Page One - The Writer's Podcast

Catriona Ward won the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel for her debut, Rawblood, and again for Little Eve, making her the first woman to win the prize twice. Little Eve, which also won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel, will soon be republished. Her latest novel, The Last House on Needless Street, has received rave reviews and became an instant bestseller.We loved chatting with Catriona and hearing about how she tackles writing about the horror in her novels (clue: make sure you have some time to do other things as well!) We also hear about the long seven year journey to get her first novel published, and how that process contrasts with her writing approach now. There’s also time to chat briefly about the upcoming film adaptation of The Last House on Needless Street!Links:Buy Catriona's books now!The Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dominic Nolan is the author of the Abigail Boone novels, Past Life and After Dark. His most recent novel, Vine Street, is a historical thriller based on real events in 1930s Soho, and has already been garnering rave reviews.We had a really interesting chat with Dominic about his path to publishing, and talk about why it took some time between his getting an agent and his first book being published. We also talk about how not to pitch a novel, and talk about the research that went into crafting Vine Street.Links:Buy Dominic's books now!The Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the novel, Dark Matter, for which he is writing the screenplay for Sony Pictures. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015's #1 show. His latest book, Recursion, was a bestseller which is also being adapted by Netflix.We loved talking to Blake and hearing about how it was a decision to stop writing “small” stories that kickstarted what appeared to be a failing career as a novelist. That first big story was Pines, and since then he has had success after success. We also hear about how his unique and complicated ideas develop into novels, and the difficult process that goes into them.Links:Buy Blake's books now!Visit Blake's websiteWatch Wayward PinesThe Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart Turton is a former journalist and the author of the award-winning, genre-mashing The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. His second book, The Devil and the Dark Water was released in October 2020 and became an instant smash hit.We had a great time chatting to Stuart about how an early love of Agatha Christie mysteries eventually led to his becoming a writer. He tells us why he would prefer it if his name didn’t appear on the cover of his books, why he never wants to be pigeon-holed into writing one type of story and discusses the planning that went into The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. We also hear about his roundabout journey to becoming a writer, which includes perhaps the most unique pre-writing job we’ve had from a guest (it involves shotguns and camels…!)Links:Buy Stuart's books now!The Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Johnson was an MP for 20 years and served as Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Health for the Labour Governments of Blair and Brown. After leaving the Cabinet, he wrote his first memoir, This Boy, which was an instant success, and followed that up with two more volumes of memoirs, Please, Mister Postman and The Long and Winding Road. This year he has published his first novel, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill. Our fun chat with Alan covers why he always wanted to be a writer (and rock musician - blame The Beatles for both), how he kept writing during his political career, and why fiction has been his goal from the start. We talk about the difference in writing memoirs and fiction, hear what inspired The Late Train to Gipsy Hill, and also talk about his experience as a contestant on The Masked Singer!Links:Buy The Late Train to Gypsy Hill now!Watch Alan on The Masked SingerThe Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, the tables are turned this week as our very own Tariq Ashkanani joins us as a guest rather than interviewer to tell us about the path to publishing his debut novel, Welcome to Cooper, which currently sits high on Amazon's Kindle Store!Tariq explains his rather convoluted path to becoming a writer, and how the spark for his brilliant debut came after attending a short story writing class. We also talk about the trials and tribulations of finding an agent, hear how he honed his writing voice - and of course find out once and for all whether he will pick ebooks as his favourite medium...Links:Buy Welcome To Cooper now!The Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catherine Quinn is a bestselling fiction author whose books are published in over fifteen countries. She writes contemporary thrillers as Cate Quinn, and her historical thrillers are published under the pen name CS Quinn. Catherine’s was a travel and lifestyle journalist for The Times, The Guardian and The Mirror, alongside many magazines. Prior to journalism and fiction, her background in historic research won prestigious postgraduate funding from the British Art Council.Combining research skills with far-flung travel experiences helped her delve into different communities and worlds to create page-turning thrillers in interesting locations.We had great fun chatting with Cate about her writing journey, hearing about how she was diverted from her first historical thriller to self-publish erotica under a pen name, how that led back to a traditional publishing deal for her historical fiction and finding out why she has now moved into contemporary fiction with her latest novel, Black Windows. We talk about marketing when you are self-publishing, building email lists of readers, and how writing out of sequence can help with the "murky middle" of your book! Plus we chat about her food blog and ask about the worst thing she has eaten on her travels...Links:Buy Black WidowsBuy the CS Quinn booksRead Cate's food blogFollow Cate on TwitterVisit Cate's websiteThe Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Duncan Hamilton is an award-winning non-fiction author and sports journalist. His first book, Provided You Don't Kiss Me:20 Years with Brian Clough, won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, and award he has subsequently won another two times. He has just released his first fiction novel, Injury Time.We had a really interesting chat with Duncan about his route into sports journalism and hear what led him to move into the world of books. We talk about how he picks his subjects for his non-fiction books and find out why he has decided to move into the world of novel writing with Injury Time. We also have a chat about why football (soccer for our US listeners!) never seems to work in movies, and, given this episode was recorded just before the Euro 2020 final, Marco and him briefly discuss prospects for their respective teams...Links:Buy Duncan's booksThe Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have not one but two great guests! Abir Mukherjee is the bestselling author of the Sam Wyndham series of crime novels set in Raj era India. His debut, A Rising Man, won the CWA Endeavour Dagger for best historical crime novel of 2017. His latest, Death in the East, was nominated for the Theakston Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2021. Vaseem Khan is the author of two crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. He is also an award-winning author and his latest, The Dying Day, is out now. As well as being award-winning authors, Abir and Vaseem also host the popular literary podcast, The Red Hot Chilli Writers (on which our very own Tariq Ashkanani recently appeared as a guest!)We had a great time speaking with both Abir and Vaseem, and in between the jokes we even managed to talk about writing! We heard about the very different paths they took to becoming published and talk about the role that luck and timing can have in becoming a successfully published author. We also chat about favourite books, hear why Abir is always trying to take Vaseem to KFC and may even mention the name of Vaseem's new book once or twice...Links:Buy Death in the East and Abir's other books nowBuy The Dying Day and Vaseem's other books nowVisit Abir's websiteVisit Vaseem's websiteVisit The Red Hot Chilli Writers websiteThe Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

C. Robert Cargill started out as a film reviewer for one of the internet's first film sites, aintitcool.com, before moving into the world of movies himself, writing films such as Sinister and Dr Strange. Not content with taking the movie world by storm, he has also become a bestselling novelist, and his most recent book, Day Zero, is a prequel to the brilliant Sea of Rust.We loved chatting with Cargill about his varied career, learning about how he used the access he had as a film reviewer as a crash course in film studies, how a chance meeting with his friend Scott Derrickson in Vegas led to Sinister being pitched, written and green-lit in record time, and why he loves working in both the film and book world. We also talk about learning to accept that a lot of great work you write as a screenwriter may never get made, and discuss when and when not to take advice from others on your work.Links:Buy Day Zero and Cargill's other booksFollow Cargill on TwitterThe Page One 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: @write_gearFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WriteGearUK/Follow us on Instagram: write_gear_uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.