julie's website to query her now
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John Baker is a literary agent for Bell Lomax Moreton, focused on sci fi, fantasy and horror. He is the Secretary of the Association of Author's Agents and is co-chair of the AAA Bridge Committee. He also serves on the Kingston University MA Publishing Advisory Board. He is building a small but unique list of authors, who all share a passion for subverting expectations and creating rich new worlds of adventure, including authors like AM Shine, whose book The Watchers is soon to be a film produced by M Night Shyamalan.
We had great fun chatting with John about how he got started in the world of agenting, and hearing why he enjoys writing that takes a big swing and is different from what people might expect. Plus, he tells us about the importance of query letters and what can help make a query stand out in the thousands that he receives each year.
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Jonny Geller joined Curtis Brown in 1993 as an assistant after a short career as an actor. He became a literary agent in 1995 after discovering a novel on the unsolicited pile which went on to sell rights around the world. After taking part in a Management Buyout in 2001, he became CEO of the Agency in 2012 and is now CEO of The Curtis Brown Group, the parent company of Curtis Brown agency, C&W, Ed Victor Ltd, Curtis Brown Creative (CBC), Tavistock Wood, Markham Froggatt and Irwin, Cuba Productions and Chair of CBC.
Jonny represents a wide range of globally significant writers including novelists, memoirists, Journalists, former Prime Ministers, thought leaders, business people, actors, musicians and screenwriters. Jonny has previously been awarded Literary Agent of the Year and has been listed on The Bookseller’s 150 every year since its inception. He has also been named one of the Evening Standard's 1000 Most Influential People in London and was profiled in The Telegraph.
We had a great time chatting with Jonny and hearing how he got into agenting. We also hear why he thinks query letters are so important, and dive into what an agent's role really involves for their authors.
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Francesca Riccardi is a literary agent with Kate Nash Literary Agency who has over fifteen years of experience in the publishing industry, starting at RNIB where she transcribed books into accessible formats for blind and partially sighted readers. She has since worked in sales and marketing roles at publishers Canelo, Atlantic Books, Constable & Robinson and HarperCollins.
Francesca reads widely, especially across popular commercial genres, but is a particular fan of crime and thrillers, and loves a dogged detective or unusual sleuth. She also enjoys books about unusual family dynamics, toxic friendships and people keeping secrets.
We had a great time speaking with Francesca, hearing about what she looks for in queries and what aspiring authors should - and shouldn't - do to hook that agent! Plus, we hear how her time in publishing helps her in her role as an agent, and discuss how important the different parts of a query package are.
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Kim Sherwood is an award-winning novelist and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. Her debut novel Testament (2018) won the Harper’s Bazaar Big Book of the Year Award and the Bath Novel Award, was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. In 2019, Kim was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Kim is currently writing a series of Double O novels for the Ian Fleming Estate and HarperCollins, expanding the James Bond universe with a new cast of Double O agents for the 21st century. The first title, Double or Nothing, was released in 2022, and the follow-up, A Spy Like Me, is just out.
We loved chatting with Kim and hearing how a very last-minute decision to enter the Bath Novel Award changed her writing life, as well as talking about just how she managed to land the dream job of writing the new Bond novels. We talk about what it's like to write for a franchise that is so big and beloved, and discuss the pros and cons that can bring.
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Jasper Fforde is the critically acclaimed author of The Last Dragonslayer series: THE LAST DRAGONSLAYER, THE SONG OF THE QUARKBEAST and THE EYE OF ZOLTAR, SHADES OF GREY, the Nursery Crime books: THE BIG OVER EASY and THE FOURTH BEAR and the Thursday Next novels: THE EYRE AFFAIR, LOST IN A GOOD BOOK, THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS, SOMETHING ROTTEN, FIRST AMONG SEQUELS, ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING and THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT. His latest book is RED SIDE STORY, a sequel to Shades of Grey.
We really enjoyed this chat with Jasper, hearing about how he dealt with initial rejections, and why you must persist with your writing in order to make it better. We also chat about not writing to market and hear how he develops initial ideas to full story, including the concept of the "narrative dare" that he as an author makes with himself. Plus, we talk about his rather unique author website!
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Eliza Chan is a Scottish-born speculative fiction author. Her short fiction has been published in The Dark, Podcastle, Fantasy Magazine and The Best of British Fantasy. Her debut novel FATHOMFOLK — inspired by mythology, ESEAN cities and diaspora feels — was published by Orbit in Feb 2024 and hit number 1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
We had a great chat with Eliza, talking about the differences in writing short- and long-form fiction, as well as the growing acceptance of wider representation in publishing. Plus, we talk about why Twitter isn't all bad (!) and hear about hopping vampires...
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The Submission Grinder
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Gareth Brown has been writing novels since he was a teenager. His first published novel - The Book of Doors - will be released in the UK (Bantam) and USA (William Morrow) in February 2024. Foreign language rights for The Book of Doors have also been sold to nearly twenty other territories including Germany. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary.
It was great fun speaking with Gareth and hearing about his long writing journey, including hearing about why its so important to be patient as a writer. We talk about the difficulty of not selling a book on sub, and how to move past such disappointments, and why he thinks The Book of Doors has been such a success.
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Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era, with a body of work spanning books, film, graphic novels, videogames, and non-fiction. An award-winning author and New York Times bestseller, his creations include Atomic Blonde, The Dog Sitter Detective, the Brigitte Sharp thrillers, and many more.
We loved chatting with Antony and hearing how he got his start as a professional writer through comics and graphic novels, including writing The Coldest City, which was the graphic novel on which the film Atomic Blonde was based. We also chat about his work in video games such as Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor and more (and hear about what it was like writing 4,000 orcish insults) and why he has recently moved into writing cosy crime novels with the Dogsitter Detective series. Plus, we talk about his process, which he has brought together in his book, The Organised Writer.
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James Logan (also known as James Long) has worked for years in the publishing industry, currently as Senior Commissioning Editor for Orbit. But for years, he harboured a secret - he really wanted to write his own fantasy epics instead of just editing them - and he has achieved that dream with his debut novel, THE SILVERBLOOD PROMISE, which is out in April 2024, and has already received rave reviews, including from the likes of Scott Lynch.
We really enjoyed chatting with James and hearing about his work on the publishing side of the fence, editing authors such as Richard Swan, as well as his desires to become an author. We hear how it too years for that writing to pay off, including what seemed like a doomed submission process with other editors only for it to be picked up just as he was considering self-publishing. Plus, we reminisce about our favourite Fighting Fantasy books.
Links:
Buy The Silverblood Promise
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This episode is also available as a full video interview on our YouTube channel
Felicity Blunt has been a literary agent with Curtis Brown since 2005, and represents authors that span the literary to commercial spectrum, including Booker Prize shortlisted Claire Keegan, Women's Prize shortlisted Meg Mason, Rosamund Lupton, Renée Knight and Gillian McAllister in addition to NYT bestselling debut authors Abi Daré and Bonnie Garmus.
Gráinne Fox is a literary agent with UTA and represents award-winning novelists, New York Times bestselling journalists and academics. Her clients have been shortlisted for, or won, various awards including The William Hill Sports Book of The Year, The Booker Prize, The Women’s Prize, The Irish Book Awards, The British Book Awards, The Orwell Prize, The Plutarch Award, the RTÉ Short Story Competition, and the NBCC.
We were delighted to have the chance to catch up with both of them just ahead of the start of this year's London Book Fair to hear why that and other literary book fairs are so important, and to talk about what really happens at these events!
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We know - we've been away far longer than we said. This is a very short explanation/apology for that and a teaser of our imminent return!
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This episode is also available as a full video episode on our YouTube channel!
A slightly different - but bumper-length - episode this time as we are joined by authors Nick Binge and Dave Goodman for our review of 2023!
Nick is a previous podcast guest and is an internationally bestselling author of speculative fiction, sci-fi, and horror. His novels include Ascension and Professor Everywhere.
Dave is a thriller and SFF novelist and short story author with stories in Clarkesworld and Analog. His debut novel is coming from a major publisher in 2024.
We loved finishing off the year chatting with Dave and Nick about their writing highlights and hearing about what they have planned for 2024. Plus, we discuss each others' highlights on the reading and viewing front, as well as finding out about everyone's favourite Christmas movie...
Links:
Buy Nick's books now
Read Dave's latest novelette in Analog
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Visit Nick's website
Visit Dave's website
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Cassandra Khaw is an award-winning game writer, and USA Today bestseller. Khaw's work can be found in places like Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Tor.com. Khaw's first original novella, Hammers on Bone, was a British Fantasy award and Locus award finalist.
Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime,” and is in development as a feature film. Some of Kadrey’s other books include King Bullet, The Grand Dark, Butcher Bird, and The Dead Take the A Train (with Cassandra Khaw). He’s written for film and comics, including Heavy Metal, Lucifer, and Hellblazer. Kadrey also makes music with his band, A Demon in Fun City.
It was great having the chance to speak to both of them and hear about their very different routes into the writing world, and how they came to collaborate on The Dead Take The A Train. We also discuss why authors shouldn't be shy about asking for proper payment for their work and why it's always good to have more than one project on the go.
Links:
Buy The Dead Take The A Train now
Follow Cassandra on Twitter/X
Follow Richard on Twitter/X
Visit Cassandra's website
Visit Richard's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Gareth Rubin writes about social affairs, travel and the arts for British newspapers. In 2013 he directed a documentary about therapeutic art at the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London ('Bedlam'). His books include Liberation Square, set in Soviet-occupied London; The Winter Agent, about British agents in Paris on the eve of D-Day and The Turnglass, two entwined mysteries that take place in Essex in 1881 and Los Angeles in 1939.
We loved chatting with Gareth and hearing how he moved into writing fiction from journalism, why he thinks you should never give your book to friends to read, and what made him want to write a tête-bêche novel. Plus, we discuss why research can be both helpful and a waste of time, and why he loathes the writing process!
Links:
Buy The Turnglass and Gareth's other books
Follow Gareth on Twitter/X
Visit Gareth's website
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Susan Lewis is the internationally bestselling author of fifty books across the genres of family drama, thriller, suspense and crime. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol during the 1960s. Following periods of living in Los Angeles and the South of France, she currently lives in Gloucestershire with her husband, James, and her dog, Mimi. Her latest book is I Know It's You.
We enjoyed chatting with Susan about how she got her start in TV and why it was advice from a producer that led her to become a novelist. We ask how she keeps coming up with ideas, talk about what makes a compelling protagonist, and hear some stories of her times in Hollywood...
Links:
Buy Susan's books
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Visit Susan's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ian Moore is a leading stand-up comedian, known for his sharp, entertaining punditry, who regularly headlines at London’s world-famous Comedy Store. A TV/radio regular, he stars in Dave’s satirical TV show Unspun and Channel 5’s topical comedy Big Mouths. Ian lives in rural France and commutes back to the UK every week. However, he has recently moved into the world of novel writing, with Death and Croissants being released to great reviews as the first in a new cosy crime series. His latest book, The Man Who Didn't Burn, sees Ian turn to a more serious side of his thriller writing.
We had a great time talking with Ian and hearing why he wrote his standup while actually standing up, why a desire never to leave the house again turned him into a novelist, and how doing so has allowed him to fulfil his dreams he had as an 18-year-old.
Links:
Buy Ian's books now
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Visit Ian's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Caimh McDonnell is the internationally bestselling author of the Dublin Trilogy which is set in his hometown. His debut novel A Man with One of Those Faces – a darkly comedic crime thriller – was published in 2016. It went on to spawn the increasingly uncountable Dublin Trilogy (seven and a half books and counting) and the McGarry Stateside series. The books have been ranked #1 in their Amazon categories in the UK, Ireland and the USA, have been translated into several languages and optioned for television. He also writes the critically acclaimed The Stranger Times series under the name of C.K. McDonnell. These books combine his distinctive dark wit with his love of the weird and wonderful to deliver a celebration of how truth really can be stranger than fiction.
We had great fun chatting with Caimh and hearing about why he left stand-up comedy for novel writing. He gave some great tips on how to be successful in self-publishing and also explains why he enjoys being both self-published and trad published, and why he went down that route.
Links:
Buy Caimh's books now!
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RJ Barker is a critically acclaimed and award-winning author of fantasy fiction. He won the 2020 British Fantasy Society (BFS) Robert Holdstock award for Best Novel for his fourth novel, The Bone Ships. His debut trilogy The Wounded Kingdom (Age of Assassins, Blood of Assassins and King of Assassins) was nominated for the David Gemmel Award, the Kitschie Golden Tentacle, The Compton Crook and the BFS Best Debut and Best Novel awards. He followed this with the award-winning Tide Child Trilogy: The Bone Ships, Call of the Bone Ships and The Bone Ships Wake. His latest book is Gods of the Wyrdwood.
This episode was recorded live at Cymera Festival in Edinburgh in July 2023, and we had a great time chatting with RJ about all things writing, Skyrim and dinosaurs... We also got an insight into his brilliant imagination as he gave us some hints about his next books, and heard about how he is such a prolific writer.
Links:
Buy RJ's books now!
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Sunyi Dean is a biracial autistic author who was born in Texas, grew up in Hong Kong, and now resides in North England. She writes speculative fiction with a weird slant, and has both too many books and too many children. In her spare time, she can be found hiking, weight lifting, wild-swimming, and dying in jiu-jitsu. She also founded and co-hosts the Publishing Rodeo Podcast with fellow Tor author, Scott Drakeford. Sunyi’s debut novel, THE BOOK EATERS, launched Aug 2022 and was an instant #2 Sunday Times Bestseller.
We had a great time chatting with Sunyi and hearing about her difficult journey to being published and talking about some of the difficulties that even published authors can face. We also chat about her own podcast, which is another must-listen (alongside this one of course!) for any writer.
Links:
Buy The Book Eaters now
Follow Sunyi on Twitter/X
Visit Sunyi's website
Listen to The Publishing Rodeo Podcast
Buy tickets for talks hosted by Tariq and Marco at this year's Bloody Scotland on 16 September 2023:
Tariq's event - High Seas, High Stakes: Will Dean, Amy McCulloch and Catherine Cooper
Marco's event - Deadly Deceptions: Gilly MacMillan, Stig Abell, Katherine Faulkner
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Alexander Darwin is an author living near Boston with his wife and three daughters. Outside of writing, he teaches and trains martial arts (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). He’s inspired by old-school Hong Kong action flicks, jRPGs, underdog stories and bibimbap bowls. Outside of writing fiction, Alexander has written for publications such as Rolling Stone Magazine, Jiu Jitsu Style and SF Signal. His latest piece, The Lost Diary of Anthony Bourdain, was a featured piece in Rolling Stone’s January 2022 Issue. His debut novel, Combat Codes, is out now.
We had a great chat with Alex, hearing about how he got started thanks to the SPFBO (Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off), and how he made a success of self-publishing. We also talk about the transition to trad publishing and discuss what aspects of self-publishing he misses now he has made the change. Plus, we discuss whether Star Wars is a fantasy movie...
Links:
Buy Combat Codes now
Follow Alex on Twitter
Visit Alex's website
Buy tickets for talks hosted by Tariq and Marco at this year's Bloody Scotland:
Tariq's event - High Seas, High Stakes: Will Dean, Amy McCulloch and Catherine Cooper
Marco's event - Deadly Deceptions: Gilly MacMillan, Stig Abell, Katherine Faulkner
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers about scary things happening to ordinary people. He has sold more than four million copies of his books and topped the bestseller lists numerous times since his first solo novel was published in 2013. His latest book, Keep Her Secret, is out now.
We had a great time chatting with Mark and hearing about his long journey to amazing success, including his moves back and forth between self-publishing and traditional publishing, and the pros and cons of both. We also talked about the importance of persistence with your writing even when nothing is happening, and chat about how publishing attitudes differ in the US and the UK.
Links:
Buy Keep Her Secret and Mark's other books now
Follow Mark on Twitter/X
Visit Mark's website
Buy tickets for talks hosted by Tariq and Marco at this year's Bloody Scotland:
Tariq's event - High Seas, High Stakes: Will Dean, Amy McCulloch and Catherine Cooper
Marco's event - Deadly Deceptions: Gilly MacMillan, Stig Abell, Katherine Faulkner
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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We have a rare returning guest this week as the brilliant Lauren Beukes joins us to tell us what she has been up to since her first appearance on the podcast (check out Episode 44 if you haven't heard that one before!).
She tells us all about her latest book, Bridge, which leads us to a discussion about why multiversal stories have become so big in recent years. Plus, we hear what she thought of The Shining Girls TV show, chat about the impact of AI on writers, and talk about the South African literary scene, including a very interesting figure known as Mikey the Killer...
Links:
Buy Bridge and Lauren's other novels now
Follow Lauren on Twitter/X
Visit Lauren's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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When he was a senior in college, Dean Koontz won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and has been writing ever since. His books are published in 38 languages and he has sold over 500 million copies to date. His latest book, After Death, is out now.
We had an amazing chat with Dean about his writing career, hearing how he got started back in 1968 writing sci fi, why he pivoted to suspense thrillers and horror, and how he continues to come up with amazing new ideas for his novels. He also tells us how he comes up with his famous twists, and tells us why he chose to go with publisher Thomas & Mercer for his latest novels.
Links:
Buy After Death and Dean's other books now
Follow Dean on Twitter
Visit Dean's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Alasdair Beckett-King is a man of many talents - an award-winning comedian, video game writer and now also author of children's books, he has a very funny YouTube channel, has appeared on numerous TV shows and his debut novel, Montgomery BonBon: Murder at the Museum was published in February 2023.
We had a great time speaking with Alasdair about his career, hearing how he got into stand-up and why the pandemic helped him break out as a comedy star. We also chat about his love of point and click video games and hear about how he began to write for those, as well as hearing about what led to his debut novel, Murder at the Museum. He tells us all about the different challenges for writing in these different formats, and also displays his wide knowledge of the whodunnit genre!
Links:
Buy Murder at the Museum now!
Visit Alasdair's website
Follow Alasdair on Twitter
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Fflur Dafydd is an award winning novelist, screenwriter and musician, who writes in Welsh and English. She has published five novels, one short story collection and has created around 40 hours of prime time drama for S4C and the BBC iPlayer. She also wrote and co-produced the feature film Y Llyfrgell/The Library Suicides, (BBC Films) based on her own novel, which won numerous awards at the BAFTA Cymru awards and the Edinburgh International Film Festival. She has twice been nominated for a BAFTA Cymru for best screenwriter.
We had a really interesting chat with Fflur, hearing about how she won her first writing prize at the age of 21, and the opportunities that brought her as a writer in Wales. We also hear about how despite her awards and experience in Welsh-language screenwriting, British producers can often overlook that, as well as hearing about the challenges of adapting her own novel for the screen.
