Writer's Routine

Greg Buchanan's debut 'Sixteen Horses' has been lauded as one of the best books of the year, and there's already a major TV series of it in the works. However, the stunning hook of the plot only came to him as a device to explore the characters.Here's the blurb - 'Near the dying English seaside town of Ilmarsh, local police detective Alec Nichols discovers sixteen horses' heads on a farm, each buried with a single eye facing the low winter sun. After forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen travels to the scene, the investigators soon uncover evidence of a chain of crimes in the community – disappearances, arson, and mutilations – all culminating in the reveal of something deadly lurking in the ground itself. In the dark days that follow, the town slips into panic and paranoia. Everything is not as it seems. Anyone could be a suspect. And as Cooper finds herself unable to leave town, Alec is stalked by an unseen threat. The two investigators race to uncover the truth behind these frightening and insidious mysteries – no matter the cost.Sixteen Horses is a story of enduring guilt, trauma and punishment, set in a small seaside community the rest of the world has left behind...'We discuss genre - how much you learn the rules, when you break them, why it's good to stick to the conventions at the start. Also you can hear what writing in video games and comics has taught him about novels, and why a good shower sometimes does the trick.You can get a copy of the book here - https://amzn.to/3zP6msfAlso, you can my seminar at the London Book Fair, 'Playing with Prose' on Tuesday 29th June, here - https://lbf-2021.reg.buzz/?utm_campaign=organic_traffic&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google&_ga=2.122484687.557753863.1624463973-1654159128.1623150846&utm_campaign=organic_traffic&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=googleAnd support the show at Patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Louise Candlish shared her writer's routine with us in 2019.Louise Candlish's 'Our House' was one of the biggest books of 2018, it's sold more than 200,000 copies, been read all over the world and won 'Best Crime and Thriller Fiction' at the 'British Book Awards'. It so nearly wasn't the case though. A few years ago, disappointed with her success and publisher, Louise almost gave up - until the kernel of a story came to her, something that had never been done before, a thriller centred around property fraud. We talk about that spark during the episode, and how she grew it to become an award-winning novel.Since this episode was released 2 years ago, she's published 'Those People' and 'The Other Passenger', and she'll be back with another novel later in the summer.You can get a copy of 'The Other Passenger' here - https://amzn.to/3cX6gVMSupport us on patreon.com/writersroutine, if you can!@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Niamh Campbell has always been around words, studying them, teaching them, constantly writing them. Her short story 'Love Many' won an Irish Times writing prize, and from that success she's published her debut novel, 'This Happy'.It tells the story of Allanah, who falls in love with an older man, and it unpacks the way that impacts her life. It's a novel of exploration, of description and words. We discuss how she worked through the plot from that, and how she works around her focus on language.We chat about why she finds characters boring, and how that influences much of what she writes. Also, why she's pretentious about genre, and how lockdown has made her reassess whether she's an introvert or an extrovert.You can get a copy of the book here - https://amzn.to/3gDNDIFAlso, please do support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BONUS EPISODE!Here's something new I'm trying, hopefully every week. Taking a look back at some fantastic authors from our archive, and remembering just the routine, hopefully injecting a bitesize chunk of inspiration that might help you plan your day.Anthony Horowitz joined us back in 2018, as he was in the process of writing some Alex Rider short-stories. The teenage spy launched him to national attention in the early 00s, with school kids across the world being transfixed by the reluctant agent. More recently, Anthony has moved into adult-fiction, writing murder mysteries, James Bond novels and Sherlock Holmes stories. Listen back to Anthony's full episode here - https://podfollow.com/writersroutine/episode/d5b03e49f25f370347d9fd71ef31ad0eb886f702/viewYou can support the show on patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lesley Kara's debut, 'The Rumour', was the bestselling crime thriller debut of 2019. She's back with her third novel, 'The Dare', it tells the story of Lizzie, who is suspected of being involved in the death of a friend years earlier, and someone is out to get revenge.We discuss her writing routine, and how it's a waiting game, and a process of discovery. Also you can hear why she likes to read aloud, what she likes to know before starting, and how precise she is with her words. We chat about why it's good to be bored as a writer, how she links ideas together in the theme of the story, and why she thinks she's sold so many books.Get a copy of 'The Dare' here - https://amzn.to/3g2eRYZAlso, Lesley studied at Faber Academy. To get 10% off any online course at faberacademy.co.uk, just use the code WRITERSROUTINE21 when you checkout.Support the show on patreon.com/writersroutine, and follow us where you get your podcasts.