Page One - The Writer's Podcast

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had a great chat with Jen about her journey into becoming a published writer, and hear why writing her "dreadful" first unpublished novel (her words!)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 novelsFollow Jen on TwitterVisit Jen's websiteOut 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/ukpageonePage 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-oneFollow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramFollow us on Mastodon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 nowFollow Sam on TwitterThis 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/ukpageonePage 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-oneFollow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramFollow us on Mastodon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is also available as a full video interview on our YouTube channelNicholas 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 nowFollow Nick on TwitterVisit Nick's websiteComing 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-extraPage 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-oneFollow us on TwitterFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 TwitterPage 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-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 nowVisit Charlie's websiteFollow Charlie on mastodonPage 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-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 novelsVisit Anne's websiteFollow Anne on TwitterPage 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-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 nowFollow Ayisha on TwitterPage 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-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 ApartFollow Sarah on TwitterVisit her travel blog, LiveShareTravelPage 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-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 booksVisit Ian's websiteFollow 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-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 BindingVisit Ryan's websiteFollow Ryan on TwitterPage 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-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.