Links:
Buy Fflur's books
Visit Fflur's website
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Graeme Macrae Burnet is the author of the Booker shortlisted His Bloody Project, Booker longlisted Case Study, The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau and The Accident on the A35.
He is currently working on his next novel, which will complete the Gorski trilogy, featuring his French detective, Georges Gorski.
We had a really fascinating and fun chat with Graeme, hearing about how it took until he was 46 to publish his first novel and the huge impact being shortlisted for the Booker prize for His Bloody Project changed the course of his writing career. We also talk about his love of playing with form and why his novels all have a "meta" element in some way, as well as hearing how the words don't always flow easily, and how he deals with that.
Links:
Buy Graeme's books
Visit Graeme's website
Follow Graeme on Twitter
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Veronica Henry started her writing career in radio television, writing for shows such as The Archers, Heartbeat and Holby City, before she decided to try her hand at writing novels. It worked out pretty well - she is now a bestselling author who has written over twenty novels. Her latest novel, Thirty Days in Paris, is out now.
We had a fun chat with Veronica, hearing how she made her start in the creative world doing sound effects for TV shows, and becoming a script editor on the legendary British soap, Crossroads. She tells us why she made the move from TV to writing novels, how she deals with notes and suggestions from others, and why deadlines are helpful to her writing.
Link:
Buy Veronica's books now
Visit Veronica's website
Follow Veronica on Twitter
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Heidi Swain is a Sunday Times Bestselling Author who writes commercial fiction for Simon and Schuster. She has three series set in fictitious Wynbridge, Nightingale Square and Wynmouth and writes two titles a year – a summer and a Christmas book. She also writes short stories and non-fiction for magazines and is represented by Amanda Preston.
We had great fun talking with Heidi and hearing how she was picked up by a publisher before ever having an agent, why she sometimes enjoys writing longhand, and what it felt like to be recognised by her peers when she won the Popular Romantic Fiction Award with her novel, A Christmas Celebration, for the Romantic Novelists' Association's (RNA) annual Romantic Novel Awards for 2023.
Links:
Buy Heidi's books here
Follow Heidi on Twitter
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Jack Jordan is the global bestselling author of Anything for Her, My Girl, A Woman Scorned, Before Her Eyes, and Night by Night and an Amazon No.1 bestseller in the UK, Canada, and Australia. After selling at auction in the UK and numerous foreign territories, Do No Harm was a bestseller in 2022. His latest book, Conviction, is out now.
We had a great chat with Jack about why he started writing at 17, and how he made such a success of self-publishing, selling over 100,000 books. That led to a move into trad publishing, but unfortunately that didn't go as planned. However, he was not dissuaded and tells us how a sharp focus on building the perfect sellable package for his next book, Do No Harm, led to it being picked up at auction and becoming a bestseller.
Links:
Buy Conviction and Jack's other books now
Follow Jack on Twitter
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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(Originally released on our sister podcast feed, Page One Extra, on 16 June 2023)
We talk with Transworld PR Director Alison Barrow (recent winner of Publicity Campaign of the Year at The Bookseller awards) and author Premee Mohamed about the difference a book's publicity campaign can make its success.
Links:
Buy Lessons in Chemistry
Buy Premee Mohamed's books
For all episodes of Page One Extra be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One Extra and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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(Originally released on our sister podcast feed, Page One Extra, on 8 May 2023)
In this special episode (available in full video on our YouTube channel) dedicated to the recently announced Writers Guild of America strike, we take a look at why it's happening, what writers want, and what is likely to happen from here.
C Robert Cargill (screenwriter of Dr Strange, Sinister, The Black Phone and more) joins us to give more details from the inside, and tells us what we can do to help.
Links:
Find out more about the strike from the WGA
For all episodes of Page One Extra be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One Extra is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Cole Haddon is an Australian-American novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. Dracula, his first television commission, was produced by NBC and Sky Living starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and he has gone on to develop dozens of feature films and TV series around the globe – most recently Genocidal Organ for director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy) and the rock musical Zombie Broadway for The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart and director Jonas Åkerlund (Lords of Chaos). His graphic novels have been published by Dark Horse and others. His articles have appeared in the Melbourne Age, Sydney Morning Herald, and Village Voice Media, amongst others. Psalms for the End of the World, his first novel, is just out in paperback.
We had a great chat with Cole, hearing about how he broke into Hollywood, and the difficulties he faced after doing so. He tells us about the differences in working in the US and UK film industries, and why tumultuous times led to him writing his first novel, Psalms for the End of the World. Plus, we go off on a tangent talking about Marvel movies and TV, and hear what he thinks the best show of 2023 has been...
Links:
Buy Psalms for the End of the World
Follow Cole on Twitter
Visit Cole's website
Read Cole's substack
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Nick Harkaway is the bestselling author of hugely imaginative speculative thrillers such as The Gone Away World, Tigerman and Gnomon. He has also released two thrillers under the name Aiden Truhen. His latest book is a hugely enjoyable futuristic detective thriller, Titanium Noir.
We really enjoyed speaking with Nick about his career, hearing about his foray into scriptwriting, and how he eventually turned his hand to novel writing after many years. We hear about how he managed to write the ambitious Gnomon, why it nearly broke him, and what it taught him about writing. Plus, he tells us about his latest novel, Titanium Noir, and we ask about rumours that he would like to write a Star Wars movie...
Links:
Buy Titanium Noir and Nick's other books now
Follow Nick on Twitter
Come along to our live recording at Cymera Festival in Edinburgh on 3 June!
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes, released every two weeks, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Juliet E. McKenna is the author of 15 epic fantasy novels set in the world of Einarinn, as well as several novellas and countless short stories ranging from SF to steampunk and alternate history. Her contemporary fantasy Green Man novels, published by indie Wizard’s Tower Press, have sold over 28,000 copies since 2018. She has been a judge for the World Fantasy Awards, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the James White Award and the Aeon Award, and has, herself, been shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award and the BSFA Award for Best Novel. In 2015 she was awarded the Karl Edward Wagner Award for special achievement by the British Fantasy Society. Her latest book, The Cleaving, is a feminist take on Arthurian legend.
We had a really interesting chat with Juliet, hearing how her interest in fantasy fiction grew and what led to her first book being picked up. Plus, we get some great advice for authors on contracts, hear about a bad experience she had with a publisher, and talk about the resurgence of genre fiction in the mainstream.
Links:
Buy The Cleaving and Juliet's other books
Follow Juliet on Twitter
Visit Juliet's website
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes, released every two weeks, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Louise Swanson (aka Louise Beech) has always wanted to be a writer, even if the road to being published was a long one. An award-winning short story writer, her debut novel, How to be Brave, was released in 2015. Since then, she has since written a range of books from romance to crime to her latest book, End of Story, which is a dystopian speculative thriller.
We had a really interesting chat with Louise, talking about dealing with rejections when starting out, and how she seized a chance opportunity on Twitter to get her first book published. She told us about how she loves being 'genre fluid' as she puts it, and why she enjoys writing different kinds of stories. She also gives us the brilliant pitch for End of Story, as well as telling us about a secret Marilyn Monroe project that she has been working on...
Links:
Buy End of Story now
Buy her books as Louise Beech
Follow Louise on Twitter
Visit Louise's website
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes, released every two weeks, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Abigail Burdess has written for TV and film, as well as appearing as an actor in a number of TV shows. A woman of many talents, she has also just released her first novel, Mother's Day, which is a dark thriller - with some very dark humour in it!
We had great fun chatting with Abbie about her writing journey, and hearing about the differences in writing for the screen and the page. We hear about the very different notes that you get back as a novel writer, as well as talking about how her experiences as a screenwriter have helped her fiction writing. Plus, we learn about the time she auditioned to be Will Ferrell's love interest...!
Links:
Buy Mother's Day now
Follow Abigail on Twitter
Visit Abigail's website
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes, released every two weeks, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Elliot Sweeney works as a community psychiatric nurse but has recently released his debut crime novel, The Next To Die, a hard-boiled crime thriller narrated by misanthropic ex-copper turned PI, Dylan Kasper.
We had a really interesting chat with Elliot. learning about how he moved from writing shorts to having his full-time debut published, and how the Curtis Brown helped with that. We also talked about opportunities for writers from more diverse and underprivileged backgrounds, and discussed what the term "noir" really means.
Links:
Buy The Next To Die now
Follow Elliot on Twitter
Visit Elliot's website
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes, released every two weeks, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Jen Williams lives in London with her partner and their small ridiculous cat. A fan of pirates and dark folklore from an early age, these days she writes horror-tinged crime thrillers with strong female leads as well as character-driven fantasy novels with plenty of banter and magic. In 2015 she was nominated for Best Newcomer in the British Fantasy Awards, and two of her books in her Winnowing Flame trilogy won Best Fantasy Novel at the British Fantasy Awards.
We had a great chat with Jen about her journey into becoming a published writer, and hear why writing her "dreadful" first unpublished novel (her words!) was the key to everything. We also discuss why she has recently turned her hand to dark crime novels as well as fantasy, and the pros and cons of writing fantasy trilogies.
Links:
Buy Games For Dead Girls and Jen's other novels
Follow Jen on Twitter
Visit Jen's website
Out now - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! For all episodes, released every two weeks, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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In this debut episode (available to watch as a full video episode on YouTube), we bring you all the latest writing news as we see encouraging reports about physical book sales, hear why self-published authors are often doing better than their trad published counterparts and look across to America, where a Hollywood writers' strike is looming. Plus, we look at some of the big book deals from the London Book Fair, and are joined by guest author Sam Holland to talk about the ever-shrinking price of ebooks and ask if that is good for authors.
Sam also tells us about her latest book, The Twenty, and we play a quick game (which Marco manages to mess up!)
Links:
Buy The Twenty now
Follow Sam on Twitter
This is a special download of our new show, Page One Extra. It is also available as a full video episode on our YouTube channel. For future episodes, released every two weeks, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, search for Page One Extra on your favourite podcast app, or follow this link: https://linktr.ee/ukpageone
Page One Extra is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This episode is also available as a full video interview on our YouTube channel
Nicholas Binge is an author of speculative thrillers, literary science-fiction, and horror. His novels include Ascension and Professor Everywhere. Binge has lived in Singapore, Switzerland, and Hong Kong, and is based in Edinburgh, UK, where he teaches literature and works on new books. His most recent novel, Ascension, is being published by Harper Voyager (UK) and Riverhead Books (US) in April. It is also being translated into eight other languages and has been optioned for film.
We had a great time chatting with Nick and hearing about the incredible writing journey he went on that led to his novel Ascension being fought over by publishers and being optioned for film. We also talk about exploring themes with speculative fiction, and why a good agent is so important to an author.
Links:
Buy Ascension now
Follow Nick on Twitter
Visit Nick's website
Coming Soon - a new video podcast from Page One featuring all the latest writing news - Page One Extra! Search "Page One Extra" on your podcast app, or follow our YouTube channel or the feed here: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/page-one-extra
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Stig Abell is an English journalist, newspaper editor and radio presenter. He currently co-presents the Monday to Thursday breakfast show on Times Radio with Aasmah Mir. He has also written a number of non-fiction books and has just had his first fiction novel, Death Under a Little Sky, published with Harper Collins.
We had a really fun and interesting chat with Stig, hearing how his literary agent at first didn't want to read his crime novel "in case it is rubbish" - but fortunately she loved it and made sure he got a great publishing deal! We also talked about how his love of crime fiction has informed his first novel, talk about the pros and cons of modern technology for crime writers, discuss why tactility is so important in novels - and hear how he fits in his writing while getting up at 3am for his radio show!
Links:
Buy Death Under a Little Sky and Stig's other books now!
Follow Stig on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Charles Stross is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. The author of six Hugo-nominated novels and winner of the 2005, 2010, and 2014 Hugo awards for best novella, he has won numerous other awards and been translated into at least 12 other languages. His award-winning series include the long-running Merchant Princes series and The Laundry Files. His latest book, Season of Skulls, is out in May 2023.
It was amazing to be able to chat with Charlie, a real legend of the SF scene. He told us how it took a little time to make the move from short stories to novels, and how initially his cross-genre storytelling received some resistance - until he won a Hugo Award for it! Since then, he has been prolific, and we chat to hiim about how he comes up with his stories, and how he plans (or doesn't) his long-running series.
Links:
Buy Charlie's books now
Visit Charlie's website
Follow Charlie on mastodon
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Sunday Times Bestselling author Anne O’Brien was born in West Yorkshire. After gaining a BA Honours degree in History at Manchester University and a Master’s in Education at Hull, she lived in East Yorkshire for many years as a teacher of history. Today she has sold over a million copies of her books in the UK and internationally. She lives with her husband in an eighteenth-century timber-framed cottage in the depths of the Welsh Marches in Herefordshire. The area provides endless inspiration for her novels about the forgotten women of medieval history. Anne's new book, A Marriage of Fortune, is the sequel to The Royal Game, the exciting story of the women of the famous letter-writing Paston family.
We had a really interesting chat with Anne about what sort of research she does for her novels, and hear her talk about why historical accuracy is so important for her when writing. We also learn how she finds and picks the women who will be the focal point of her novels, and the careful process she goes through to bring them to life.
Links:
Buy A Marriage of Fortune and Anne's other novels
Visit Anne's website
Follow Anne on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ayisha Malik is a British writer, whose debut novel Sofia Khan is Not Obliged was released in 2015. She went on to write a sequel - The Other Half of Happiness - in 2017. Both books tackle the topic of dating as a young Muslim woman and were very well received. As well as writing, Ayisha has a wealth of experience on the opposite side of the typewriter, working as a publicist for Penguin Random House and as a literary consultant for Cornerstones. Her latest novel is The Movement, which follows the life of a young woman who decides to stop talking, and the global impact that spirals from her fateful decision.
Ayisha was a fantastic guest, who has so much helpful advice to share with listeners. It’s always great to chat with people who have industry experience and can assist us all with tackling that age-old question: what are publishers looking for? Plus, she answers the age-old question - which of our previous podcasts guests, Abir Muhkerjee or Vaseem Khan, will she pick?
Links:
Buy Ayisha's books now
Follow Ayisha on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Sarah Lee has been a journalist and editor for the past twenty-five years, working across news and features and writing for regional and national newspapers, as well as commissioning for women’s true-life magazines. More recently she has focused her attention on the world of travel, creating luxury blog LiveShareTravel, and working with destinations and brands worldwide on storytelling marketing campaigns and conferences through her company, Captivate. Her debut novel, An Ocean Apart, came out last year to great acclaim.
We had a great chat with Sarah, talking about how she got into journalism, and how the skills she learned there helped her to write her first novel. Plus, we talk about why she wrote An Ocean Apart, and talk about whether fiction is sometimes a better medium for teaching than history books.
Links:
Buy An Ocean Apart
Follow Sarah on Twitter
Visit her travel blog, LiveShareTravel
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ian Green is a fantasy writer born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He is the author of The Rotstorm epic fantasy series published by the Ad Astra imprint of Head Of Zeus beginning 2021 with The Gauntlet and the Fist Beneath. Its sequel, The Gauntlet and the Burning Blade, came out in 2022, and the final part of the trilogy will be released in August 2023. Ian has a PhD in clinical epigenetics, and his short fiction has been widely broadcast and performed including winning the BBC Radio 4 Opening Lines competition and winning the Futurebook Future Fiction prize.
We had great fun chatting with Ian and hearing about he spent years working on short stories and literary fiction, only to find that it was when he wrote a story he wanted to write, rather than aiming for the market, that he found an agent and publishing deal. We also talk about worldbuilding, grimdark fantasy and much more!
Links:
Buy Ian's books
Visit Ian's website
Follow Ian on Twitter:
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ryan Cahill is the hugely successful self-published author of the Bound and the Broken series, starting with Of Blood and Fire and most recently releasing Of War and Ruin, which was so popular that The Broken Binding website was broken because so many people were trying to buy it!
We had a really fun and fascinating chat with Ryan about all things self-publishing, including why he chose that route over traditional publishing, how he built his list of readers and hearing how detailed each step in the process is. If you are thinking about self-publishing, this is not an episode you want to miss!
Links:
Buy The Bound and Broken series on Amazon (or read on Kindle Unlimited)
Buy The Bound and Broken series at The Broken Binding
Visit Ryan's website
Follow Ryan on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Sunday Times bestselling author Louise Candlish is the author of 16 novels, including her brand-new thriller The Only Suspect, set in 1995 and described by the Daily Mail as 'a perfect mix of nostalgia and menace'. It is published in hardback, ebook and audio in February 2023. Louise's #1 bestseller Our House won the British Book Awards 2019 Crime & Thriller Book of the Year and is now a smash-hit 4-part ITV drama starring Martin Compston, Tuppence Middleton and Rupert Penry-Jones (view the full series on ITVX). International bestseller The Other Passenger, a noir tale of adultery and double crossing set among the Thames river commuters, was Louise's first Richard & Judy Book Club pick and was longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2021. It is now in development for the screen.
We had a great chat with Louise, finding out how she manages to be quite so prolific with her output, how older crime novels can help with ideas and why she enlists her husband's help when researching. Plus we talk about how mobile phones and the internet ruined so many potential crime stories and whether getting a huge advance as a debut author is necessarily a good thing.
Links:
Buy Louise's books on Amazon
Visit Louise's website
Follow Louise on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Jane Harper is the author of bestsellers The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man, The Survivors and now, Exiles. Her books are published in 40 territories worldwide, with more than 3.5 million copies sold to date. Jane has won numerous awards for writing, including the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year and the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year. The major motion picture adaptation of The Dry, starring Eric Bana as Aaron Falk, took more than $20.5m at the Australian box office ahead of release dates overseas.
We loved chatting with Jane and hearing how she put off writing fiction for years and how winning an unpublished manuscript competition suddenly opened the doors to publishing. We also talked about Australia as a setting for crime novels, discuss whether planners and pantsers are in fact pretty much the same, and chat about why the execution of the writing is far more important than the idea for the story.
Links:
Buy Exiles and Jane's other books now
Follow Jane on Twitter
Visit Jane's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Elle Connel is the pseudonym of Lucy Ribchester, whose previous novels, The Hourglass Factory and The Amber Shadows, were historical thrillers. Her previous work has won her a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award, a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, and short-listings for the Costa Short Story Award and Manchester Fiction Prize. Down by the Water was her first book as Elle Connel and her latest is You Can Stay.
We had a really interesting chat with Lucy all about how she found an agent, only to then take the scary step of changing agent before her debut came out. We also talked about writing historical crime thrillers vs modern day thrillers, and why she uses a pseudonym for her contemporary books (and how she chose the name).
