Writer's Routine

Paul Rudnick is an acclaimed Hollywood scriptwriter. He's worked on 'Addams Family Values', 'The Stepford Wives' and the 'Sister Act' movies. Now, he's just published his 3rd novel, 'Playing the Palace'. It's about a New York event planner who falls in love with England's gay Crown Prince, Edgar. It's a satirical look at romance stories and Royal life. We talk about writing for movies, working with improvising actors, changing things on set and coming up with at least 10 jokes for every line.Also, he talks about why life revolves around the writing, and his writing revolves around his life, in a syncopated way. Paul discusses his very private writing space that he is very protective of, and what happened after he had his initial idea for the story.You can get a copy here - https://amzn.to/3gYsqsFYou can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A few years ago, Bridget Collins came on the show to talk us through her novel, 'The Binding'. It was a huge, genre-defying success, and she's gone on to publish 'The Betrayals' to equal acclaim. Before then, Bridget published 7 Young Adult books, a few plays, and she's beavering away on her 3rd book right now. Here's a little snippet from our chat, as Bridget runs us through her writing space and working day. Scan back in your podcast feed to hear the full episode.You can support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christina Sweeney-Baird works as a lawyer. It's a busy full-on job, working all hours under the sun, and she had barely any time to write. Until a life-changing moment changed everything, and forced to her sit up, to sit down and write.'The End of Men' is her debut novel. It tells the story of a pandemic that wipes out 90% of the male population. We talk about the idea, how she developed it, planned it, and at one point had to cut 30 characters from it. We also chat what it was like writing and editing a story about a pandemic, during a pandemic, and how she figures out the confusing aspects of genre and gets to the heart of the story.You can get a copy of the book here - https://amzn.to/2Y047UFSupport the show at Patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Helen Fields first came on the show back in 2018.Starting with 6 DI Callanach thrillers, Helen has written standalones, and her newest novel introduces a new cahracter, Dr Connie Woolwine, an American Psycological Profiler who arrives in Edinburgh to pursue the Shadow Man.After working in Law with police, social services and Doctors for many years, Helen has a peculiarly accurate insight into the crimes she writes. She's also told stories using every method available to her, running a film production company and even self-publishing two fantasy books before signing up to the big leagues.You can get a copy of her newest book, 'The Shadow Man', here - https://amzn.to/3gsxvsMPlease do support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's guest taking us inside their working day is Jamie O'Connell. He's published short stories before, runs an editing and mentoring site called 'Blackwater Writing', and his debut novel, 'Diving for Pearls', is out now.It's a story set in Dubai, a mystical, alluring, divisive and controversial place. It's about a woman's death which influences a whole cast of strange and inter-connected characters. The most important character is Dubai itself, we talk about how he brought the place to life in his story.Also, we talk about how he gets himself going everyday, how talismans help him write, why story-telling is like tuning a radio, and at what point you absolutely should change your font.You can get a copy of the book here - https://amzn.to/3D2W2ypSupport the show - Patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.