How do the best writers get to work?In every episode, we'll chat to an author about their writing day. Where do they work? What time do they start? How do they plan their time and maximise their creativity, in order to plot and publish a bestseller?Some are frantic night-owls, others roll out of bed into their desks, and a few lock themselves away in the woods - but none have a regular 9 to 5, and we'll find out how they've managed it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Latest episodes
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56 min
Daisy Stephens, author of 'The Island of the Lost' - Horror writer discusses making sentences chilling, editin…
Daisy Stephens is a journalist who has written stories forever. When she was young she filled notebooks with them, now living in a house-share with 3 friends and a grumpy cat, she…
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1 h 06
Laurell K. Hamilton, author of 'A Glimmer of Death' - Romantasy writer discusses splitting an entire book in h…
Laurell K. Hamilton is a pioneer of romantasy and urban fantasy. One of the biggest names in the genre, Sarah J. Mass has cited Laurell as an enormous inspiration. She's published…
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1 h 04
Elif Shafak, author of 'In One Brief Moment All Eternity' - Bestselling writer discusses why writing is at the…
Elif Shafak is an incredibly successful and influential author. Born in France to Turkish parents, Elif was raised by her single mother and traditional grandmother. She spent her c…
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43 min
Jenna Helwig, author of 'The Foreign Correspondent's Wife' - Cookbook writer discusses turning to mysteries, b…
Jenna Helwig is a food editor, a cookbook evangelist, and now novel writer. She's a culinary school graduate, and in 2025 launched, the Cookbookery Collective, a very successful Su…
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50 min
Benjamin Abravenel, author of 'The Past, Again' - Debut author discusses learning from history, hybrid-publish…
Benjamin Abravenel practiced medicine for 35 years, whilst in snatches of spare time, started work on a novel with a message he was passionate to get heard in the world. When he re…
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44 min
Claire McGowan, author of 'The Other Couple' - Million-Copy Bestseller discusses what's changed in 5 years, sp…
This week, we're chatting to the million-copy bestseller, Claire McGowan. She's an Amazon bestselling crime and thriller author, with almost 30 novels. Best known for the 'Paula Ma…
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1 h 15
Scott Mariani, author of the 'Ben Hope series' - Bestselling thriller writer discusses keeping the discipline,…
This week we're chatting to one of the UK's best-selling thriller writers. Scott Mariani has published 30 novels in the 'Ben Hope series', a few more in his 'Will Bowman historical…
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59 min
Simon Wroe, author of 'Ghost Month' - BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick discusses listening to your instinct, getting…
Simon Wroe started work as a chef and still works in a kitchen. Only this time, he writes novels in them. He's worked as a journalist for The Guardian, The Economist, The Times and…
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1 h 02
Kevin Wade, author of 'One Good Eye' - 'Blue Bloods' showrunner talks learning the rules of crime shows, writi…
Kevin Wade is a screenwriter and show-runner, behind some of the biggest films and series of recent times. After acting for a bit, he started off penning Off-Broadway plays. Kevin…
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58 min
Matt Hill, author of 'Wrecks' - Speculative fiction author discusses a big editing change, feeling guilty abou…
Matt Hill is a Philip K. Dick nominated author, having published 6 books over the last 13 years. 'Lamb', 'The Breach', 'Zero Bomb', 'Graft' and 'Folded Man', have all be acclaimed…
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1 h 00
Vaseem Khan, author of 'Quantum of Menace' - CWA Award Winner discusses bringing to life a caricature, having…
Vaseem Khan tried to be an author for a long time. He wrote widely, in all genres, even analytically studied the greats to learn from how they did it, but kept gettiing rejected. F…
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52 min
Ajay Chowdhury, author of 'Eden Falls' - Thriller writer discusses creating with AI, finishing things off, and…
Ajay Chowdhury was the first winner of the Harvill Secker Bloody Scotland Prize. His 'Kamil Rahman' crime stories are incredibly successful, works on various boards, ran a global d…
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51 min
Cathy Bramley, author of 'Somewhere Only We Know' - Sunday Times Bestseller discusses inspiration from locatio…
Cathy Bramley has published 18 novels, and sold over 2 million of them. Since her debut in 2015, it's taken a while to finalise she is actually an author. Cathy writes light-hearte…
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41 min
Julie Owen Moylan, author of 'Elizabeth and Marilyn' - Historical fiction writer discusses thorough research,…
Julie Owen Moylan's debut novel, 'That Green Eyed Girl', was a Waterstones' Welsh Book of the Month and a runner up for the Paul Torday Memorial Prize. She followed that up with '7…
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50 min
Joseph Eckert, author of 'The Traveller' - Sci-fi writer discusses great hooks, 15 years of planning, and edit…
This week, we're chatting to Joseph Eckert whose debut novel has been 15 years in the making, and almost took him to Hollywood.It's an incredible hook, about Scott Treder who finds…
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51 min
Foluso Agbaje, author of 'The Talk of the Party' - Thriller writer discusses writing in Dubai, worldwide influ…
This week, we chat to Foluso Agbaje. Her debut, 'The Parlour Wife', was published to widespread acclaim in 2024. She's following it up with 'The Talk of the Party'. It tells the st…
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52 min
Sara Sheridan, author of 'The Jewel Keepers' - Book of the Year winner discusses treasure hunt thrillers, long…
Sara Sheridan's 2022 novel, 'The Botanists', was the Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year, and was a pick for 'The Queen's Reading Room'. Her debut, 'Truth or Rare', won the Scott…
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1 h 03
Ollie George Clark, author of 'Youngest Faircrest and the Search for a Sorcerer’ - Award-winning writer discus…
Ollie George Clark is an award-winning right, who is having a moment. He's got 3 new TV comedy-dramas under commission. He's written plays that have been performed across the UK, h…
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48 min
Kate Lord Brown, author of 'The Silver Thread' - Historical fiction bestseller talks about writing out of orde…
Kate Lord Brown is a bestselling historical fiction author. She was a finalist in ITV's 'The People's Author Contest', has been shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year, and is r…
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1 h 00
Lucy Ashe, author of 'The Model Patient' - Historical Thriller writer discusses finding control, why a book de…
This week, we're chatting to Lucy Ashe. Lucy trained at the Royal Ballet school, and now works as a teacher in Brooklyn, whilst writing brilliant books. Her debut, 'Clara and Olivi…