Links:
Buy Lucy's books
Buy Elle's books
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Tom Hindle is the exciting new voice on the murder mystery scene, where his debut novel, A Fatal Crossing was a huge hit when it came out in 2022. His new novel, The Murder Game, is out in February 2023.
We had great fun chatting to Tom and hearing how he swapped music ambitions for writing ones, hear why he once thought A Fatal Crossing would be easy to stage as a play, and . We also talked about the enduring appeal of murder mysteries, discussed whether red herrings are good or bad things and heard about how much planning goes into these stories.
Links:
Buy Tom's books
Follow Tom on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM (with Rebecca Giblin), a nonfiction book about monopoly and creative labor markets. His latest novel is ATTACK SURFACE, a standalone adult sequel to LITTLE BROTHER. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Rebecca Giblin is an ARC Future Fellow and Professor at Melbourne Law School, and the Director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia. She is director of Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project, which has rescued over 160 culturally important Australian books and made them available for retail sale and for access via libraries.
We loved talking with Cory and Rebecca about the issues that are so important to them and every writer. They tell us how the rights of creators have been eroded and what each of as creators can do to try and wrest them back. We also discuss both the advantages and disadvantages that companies like Amazon have created for writers, as well as discussing when ideas are best explored in fiction or non-fiction.
Links:
Buy Chokepoint Capitalism
Buy Cory's other books
Buy Rebecca's books
Visit Untapped
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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A former professional cake baker,Jenny Bayliss is the author of The Twelve Dates of Christmas, A Season for Second Chances, and, most recently, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe. Under the name Jenni Jennings she has also written the middle grade Malice in Underland books.
We had great fun chatting with Jenny and hearing about how long it took for her to find an agent, only for her first book to go to a bidding auction! We talk about becoming known as a "Christmas" writer, writing scenes out of order and why middle grade fiction can still tell powerful stories that everyone should read.
Links:
Buy Jenny's adult books
Buy Jenny's Middle Grade books
Follow Jenny on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Karen Swan is the Sunday Times top three bestselling author of twenty books and her novels sell all over the world. She writes two books each year – one for the summer period and one for the Christmas season. Previous summer titles include The Spanish Promise, The Hidden Beach and The Secret Path and for winter, Christmas at Tiffany’s, The Christmas Secret and Together by Christmas. Her latest Christmas book is The Christmas Postcards.
We had a really interesting chat with Karen, hearing how she only started writing fiction after a suggestion from an agent, and discussing how she keeps to her prolific schedule of two books a year. We also discussed how she generates her ideas for her Christmas books and how her journalism has helped with her writing discipline.
Links:
Buy Karen's books on Amazon
Follow Karen on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Kirsty Eyre is the winner of the inaugural Comedy Women in Print award (2019). Her debut novel, Cow Girl was released in Summer 2020 and was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Association's debut novel award. In addition, she has written two books under her pseudonym, Ginger Jones, with the latest being holiday romcom You Had Me At Halloumi.
We had great fun chatting with Kirsty and hearing how she began her writing career by writing pantos on the Eurostar. That gave her the bug, and soon she was putting on comedy plays at the Edinburgh Fringe before she turned her hand to writing novels. We hear how it felt to win the inaugural Comedy Women in Print Award in 2019 (and the rather surprising invite approach from the organisers!), talk about the subjectiveness of comedy writing and hear why she writes some books under a pseudonym. Plus, we talk food-based puns as novel titles and much more!
Links:
Buy Kirsty's books on Amazon
Buy her Ginger Jones books
Follow Kirsty on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Richard Swan is a former commercial litigator and now a bestselling author. Between 2015 and 2018, Richard self-published The Art of War Trilogy, a sequence of epic space opera novels, as well as a prequel (Hadan's Reach) and two spinoff mil-sci-fi novellas (VIPER One and VIPER One: Countervalue, the latter co-authored with George Lockett). Richard's debut fantasy Empire of the Wolf trilogy sold to Orbit Books, with the first instalment, The Justice of Kings, coming out in February 2022 and hitting the Sunday Time bestseller list.
We had great fun chatting with Richard and hearing how his love of sci fi led to a serious writing habit from when he was a teenager. We talk about his self-published SF books and discuss whether they impacted his later success as a "debut" author with the brilliant The Justice of Kings. We also discuss the verisimilitude that occurs when bringing in your own experiences into your writing and much more!
Links:
Buy Richard's books
Follow Richard on Twitter
Visit Richard's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Scott Lynch was born in St.Paul, Minnesota in 1978. He sold his first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, in 2004. In addition to his writing, he also has a background in game design and firefighting. Scott currently lives in Massachusetts with his wife, award-winning SF/F novelist Elizabeth Bear. He is currently hard at work on the next stories in the world of Locke Lamora.
Having been huge fans of Locke Lamora for years, we loved having the opportunity to chat with Scott and to hear about how he got his break into the writing world and how he came up with the idea for Locke and the world of Camorr. We chat about the help and hinderance TTRPG experience can be in creating fictional worlds, talk about his writing inspirations, hear about the mental health struggles he has had for the past decade and why things are now improving, and also get the latest on the next stories in the world of Camorr.
Links:
Buy Scott's books now
Visit Scott's website
Follow Scott on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here
Bob Bookman is a Hollywood manager and literary agent who has worked with some of the biggest authors in the world and helped turn their novels into award-winning movies. He has represented Michael Crichton, Tom Stoppard, Bill Broyles, John Irving, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls and Peter Moffat along with many others and has been responsible for bringing movies such as Jurassic Park and Hannibal to the big screen.
We had a fascinating and fun chat with Bob, learning all about how Hollywood works and what role he plays in many authors' dreams of turning their novel into a huge Hollywood movie. We loved hearing his many Hollywood tales, including how he made the biggest ever book-to-film deal for Michael Crichton's Airframe, and also the role he played in getting The Silence of the Lambs to the big screen.
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here
Bob Bookman is a Hollywood manager and literary agent who has worked with some of the biggest authors in the world and helped turn their novels into award-winning movies. He has represented Michael Crichton, Tom Stoppard, Bill Broyles, John Irving, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls and Peter Moffat along with many others and has been responsible for bringing movies such as Jurassic Park and Hannibal to the big screen.
We had a fascinating and fun chat with Bob, learning all about how Hollywood works and what role he plays in many authors' dreams of turning their novel into a huge Hollywood movie. We loved hearing his many Hollywood tales, including how he made the biggest ever book-to-film deal for Michael Crichton's Airframe, and also the role he played in getting The Silence of the Lambs to the big screen.
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @ukPageOne
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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here
This week, our series of industry insider episodes continues with a talk with David Downing, a freelance developmental editor who has worked with authors such as Mark Edwards and our very own Tariq Ashkanani, helping them polish their manuscripts and turn them into the brilliant books they now are. Since turning to it full-time in 2012, David has edited more than 300 books—lots of mysteries/thrillers and historical fiction, as well as literary fiction, women’s fiction, romantic suspense, and even a couple of science fiction titles and a memoir. He works primarily for publishers, but also for individual clients looking for a developmental/substantive editor who can help take their manuscript to the next level.
We had a really interesting chat with David about exactly what a developmental editor does and heard about how he works with his clients to try and make their story the best it can be. Plus we ask about whether he ever gets pushback from authors and more!
Links:
Visit David's website, Maxwellian Editorial Services
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here
This week, our series of industry insider episodes continues with a talk with David Downing, a freelance developmental editor who has worked with authors such as Mark Edwards and our very own Tariq Ashkanani, helping them polish their manuscripts and turn them into the brilliant books they now are. Since turning to it full-time in 2012, David has edited more than 300 books—lots of mysteries/thrillers and historical fiction, as well as literary fiction, women’s fiction, romantic suspense, and even a couple of science fiction titles and a memoir. He works primarily for publishers, but also for individual clients looking for a developmental/substantive editor who can help take their manuscript to the next level.
We had a really interesting chat with David about exactly what a developmental editor does and heard about how he works with his clients to try and make their story the best it can be. Plus we ask about whether he ever gets pushback from authors and more!
Links:
Visit David's website, Maxwellian Editorial Services
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here
Our series of industry episodes continues as we chat with Karen Sullivan, founder and publishing director of Orenda Books. Orenda Books was founded by publisher Karen Sullivan in 2014. In 2016, Karen was a Bookseller Rising Star, and Orenda Books was shortlisted for the IPG Nick Robinson Newcomer Award in 2015 and 2016. They won the CWA Crime & Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger in 2020 and were a regional finalist for the Small Press of the Year Award in the British Book Awards in 2021. They currently publish authors such as Will Carver, Doug Johnstone and Sarah Sultoon.
We loved chatting with Karen and hearing how she founded Orenda, discussing what she looks for in books, chatting about open submissions vs agent submissions and much more!
Links:
Visit Orenda Books website
Follow Karen on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This week, our series of industry episodes continues as we chat with Miranda Jewess, Publishing Director of Viper Books, the crime and thriller imprint of Serpent's Tail, which I launched in November 2019. Viper Books are the publishers of the award-winning (and previous podcast guests) Janice Hallett and Catriona Ward, alongside acclaimed books such as Five Minds from Guy Morpuss.
We loved chatting with Miranda and hearing about how she became an editor and then Publishing Director at Viper, and what she looks for when she is commissioning books. We also talk about the importance of marketing, what qualifies as a "success" insofar as a publisher is concerned, and much more!
Links:
Visit Viper Books website
Follow Miranda on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here
Our series of industry episodes continues as we talk with leading literary agent Jamie Cowen. Jamiehas worked in publishing for 18 years. Before joining Ampersand literary agency in 2013 he was a commissioning editor at HarperCollins, and prior to that he worked in legal and contracts departments at HC and the Hachette Group. Jamie’s clients at Ampersand include Tendai Huchu (The Library of the Dead, Tor UK and US), Adrian Selby (Snakewood, The Winter Road and Brother Red; Orbit), Mark Hill (His First Lie, It Was Her, The Bad Place and The Woman in the Wood; Sphere and Head of Zeus), and even our very own Tariq Ashkanani!
We had great fun chatting to Jamie, learning how he became an agent, what he looks for when receiving queries and hearing him explain how he uses a synopsis when assessing a query. We also hear whether he will take on a manuscript that needs some work, how important the agent/editor relationship is and much more!
Links:
Visit Ampersand Agency
Follow Jamie on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here
Our special series of episodes chatting with leading figures in the publishing industry to find out how to get your book published continues this week with the amazing Eric Smith. Eric is a Young Adult author and literary agent with P.S. Literary living in Philadelphia. As an agent represents brilliant authors such as Alison Stine and Mike Chen. On the writing front, his latest book, Jagged Little Pill: The Novel, a collaboration with Alanis Morissette, Academy award-winner Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard, is an adaptation of the Grammy and Tony award winning musical.
We loved chatting with Eric and hearing about what looks for in queries (both for fiction and non-fiction), discussing the importance (or not) of comp titles, finding out how he works with his authors and get other hints and tips for those of you who are querying now or are about to! We also chat about his own writing and hear how he came to write the novelisation of Jagged Little Pill with Alanis Morissette and Diablo Cody.
Links:
Visit PS Literary
Follow Eric on Twitter
Visit Eric's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here
In the first of a special series of industry episodes following a books journey from being picked up by an agent all the way to Hollywood, we chat with superstar literary agent, Juliet Mushens! Juliet started her publishing career in 2008 at HarperCollins, and became an agent in 2011. She has been shortlisted for Literary Agent of the Year four times and is currently the number 1 ranked UK fiction dealmaker on Publishers’ Marketplace. In 2021 she was picked as one of the 150 most influential people in publishing by The Bookseller and The Times ran a piece recognising her as the first agent to represent the number 1, 2 and 3 UK bestsellers in the same week: ‘Star literary agent first to top the charts three times’. More than a dozen of her clients are Sunday Times bestsellers and four hit number 1 in 2022 alone. Her clients include million-copy no. 1 bestseller Jessie Burton, multi-million copy NY Times bestseller Taran Matharu, record-breaking multi-million copy no. 1 bestseller Richard Osman. Her guide to YA creative writing was published by Hodder in 2015.
We loved speaking to Juliet about how she became an agent, and talking with her about what she looks for in a query letter (including some very important dos and don'ts!) Plus, we hear how she works with authors that she represents, and chat about how she secures such brilliant deals for her clients.
Links:
Visit Mushens Entertainment
Follow Juliet on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Adam Hamdy is a Sunday Times and international bestselling author and screenwriter who writes topical, thought-provoking novels, often inspired by real events. His latest novel, The Other Side of Night is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Adam, hearing about how he moved from being a strategy consultant to writer - thanks in part to an idea he had for a screenplay involving 80s actor, Judge Reinhold! We also hear about his process, why he needs to frontload his planning, and why The Other Side of Night took five years to write.
Links:
Buy The Other Side of Night and Adam's other novels now!
Visit Adam's website
Follow Adam on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Diana Reid is a Sydney-based writer. Her debut novel, Love & Virtue, was an Australian bestseller and winner of the ABIA Book of the Year Award, the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year Award, the ABA Booksellers' Choice Fiction Book of the Year Award, and the MUD Literary Prize. Love & Virtue was also shortlisted for the Indie Debut Fiction Award, the ABIA Matt Richell New Writer Award, and Highly Commended at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Diana was also named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist in 2022.
We had a really interesting chat with Diana, hearing how she decided to write her debut during lockdown, and discussing the whirlwind journey to it becoming such a huge success in Australia. We also discuss the influences of Donna Tartt and Sally Rooney on her writing, and hear about the challenges of writing her second novel, Seeing Other People.
Links:
Buy Love & Virtue in the UK now!
Bloody Scotland website
Bloody Scotland event with Tariq and Marco!
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Gordon J. Brown (AKA Morgan Cry) is the author of nine crime thriller novels set in Spain, Scotland and the US. He is also a founding board director of crime writing festival, Bloody Scotland. His latest book, Any Day Now, is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Gordon and hearing about how he got into writing and how real life situations have inspired his fiction writing. We also talk about the pros and cons of pseudonyms, and he tells us about where the idea for Bloody Scotland (Scotland's premier crime writing festival) came from.
Links:
Buy Any Day Now
Buy his Morgan Cry books
Visit Gordon's website
Follow Gordon on Twitter
Bloody Scotland website
Bloody Scotland event with Tariq and Marco!
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Shauna Lawless is a debut author whose gripping new historical fantasy novel, The Children of Gods and Fighting Men, intertwines Irish mythology with real-life history. Released on 1 September 2022, it is already creating huge buzz.
We loved chatting with Shauna and hearing how she turned a love of Irish mythology and folklore into such a thrilling novel. We hear how she began her writing career by carving out one hour at a time until she had a full length novel. She also talked to us about the importance of getting and providing criticism of writing, and tells us about her tough but ultimately very successful submission search.
Links:
Buy The Children of Gods and Fighting Men now!
Follow Shauna on Twitter and Instagram
Visit Shauna's website
Critique Circle
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Kasim Ali works at Penguin Random House. He was longlisted for the B4ME Short Story Prize (hosted by his now UK publisher Fourth Estate), and GOOD INTENTIONS was shortlisted for the Mo Siewcherran Prize. He's also had a short story published in The Good Journal.
We had great fun chatting with Kasim, whilst also hating him (not really!) as he told us about his ridiculously prolific rate of writing and how he is able to write his novels without ANY planning... We also had a great discussion about the importance of representation in fiction and look at the current state of the publishing industry. Oh, and we also talk vampires and Marvel...!
Links:
Buy Good Intentions now!
Follow Kasim on Twitter
Visit Kasim's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Adam Simcox is a London-based filmmaker who has shot commercials for brands such as McLaren, Primark and Unilever, and music videos for Britpop veterans as well as fresh on the scene alt-country stars. He began his film career by writing and directing three features: the first sold to Netflix before Netflix was Netflix; the second and third won awards and critical acclaim at festivals worldwide, and so didn’t sell at all. He moved into the world of novel-writing with his hit debut, The Dying Squad, all about a ghost cop who investigates his own murder. His latest novel in that series, The Generation Killer, is just out.
It was great fun chatting to Adam and hearing how he moved from the world of films to novels, including treading the hard path of over 150 submission letters to agents (along with the accompanying rejections or silence). He told us how he still uses his film experience to help him in writing his novels and why he would love to continue working in both worlds.
Links:
Buy Adam's books now!
Follow Adam on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This is one of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Michael Spicer literally became an overnight sensation when he posted his first-ever Man in the Room Next Door sketch on Twitter. Since then, he has become one of the biggest comedians on Twitter and appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden, as well as acting in programmes such as Bridgerton and After Life. This month, he brings the Room Next Door to the Edinburgh Fringe.
We loved chatting with Michael and hearing how he owes his success to Boris Johnson, talking about how he finds and edits material for his sketches, and also discussing how to stand out as a comedian on social media. We also hear about his show at the Fringe and find out what is planned after the Room Next Door...
Links:
Buy tickets for Michael's show, The Room Next Door, at Assembly George Square Studios at the Edinburgh Fringe 2022
Follow Michael on Twitter
Visit Michael's YouTube channel
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This is one of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Starting at just 16 Tom Lucy quickly rose through the comedy club circuit to became one of the youngest professional stand-up comedians in the world. As well as performing all over the UK, Tom has toured internationally in the Middle East, across Europe and a few select US shows in New York and Los Angeles. He has performed two sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival, in 2017 and 2018, picking up rave reviews and adding extra shows due to demand. In Spring 2019, Tom embarked on his first headline UK tour which included a sold out show at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. Tom is a regular face on various comedy TV shows on Comedy Central, BBC and ITV, and returns to the Edinburgh Fringe this year with a new show called Melt.
We loved chatting with Tom and hearing how he got started in comedy so young (and how that helped dampen any nerves he may have had), and also chatting about how he generates his ideas for his shows.
Links:
Buy tickets for Tom Lucy's show, Melt, on at the Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022
Follow Tom on Twitter
Visit Tom's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This is one of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Amy Gledhill is a comedian, actor, writer and winner of The BBC Caroline Aherne Bursary. As well as being one half of surreal comedy double act, The Delightful Sausage (nominated for an Edinburgh Fringe award), she also has also written for and appeared on numerous TV shows, and is back at the Fringe this year with her solo show, The Girl Before The Girl You Marry.
We had great fun chatting with Amy and hearing about how Fawlty Towers inspired her to become a comedian, hearing where the name "The Delightful Sausage" came from, and talking about why she hates writing anything down when she is preparing for her solo shows.
