The Writing Life

National Centre for Writing’s Rebecca DeWald talks to translator Clare Richards. Rebecca is our Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme Manager and Clare is a previous mentee, who was mentored by Anton Hur. Clare is a translator of Korean, but has a passion for the more challenging scripts such as Japanese, as she explains in their conversation. As a neurodivergent person, Clare is perfectly placed to reflect on our ablist workplaces and the male-skewed view of autism - and she also describes how learning new languages can help change the way we think and communicate. Clare really found her calling in literary translation allowing her to build a way of working that suits her skills and preferences. She has also set up a Discord channel for D-deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people and you can find her on Twitter @clarehannahmary Clare is just one of our Emerging Translator mentees. The scheme itself matches experienced translators with emerging translators for a six-month period. During this time they work on practical translation projects together and learn about the ins and outs of professionalizing as a literary translator. You can find out more about the scheme on our website.

Novelist and NCW tutor Megan Bradbury shares strategies for building a writing routine, including dealing with avoidance excuses and using noise-canceling headphones. She discusses the importance of balancing creativity and structure in writing, finding one's own writing style, and creating a writing routine while balancing domestic life. The chapter explores practical tips for setting boundaries, maintaining inspiration, and embracing organic ideas.

This episode is a Writing Life special, featuring an hour of new writing read by the writers on this year’s National Centre for Writing Escalator programme - recorded earlier this year at the showcase event, here at Dragon Hall.   Melody Bowles Bang Wang Ben Cartwright Shirley Day Isabelle Higgins Adam Leeder Joanna Miller Carrie Patten Rick Roydes Mark Stocker Escalator is our talent development programme. And each year, we look for ambitious, challenging, unconventional and affecting new voices in fiction writing from the East of England. The region is made up of a diverse society of people, and supporting writers who are under-represented on UK bookshelves has become a core objective of the project.  The programme has been running since 2004 and includes eight months of mentoring, training, guidance and networking for participants. To date we’ve supported more than 130 writers, many of whom have gone on to sign with agents, publish and win awards and critical recognition for their novels and short stories. We had a fantastic group of writers in 2022 and we hosted them here for the annual Escalator Showcase event where they all read from their work. This is the audio from that event. https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator/  

Crime and noir novelist Julia Crouch shares tips on gripping readers through character development, narrative tension, conflict, and twists. She discusses the role of dead bodies, creating intrigue, and sowing seeds of suspense. Julia's expertise in domestic noir shines as she offers technical advice for captivating storytelling.

Award-winning Belgian writer Els Beerten shares insights on character development and using the senses to bring places and people to life. Topics range from exploring historical narratives through character depth to using writing as a tool for connection and sensory experience.

Writer and teacher Jenn Ashworth discusses the nuances of short stories vs. novels, including character development, modular storytelling, and the appeal of short fiction in uncertain times. She also shares insights on crafting compelling narratives and the challenges in promoting short story collections in the publishing industry.

How to write about love in its various forms with Maddie Mortimer.  Maddie is the author of Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies which won her a 2022 Desmond Elliott Prize.  The first part of our conversation was about her Desmond Elliott Prize win, but we soon started talking about the novel, writing craft and writing love. This episode features the section of the conversation about writing love, from the intimate and tender to the physical and visceral, from the romantic to the familial.  As part of the Early Career Awards, we regularly publish our free EC Packs - bundles of advice, interviews, audio and video to help writers tackle particular areas of writing. We have packs on Editing, Beginnings, Structure, Plot, World Building and lots more. Access them for free on our website. This podcast forms a part of our new Early Career Pack - on the subject of love. It includes exercises, articles and indeed, this episode of the Writing Life.

This episode is a Writing Life special to celebrate Noirwich, the 2022 Norwich Crime Writing Festival here in our fine city. The festival featured Ukrainian-born American and French artist and writer, Yelena Moskovich. Yelena has written for Vogue, The Times Literary Supplement, Paris Review and many more. She has also just released her third novel, A Door Behind a Door, an exploration of the post-Soviet diaspora. We invited our friend, creative writing tutor and the godmother of domestic noir, Julia Crouch whose 7th novel The Daughters came out earlier this year, to interview Yelena. Strap in for a lively discussion about routes to becoming a writer, identity as a writer, ownership of your art, reading, what is crime writing, ideas of Hell and much much more. Image copyright Beth Moseley

This month, we discuss revision. To help us understand how, when and why writers should revise, rewrite and redraft our work, we speak to writer and NCW course tutor, Lynne Bryan. We discuss the importance of revising one’s work, how revision is different for different types writer, when to do what kind of revision, and the role of third-party feedback. This is a great discussion for anyone doing creative writing. Lynne received her MA in Creative Writing in 1985. Her first book - Envy At The Cheese Handout - was a collection of short stories back in 1995. Two novels, Gorgeous and Like Rabbits followed in 1999 and 2002.  She’s co-edited six anthologies of short prose, her work has been broadcast on Radio 4 and her story – ‘A Regular Thing’ – was made into an award-winning short film in Denmark. Needless to say, Lynne knows her stuff, so this is an invaluable discussion for anyone who writes.

We talk to international bestselling writer Mohsin Hamid about his new book, The Last White Man. The conversation covers the key themes of his new novel: race, transformation, freedom, loss - as well as his journey into writing fiction, and, how a story is only ever half-told, until it finds a reader… Many will know his Booker shortlisted novels The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West. And some may also know his other novels Moth Smoke and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia - and a non-fiction book, Discontent and its Civilizations. He writes regularly for The New York Times, the Guardian and the New York Review of Books. Born and mostly raised in Lahore, Pakistan, he has since lived between Lahore, London and New York.