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Adler has always been around words. He's a journalist who has written for The Times and the FT, been a commissioning editor at The Daily Telegraph, and edited magazines. His fourth novel is 'Dead Already', it's a psychological thriller that crosses both the gangster and ghost-story genres.'Dead Already' is the story of an East End Gangster who becomes haunted by the ghost of his dead daughter. We talk about where the idea came from, how he got on crossing genres, and why writing for him... is mostly problem solving.Even with a career constantly being around words, before becoming a novelist Tim went back to school, and he chats about why he believes people, particularly writers, should always be learning.We talk about how he revisits drafts with a fresh eye before editing, why he believes irony is the linchpin of storytelling, and how he leaves space for change whilst being a thorough plotter.If you'd like to support the show, please do pledge at patreon.com/writersroutine.Also you can leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosie Wilby is a comedian, writer and podcaster. Her new book, 'The Breakup Monologues', is based on the podcast of the same name. It's non-fiction and looks at sexuality, stories, dating....breaking up.We talk about why the idea for the story changed as she worked on it, why she used ideas from fiction to plot and plan it, and how it's now affected her podcasting.You can hear why pets keep her going, how exercise helped her ideas, and as a comic, why lockdown was actually sweet relief to get work done.Rosie has appeared many times on BBC Radio 4 programmes including Woman’s Hour, Loose Ends, The Human Zoo and Four Thought, and at major festivals including Latitude and Glastonbury and in the finals of several major comedy competitions.Her first book 'Is Monogamy Dead?' was shortlisted for the Diva Literary Awards 2017, long-listed for the Polari First Book Prize 2018 and followed her TEDx talk of the same name. Her trilogy of solo shows investigating love and relationships began with The Science of Sex, which has been performed all over the UK, in New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Berlin, and ended with The Conscious Uncoupling, which toured to venues including London's Southbank Centre and was shortlisted for Funny Women Best Show.You can get a copy of the book here - https://amzn.to/2SyscPCListen (when you've finished this one) to Rosie's podcast here - https://podfollow.com/breakupmonologuesSupport us at Patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bryan Christy was the Head of Special Operations for National Geographic. He'd travel around the world uncovering crimes and reporting on the underworld. He's now an author.They say write what you know. Bryan's debut fiction is called 'In the Company of Killers', and it tells the story of Tom Klay, a spy undercover as a wildlife reporter. We talk about Bryan re-inventing real life into stories, and how he got to know Tom enough to tell his tale. Also, the criminal investigation style mindmaps that he made to plot the narrative, and we discuss what he learned from his non-fiction book, 'The Lizard King', which has influenced his new one.There's also a surprising amount of knife-throwing chat.You can get a copy of the book here - https://amzn.to/3f5hjh4Also, support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bethany Clift's debut has come out at JUST the write time. 'Last One at the Party' tells the story of a woman alone on Earth, after humanity has been wiped out by a virus. We talk about how the idea came on a long, lonely journey, and how she got to know the character that readers would be spending so much time with.It's one of the publisher's lead titles this year, and the film rights have already been sold, so it's set for success. We discuss how her background in film production helped her visualise and plan the story slightly differently, and why she owes so much to her editor. You can hear how much she knew about the story before she started, and why the first sentence was so important.We have a good run through her writing space and working day, and how things are changing as she moves on to her second book.Get a copy of 'Last One at the Party' here - https://amzn.to/3fh5145You can support the show, and get involved at Patreon.com/writersroutine too!@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lisa Gardner is a prolific author. She's published 11 'DD Warren' novels, 2 'Tessa Leoni' books, and is back with her first standalone in 20 years. 'Before She Disappeared' tells the story of Frankie Elkin who spends her life doing what no one else will, searching for missing people the world has forgotten about.We talking about why she likes to get things done in the morning, and how she figured out how she works best. Also, how the characters figure themselves out in her down time which drives the story, although it seems to change between books. We talk about being a pantser, who likes to plot at the start, and why she hates the actual words on the page.To get a copy of the book, click here - https://amzn.to/3uF0Mp6We're having lots of lovely chats over on patreon.com/writersroutine, sign up and get involved to share some writing advice!@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.