Links:
Buy tickets for Amy's show, The Girl Before The Girl You Marry, on at the Monkey Barrel at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022
Follow Amy on Twitter
Visit Amy's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is one of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Sunil Patel is a comedian who found early success as a finalist in the BBC New Comedy Award and as a Chortle Best Newcomer nominee. He is best known for his starring role in Channel Five’s mockumentary series Borderline (Channel 5) and as John Robbins’ sidekick in Beat the Internet (Dave). He also co-hosts the BBC Sounds podcast series But Where Are You Really From?.
It was great fun speaking with Sunil, talking about how he always knew he was destined for comedy and hearing how he goes about planning his shows.
Links:
Buy tickets for Sunil's show, Faster Horses, on at the Monkey Barrel at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022
Follow Sunil on Twitter
Visit Sunil's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This is one of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Jack Barry is a comedy actor, writer and stand-up who can most recently be seen as series regular in Mae Martin’s sitcom Feel Good series 1&2 (Netflix) and Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck (BBC/HBO). Jack stars in the new series of ITV2's The Stand Up Sketch Show. Other recent TV credits include The Russell Howard Hour (Sky One), Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes (Gold), Catastrophe (Channel 4/Amazon), Cuckoo (BBC Three/Netflix) and Turn Up Charlie (Netflix). Not to mention he had a brief stint gracing screens and crisp packets nationwide as the face of McCoy’s crisps for most of 2017-18. Jack has written for Mock the Week (BBC2) and one of his viral sketches Get Staffed was shortlisted for Best Comedy Short at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival and won Single Funniest Moment at the Portland Comedy Festival.
A sought after live act, Jack was selected as one of eight comedy shows in the Sunday Times’ ‘Best of what’s on at the Edinburgh Festival’ and has provided tour support for comedians including Russell Howard, Marc Maron, James Acaster and Joe Lycett.
We loved speaking with Jack, hearing how he made that difficult decision we all have to consider - whether to become a stand up or a spy! We also hear about the craft of stand up and the analytical process that goes on behind the scenes to make sure he is getting the biggest laughs from the audience.
Links:
Buy tickets for Jack's show, Don't Happy Be Worry, on at Monkey Barrell at the Edinburgh Fringe 2022
Follow Jack on Twitter
Visit Jack's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is one of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Schalk Bezuidenhout was born in Kempton Park or as he calls it - 'The New York of the East Rand'. His family and friends stood back as they watched Schalk evolve from an Afrikaans conservative caterpillar into a beautiful dramaqueen butterfly, complete with a moustache and furry afro. It was obvious to Schalk's parents that he would study drama, and to help numb the pain they sent him away to study at the University of Cape Town. While studying in Cape Town Schalk slowly began to realise that there was so much more to life than boerewors and rugby, and started doing stand-up in April 2011.
We had great fun chatting to Schalk and learning how he got into stand-up, including hearing about his... interesting venue for his first paid gig, the differences between South African and UK stand ups, and much more!
Links:
Buy tickets for Schalk's show, I’ll Make Laugh To You (Like You Want Me To), on at Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe 2022
Follow Schalk on Twitter
Visit Schalk's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This is one of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Tessa Coates is a writer, performer, journalist, comedian and one third of critically acclaimed sketch group Massive Dad. Her debut solo show Primates sold out the entire run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and ran at the Soho Theatre to more sell out audiences. She also performed her show in LA at the Lyric Theatre and Improv Lab following which there was a competitive situation to develop her first comedy series for TV in the US. The project landed at ABC Studios with Greg Daniels (The Office) and Howard Klein (3 Arts) attached to exec produce alongside her.
We loved chatting with Tessa about her comedy writing career, hearing about how she plans her stand-up, how she found herself writing a TV show with Greg Daniels, and much more!
Links:
Buy tickets for Tessa's show, Get Your Tessa Coates, You've Pulled, on at the Pleasance Courtyard at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022
Follow Tessa on Twitter
Visit Tessa's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This is one of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Jessica Fostekew is a comedian, actor and writer. Star of Motherland BBC and Cuckoo BBC/ Netflix, host of The Hoovering Podcast and regular co-host of the behemoth The Guilty Feminist. The Guardian say she “wears her smarts on her sleeve, great stuff” and Fest called her “consistently hilarious.”
We had great fun chatting with Jessica about how she got into comedy, hear about how she prepares her shows and chat about writing for comedy panel shows on TV.
Links:
Buy tickets for Jessica's show, Wench, on at the Monkey Barrell at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Follow Jessica on Twitter
Visit Jessica's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This is the first of a special series of short episodes speaking to some of the best comedians appearing at this year's Edinburgh Fringe! These episodes will be released daily during the week of 8 August 2022.
Jacob Hawley is a stand-up comedian, podcaster and the presenter and creator of BBC Sounds’s Jacob Hawley: On Drugs and Jacob Hawley On Love. Jacob has rapidly generated interest as one of the boldest new voices on the circuit with his astute observations and political passion. His live shows have sold out at both The Edinburgh Fringe and at London’s Soho Theatre.
We had great fun chatting with Jacob about how he got into stand-up, hearing about how he hones his shows and he also tells us about the best heckle he has received...
Links:
Buy tickets for Jacob's show, Bump, at the Monkey Barrell at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Follow Jacob on Twitter
Visit Jacob's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Adrian Tchaikovsky is the multi-award winning bestselling author of sci-fi and fantasy books such as the Children of Time series, Shadows of the Apt series and much more. He primarily explores deep themes, such as artificial intelligence and alien awareness within epic galactic and fantastical settings. He has a deep interest in the animal world specifically insects from his studies in Zoology and has a particular penchant for spiders.
We loved chatting with Adrian for our first ever live episode in front of an audience at the Cymera Festival back in June. We talked about how persistence helped him break into his dream job of writing, why he is such a detailed planner (normally!) and deep dive into his worldbuilding and writing techniques.
Links:
Buy Adrian's books now!
Visit Adrian's website
Follow Adrian on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Lorraine Wilson is the author of the BFS and Kavya-nominated speculative fantasy novel, This is Our Undoing. She has also written short fiction (also award-shortlisted!) and her latest novel, The Way The Light Bends is just out.
We had a fascinating chat with Lorraine, hearing about her previous life as a field scientist (including catching the bubonic plague!) and why she turned to writing when she had to give that previous career up. We talked about the importance of setting, and had a good moan about the old “literary v commercial” distinction that is made in some quarters!
Links:
Buy Lorraine’s books here!
Follow Lorraine on Twitter
Read Lorraine’s blog here
Rewriting the margins mentorship scheme
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Victoria Selman is the bestselling author of four crime novels and co-host of the crime writers’ podcast, CrimeTime.fm. Her latest book, Truly Darkly Deeply, has only been out for a couple of weeks and is already a bestseller and has had the film rights optioned.
We had a great time chatting with Victoria, hearing about how she rediscovered writing after a near 30-year hiatus, chatting about changing agents (and why that can sometimes be what an author needs) and hearing all about her planning process. We also talk about why she thinks Truly Darkly Deeply has hit so well with so many readers, and talk about the opportunities that some crime-writing festivals can give to new and aspiring authors.
*Victoria had a problem with her mic during the recording and near the end she switched to just using her laptop microphone, just in case you wondered why the audio changes!
Links:
Buy Truly Darkly Deeply and Victoria's other books now!
Follow Victoria on Twitter
Visit Victoria's website
Listen to Victoria on CrimeTime.FM
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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A former magazine editor and award-winning journalist, Janice Hallett has written screenplays and novels. Janice's first feature film Retreat was released by Sony Pictures (co-written and directed by Carl Tibbetts) which starred Cillian Murphy, Thandiwe Newton and Jamie Bell, and was selected for the Triforce Creative Network year-long mentoring scheme and featured on the BBC New Talent Hotlist. She won Best New Screenplay in the 2014 British Independent Film Festival. Her debut novel, The Appeal, was a smash-hit and won the CWA Debut Dagger award.
We had a great chat with Janice, hearing about how she made the move from screenwriting to novel writing, and hearing about the unusual style of her novels (The Appeal is written in the form of emails and text messages, while her latest book, The Twyford Code, is told via a series of audio transcripts). We also find out if she is a planner or a pantser, and hear about how she deals with notes in the two different writing disciplines.
Links:
Buy Janice's books now!
Follow Janice on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Chris Whitaker is a bestselling crime writer whose debut, Tall Oaks, won the CWA debut dagger award. His latest crime novel, We Begin At The End, has been an international bestseller and has been optioned to Disney. Most recently, he wrote the brilliant YA novel, The Forevers.
We had great fun chatting with Chris, hearing about how he found writing after a very traumatic period in his life and how it helped him deal with that trauma. We also talked about planning, why he starts in the middle of his novels, how he gets such authentic US settings even though he is based in the UK and more! Plus, we hear the latest on the upcoming TV adaptation of We Begin At The End and get some info on his next book!
Links:
Buy Chris's books now!
Visit Chris's website
Follow Chris on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Martha Wells has been an SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel was published in 1993, and her work includes The Books of the Raksura series, The Death of the Necromancer, the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, The Murderbot Diaries series, media tie-in fiction for Star Wars, Stargate: Atlantis, and Magic: the Gathering, as well as short fiction, YA novels, and non-fiction. She has won Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, and Locus Awards, and her work has appeared on the Philip K. Dick Award ballot, the BSFA Award ballot, the USA Today Bestseller List, and the New York Times Bestseller List. Her books have been published in twenty-two languages.
We loved chatting with Martha about her writing career, hearing how she first broke in, and how she coped when she suddenly found it difficult to get published. We hear how The Murderbot Diaries helped her come back from that, chat to her about writing novellas, hear how she wrote for Magic: The Gathering, Star Wars, Stargate and more! Plus - we get an update on the Murderbot TV series!
Links:
Buy Martha's books now!
Visit Martha's website
Follow Martha on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ed McDonald’s debut novel BLACKWING began the The Raven’s Mark trilogy, which continues withRAVENCRYand concludes with CROWFALL. Ed has been writing stories since he was a child, and studied history for his BA and MA degrees. He is a practitioner of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), and his love of history has helped to inspire the books that he writes. His latest book, Daughter of Redwinter, is out next week (30 June 2022).
We had a great chat with Ed about how he broke into writing (including rewriting a whole chunk of his debut over a weekend before his agent sent it to publishers), talking about planning vs pantsing, and hearing about his brilliant new novel, Daughter of Redwinter. We also talk about the advice he regularly gives writers on social media, and whether social media is a help or a hinderance to writers.
Links:
Buy Daughter of Redwinter and Ed's other books
Follow Ed on Twitter
Visit Ed's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Jane Shemilt is an internationally-acclaimed, best-selling author of psychological suspense novels. Her debut novel Daughter was a Richard and Judy pick, shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish award and nominated for an Edgar award. It became the fastest selling debut of 2014. Her third novel, How Far We Fall, has been optioned for production as a TV drama by Twelve Town. Jane’s stories are inspired by her background in psychology and medicine. She studied Psychology at London University before qualifying with honours from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine. She began writing while working as a GP, undertaking a diploma in Creative Writing then an M.A. also in Creative Writing, at Bath Spa University, gaining both with distinction.
We had a really interesting chat with Jane about how and why she made the move from medicine to writing, talking about the difficulties and opportunities with such a move. We also talked about how writing courses can assist aspiring authors and discuss whether everyone should try them. Plus we chat about her latest book, The Patient.
Links:
Buy The Patient and Jane's other books now
Follow Jane on Twitter
Visit Jane's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Nicholas Meyer is an American writer and director, known for his best-selling Sherlock Holmes novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and for directing the films Time After Time, two of the Star Trek feature films, including Wrath of Khan, and the 1983 television film The Day After. Meyer was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), where he adapted his own novel into a screenplay. He has also been nominated for a Satellite Award, three Emmy Awards, and has won four Saturn Awards.
It was an honour to speak with a true Hollywood legend such as Nick (Tariq in particular was very excited!) and we had great fun talking to him about how he broke into the industry, hearing about his lifelong obsession with Sherlock Holmes, and talking all things Star Trek with him. We also spoke about how to handle notes from producers and editors and talked about how it is very hard for a writer to describe his own process accurately. Plus, there is even an exclusive about a Trek-related project that Nick is currently working on...
Links:
Buy The Return of the Pharaoh
Follow Nick on Twitter
Stream Wrath of Khan
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Rob Hart is the author of six novels, including The Paradox Hotel and The Warehouse, as well as the short story collection Take-Out, Scott Free with James Patterson, and a Star Wars short story. The Warehouse sold in more than 20 countries and was optioned for film by Ron Howard.
We really enjoyed talking to Rob about his move from journalism to writing novels, finding out why he shifted from crime to sci fi, and hearing why he wanted to write an "issues" novel with The Warehouse. We also chat about his editing process and the importance of diversity in popular fiction.
Links:
Buy The Warehouse now!
Buy The Paradox Hotel in the US
Follow Rob on Twitter
Visit Rob's website
We're recording a live show with the brilliant Adrian Tchiakovsky at Cymera Festival on 4 June 2022! It's free but you need a ticket, which you can grab here: https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/cymera2022-events/2022/5/16/page-one.
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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A self-confessed serial killer nerd, Sam Holland studied psychology at university then spent the next few years working in HR, before quitting for a full-time career in writing. Her debut novel, The Echo Man, is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Sam, hearing about how she crafted her debut novel while working in HR, and talking about coming up with one of those ideas that seems so brilliant, you're sure someone must have done it before. We talk about her research into serial killers, how she uses image boards for getting into her characters' heads and much more!
Links:
Buy The Echo Man now
Follow Sam on Twitter
We're recording a live show with the brilliant Adrian Tchiakovsky at Cymera Festival on 4 June 2022! It's free but you need a ticket, which you can grab here: https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/cymera2022-events/2022/5/16/page-one.
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Mary Kenney is a brilliant writer of video games and comic books from The Walking Dead to the recent smash hit PS5 game, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. She is currently working on a new Wolverine game for Marvel and Sony. She also has Gamer Girls, a YA non-fiction novel about the women who built the video games industry, coming out in July 2022.
We loved chatting with Mary, hearing how she broke into writing for video games, talking about the unique opportunities and challenges that writing in that field covers, hearing about what it’s like writing such iconic characters - and also getting some fun and interesting insight into the steps needed for all that voice-acting you hear in your favourite games!
Links:
Pre-order Gamer Girls now!
Buy Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Visit Mary's website
Follow Mary on Twitter
We're recording a live show with the brilliant Adrian Tchiakovsky at Cymera Festival on 4 June 2022! It's free but you need a ticket, which you can grab here: https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/cymera2022-events/2022/5/16/page-one.
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Leroy Kincaide is a former professional wrestler who moved from the world of the squared circle to creating stories from behind the camera as a writer/director. His first feature, The Last Rite, is available to stream now.
We had a really interesting chat with Leroy, learning how he largely taught himself how to create his own feature film, from writing to directing and editing. We talk about how he visualises stories in his mind's eye first before committing them to paper, and find out what inspired The Last Rite.
Links:
Watch The Last Rite now!
Follow Leroy on Twitter
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Ben Aaronovitch is the bestselling author of the Rivers of London series, the latest of which, Amongst Our Weapons, is just out! Before becoming a successful author, Ben worked in screenwriting, writing episodes of Doctor Who, Casualty and more - but it was only when he was working as a bookseller in Waterstones that the idea of writing novels struck him.
It was great fun chatting with Ben about his career, hearing about the highs and lows, where the idea for Rivers of London came from and why he thinks it has become such a massive success. On top of that, we talk about the buying habits of different genre readers, structure of stories and why he can't choose between real books, ebooks and audiobooks...
Links:
Buy Amongst Our Weapons and Ben's other books now!
Visit Ben's website
Follow Ben on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Fonda Lee is the author of the epic fantasy Green Bone Saga, beginning with Jade City, continuing in Jade War, and concluding in Jade Legacy. She is also the author of the science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo and Cross Fire. Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, as well as a three-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award), and a multiple finalist for the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and the Oregon Book Award. A new novella set in the Green Bone Saga universe, The Jade Setter of Janloon, is out soon
We had a great chat with Fonda, talking about writing fantasy novels that eschew the usual medieval European setting and the importance of authenticity when writing about different cultures. She also tells us why authors should be okay with waiting for that breakthrough novel, and talks about what inspired her to write the Green Bone Saga.
Links:
Buy the Green Bone Saga and Fonda's other books now!
Visit Fonda's website
Follow Fonda on Twitter
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James Oswald is the author of the bestselling Inspector Maclean series of novels, as well as the fantasy series, The Ballad of Sir Benfro, and more. His latest book, All That Lives, is the twelfth in the Inspector Maclean series.
It was really interesting hearing how James made his breakthrough via self-publishing and how his success there led to traditional publishers bidding to try and get the rights to his novels. We also talked about how he juggles being a farmer with his writing, why publishers always say they want something new, even if that's not always the case, and hear about his latest book, All That Lives. On top of that, we talk about his love of comics and what he has planned in the future.
Links:
Buy All That Lives and James's other books now
Visit James's website
Follow James on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Georgia Pritchett is an award-winning screenwriter who has worked on some of the best shows on television including Spitting Image, Smack The Pony, The Thick of It, Veep, Succession and, most recently, The Shrink Next Door, the hit Apple TV show starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. On top of all that, she has also recently released a hilarious memoir entitled My Mess is a Bit of a Life.
We had great fun talking with Georgia and hearing how she got her start on radio before moving into TV and then writing for Jo Brand. We learn about why Armando Iannucci compares writing a script to making gravy, and how the writing process differs for UK and US TV. We also talk Succession, chat about making horrible characters likeable and hear what Georgia is working on next.
Links:
Buy My Mess is a Bit of a Life
Watch Succession now!
The White House Correspondent's Dinner/Veep sketch
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ian Rankin is an international superstar of crime writing, with bestsellers across the globe and is the creator of one of the best-known fictional policeman, John Rebus.
We are so delighted that Ian was able to come down to our studio to talk about his stellar writing career. We hear how that began, where Rebus came from and talk about the impact of Scottish crime writing on the genre. We also talk about what it was like to co-write a posthumous William McIlvanney novel, The Dark Remains, and lean what he has planned next!
This special episode is available as both an audio podcast and as a full video interview on Youtube!
COMPETITION!
WIN SIGNED BOOKS AND YOUR OWN PAGE ONE NOTEBOOK
To celebrate our 100th episode, we are also holding an exciting competition!
3 winners will receive:
- A copy of The Dark Remains by Ian Rankin and William McIlvanney (signed by Ian Rankin!)
- A Page One notebook (signed by Ian Rankin!)
- An assorted bundle of books from some of our previous guests. Please note that some of these books are proof copies and so may differ slightly from retail versions.
2 additional winners will receive a Page One notebook signed by Ian Rankin!
Just follow the instructions below to enter – Good luck!
