Writer's Routine

Emma Bamford is a journalist and memoirist whose debut novel, 'Deep Water' is out right now. About a decade ago, Emma quit her job and escaped to Borneo with a complete stranger. She told this story in her memoirs, 'Casting Off' and 'Untie the Lines'. We talk about writing memoir: why other people want to read about your life, and how you keep records of adventures to write them later on.'Deep Water' tells the story of Jake and Virginie, who after a traumatising experience at sea, find sanctuary in a remote island... until the island starts to reveal more secrets than they know. We talk about the exact moment she had the idea for the story, how she reverse-engineered her scene breakdown, and how much the story changed whilst she was writing it.You can hear why she's moving house with a new office in mind, how challenging she found moving from writing memoirs to fiction, and what she does when the words aren't coming out.Support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benjamin Wood has been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel award and the Commonwealth Book Prize, he's a CWA Gold Dagger nominee and a finalist for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. He also lectures creative writing at King's College.His 4th novel is 'The Young Apprentice'. It looks at Charlie and Joyce, recently released from borstal and starting a new life as an architecture apprentice. Until a figure from Joyce's past creeps back into her world, trying to drag them back to their old criminal life. We talk about the separation between work and creativity, and how that's affected where he writes. Also why he uses longhand to get a different angle on a story, and what people learn in a creative writing lecture.This week's episode is sponsored by 'Waiting for Jetpacks', the new short story collection, by John Lockhart. Grab a copy here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waiting-Jetpacks-John-Lockhart-ebook/dp/B08GM4SC68Support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Adkins is the author of critically acclaimed novels, 'Palm Beach', 'When You Read This', and 'Privilege'. She has used her experience of writing, publishing and also teaching, to become a writing coach. Her 'Book Incubator' programme looks to help you on the difficult journey to publishing. It uses how creative you are, how outgoing you are, and what your day is like, to plan the perfect method for your writing, and helps you write, revise and pitch your novel.We talk about why she sets up her writing space to make her think she's playing, not writing. Also how she discovered she's a morning person, and how she uses music to change her place and space. You can also hear the best tips and tricks she's learned as a writing mentor, including how to get to know your character, what to do with an initial idea, and why people find it so hard switching between writing and editing.You can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colette Dartford's debut, 'Learning to Speak American', was shortlisted for an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. She followed up this success with her second, 'An Unsuitable Marriage', was a Kindle bestseller for 18 months. For her new novel she's made an interesting decision. In August, she'll self-publish, 'The Mortification of Grace Wheeler'. She's done this to have more creative control over publishing, marketing and pricing, and is almost doing it as a one-book experiment. She gets deep into the reasons why she has done this, and there's some fantastic advice to help you make a similar choice.The novel is about Grace, in a marriage with a much older man, whose son leaves for University. She becomes an empty-nester, and in a bid for excitement, is drawn into an affair with terrible consequences. We talk about why she has stopped doing detailed summaries of characters, why all she needs to write is a quiet space and a laptop, and how much expert help she gets before sending the work off.Support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine!@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Janice Hallett career started as a magazine editor, journalist and speech writer. Her first feature film, Retreat, starred Cillian Murphy, Thandiwe Newton and Jamie Bell. She's written speeches for the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and many others. Her frustration at getting screenplays adapted for TV and film prompted her to start writing novels. What a decision.Her debut, 'The Appeal', has achieved phenomenal success. It's been shared widely online by book communities, sold lots of copies and was one of Sunday Times Crime Novels of 2021.It's a murder-mystery set in a tight-knit village community staging an amateur dramatic production, and is all told through emails and messages. We discuss why she set a book in this novel way, and how her career as a screenwriter helped with that.We talk about the moment she knew her book might be taking off, also why she works seven days a week, and how much she reverse-engineers a murder mystery. You can hear how she figured out who the killer was, how her characters mirror different parts of her personality, and about her newest novel, 'The Twyford Code'.You can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ellis started work as a lawyer, then ran his own business, and is now 5 books into his own crime series. It's all about Detective Frank Merlin, who investigates crimes during World War 2, a time in which committing crimes was relatively easy. His new book is 'Dead in the Water', which looks at how a mangled body found in the Thames and a missing piece of art are connected. We talk about how much he plans long-term for his characters, why he overwrites his first draft and how he goes about cutting it down. You can hear how he gets ideas for Frank's adventures, and why sometimes it's easier to let the characters take care of things themselves.You can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jessica Payne had 3 failed attempts at getting published. It took a genre switch to finally get her book out there and on the shelves. Her debut is 'Make Me Disappear', about a woman so desperate to escape her sociopathic boyfriend, she's prepared to go to extreme lengths to get away.We talk about why she was so determined to get published, also how she balances a hectic work-life where her husband works 90 hour weeks, while she looks after her toddler and manages to write novels. You can hear how she got to know her characters, and how she keeps her creative time sacred.Jessica also hosts the #MomsWritersClub on Twitter, with lots of excellent writing and publication advice.You can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott Kershaw has had an interesting route to being published. Leaving school with few qualifications, he signed up as a mature student in college. Whilst there, his work was spotted by the Head of Writing at Hull University, and despite having no A Levels or even filling in a UCAS application, he was offered a place and graduated with a First Class Degree in Creative Writing.It's all led to his debut, 'The Game'. It follows five strangers from across the globe who receive a warning that their most loved person is in danger, and the only way to save them is to play... the game. We discuss how he worked on the idea with his agent, also how he's managed to write in between renovating a house, and how music changes his writing mood.PLUS, you can hear the first full chapter of 'The Game' audiobook at the end of the show.Support us at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dervla McTiernan was an Irish lawyer for 12 years. After the global financial crash, she moved to Australia and became a crime-writer. After a short-story was nominated for a prestigious prize, her debut 'The Ruin' achieved great success, and she's become a runaway bestseller.Her new novel, 'The Murder Rule', looks at The Innocence Project, which looks to exonerate wrongly convicted criminals. Only this book turns it on its head when a woman doesn't want to save a man on death row... but bury him.We talk about her extremely thoroughly planned writing days, how she's always looking to grow and change as a writer. You can hear how new editing tricks, how she gets to know her characters, and exactly how hard it is to take on a novel.You can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joanna Cannon's debut novel, 'The Trouble with Goats and Sheep' was an instant hit and became a Sunday Times Bestseller. She wrote it in very early mornings and in her lunch break, working in her car in an NHS car park, in between shifts as a Doctor. Becoming a writer is the third act of a busy life, Joanna left school at fifteen, worked as a barmaid, kennel maid and pizza delivery girl before qualifying as a Doctor in her forties. Now, she's a full-time author. Her new book, 'A Tidy Ending', about Linda, Strange Terry and Rebecca who used to live in the house before them. It's a character driven story, and Joanna loves learning about these characters as she goes. Jo knows the last line of a story when she starts and very little else.We talk about her ludicrously early starts, why she hands in an almost perfect draft, why theme is the most important thing, and how procrastinating is sometimes more important than actual writing.You can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.