This week's Random Routine comes from Mark Billingham.His new book is 'Rabbit Hole', his 4th standalone thriller, which comes after his 15th Tom Thorne novel, the series he's best known for.Mark joined us back in 2018 to take us through his writing day. Where we chatted about how Mark's writing style and method has changed in the 17-or-so years since he published his first novel 'Sleepyhead', which was later made into a TV show starring David Morrissey. Also, we found out if seeing his hero on the screen affected his view of story-telling too. We also discussed how being a obsessive crime-fiction fan turned him into one of the genre's best, and why the name of this fine podcast gives him the shivers. Flick back in your podcast feed to catch up on the full episode.You can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire McGowan goes by two names. Claire for crime thrillers, Eva Woods for women's fiction. We talk about how she switches between the two, and how thoroughly she thinks through style and different readerships when she writes different genre.Her new work is an audiobook series exclusive to Audible, called 'The Vanishing Triangle'. It shines a light on the unsolved disappearance of at least eight women from mid-nineties Dublin; their bodies were never found, and no suspect was ever charged. To understand why these crimes remain unsolved, Claire explores what life was like in nineties Ireland, and investigates how a shifting political landscape and Irish society’s views on the treatment of women impacted the investigation.We talk about how writing true crime is different to writing crime stories from your imagination, how she researched and planned her work, and why she wanted to narrate the series.You can hear why her writing routine is pretty loose, how she doesn't plan much, and how she managed to write 4 books in 18 months through lockdowns.Grab a copy of 'The Vanishing Triangle' here - https://amzn.to/3jNujZASupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's Random Routine comes from bestselling Tim Marshall. He came on the show back in November 2018.Tim Marshall worked for some years as the Diplomatic Editor for Sky News, travelling and living all over the world to get the stories. His book 'Shadowplay: The Overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic' is widely regarded as one of the best accounts of life in the former Yugoslavia. Tim reported in the field from Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, and has since found huge writing success for his book 'Prisoners of Geography'. It looks at how maps of the world can predict political situations, it's the first of a trilogy of books that discuss the affect of nationalism on identity politics - his others look at flags and walls.His newest book is The Power of Geography, which looks at what maps really mean. Grab a copy of it here - https://amzn.to/3CzkWVWSupport the show at Patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Arditti is an award-winning author of 11 novels, he's written short stories, and worked as a theatre critic and book reviewer for national newspapers.His new novel is 'The Anointed'. It's a retelling of the biblical King David, as told through his 3 wives, Michal, Abigail and Bathsheba. We talk about how he put his own spin on history, and why he chose to write about such a specific time, and retell a famous story.His novel, 'Easter', won the first Waterstones Mardi Gras Award, he's also penned 'The Celibate', 'Of Men and Angels', 'The Enemy', and others. All of his books explore the theme of religion, and why some believe and others don't. We talk about why he constantly unpacks that in his stories, and how he comes up with new ideas for ways to explore the theme in prose. Michael talks about why he's a morning person, and how he fits his day around that, what he thinks about originality and wasting-words, and why he doesn't like being told what he can't write simply because he's a male in London.You can get a copy of 'The Anointed' here - https://amzn.to/3AdwLzbYou can support the show on Patreon here - patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Liz Nugent is an Irish Book Award Winner, whose 4th Novel is 'Our Little Cruelties', which is out right now.She came on the show back in 2018 to take us through a day writing her 3rd novel 'Skin Deep'.After working as a stage manager, running all over the place in a theatre, then being shackled to the desk writing for soap operas, Liz Nugent became bored with dull, desk-driven office work, and became an author. Well... became an author over 6 years of writing her first book 'Unravelling Oliver'. It won an Irish Book Award, became a bestseller and gave her a career of being a proper writer.If you like the chat, flick back in your podcast feeds to her full episode from back in November 2018.You can get a copy of 'Our Little Cruelties' here - https://amzn.to/3fm28PYPlease do support us at patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There was a time when Joy Ellis couldn't get her books anywhere near a shelf, one sale, anywhere. She was living in her car, she managed a bookshop, she had many almosts with publishers. She carried on, kept writing, self-published, and was finally tracked down by a publisher who stumbled across her in a newspaper.Now, she's sold over 2 million books, is an Amazon bestseller, and was nominated for 'Crime/ Thriller Book of the Year' at the Nibbies a few months ago.She's published over 20 books across many different characters. Her new one is 'The Patient Man'. It's a Jackman and Evans novel, about a serial killer who returns for the last time.We talk about how she decides which of her many characters will solve the crime this time, why she comes up with new characters, and how she checks in with them from time to time.You can hear more about her fantastic, winding route to publication. Also, we chat about how ideas for her future stories come at completely random times, which means she sits on them for a while, and get a complete run through of her writing day.Get a copy of 'The Patient Man' here - https://amzn.to/3zJ62KJSupport the show on patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's Random Routine is with Frank Cottrell-Boyce.Frank Cottrell-Boyce is a Carnegie Medal Award winning author - his 2004 novel 'Millions' is incredibly successful, and was turned into a film by Danny Boyle, for which Frank wrote the script. It was even Danny's idea that Frank should write the novel in the first place. He's published 10 novels, brought back 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', and wrote the Opening Ceremony to the 2012 Olympic Games. We chat quite a bit about scriptwriting - along with 'Millions', Frank has written many scripts for Michael Winterbottom, including '24 Hour Party People' and 'A Cock and Bull Story'. He tells us the difference between writing screenplays and novels, the story points you need to hit, and the simple forms an idea can take. His newest novel is 'Noah's Gold', grab a copy here - https://amzn.to/3y8GciVSupport us at patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspod writersroutine.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're chatting to Hayley Doyle! She's an actor who has starred in the West End, appearing in Mamma Mia and others. Recently, she's turned her hand to writing, publishing two novels, 'Never Saw You Coming' and her newest one, 'Love, Almost'.It tells the story of Chloe, whose boyfriend of just 5 months dies, so to come to terms with things, she does all the many things they had planned to do together, alone. We talk about when she first had the idea for the story, how it came to her quickly and almost fully-formed. You can hear how she plays with what readers expect from genre fiction, giving them it but also pulling some surprises along the way.We discuss how she juggles work, family and lockdown, and how things have radically changed over the last year. Also, how music helps her ideas, and how acting influences her writing. Hayley is a Liverpudlian, and we chat about how heritage affects the way you tell stories, and particularly why Scousers are so good at it!You can get a copy of 'Love, Almost' here - https://amzn.to/3xXMEczSupport the show at patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's bonus bite comes from crime writing behemoth Jeffery Deaver!Jeffery Deaver has published over 40 novels. He's a globally renowned author, writing crime and thrillers. To him, they're not lauded works of art, they're intricate puzzles, fun and games for the reader - and we talk about how he builds these. Jeffery works anywhere he can - any chance he gets to type away, if that's at home, on the plane, perhaps at a dog show, he will. We chat about how he finds time and space to work no matter where he is. Listen to the full episode from a couple of years ago earlier on in the feed.You can always support us at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspod writersroutine.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexis Landau's new book 'Those Who Are Saved' builds on the true story of Los Angeles during World War II. It was a safe haven for artists, and was home to many exiled Europeans. It tells the tale of Vera, who is forced to leave her daughter and flee, and explores her path to find the girl she left behind.We discuss how Alexis writes around family time, how it all starts in a flurry of ideas and research, and how she blends factual history with her own creativity. We also chat about why moving around helps her focus, how she picked the messages she wanted to write very carefully, and how the very first idea for the story after a walk to the beach with her husband.You can get a copy of the book here - https://amzn.to/2UNdl4ZIf you can, please support the show on Patreon - patreon.com/writersroutine @writerspod writersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.