WAYS TO ENTER:
-
Sign up to our newsletter (sign up details at bottom of page here: https://www.writegear.co.uk/podcast)
-
Tag a friend who would like to win a bundle of books and our notebook – Each tag counts as a separate entry!
-
Follow us on at least one of our social media channels:
a. Twitter - @ukPageOne
b. Facebook – www.facebook.com/ukpageone
c. Instagram – @ukPageOne
- Share the competition post on social media on your feed or story (this isn't a necessary step but counts as a bonus entry!)
Competition open until 11.59pm GMT on 30 March 2022. Entries received after that date will not be counted. Winners will be announced on episode 104 of Page One – The Writers Podcast which will be released on 1 April 2022. Winners will also be notified by email and announced on our social media.
Links:
Buy The Dark Remains and Ian's other books
Visit Ian's website
Follow Ian on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Anna Mazzola is the a writer of historical thrillers and Gothic fiction. Her novels explore the impact of crime and injustice. Her debut novel, The Unseeing, is based on the life of a real woman called Sarah Gale who was convicted of aiding a murder in London in 1837. It won an Edgar Allan Poe Award in the US and was nominated for the Historical Writers’ Association’s Debut Crown in the UK. Her second novel, The Story Keeper, is out now. It follows a folklorist’s assistant as she searches out dark fairytales and stolen girls on the Isle of Skye in 1857. The Story Keeper was nominated for the Highland Book Prize. Her third novel, The Clockwork Girl, set in Paris in 1750 and based partly on the story of the vanishing children of Paris, will be published by Orion in March 2022. She is currently working on her fourth novel, a ghost story set in Fascist Italy.
We had a really fun chat with Anna, talking about how she juggles her legal and writing careers, the difficulties of writing stories that span genres and so don't neatly fit into expected categories, why prologues are good and much more! We learn about her next book(s) and talk about why sometimes it is best to get the first draft done and then fix it afterwards.
Links:
Buy The Clockwork Girl and Anna's other books now!
Visit Anna's website
Follow Anna on Twitter
Hear about Page One - The Writer's Notebook on The Writing and Marketing Show
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Will Carver is the acclaimed author of unique, dark crime novels such as Good Samaritans, The Beresford and, most recently, Psychopaths Anonymous.
We had great fun chatting with Will, hearing about how he broke into the industry and also how he found himself having to start his writing career again when publishing contracts dried up. We also discuss why his books are either loved or hated (with no in-between) and also learn about the year he saved not one but two lives!
Links:
Buy Will's books now!
Follow Will on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Lilja Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic crime-writer born in 1972. She is the author of novels, stage plays and screenplays. Her latest latest book, White as Snow (Náhvít jörð) is the third in a series of thrillers featuring financial investigator Áróra and police detective Daníel.
We had great fun chatting with Lilja about her interesting route into writing (thank you, Dan Brown!), talked about the importance of good translations and discussed the growing appeal of foreign stories in English-speaking countries. We also talk about Iceland's love of Eurovision (the competition and Will Ferrell's film) and learn about the hefty price of books in Iceland!
Links:
Buy Lilja's books now!
Visit Lilja's website
Follow Lilja on Twitter
Hear about Page One - The Writer's Notebook on The Writing and Marketing Show
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Tasmina Perry is the internationally bestselling author of fourteen novels including Kiss Heaven Goodbye, Private Lives and Guilty Pleasures. Her books have been translated into twenty languages and sold over two million copies worldwide. She is a former lawyer turned award-winning journalist and was editing the UK edition of In Style magazine when her debut novel Daddy's Girls went into the top ten and became one of the biggest selling debuts of the years. She also writes thrillers under the pseudonym JL Butler. Mine - her first novel in that pen name has been optioned by Sony Pictures. Her second JL Butler novel, Unfaithful, is out now.
We had great fun chatting with Tasmina about her unusual route into writing (hint - it involves a random interview with one of Britain's biggest boybands) and how she has made such a huge success of her career. We hear about the importance of planning, why pseudonyms can be good and bad, why she's decided to launch her own publishing imprint instead of signing a new trad publishing deal - and what happened when Donald Trump asked her to ghostwrite for him!
Links:
Buy Unfaithful and Tasmina's other books now
Visit Tasmina's website
Follow Tasmina on Twitter
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction novelist, author of international bestsellers Scrublands, Silver and Trust. Scrublands was shortlisted for major writing awards in Australia, the UK and the United States. In the UK it was named the Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year 2019 and won the prestigious UK Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award. His latest, published as Treasure and Dirt in Australia and New Zealand and Opal Country internationally, is out soon.
We had great fun chatting with Chris about his writing career, learning how he moved from journalism into writing fiction via a couple of non-fiction books. We also talk about what inspired Scrublands and hear about why he thinks it has taken so long for Australian crime fiction to take off internationally. On top of that, he tells us about his process and talks about why he wanted to leave his previous protagonist, Martin Scarsden, alone for a while to write Opal Country.
Links:
Buy Opal Country now!
Visit Chris' website
Follow Chris on Instagram
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Hugh Howey is the author of the bestselling sci fi series, Wool, which is now being turned into a show for Apple TV. In addition, he wrote the Molly Fyde and Beacon 23 series, and is currently working on the next installment of the Wool universe.
We had a great chat with Hugh about his career, and heard about the brave and ultimately life-changing decision he made to self-publish his own works (which in turn led to him turning down $1m dollars to keep the rights to Wool). He offers a unique and fascinating insight into the world of publishing, talks about why there should be no stigma around self-publishing and why Amazon can be good for writers and readers.
Links:
Buy Hugh's books now
Visit Hugh's website
Follow Hugh on Twitter
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Jon Ingold is the founder and narrative director of Inkle Studios who have made hugely popular narrative games such as 80 Days, Overboard! and Heaven's Vault. He is also a published author and has just released a two-volume novel set in the Heaven's Vault world.
We had a fascinating chat with Jon about the differences between fiction and interactive fiction - and found out that in many ways, they are not all that different after all. We talked about his inspirations for interactive fiction, and how he structures these stories both from a technical and narrative perspective. He tells us why he wanted to revisit the world of Heaven's Vault as a book, and we also find time to talk about the latest film adaptation of Dune...
Links:
Buy Heaven's Vault the novel now!
Follow Jon on Twitter
Visit Inkle's website
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Simon Beckett taught English as a foreign language in Spain, installed cavity wall installation and played in various unsuccessful bands before becoming a freelance journalist and author. Since then, he has become an international bestselling author thanks to his David Hunter crime thrillers. The series has been translated into 29 languages. Simon’s novels have appeared in The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller list and become No.1 international bestsellers, selling 12 million copies worldwide. As well as the David Hunter series, he is the author of five standalone thrillers: Fine Lines, Animals, Where There’s Smoke, Owning Jacob and most recently The Lost, the first in the Jonah Colley series.
We had a great chat with Simon talking about the ups and down of the publishing industry and why you can never sit on your laurels as an author. We hear why he wanted to write about a new character with The Lost and talk about how to push through those difficult moments as a writer.
Links:
Buy The Lost and Simon's other books!
Visit Simon's website
Follow Simon on Twitter
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Joanne Harris MBE is the international bestselling author of books such as Chocolat and The Gospel of Loki. A prolific author, she has written nearly twenty books in addition to numerous short stories. Her latest novel is A Narrow Door, a psychological thriller set in an English grammar school. She is also currently Chair of the Society of Authors.
We loved chatting with Joanne about all things writing-related, including how finding an agent has (and hasn’t) changed since she broke in, the current state of the publishing industry and how social media isn’t all bad for writers! We also deep-dive into her writing process, talking about planning, revising and why reading your writing aloud is the best tool a writer has.
Links:
Buy A Narrow Door and Joanne's other books now!
Visit Joanne's website
Follow Joanne on Twitter
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Catriona Ward won the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel for her debut, Rawblood, and again for Little Eve, making her the first woman to win the prize twice. Little Eve, which also won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel, will soon be republished. Her latest novel, The Last House on Needless Street, has received rave reviews and became an instant bestseller.
We loved chatting with Catriona and hearing about how she tackles writing about the horror in her novels (clue: make sure you have some time to do other things as well!) We also hear about the long seven year journey to get her first novel published, and how that process contrasts with her writing approach now. There’s also time to chat briefly about the upcoming film adaptation of The Last House on Needless Street!
Links:
Buy Catriona's books now!
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Dominic Nolan is the author of the Abigail Boone novels, Past Life and After Dark. His most recent novel, Vine Street, is a historical thriller based on real events in 1930s Soho, and has already been garnering rave reviews.
We had a really interesting chat with Dominic about his path to publishing, and talk about why it took some time between his getting an agent and his first book being published. We also talk about how not to pitch a novel, and talk about the research that went into crafting Vine Street.
Links:
Buy Dominic's books now!
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the novel, Dark Matter, for which he is writing the screenplay for Sony Pictures. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015's #1 show. His latest book, Recursion, was a bestseller which is also being adapted by Netflix.
We loved talking to Blake and hearing about how it was a decision to stop writing “small” stories that kickstarted what appeared to be a failing career as a novelist. That first big story was Pines, and since then he has had success after success. We also hear about how his unique and complicated ideas develop into novels, and the difficult process that goes into them.
Links:
Buy Blake's books now!
Visit Blake's website
Watch Wayward Pines
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Stuart Turton is a former journalist and the author of the award-winning, genre-mashing The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. His second book, The Devil and the Dark Water was released in October 2020 and became an instant smash hit.
We had a great time chatting to Stuart about how an early love of Agatha Christie mysteries eventually led to his becoming a writer. He tells us why he would prefer it if his name didn’t appear on the cover of his books, why he never wants to be pigeon-holed into writing one type of story and discusses the planning that went into The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. We also hear about his roundabout journey to becoming a writer, which includes perhaps the most unique pre-writing job we’ve had from a guest (it involves shotguns and camels…!)
Links:
Buy Stuart's books now!
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Alan Johnson was an MP for 20 years and served as Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Health for the Labour Governments of Blair and Brown. After leaving the Cabinet, he wrote his first memoir, This Boy, which was an instant success, and followed that up with two more volumes of memoirs, Please, Mister Postman and The Long and Winding Road. This year he has published his first novel, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill.
Our fun chat with Alan covers why he always wanted to be a writer (and rock musician - blame The Beatles for both), how he kept writing during his political career, and why fiction has been his goal from the start. We talk about the difference in writing memoirs and fiction, hear what inspired The Late Train to Gipsy Hill, and also talk about his experience as a contestant on The Masked Singer!
Links:
Buy The Late Train to Gypsy Hill now!
Watch Alan on The Masked Singer
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Yes, the tables are turned this week as our very own Tariq Ashkanani joins us as a guest rather than interviewer to tell us about the path to publishing his debut novel, Welcome to Cooper, which currently sits high on Amazon's Kindle Store!
Tariq explains his rather convoluted path to becoming a writer, and how the spark for his brilliant debut came after attending a short story writing class. We also talk about the trials and tribulations of finding an agent, hear how he honed his writing voice - and of course find out once and for all whether he will pick ebooks as his favourite medium...
Links:
Buy Welcome To Cooper now!
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Catherine Quinn is a bestselling fiction author whose books are published in over fifteen countries. She writes contemporary thrillers as Cate Quinn, and her historical thrillers are published under the pen name CS Quinn. Catherine’s was a travel and lifestyle journalist for The Times, The Guardian and The Mirror, alongside many magazines. Prior to journalism and fiction, her background in historic research won prestigious postgraduate funding from the British Art Council.
Combining research skills with far-flung travel experiences helped her delve into different communities and worlds to create page-turning thrillers in interesting locations.
We had great fun chatting with Cate about her writing journey, hearing about how she was diverted from her first historical thriller to self-publish erotica under a pen name, how that led back to a traditional publishing deal for her historical fiction and finding out why she has now moved into contemporary fiction with her latest novel, Black Windows. We talk about marketing when you are self-publishing, building email lists of readers, and how writing out of sequence can help with the "murky middle" of your book! Plus we chat about her food blog and ask about the worst thing she has eaten on her travels...
Links:
Buy Black Widows
Buy the CS Quinn books
Read Cate's food blog
Follow Cate on Twitter
Visit Cate's website
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Duncan Hamilton is an award-winning non-fiction author and sports journalist. His first book, Provided You Don't Kiss Me:20 Years with Brian Clough, won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, and award he has subsequently won another two times. He has just released his first fiction novel, Injury Time.
We had a really interesting chat with Duncan about his route into sports journalism and hear what led him to move into the world of books. We talk about how he picks his subjects for his non-fiction books and find out why he has decided to move into the world of novel writing with Injury Time. We also have a chat about why football (soccer for our US listeners!) never seems to work in movies, and, given this episode was recorded just before the Euro 2020 final, Marco and him briefly discuss prospects for their respective teams...
Links:
Buy Duncan's books
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This week we have not one but two great guests! Abir Mukherjee is the bestselling author of the Sam Wyndham series of crime novels set in Raj era India. His debut, A Rising Man, won the CWA Endeavour Dagger for best historical crime novel of 2017. His latest, Death in the East, was nominated for the Theakston Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2021. Vaseem Khan is the author of two crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. He is also an award-winning author and his latest, The Dying Day, is out now. As well as being award-winning authors, Abir and Vaseem also host the popular literary podcast, The Red Hot Chilli Writers (on which our very own Tariq Ashkanani recently appeared as a guest!)
We had a great time speaking with both Abir and Vaseem, and in between the jokes we even managed to talk about writing! We heard about the very different paths they took to becoming published and talk about the role that luck and timing can have in becoming a successfully published author. We also chat about favourite books, hear why Abir is always trying to take Vaseem to KFC and may even mention the name of Vaseem's new book once or twice...
Links:
Buy Death in the East and Abir's other books now
Buy The Dying Day and Vaseem's other books now
Visit Abir's website
Visit Vaseem's website
Visit The Red Hot Chilli Writers website
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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C. Robert Cargill started out as a film reviewer for one of the internet's first film sites, aintitcool.com, before moving into the world of movies himself, writing films such as Sinister and Dr Strange. Not content with taking the movie world by storm, he has also become a bestselling novelist, and his most recent book, Day Zero, is a prequel to the brilliant Sea of Rust.
We loved chatting with Cargill about his varied career, learning about how he used the access he had as a film reviewer as a crash course in film studies, how a chance meeting with his friend Scott Derrickson in Vegas led to Sinister being pitched, written and green-lit in record time, and why he loves working in both the film and book world. We also talk about learning to accept that a lot of great work you write as a screenwriter may never get made, and discuss when and when not to take advice from others on your work.
Links:
Buy Day Zero and Cargill's other books
Follow Cargill on Twitter
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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As well as being a successful novelist, Imran Mahmood is a practising barrister with over 30 years' court experience. His first book, You Don't Know Me, was chosen by Simon Mayo as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice for 2017 and longlisted for Theakston Crime Novel of the Year and for the CWA Gold Dagger award. It's currently being adapted for TV. His latest book, I Know What I Saw, is just out.
We loved chatting with Imran about how he got into writing and how his day job as a criminal barrister helps shape his stories. We also stand back in awe as he tells us how he balances that day job, the writing, TV work and having a young family (while also reading about 5 books at once)!
Links:
Buy I Know What I Saw and Imran's other books here
Follow Imran on Twitter
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Philip Gwynne Jones spent twenty years in the IT industry before realising he was congenitally unsuited to it, and now works as a writer, teacher and translator. He lives in Venice with his wife Caroline. His first novel, “The Venetian Game”, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and a Times Top 5 bestseller. “The Venetian Legacy”, the fifth in the Nathan Sutherland series, was published in April 2021.
We loved chatting with Philip and hearing about how he accidentally became a bestselling author. We hear about how he manages to make Venice almost a character in its own right in his novels, and learn how his protagonist, Nathan Sutherland came about. We also chat about whether he is a planner or pantser, and ask whether he would ever write a novel set outside Venice.
Links:
Buy The Venetian Legacy and Philip's other books
Visit Philip's website
Follow Philip on Twitter
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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MJ Arlidge is a man of many talents, being a novelist, screenwriter and producer. Having started out as a storyliner for Eastenders on the BBC, he went on to work on celebrated British shows such as Monarch of the Glen and Silent Witness, before creating his own hit shows such as Mistresses and Cape Wrath. He came to the world of novels in his 40s, when Eeny Meeny was released to huge success. Its protagonist, DI Helen Grace has since featured in many more books, with the latest being the recently released Truth or Dare.
It was great fun chatting with Matthew about his career, and hearing about the many differences between the TV and publishing world. We hear about how his experience in the TV world helped him pitch his first novel, and learn about the differences in getting notes in each industry (hint - there normally aren't three editors in one room in the publishing world!)
Links:
Buy Truth or Dare and Matthew's other books
Follow him on Twitter
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Caroline Hulse is the author of Like a House on Fireand The Adults. All The Fun of the Fair is her latest novel which has just been released. Her books have been published in fourteen languages and optioned for television.
We had great fun chatting with Caroline, hearing about how she moved from HR into writing, why she still works in an office (as an author!) and why she abandoned writing suspense novels for humour. We also get great advice about outrunning your fear as a writer, learn why she loves to plan meticulously, and even get some great board game recommendations from her!
Links:
Buy All The Fun of The Fair and Caroline's other books
Visit Caroline's website
Follow Caroline on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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In this special episode, we talk with all three of the nominees for the 2021 Desmond Elliott Prize, the showcase award for debut authors from the National Centre for Writing.
First up, we talk with AK Blakemore, author of The Manningtree Witches, a brilliant literary historical fiction novel set in England in 1643. AK is the author of two full-length collections of poetry: Humbert Summer (Eyewear, 2015) and Fondue (Offord Road Books, 2018), which was awarded the 2019 Ledbury Forte Prize for Best Second Collection. She has also translated the work of Sichuanese poet Yu Yoyo (My Tenantless Body, Poetry Translation Centre, 2019). Her poetry and prose writing has been widely published and anthologised, appearing in the The London Review of Books, Poetry, Poetry Review and The White Review, among others.
Then we chat with Rebecca Watson, author of the incredible little scratch, an experimental literary novel told in immediate first person. Rebecca is one of The Observer‘s 10 best debut novelists of 2021. Her work has been published in the TLS, The Guardian, Granta and elsewhere. In 2018, she was shortlisted for the White Review Short Story Prize. She works part-time as Assistant Arts Editor at the Financial Times and lives in London.
Finally, we speak with Eley Williams, author of The Liar's Dictionary, a dual timeline literary novel revolving around false entries in dictionaries. Eley lectures at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her short story collection Attrib. and Other Stories (Influx Press) won the James Tait Black Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. The Liar’s Dictionary is her debut novel.
Links:
Read about the Desmond Elliott Prize
Buy The Manningtree Witches
Buy little scratch
Buy The Liar's Dictionary
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Nina Allan has won the British Science Fiction Award, the Novella Award, the Kitschies Red Tentacle and France’s Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire. Her first published piece of fiction appeared in a magazine called Dark Horizons in 2002. Since then, her stories have featured in numerous magazines and anthologies including The Year’s Best Science Fiction, Best Horror of the Year and The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime. Her latest book, The Good Neighbours, is released on 10 June 2021.
We loved talking to Nina about her lifelong love of speculative fiction, including science fiction, the gothic, weird fiction and good old fashioned ghost stories and why she is particularly interested in work that tests the boundaries of genre: playing with philosophical ideas, savouring language, and experimenting with form. We talked about how SFF and horror cons can be a great place for budding writers to make connections, and hear about her rather unique redrafting process!
Links:
Buy The Good Neigbours and Nina's other books now!
Visit Nina's website
Cymera Festival 2021
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Holly Seddon is the bestselling author of books such as Try Not to Breathe, Don't Close Your Eyes, and her latest, The Hit List. In between writing these great books, she also manages to host a great writing podcast (a great one to listen to alongside this one...!) called Honest Authors, which looks at the realities of life as a published author.
We had great fun chatting with Holly, hearing about how she found and was picked up by her agent in the space of a lunchtime (!), how she swapped agents, and discussing the ups and downs of being a published author. We also hear why she now always plans her stories and find out how she continues to find great ideas and characters for her books.
Links:
Buy The Hit List now!
Visit Holly's website
Follow Holly on Twitter
Listen to the Honest Authors podcast
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Nikki Smith studied English Literature at the University of Birmingham and went on to forge a career in finance; working for companies including a city bank and a trampoline park. She’d always wanted to write, and prompted by someone she hadn’t seen since school contacting her to ask if she’d ever done anything with her writing, signed up for a Curtis Brown creative writing course in 2017. She went on to win a short story competition and mentorship by the author Amanda Reynolds before being accepted for representation by Sophie Lambert at C+W. Her debut novel, ALL IN HER HEAD, went on submission in January 2019 and she accepted a pre-empt offer for a two book deal by Orion ten days later. LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO is her second novel and out now.
We had a great chat with Nikki about how she managed to swap accountancy for writing, and how the day job helped instill a discipline which has proven useful in writing. We also hear about her new novel, and chat about first and third person perspectives, and whether there can ever be too much "head-jumping" in first person novels.
Links:
Buy Look What You Made Me Do now!
Visit Nikki's website
Follow her on Twitter
Check out the Curtis Brown Creative Writing courses
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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David Nicholls is the award-winning author of books such as Starter for Ten, Us, One Day and, most recently, Sweet Sorrow. He has also won awards for his screenwriting, from his contributions to Cold Feet to the adaptations of both his own books such as Starter for Ten and One Day and the likes of Patrick Melrose and Great Expectations.
We loved chatting with David about how he got his start in his writing career, moving from an actor to a screenwriter to, eventually, a novelist, and then back to screenwriting. We discuss the differences between the two formats, and why the feedback on screenwriting is often harsher than in prose writing. We also talk about how to adapt a book to film, and hear about what he is working on next.
Links:
Buy David's books now!
Follow David on Twitter
Watch Patrick Melrose on NOW TV
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Helen O'Hara is best known for her work at Empire magazine, where she is currently editor-at-large and features regularly on their renowned podcast. She has also been published regularly in newspapers such at The Guardian and The Telegraph, and has written a number of books, the most recent of which is Women vs Hollywood.
We had great fun chatting with Helen about her career and hear how she landed the job at Empire, what she learned on the job about writing reviews, and why she wanted to write Women vs Hollywood now. We hear why editing can be the best way to learn about writing, chat about why men get an easier time in Hollywood than women, and discuss ways people can get started in film reviewing. We also get her take on Zack Snyder's Justice League - which then leads to a long and rambling discussion at the end of the podcast about Marvel v DC...
Links:
Buy Women vs Hollywood now!
Follow Helen on Twitter
Listen to the Empire Podcast
Capital Crime New Voices competition
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/
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Miranda Malins is a writer and historian specialising in the history of Oliver Cromwell, his family and the politics of the Interregnum period following the Civil War. She studied at Cambridge University, leaving with a PhD, and continues to speak at conferences and publish journal articles and book reviews. She also enjoys being a Trustee of the Cromwell Association. Given her love of that period of history, it is no surprise that her debut novel, The Puritan Princess, is a beautifully written historical novel focusing on Cromwell's youngest daughter.
We had a really fun and interesting chat with Miranda, talking about the differences in writing about history and historical fiction, and whether authenticity or accuracy is best to strive for in the latter. We also hear about her journey into publishing after a career as a historian and a lawyer, and talk about a shared love of audiobooks!
Links:
Buy The Puritan Princess now
Visit Miranda's website
Follow her on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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D. V. Bishop is the author of the Cesare Aldo mysteries set in Renaissance Florence, and published by Pan Macmillan. Before his debut as an author, David had a varied career, from journalism to editing some of the UK's biggest comics at Judge Dredd The Megazine and 2000AD, before becoming an award-winning screenwriter and TV dramatist. City of Vengeance won the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland crime fiction festival in 2018, and he was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship by the Scottish Book Trust while writing the novel.
We had great fun learning about David's journey, hearing about how he landed the editor job at 2000AD, and talk in detail about why has wanted to write City of Vengeance for twenty years. As David is also the head of Creative Writing at Napier University, we also get some great tips on writing (use all five senses!), talk about plotting vs pantsing, and much more!
Links:
Buy City of Vengeance now!
Visit David's website
Follow him on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Jeff VanderMeer’s NYT-bestselling Southern Reach trilogy has been translated into over 35 languages. The first novel, Annihilation, won the Nebula Award and Shirley Jackson Award, and was made into a movie by Paramount in 2018. Recent works include Dead Astronauts, Borne (a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award), The Strange Bird. These novels, set in the Borne universe, are being developed for TV by AMC and continue to explore themes related to the environment, animals, and our future. His latest book, Hummingbird Salamander, is out this week and already getting rave reviews.
We had great fund talking with Jeff and learning about how he crafts his unique stories. We talked about how his work defies categorisation, why he likes to experiment with his writing and what themes are important to him in his writing. We also get his thoughts on the adaptation of Annihilation into a movie, and find out about how his unique writing process helps him get into the heads of his characters.
Links:
Buy Hummingbird Salamander and Jeff's other books
Visit Jeff's website
Follow Jeff on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Charlie Jane Anders is an award-winning author and journalist who was a founding member of the popular site io9 and whose latest novel, Victories Greater Than Death, is out next week and kicks off a new YA trilogy. She's also the author of All the Birds in the Sky, which won the Nebula, Crawford and Locus awards, Choir Boy, which won a Lambda Literary Award, and The City in the Middle of the Night. Her short fiction has appeared in Tor.com, Boston Review, Tin House, Conjunctions, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Wired Magazine, Slate, Asimov's Science Fiction, Lightspeed, ZYZZYVA, Catamaran Literary Review, McSweeney's Internet Tendency and tons of anthologies. Her story "Six Months, Three Days" won a Hugo Award, and her story "Don't Press Charges And I Won't Sue" won a Theodore Sturgeon Award. Charlie Jane also organizes the monthly Writers With Drinks reading series, and co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct with last week's guest, Annalee Newitz.
We had great fun chatting with Charlie Jane about her writing career, learning how she broke into the industry, and how it felt when All The Birds In the Sky won all those awards. We also hear about her new YA trilogy, and discuss how easy it is (or isn't!) to make changes to a trilogy once the first book is out. Plus we hear what she's been reading and watching, and hear about which Marvel TV show she would love to be writing!
Links:
Pre-order/buy Victories Greater Than Death and Charlie Jane's other books
Visit Charlie Jane's website
Visit io9
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Annalee Newitz writes science fiction and nonfiction. They are the author of the book Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, and the novels The Future of Another Timeline, and Autonomous, which won the Lambda Literary Award. As a science journalist, they are a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and have a monthly column in New Scientist. They have published in The Washington Post, Slate, Popular Science, Ars Technica, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among others. They are also the co-host of the Hugo Award-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Previously, they were the founder of io9, and served as the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.
We had great fun chatting with Annalee about how they managed to juggle their interests in both science and writing to form a unique and successful career. We hear about how the opportunity to found the successful website io9 came about, and how to select which stories to write as fiction and which as non-fiction. We also veer wildly off-topic on several occasions (in a good way!) and discuss how despite appearances, technological advancements over time aren't always the leaps forward we sometimes think they are.
Links:
Buy Four Lost Cities and Annalee's other books now
Visit Annalee's website
Visit io9
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Margaux DeRoux comes from a family of painters, and writes historical fiction that centers on art and artists. Before turning to fiction, she was a teacher, a waitress, and a marketer in Silicon Valley. Her debut novel, The Lost Diary of Venice, features two impossible love stories which are fatefully connected by one artistic legacy that leaps between the mysteries of late-Renaissance Venice and the dramas of present-day America.
We had a great chat with Margaux about how her discovery of a real Venetian treatise inspired her novel, and hear about her path to publishing. She tells us about her 5am starts to get the book written, and the importance of research when writing historical fiction. Plus we chat about The Crown and The Great British Bake Off (no spoilers!)
Links:
Buy The Lost Diary of Venice
Visit Margaux's website
Follow Margaux on Twitter
Check out what agents have on their wishlists right now!
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Peter Moffat is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who has written shows such as Silk, Criminal Justice (which was adapted into The Night Of for HBO) and most recently, Your Honor, which stars Bryan Cranston.
We had great fun chatting with Peter, learning about how his previous career as a criminal barrister has helped with his writing, and hear how he moved into TV work after writing plays. He tells us all about what it's like to be a showrunner on a US TV show, and how that differs from writing for UK TV, and why you can never do enough research for your stories.
Links:
Watch Your Honor
See the trailer for Your Honor
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Robert Dinsdale is the author of novels including The Harrowing, Little Exiles, The Toymakers and most recently, Paris By Starlight. The magic-infused worlds he had created with his last two books have led to comparisons with Erin Morgenstern and Neil Gaiman.
We enjoyed chatting to Robert about his writing journey and hearing about his time as a literary agent, before he flipped sides and became an author himself. We also learn about why getting that first novel published isn't always the breakthrough you thought it would be, but also why focusing on writing the stories you want to tell can be the way to really engage with readers. In Robert's case, that was deciding to tell story with a magical side, and led to The Toymakers becoming his breakthrough novel. And as he tells us, that magical storytelling combines with contemporary issues in Paris By Starlight.
Links:
Buy Paris By Starlight and Robert's other books
Visit Robert's website
Follow Robert on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Helen Whitaker is author of the acclaimed comedy, The School Run, and most recently, I Give It A Year. She is also an accomplished journalist, writing for publications such as Glamour, Marie Claire, Women's Fitness and more, and is currently deputy editor of British Airways' in-flight magazine, High Life.
We had a fun chat with Helen, learning about how she moved into journalism, and how writing features has helped her as a novelist. We also hear about why she wanted to write I Give It A Year (and the dangers of planning a book around a year which turned out to be hit by a pandemic!) Plus, at the very end, Tariq dishes out some Christmas shopping advice (only two months too late...)
Links:
Buy I Give It A Year now!
Visit Helen's website
Follow Helen on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/
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Nick Hornby is the bestselling author of eight novels, including High Fidelity and About a Boy, and his latest, Just Like You, along with several works of non-fiction including his ground-breaking debut, Fever Pitch. He has written numerous award-winning screenplays for film and television including Brooklyn, Wild and, most recently, State of the Union.
We had a great chat with Nick hearing about how he broke into writing and pitched Fever Pitch to an agent. We also learn about the difference between writing memoir and fiction, and hear about his love of writing screenplays - including hearing about his latest screenwriting project involving one of the biggest bands in history!
Links:
Buy Just Like You and Nick's other books
Visit Nick's website
Follow Nick on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Multi-award winning Mari Hannah is the author of the Kate Daniels series of police procedurals, the Ryan and O'Neil crime series and the Stone and Oliver series. Her latest book in the Kate Daniels series, Without a Trace, is out now and won Capital Crime Book of the Year in 2020.
We had a great chat with Mari, hearing about how she moved into writing and her path to publishing - a tale which includes her first novel being dropped at the last moment by a small local publisher. That turned out to be the best thing ever though, as it allowed her to land a great agent and secure a publishing deal with Pan MacMillan that started her hugely successful career. We also hear about what she has planned next, and hear about how Kate Daniels will be brought to TV by Stephen Fry's production company!
Links:
Buy Without a Trace and Mari's other books
Visit Mari's website
Follow Mari on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Cherie Jones' debut novel ‘How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House‘ has been receiving rave reviews from the likes of Bernardine Evaristo, who called it "A hard-hitting and unflinching novel from a bold new writer". Her short stories have variously been published in PANK, Cadenza, Eclectica, The Feminist Wire and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She’s a fellowship awardee of the Vermont Studio Centre and completed her MA with distinction at Sheffield Hallam University, where she was awarded the Archie Markham Award and the A.M Heath prize.
We chat to Cherie to hear how she juggles her day job as a lawyer with writing (clue: she gets up VERY early!) and hear about her route to publishing. We also talk about how her stories begin with one character's voice speaking to her, and hear about why she wanted to write such a hard-hitting novel.
Links:
Buy How the One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
Visit Cherie's website
Follow Cherie on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Allie Reynolds is a former professional snowboarder turned author whose debut thriller, Shiver, is out now.
We chat to Allie about her long route to publishing, hearing how she found her agent, and learn about what it felt like when Shiver became the subject of a ten publisher auction. We also hear about the importance of revising your work for submission, as well as how she is coping with that difficult second novel syndrome...
Links:
Buy Shiver now
Visit Allie's website
Visit Jericho Writers
Visit Curtis Brown Creative
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Helen Lederer began her career in stand-up comedy at London’s famous Comedy Store, as part of the early 80s comedians including French & Saunders, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmonson and Harry Enfield and became famous for portraying Catriona in all six series of Absolutely Fabulous. She has also developed a prolific writing career, writing for radio, TV and more recently books, including Losing It, which was nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comedy writing. She is also the found of the Comedy Women in Print Prize, which seeks to find an promote new women's voices in writing.
Our chat with Helen is predictably fun and interesting as we hear about how she broke into the stand up scene in the 80s, and hear about her techniques for writing stand up. We also learn about how to read whether a joke is landing with an audience (and what to do if it doesn't), and find out what other writing she has planned in the future.
Links:
Buy Losing it and Helen's other books
Look into the Comedy Women in Print Prize
Follow Helen on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Sharon Bolton is the bestselling author of mystery crime novels such as Sacrifice, Blood Harvest and the highly successful Lacey Flint series. Her most recent book, The Split, is a tense twisty thriller which was chosen for Richard and Judy's Book Club at the end of 2020.
We had a great chat with Sharon, hearing about how she almost became a Mills and Boon writer before swerving to mystery thrillers. She tells us why she published her first books under the name SJ Bolton, why that changed and we hear about what it was like to have her first book adapted into a movie. We also learn whether there will be any more Lacey Flint novels in the future...
Links:
Buy The Split and Sharon's other books
Visit Sharon's website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Back in the summer of 2020, we recorded this episode of the Page One Sessions with Laura Lam and Adrian J Walker. We discussed all manner of things, including whether living through a real-life pandemic would alter the way they tell their future-set stories, how they had been writing during the COVID-19 lockdown, heard about their latest projects, got reading recommendations and much more!
This episode is also available as a video podcast on our YouTube site: https://youtu.be/F1kPGk37DJA
Be sure to tune in to The Page One Podcast every week for in depth discussions with writers about their writing process and how they got into the industry.
Links:
Buy Laura's latest books, Goldilocks and Seven Devils
Buy Adrian's latest books latest book, The End of the World Survivor's Club and The Human Son
Listen to your favourite writers every week on The Page One Podcast: https://www.writegear.co.uk/podcast.
The Page One Sessions are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one.
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Earlier this year, we chatted with friends of the podcast Sarah Pinborough and Tim Lebbon about how they have been writing during the COVID-19 lockdown, heard about their latest projects, got reading recommendations and much more!
This episode is also available as a video podcast on our YouTube site: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s.
Be sure to tune in to The Page One Podcast every week for in depth discussions with writers about their writing process and how they got into the industry.
Links:
Buy Sarah's books, including her latest, Dead to Her
Buy Tim's books, including his latest, Eden
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Jennie Fields received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is the author of the novels Lily Beach, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, The Middle Ages, and The Age of Desire. A Chicago native, Jennie was inspired by her own mother’s work as a University of Chicago-trained biochemist in the 1950s for her latest novel, Atomic Love.
We had a great chat with Jennie about juggling a day job with being a writer (she was previously a highly successful creative director at various New York ad agencies) and hear about the type of research that she does for her historical fiction novels. We also explore the real-life inspirations behind Atomic Love, and of course find out whether she prefers real books or ebooks (clue: Tariq was very happy with her answer!)
Links:
Buy Atomic Love and Jennie's other books
Visit Jennie's website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Matt Ruff is the author of books such as Fool on The Hill, The Mirage, and Lovecraft Country, which has just been turned into a successful TV show on HBO and Sky Atlantic. His latest novel is 88 names, a cyberpunk/romance mashup set in a virtual world.
We had a really interesting chat with Matt, hearing about how he was always destined to be a writer, and why doing creative writing at Cornell helped kickstart his career (but not for the reasons you think!) We also chat about the controversies that can come from writing diverse characters from a different background from yourself, and learn that there may be more Lovecraft Country on the way!
Links:
Buy Lovecraft Country and Matt's other books
Visit Matt's website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Alex Garland is the critically acclaimed writer and director of movies such as Ex Machina, Annihilation and, most recently, the TV series Devs. His career began with the bestselling novel, The Beach, before he moved on to writing screenplays for films such as 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go and Dredd.
We had a really enjoyable and fascinating chat with Alex about why he ended up returning his advance for more novels to turn to screenplays instead, and why he felt he had to move on to directing his own screenplays. We also had a deep dive into the craft of writing (and reading!) and even find time to chat about video game writing as well!
Links:
Watch Devs on BBC iPlayer
Watch Annihilation on Netflix
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/
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Daniel Abraham is a bestselling science fiction and fantasy author who has written books including the bestselling The Expanse series of books (along with Ty Franck, under the joint name of James SA Corey), which is now a smash hit series on Amazon Prime. He has also written screenplays for The Expanse, written graphic novel adaptations of George R R Martin's Game of Thrones books.
We had great fun chatting with Daniel, hearing about how he moved into the writing world, how The Expanse came about from playing a role playing game and chat about the differences between writing for TV, novels and comics. We also get some great advice on how to deal with confrontational social media users, chat about why there is a snobbery against some genre fiction and hear whether or not there will be any more Expanse after next year's novel, Leviathan Falls...
Links:
Buy Daniel's books (and James SA Corey's books)
Visit Daniel's website
Follow Daniel on Twitter
Follow James SA Corey on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/
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Joe Abercrombie's debut fantasy novel, The Blade Itself, was a huge hit when it was published in 2006, and was swiftly followed by the other books in what became The First Law Trilogy. Since then, he's never really stopped writing, with a series of acclaimed standalone and young adult novels. Most recently, he has returned the the world of the First Law with the first two books of the Age of Madness trilogy, A Little Hatred and The Trouble with Peace. The final book in the trilogy, The Wisdom of Crowds, is out in 2021.
We had great fun chatting with Joe as he told us how he transitioned from working as TV editor to writing novels, and how he reworked a far-too-pompous fantasy novel into the darkly humourous The Blade Itself. We also hear how he manages to keep completing these epic fantasy stories when others in the same genre seem to struggle, find out how he crafts these imaginary worlds, and talk about whether The First Law will ever come to TV or film...
Links:
Buy Joe's books now!
Visit Joe's website
Follow Joe on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Peng Shepherd was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where she rode horses and trained in classical ballet, and has lived in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Las Vegas. Her first novel, The Book of M, won the 2019 Neukom Institute for Literary Arts Award for Debut Speculative Fiction, and was chosen as a best book of the year by Amazon, Elle, Refinery29, and The Verge, as well as a best book of the summer by the Today Show and NPR On Point. A graduate of the NYU MFA program, Peng is the recipient of a 2020 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Elizabeth George Foundation’s emerging writers 2016 grant. Her next novel, The Cartographers, comes out in 2021.
We had a great chat with Peng about her route to publication, and hear about her amazingly quick path to picking up an agent and a publisher. We also hear about her writing process (no planning!) and find out that she may be the only person in the world who doesn't know the ending to Game of Thrones...
Links:
Buy The Book of M now
Follow Peng on Twitter
Visit Peng's website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Benjamin Dreyer is vice president, executive managing editor and copy chief of Random House US. He has overseen books by writers including Michael Chabon, Edmund Morris, Suzan-Lori Parks, Michael Pollan, Peter Straub, and Calvin Trillin. He has copyedited books by authors including EL Doctorow, David Ebershoff, Frank Rich and Elizabeth Strout. He has also recently written Dreyer's English, a brilliant and highly amusing grammar and style guide. He has also created the related card game Stet! in which players test their copyediting skills.
We had great fun chatting to Benjamin as we find out how he stumbled into the publishing world, learn about the differences between a copy editor and "editor editor" (as he calls them) and hear about what happens when authors don't take kindly to copy editing suggestions! We also get a sneak preview of his next book, and, of course, find out whether he prefers real books or ebooks (hint: Tariq wasn't happy...!)
Links:
Buy Dreyer's English and Stet!
Follow Benjamin on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Cathy Bramley is the Sunday Times Top Ten best-selling author of THE LEMON TREE CAFE. Her other romantic comedies include Ivy Lane, Appleby Farm, Wickham Hall, Conditional Love, The Plumberry School of Comfort Food and White Lies and Wishes. Cathy turned to writing after spending eighteen years running her own marketing agency. Her latest book is My Kind of Happy.
We had a great chat with Cathy, hearing about why she decided to start writing books, and how she planned (and made a huge success of) self-publishing her first book - a story which includes The Guinness Book of World Records! We also talk about her unusual but successful approach of serialising her novels, and also get lots of great hints and tips on writing. And, of course, she tells us whether she prefers ebooks or real books...
Links:
Buy My Kind of Happy and Cathy's other books
Visit Cathy's website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Owen Nicholls is a screenwriter with a Masters in Scriptwriting from the University of East Anglia. His first screenplay -- a biopic of the filmmakers Powell and Pressburger -- was optioned to Bedlam Productions, the BAFTA and Academy Award-winning producers of The King's Speech. His work has appeared in Empire and NME, and in 2018 he was selected for the Escalator Scheme run by the National Centre For Writing. Love, Unscripted is his first novel.
We had a great time talking with Owen about the differences between screenwriting and novel writing, and hear why he decided to make Love, Unscripted his first novel. He also gives some great advice about writing in both formats, and we hear why he think Fight Club is really a rom com...
Links:
Buy Love, Unscripted now!
Follow Owen on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Dirk Maggs is the genius behind the audio adaptations of stories such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, The X Files, the William Gibson Alien 3 adaptation - and of course, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, which has been a huge (and well deserved) hit on Audible.
We talk to Dirk to find out how he forged this career, and learn that he in effect created the idea of these “audio movies” (as he calls them) from scratch. From starting out at the BBC to working with Douglas Adams on the Hitchhiker’s Guide adaptation, right up to hearing about how he adapted the supposedly “impossible to adapt” The Sandman into such a brilliant production. Along the way, he gives us great hints and tips on writing for audio, and also drops in some great anecdotes about the likes of Adam West and James McAvoy!
(We highly recommend listening to the whole episode, but The Sandman stuff starts at about 66 minutes!)
Links:
Listen to The Sandman on Audible
And all his other amazing Audio Movies!
Visit Dirk’s website
Follow Dirk on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ian Dunt is a political commentator and journalist. He is editor of politics.co.uk, an energetic presence on Twitter, and appears as a pundit on BBC TV, Sky News and Al-Jazeera. He is also the author of two books - Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? and the just released How To Be A Liberal, which is an important, interesting and entertaining guide to the principles and practices of liberalism and shows why it remains our most powerful weapon to shatter the shiny lies of populists.
We had great fun chatting with Ian as he told us about how he got started in journalism and hear about how he manages to distill complicated issues into easy-to-understand and entertaining pieces (clue - it's all thanks to Batman!). We also found out about the hell he went through writing How To Be a Liberal (it was worth it, Ian!) and learn about his unique but definitely soon-to-be popular "drunken drafting" technique.
Oh, and of course we find out whether he prefers real books or e-books...
(Warning - this episode is quite sweary!)
Links:
Buy How to Be a Liberal and Brexit: What the Hell Happened
Visit politics.co.uk
Follow Ian on Twitter
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Lauren Beukes is the award-winning author of novels such as Zoo City, Broken Monsters, and, of course, the international bestseller, The Shining Girls. Her latest novel, Afterland, is a noir road-trip set in a post-pandemic America where 99.9% of the men have all been wiped out.
We had a lot of fun chatting to Lauren about her writing career, hearing about how she managed to get her first publishing deal, and also how The Shining Girls catapulted her to international fame. We also talked about her love of collaboration, and what it is like to release a post-pandemic novel during a pandemic…
Links:
Buy Afterland and Lauren’s other books
Visit Lauren’s website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Alastair Campbell is best known for his role as Tony Blair’s chief spokesman and strategist. He has written several bestselling non-fiction and fiction books, including The Blair Years and Winners. A former 'Mind Champion of the Year', he is an ambassador for several mental health charities. His latest book, Living Better, is his honest, moving and life affirming account of his lifelong struggle with depression.
We had a fascinating and fun chat with Alastair about how he moved from journalism into politics, and how important writing has been to him throughout his life. We chat about why he felt it was important to write Living Better now, and also get to hear whether he would rather have Burnley win the Premier League or Scotland win the World Cup…
Links:
Buy Living Better and Alastair’s other books
Visit Alastair’s website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Stephen Graham Jones is the author of twenty-five or so novels and collections, and there’s some novellas and comic books in there as well. Stephen’s been an NEA recipient, has won the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Fiction, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, a Bram Stoker Award, four This is Horror Awards, and he’s been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the World Fantasy Award. He’s also made Bloody Disgusting’s Top Ten Horror Novels, and his latest book, The Only Good Indians is already getting rave reviews.
We had an inspiring chat with Stephen about how he manages to write so many great stories, and get his insights on what makes a scary horror story. We also hear his amazing story about how his first novel came about, discuss how he writes so quickly, and of course learn whether he prefers a real book or an ebook...
Links:
Buy The Only Good Indians and Stephen's other books
Visit Stephen's website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Paul Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and Massachusetts Book awards and is the author of The Cabin at the End of the World, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland, and the short story collection, Growing Things and Other Stories. His latest novel, Survivor Song, is a terrifying thriller about an outbreak of a disease (so rather timely!)
We chatted with Paul about how he came late to a love of reading and writing, but has since made up for it in a big way! We also get his hints and tips for crafting a horror story, and learn about his work on the board of the Shirley Jackson award. And we hear why he would pick Paranormal Activity over Midsommar every time...
Links:
Buy Survivor Song and Paul's other novels
Visit Paul's website
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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David Quantick is the Emmy-award winning writer of Veep, The Thick of It, TV Burp and much more. He has worked with comedy legends such as Harry Hill and Chris Morris, and is currently continuing his longstanding contribution with Armando Iannucci on his latest series, Avenue 5. He is also a journalist, having worked many years for the NME, and more recently began to write novels, the most recent of which is Night Train, a horror mystery set on a train in a post-apocalyptic world. On top of all that, he’s also written some great books on writing, including How to Write Everything and How to Be a Writer.
Our chat with David was great fun, hearing about how he developed his creative writing skills writing gossip columns on the NME and where the famous Star Wars rant from Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It came from (see the link to the relevant clip!). He also has some great hints and tips on how to generate ideas, and we even get to hear about what it’s like to win an Emmy, and what you do with it while you are at the after-party…
Links:
Buy Night Train and David’s other novels
Visit David’s website
Watch Malcolm Tucker talking about Star Wars on The Thick of It
Watch our video panel Page One Sessions as we discuss writing with great authors: https://youtu.be/gmE6iCDYn-s
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Joe Cornish is the writer and director of films such as Attack the Block and The Kid Who Would be King. He began his career working with his comedy partner Adam Buxton on the brilliant The Adam and Joe Show on Channel 4, before co-writing first Ant-man and then The Adventures of Tintin with Edgar Wright. Recently, he, Edgar, Nira Park and Rachael Prior have formed Complete Fiction Production to continue to bring their ideas to life.
We had a great fun chat with Joe about his career, how he writes his screenplays and the advantages of writing for your own movies as opposed to work for hire writing. We get updates on what he is working on now, including the adaptation of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood and Co. We also hear how it feels to be given notes on your screenwriting by Steven Spielberg (together with a great impression) and why making movies spoofs with soft toys on the Adam and Joe Show helped his directing career in more ways than attending film school!
Links:
Watch Attack the Block
Watch The Kid Who Would Be King
Read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Joe's Quantum of Solace song
Adam and Joe discuss Pierce Brosnan in Taffin
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Adam Christopher’sdebut novel Empire State was SciFiNow’s Book of the Year and a Financial Times Book of the Year.
The author of Made To Kill, Standard Hollywood Depravity and Killing Is My Business, Adam’s other novels include Seven Wonders, The Age Atomic and The Burning Dark. A contributor to the New York Times bestselling Star Wars: From A Certain Point Of View 40th anniversary anthology, Adam has also written the official tie-in novels for the hit CBS television show Elementary, and the award-winning Dishonored video game franchise, and with Chuck Wendig, wrote The Shield for Dark Circle/Archie Comics. He is also currently writing a tie-in novel based on the hit Disney+ show, The Mandalorian.
We had a fascinating and fun chat with Adam, talking about how he sold his first books direct to a publisher without an agent (his advice: don;t!), and how he took advantage of a chance opportunity to get into writing tie-in novels. We also hear about the differences in writing tie ins and original novels, and discuss how he remains so prolific.
Links:
Buy Adam's books here
Visit Adam's website
Watch The Searchers online
Get Can You Speak Venusian by Patrick Moore
Watch Devs on BBC iPlayer
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Tendai Huchu is a Zimbabwean author who now lives in Edinburgh, and whose first novel, The Hairdresser of Harare, was a huge hit, being nominated for The Guardian's Not the Booker Prize. He followed that up with The Maestro, The Magistrate and The Magician, and is soon to release the first book in The Library of the Dead series, about a young girl who delivers messages for ghosts in a post-apocalyptic Edinburgh.
We have great fun talking with Tendai and hearing how he The Hairdresser of Harare lead to his breakthrough into the industry, and also why he would recommend new writers start with short stories rather than novels. We also talk about African representation in the literary scene, and how the lack of opportunities can hold great writing back purely on the basis of where they come from. On top of that, we talk about how invaluable editors can be in improving your stories, and also hear what he's been watching during lockdown.
Links:
Buy Tendai's books here
Visit Tendai's website
Buy Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's The First Woman
Watch Kingdom on Netflix
Watch Cook Off on Netflix
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Sheila O'Flanagan is an international bestselling author of books such as The Hideaway, What Happened That Night and Suddenly Single. All of her books center around strong female protagonists who find themselves in difficult situations that mean they have to find their inner strength. Her latest book, The Women Who Ran Away, is out in July.
We had a great chat with Sheila, hearing about how she swapped a life working in finance for that of a bestselling author, and got great insights from her on the writing process, including how she approaches revising her drafts, and also talked about her work with Fighting Words, the literary centre set up by Roddy Doyle.
Links:
Buy Sheila's books here
Visit Sheila's website
Learn about Fighting Words
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Chris Brookmyre was a journalist before becoming a full-time novelist with the publication of his award-winning debut Quite Ugly One Morning, which established him as one of Britain’s leading crime novelists. His 2016 novel Black Widow won both the McIlvanney Prize and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. Writing under the name Ambrose Parry, he has also co-written (along with his wife, Dr Marisa Haetzman) thrilling mystery books set in 19th Century Edinburgh. Chris' novels have sold more than two million copies in the UK alone.
We had a great chat with Chris, learning about his route to the publication of Quite Ugly One Morning when he was only 26, and chat about his sci-fi stories such as Places in the Darkness and Bedlam. We also hear about how he and Marisa craft the Ambrose Parry novels, and how that process of co-writing has informed his solo novels.
Links:
Buy Chris's books here
Buy the Ambrose Parry books here
Visit Chris's website
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Thomas Welsh is an award winning urban fantasy and short story author based in Scotland. He was the winner of the Elbow Room fiction prize for And Then I was Floating and has also been published in The 404 Ink F Word Collection, Pseudopod and Leicester Writes. More recently, he has released Anna Undreaming and its sequel, Anna and the Midnight Road, the first two parts of his urban fantasy Metiks Fade Trilogy. A man of many talents, he also writes for video games, and was lead writer on the recently released and acclaimed Cloudpunk.
We had a great chat with Thomas about the unusual route he took to breaking into both the world of novels and video game writing, and he gave us lots of practical hints and tips for getting started in those industries. We also chatted about publishing contracts, as well as hearing his thoughts on why the original Blade Runner doesn't work for him.
Links:
Buy Thomas' books here
Buy Cloudpunk on Steam
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Alexandra Sokoloff is the bestselling, Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of thirteen supernatural, paranormal and crime thrillers. The New York Times has called her “a daughter of Mary Shelley” and her books “Some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre.” As a screenwriter she has sold original suspense and horror scripts and written novel adaptations for numerous Hollywood studios (Sony, Fox, Disney, Miramax), for producers such as Michael Bay, David Heyman, Laura Ziskin and Neal Moritz. She is also the workshop leader of the internationally acclaimed Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workshops, based on her Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks and blog.
Her bestselling, Thriller Award-nominated Huntress/FBI books follow a haunted FBI agent on his hunt for that most rare of criminals: a female serial killer. The series smashes genre conventions and combats violence against women on the page, screen, and real life. The series is being developed for television with Alex as writer/producer.
We had a great chat with Alexandra, hearing how she started out as a screenplay reader in LA, and why she made the jump from screenwriting to novels. We also hear about how screenwriting structure can help you write a better novel, and get lots of tips on structuring a great story.
Links:
Buy The Huntress books and Stealing Hollywood
Access Alexandra's screenwriting tips for authors on YouTube
Learn more about Alexandra
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Alex De Campi is a comics writer and author, who has been nominated for numerous Eisner awards and has recently collaborated with film director Duncan Jones on the graphic novel, Madi, the latest chapter in his Moon series of films. She has also just released her highly anticipated novel debut, The Scottish Boy, a thrilling adventure set in medieval Britain.
We had a great chat with Alex talking about how she broke into the comics industry, what her process is when she is creating comics, and talk about her very busy slate of projects, including The Scottish Boy, Madi, Bad Karma and much more!
Links:
Buy The Scottish Boy now
Back Madi on Kickstarter
Get Bad Karma now
Check out all things Alex on her website
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Laura Lam is a sci fi and fantasy author whose latest book is Goldilocks, a bold, thought-provoking and high concept feminist dystopian thriller, best described as a cross between The Martian and The Handmaid's Tale. We've been lucky enough to read it, and it is a good one!
We loved hearing from Laura about all the research she put into Goldilocks to make sure it rang true, and also had a great discussion about her teaching on the creative writing Masters course at Napier University in Edinburgh. We also hear about her upcoming novel, Seven Devils, which she co-wrote with Elizabeth May, as well as hearing why Laura thinks we should all watch Batman & Robin again (EDIT - we shouldn't).
Links:
Buy Goldilocks now
Learn about the MA in Creative Writing at Napier
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Struan Murray is a young Scottish author, whose recently released debut novel Orphans of the Tide has received rave reviews, even earning him comparisons to Philip Pullman. A dark gothic kids fantasy, it’s easy to see why people think of stories such as Northern Lights.
We had great fun chatting to Struan about his long process to getting published, including the value of writing courses, and also getting to know people in the publishing industry. We also hear how he manages to juggle his day job as a lecturer in Oxford with being a professional author, and hear about how Orphans of the Tide got its name.
Links:
Buy Orphans of the Tide
Struan's website
Curtis Brown Creative website
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Harriet Tyce is a Sunday Times Bestselling Author whose debut novel, Blood Orange, was a huge hit and featured on Richard & Judy’s Book Club list in 2019. A domestic noir set in the UK legal world, it is a twisty tale of murder and quite a few flawed characters!
We had a really interesting chat with Harriet, hearing about how the long path to her debut with Blood Orange, how being selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club was transformational, and how writing courses really can help you be successful in your writing career. We also talk about her upcoming novel, The Lies You Told, the struggle of being creative during the coronavirus epidemic, chat about the benefits of audiobooks and much more!
Links:
Buy Harriet’s books
Harriet’s website
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Neil Forsyth is a Scottish author and screenwriter who has written critically acclaimed TV shows such as Eric, Ernie and Me, as well as the infamous Bob Servant, the Dundee cheeseburger svengali portrayed by Brian Cox on TV, and now a Twitter phenomenon. Most recently, he created and wrote the hit BBC show Guilt, a dark crime comedy about two brothers whose night home from a wedding doesn't quite go to plan.
We had great fun chatting with Neil about how he moved from freelance journalism into novel writing and then screenwriting. He had many hints and tips to share, as well as sharing the very amusing background behind his first fiction novel, Let Them Come Through.
Links:
Buy Neil's books
Neil's website
Read the scripts for Guilt
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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It's the Return of the Mike as friend of the podcast Mike Carey returns to chat with us about his latest novel, The Book of Koli, set in a post-apocalyptic Britain. We also had time to talk about his latest comic series, The Dollhouse Family, and gained lots of hints and tips about how to create new worlds.
Links:
Buy The Book of Koli and Mike's other books
Buy The Dollhouse Family
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Christian Divine is a screenwriter and video game writer whose credits include the seminal cyberpunk game Deus Ex. More recently, Christian was lead writer on the amazing Life Is Strange games from DontNod Entertainment which tell the stories of teenage kids with supernatural powers growing up in small-town USA.
We had a really interesting chat with Christian about how he came to be a writer, and how writing for video games differs from other mediums. He talked to us about why video game writers are only now starting to get the recognition that they deserve, and how video games have grown up quickly. And for fans of Life Is Strange - yes, we also chat about the use of that word and why Christian was proven correct in the end!
Links:
Buy Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2
Follow Christian on Twitter
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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After working in Scottish politics, Jonathan Whitelaw moved into journalism before becoming an author. Subjects he has covered in the press have varied from breaking news, the arts, culture and sport to fashion, music and even radioactive waste - with everything in between. He's also a regular reviewer and talking head on shows for the BBC and STV.
His debut novel was Morbid Relations, a darkly comic tale about a struggling Scottish comedian was followed up by Hellcorp in which the devil sets up a company to look after the sins of the world while he has a vacation! That has now become a series, with the latest book, The Man in the Dark, continuing the Hellcorp story. The novels are darkly comic thrillers, as we discuss, as much crime fiction as fantasy.
During our enjoyable chat with Jonathan, we hear about how writing fiction differs from journalism, and the route he took to publication - without an agent. We also talk about what inspired the Hellcorp series, and find out whether Jonathan really prefers God or the Devil...
Links:
Buy Jonathan’s books on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Gareth L Powell is an award-winning British sci-fi author whose amazing worlds have found him a loyal following. Best known for his Embers of War trilogy, his novels have twice won the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel and have been finalists for both the Locus Award in the US and the Seiun Award in Japan. He is also the first person to have had individual work shortlisted in the Best Novel, Best Short Fiction, and Best Nonfiction categories of the BSFA Award in the same year.
We had a really interesting chat with Gareth about how he broke into writing, and where he comes up with his amazing ideas. We also chatted about how he is beloved on Twitter by all writers as he freely gives out help and advice - and even got some of that help and advice ourselves!
Links:
Buy Gareth's books on Amazon
Check out Gareth's author page
Sign up to Gareth's Patreon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Dave Cook is the writer and creator of indie comics such as Bust, Vessels and the hugely successful cyberpunk comic, Killtopia.
We had a great chat with Dave about how he began writing comics and then turn them into a reality. We talked about teaming up with artists, the importance of conventions and how welcoming the comics community can be if you are wanting to be part of it. We also discussed the themes behind Killtopia, and what is next in the series…
Links:
Buy Killtopia on Amazon
Check out Dave's other comics on his site, Card Shark Comics
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Sarah Pinborough is the Sunday Times and New York Times number one bestselling author of over 20 books, including her smash hit, Behind Her Eyes and the just released Dead To Her. She’s also written for TV, and adaptations of her books 13 Minutes and Behind Her Eyes will soon be appearing on Netflix.
We had great fun talking to Sarah about how she became an author, why she enjoys writing across genres, and how she came up with THAT twist in Behind Her Eyes (but no spoilers, we promise!). We also talked in detail about how her latest book, Dead To Her, came to be, and discussed what it’s like to land a huge book deal - and why book tours aren’t always all they are cracked up to be!
Links:
Buy Dead to Her in the US now (out in the UK in the summer!)
Buy Sarah’s other books on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Richard Morgan is the author of ground-breaking sci fi and fantasy novels. His debut novel, Altered Carbon, was the first to feature the infamous antihero, Takeshi Kovacs, and was recently adapted into a successful Netflix series. Since then, he has added to the Kovacs series with Broken Angels and Woken Furies, written the fantasy series, A Land Fit For Heroes, and much more. His most recent novel, Thin Air, is the sequel to his 2007 novel, Black Man (also known as Thirteen).
This is the second half of our epic chat with Richard about his passion for sci fi, writing and much more! Check out the first half of the chat in episode 20! In this part, we talk to Richard about how he builds the worlds for his stories, and when and when not exposition and info dumping works to help the reader. We also talk about whether literary rules are there to be broken, and hear about how Altered Carbon made its way from page to screen with the Netflix adaptation.
Links:
Buy Altered Carbon, Thin Air and Richard’s other books on Amazon
Visit Richard’s page to find out more
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Thanks to Simon Stoke for his audio assistance. Check out his music academy classes at www.subsineacademy.com!
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Richard Morgan is the author of ground-breaking sci fi and fantasy novels. His debut novel, Altered Carbon, was the first to feature the infamous antihero, Takeshi Kovacs, and was recently adapted into a successful Netflix series. Since then, he has added to the Kovacs series with Broken Angels and Woken Furies, written the fantasy series, A Land Fit For Heroes, and much more. His most recent novel, Thin Air, is the sequel to his 2007 novel, Black Man (also known as Thirteen).
We had an epic chat with Richard about his passion for sci fi, writing and much more! So much more, in fact, that we decided it would be best to split this episode into two parts! In this first part, Richard tells us about the long road to breaking through with Altered Carbon, and we hear about why breaking some of the conventional rules about getting published led to his success.
Links:
Buy Altered Carbon, Thin Air and Richard’s other books on Amazon
Visit Richard’s page to find out more
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Follow us on Twitter: @write_gear
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Thanks to Simon Stoke for his audio assistance. Check out his music academy classes at www.subsineacademy.com!
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Claire Askew is the award-winning author of the DI Helen Birch crime series. The first book in the series, All the Hidden Truths, deals with the aftermath of a college shooting in Edinburgh and won the McIlvanney Debut Prize at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival. The next book in the DI Birch series, What You Pay For, is a blistering follow-up which has also been shortlisted for the McIlvanney and CWA Awards.
We had a great chat with Claire, exploring the long and winding process to the publication of All The Hidden Truths (which included her taking the brave step of leaving her first agent), discuss why the idea of overnight success as an author is a myth - and why believing in writer's block is a dangerous thing!
Links:
Buy All The Hidden Truths and What You Pay For on Amazon
Sign up to Claire's Patreon for lots of writing advice!
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Stuart Heritage is a writer and columnist for The Guardian, The Times, Esquire and many other publications. His columns on TV programmes are always both informative and hilarious, a tradition that carried on when he wrote his first book: a biography of his brother entitled Don’t be a dick, Pete (which we think is genuinely one of the funniest books we have read in years!) His follow-up is a satirical take on fairytales, entitled Bedtime Stories for Worried Liberals.
Our chat with Stuart was great fun as we learned how he broke into journalism via website impersonation of Charlie Brooker, how he goes about writing his columns, and why he chose to make his brother the subject of his first book.
Links:
Buy Don’t be a dick, Pete and Bedtime Stories for Worried Liberals on Amazon
Read Stuart’s Guardian columns here
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ian Dallas is the creative director of Giant Sparrow, an indie game studio responsible for some of the most mind-provoking games of recent years. Their first game, The Unfinished Swan, won Best Debut Game at the 2013 Video Game BAFTAs, as well as awards for innovation. The follow-up, What Remains of Edith Finch, won Game of the Year at the BAFTAs, and is a remarkable study of grief and family, the likes of which would previously have been unthinkable in the medium of video games.
We chat to Ian about how he and his team create these games, and what the writing process involves. We also hear what inspires Ian's ideas, and discuss the unique storytelling challenges presented by the video game format.
Links:
Learn more about Giant Sparrow and their games
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Andy McNab was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS. Since then Andy has become one of the world’s bestselling writers, drawing on his insider knowledge and experience. His debut book, Bravo Two Zero, was a huge success worldwide and told the true account of a mission in the Gulf War that went awry. As well as three nonfiction bestsellers including Bravo Two Zero, he is the author of the bestselling Nick Stone series and the Tom Buckingham thrillers and his latest is Whatever It Takes, a fast-paced revenge thriller. He has also written a number of books for children, as well as several screenplays.
Andy was great fun on our chat, telling us about how it was through the British Army that he learned to read and write, how Bravo Two Zero came about, and giving us lots of useful hints and tips on writing thrilling stories. We also talk about his work in Hollywood, and chat about his future plans.
Links:
Buy Whatever It Takes and Andy's other books on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Jim Zub is a Canadian comic book writer, artist, animator and teacher who has worked on comics such as Marvel's Avengers: No Surrender, IDW's Dungeons & Dragons, and his own creator-owned comics including Skullkickers and Wayward with Image Comics. He also teaches animation at Seneca College in Toronto, and still finds time to offer advice to people wanting to work in the comics industry via his website and on social media.
We had a great chat with Jim about how playing Dungeons & Dragons as a young boy helped form his love of storytelling, and talked about how he got his break in comics, working his way up from web comics to working with Image and Marvel. What we learned is that Jim's advice is great for any writer who wants to tell stories, regardless of whether they want to write comics, novels, movies or more.
Links:
Check out Jim's website for writing tips and to buy his comics
Support Jim on his Patreon and get access to more writing advice and scripts
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Christopher Golden is the award-winning, bestselling author of novels such as The Myth Hunters, Of Saints and Shadows, Ararat and many more. He is also a fan of the team-up, collaborating with authors such as (previous Page One Podcast guest) Tim Lebbon on novels such as Blood of the Four and The Map of Moments. He has also worked with comics legend Mike Mignola on Hellboy novels, and frequently writes for and edits horror anthology books, such as the recent Hex Life.
We had a great chat with Chris about how he got his start in writing, what keeps him writing and how he has managed to write 110 books in 25 years. Chris also gives numerous helpful hints and tips for aspiring writers, the most important of which can be distilled into one word: Hustle! Tune in to find out what Chris means and why it could help you break into the industry.
Links:
Buy Chris's books on Amazon
Learn more about Chris on his website
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Abby-Lynn Knorr is a bestselling author of urban fantasy young adult novels. Her bestselling Elemental Origins series of novels follow a group of friends over one summer as they discover they have secret powers that they will need to use together to help save the world.
We had a really interesting chat with Abby about how she has made a massive success of self-publishing (19 novels in 3 years!) She gives out a huge number of helpful hints and tips to those who fancy going down the self-published route, and we chat about why she chose that over the traditional publishing path. We also talk about where she gets her ideas for her novels, and what she has planned for the future.
Links:
Buy all of Abby’s books on Amazon
Read more about Abby's books on her website
Book Gorilla
Prolific Works
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Craig Robertson spent 20 years as a journalist for Scottish Sunday newspaper reporting on stories such as 9/11, the Omagh Bombings and the Dunblane shootings before changing career to become a bestselling crime writer. His books, featuring police photographer Tony Winter and his wife DI Narey, have become firm favourites for crime lovers everywhere.
We had a great chat with Craig about how he broke in with his first book, Random, and why he made Tony Winter a police photographer. We also hear how Craig goes about writing his books, why he's come to value planning, and what he loves (and doesn't love) about researching his books.
Links:
Buy Craig's latest book, The Photographer, and all his others on Amazon.
Stealing Hollywood - Screenwriting tips for authors by Alexandra Sokoloff
Wikipedia page for Enrique Metinides
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Welcome to a new season of The Page One Podcast!
We kick off this season in great style with a chat with world-renowned and bestselling thriller writer, David Baldacci. Since releasing his first book, Absolute Power, in 1997, David has gone on to create iconic characters like King & Maxwell, Amos Decker and Will Robie. With 130 million books sold, David is still at the top of his game and earlier this year released his latest novel, One Good Deed, a 1940s set thriller with new character, Aloysius Archer.
We had the pleasure of talking to David about how he began his writing career, how he got his big break and what keeps him writing. We also learned that breaking the rules can help you progress, and talk about what it felt like to have his very first book turned into a blockbuster movie with Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman.
Links:
Buy David's latest book, One Good Deed, and his many others on Amazon.
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Peter James is a UK No. 1 bestselling author, best known for writing crime and thriller novels, and the creator of the much-loved Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. He has sold over 19 million copies to date, and has been translated into 37 languages. His latest book in the Roy Grace series, Dead at First Sight, went straight in at No. 1.
We had a great chat with Peter about his career and how a start in TV led to him becoming a published author. We also learn about his his collaboration with the police leads to ideas for the Roy Grace novels, and also hear about how a mysterious phone call 28 years ago lead to his last bestseller, Absolute Proof.
Links:
Buy Dead At First Sight, Absolute Proof and Peter's other books on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Tim Lebbon is a New York Times-bestselling horror, thriller, sci-fi and fantasy writer. He has written over 30 novels, including several in collaboration with Christopher Golden, as well as dozens of novellas and many short stories. One of his books, The Silence, was recently adapted as a Netflix movie.
We had a great chat with Tim, learning how he managed to escape the world of work to become a full-time writer, what it's like writing novelisations and tie-ins to well-known franchises, and what it's like having your book adapted into a movie on Netflix. We also discussed how he writes novels with Christopher Golden, as well as what the best TV shows of all time are...
Buy The Silence, Blood of the Four and Tim's other books on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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One of the UK's most acclaimed and successful crime novelists, Mark Billingham has seen each of his novels feature in the top ten of The Sunday Times bestseller list. Sales of his novels featuring London-based detective Tom Thorne have topped over 4.5 million in over 25 countries, and he is the first author to win the Theakstons Old Peculier Award for Crime Novel Of The Year twice, for his novels Lazybones and Death Message. His latest novel, Their Little Secret, is just out in hardback.
Our chat with Mark was great fun, learning about his background in acting and comedy before he turned to writing, and discussing how he keeps coming up with ideas for macabre crimes for Tom Thorne to investigate! He also provides some great insights into his writing process - and tells us what he thinks the greatest crime show on TV is...
Links:
Buy Their Little Secret and Mark's other novels on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Helen Fitzgerald is the author of books including The Cry, recently adapted to acclaim on the BBC, and Worst Case Scenario, her latest novel featuring a darkly comic tale involving criminal social justice, murder and the #metoo movement!
We had a great time chatting to Helen, hearing about her writing process, and how the adaptation of The Cry came to be. We also chat about Worst Case Scenario (out in paperback on May 16) and how you balance telling a serious story about abuse with dark comedy.
Links:
Buy Worst Case Scenario and Helen's other novels on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Mike Carey is a writer of many talents! His work on comics like Lucifer, Hellblazer, X-Men and The Unwritten is legendary, and he has also received acclaim for his novels, such as The Girl With All The Gifts, Fellside and Someone Like Me. He is also a screenwriter, having written the screenplay for The Girl With All The Gifts.
We had a really fun chat with Mike, learning about how he broke into comics and the differences between writing for comics, novels and film. We hear about how writing across these different media helps him grow as a writer, and find out what inspired his acclaimed creator-owned series, The Unwritten. We also find out just how you write the novel and screenplay for the same story at the same time!
Links:
Buy Mike's novels on Amazon
Buy Mike's graphic novels on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Ed James is the prolific author of many crime novels, including the DS Scott Cullen Mysteries and the DI Fenchurch series. His latest book, Kill the Messenger, is the sixth entry in the Fenchurch series.
We had a great chat with Ed about how he manages to write four (yes, four!) books a year, including the in-depth planning that goes into each novel, and also discuss how he made a success of self-publishing and moved into the "conventional" publishing world. We also discuss the narrative writing in video games, as well as how you go about writing a novel with another author!
Links:
Buy Kill the Messenger and Ed's other books on Amazon.
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Adrian J Walker is the author of speculative fiction novels, including the highly (and deservedly!) praised The End of the World Running Club, which featured on the Radio 2 Book Club. Adrian has just announced the sequel, The End of the World Survivors Club, will be out later this year!
We had a great time chatting to Adrian, learning about his path from self-published author to appearing on Radio 2 with Simon Mayo to discuss The End of the World Running Club, and what it feels like when one of your literary heroes (Stephen King!) praises your book! We also discuss The End of The World Running Club, what we can expect from the sequel, and get a sneak preview of his next book, Human Son.
Links:
Buy The End of the World Running Club and Adrian's other books on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Sergio Casci is a screenwriter whose credits include American Cousins (2003), which saw him nominated for BAFTA Best Newcomer, The Caller (2011) and The Lodge (2019), which has been getting rave reviews at Sundance and other film festivals. His diverse portfolio also includes writing for Scottish soap opera (or "continuing series", as Sergio tells us) River City and children's TV programme, Katie Morag.
Our fun chat with Sergio includes discussing how he got started in screenwriting, what really happens when you don't win an award, how he writes his screenplays - and his cameo in his debut feature film, American Cousins!
Links:
The Lodge on Rotten Tomatoes
Trailer for The Caller
Trailer for American Cousins
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
Shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger Award, Roz Watkins is the author of the DI Meg Dalton series of novels, The Devil’s Dice, and the about-to-be released Dead Man’s Daughter.
In this week's podcast, we chat about what led Roz to give up her career as a patent attorney and turn to writing fiction, how her previous career helped her pen her first novel, explore the themes of The Devil’s Dice, and discuss who might play DI Meg Dalton in any TV adaptation (hint - it's not Will Smith... or is it?)
Links:
www.scribophile.com
Buy The Devil’s Dice and Dead Man’s Daughter on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Welcome to the very first episode of The Page One Podcast! Each episode we talk to writers of all kinds (authors, screenwriters, comics writers and more) to learn about how they go about creating their stories.
Each new episode is a deep dive into that guest's writing history, including how they broke into the industry and what their writing process is. We also explore their work, and try and eke out any exciting forthcoming tales!
This week we talk to Gary Moffat. Gary is the author of the Logan Finch series of novels, starting with Daisychain. The series begins in much the same way as Gary's other career (he somehow juggles being a high-flying lawyer with his writing), set in a busy Glasgow legal firm, but they soon explode into action thrillers that take him to the US.
In the podcast, we chat about how Gary managed to juggle the twin careers of being a lawyer and an author, and explore the rather unusual route he took into publishing. We also discuss his most recent novel, Blackwater, set in small-town America.
Buy Daisychain, Blackwater and Gary’s other books on Amazon
The Page One Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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