This week I sit down with Christine Rose at her home in London, to find out all about a job that most people aren't aware exists. Christine works behind the scenes in comedy and entertainment, writing jokes for shows including Have I Got News for You and 8 out of 10 Cats; chat-show monologues for the likes of Graham Norton and Alan Carr; and funny host scripts for awards ceremonies like the BAFTAs and the Brits. 

Christine won Best TV Comedy Writer at the Funny Women Awards last year, and in this episode she talks me through the making of shows like HIGNFY, what it's like trying to get jokes approved by awards-show organisers and celebrity hosts, and why she had to regretfully let go of a brilliant gag involving Joaquin Phoenix and Boris Johnson.

Browse books by guests of this podcast at the In Writing shop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing

This week, armed with tea and Jaffa cakes, I speak to the writer Amer Anwar at his home in west London. Amer is the author of Brothers in Blood and Stone Cold Trouble – crime thrillers set in Southall, populated by British Asian gangsters, and peppered with punch-ups, Punjabi swear words, and cunning plans. 

Before Amer had even finished a draft of his first book, it won the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award – but nevertheless, he struggled to find a publisher. In the meantime, he hatched his own cunning plan to publish and promote the book himself; he made it to the shelves of Waterstones and garnered such good reviews that the book was ultimately picked up by the publisher Dialogue Books.

You can buy Amer's novels and lots more at the In Writing bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing

This episode of In Writing is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Use the code INWRITING20 for £20 off one of their four, six, or ten-week online writing courses. Go to http://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to
find out more.

I'm thrilled to be back for a fourth series, and to be kicking it off with such an interesting guest. Elif Shafak is a British-Turkish novelist who has published 19 books including 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, The Forty Rules of Love and Three Daughters of Eve. Her most recent book is The Island of Missing Trees, which is a twisty tale of love and war, told in part from the perspective of a fig tree.

Elif spoke to me in August from her home in London, and we discussed the important work of literary translators, the experience of being sued for 'insulting Turkishness' in her fiction, and how she navigates anxiety and self-doubt as a writer.

You can buy The Island of Missing Trees and browse books by Elif and other guests of the podcast here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing 10% of your money goes to support independent bookshops, and another 10% to support the making of this podcast, so thank you.

This episode of In Writing is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Use code INWRITING20 for £20 off one of their four, six, or ten-week online writing courses. Go to http://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to
find out more.

This is a bonus episode with a writer who, in a way, has carved out a bonus career: Graham Norton. Long-established as a hugely successful presenter and comedian in the UK, he published his first novel, Holding, in 2016, and has followed that with 2018's A Keeper, and most recently last year's Home Stretch. They are well-plotted, sensitively written novels that turn the spotlight on small-town Ireland. I spoke to Graham in April, when he was at his home in London, and we discussed how fear of the first book's reception stopped him from over-writing it; why he has tried to keep his two careers apart; and how he's learning to trust the reader.

Home Stretch is now out in paperback, and I would also highly recommend Graham's second memoir, The Life and Loves of a He Devil. You can find his books and those of other guests of the podcast here, along with a selection of books on writing that I've found helpful: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing

This episode of In Writing is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Use code INWRITING20 for £20 off one of their four, six, or ten-week online writing courses. Go to http://curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to find out more.

In the final episode of the third series (thank you for listening!), Maggie O'Farrell joins me from her home in Edinburgh. Maggie is the author of eight novels, including After You'd Gone, This Must Be The Place and Hamnet, which last year won the Women's Prize for Fiction. She also wrote the unsettling 2017 memoir I Am I Am I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death. She describes the Victorian greenhouse-turned-studio where her books take shape, and talks about the difficulty of knowing where to begin; the laborious but valuable experience of getting her first novel published, and why she loves it when a manuscript veers off course.

You can find Maggie's books and those of other guests of the podcast here, along with a selection of books on writing that I've found helpful: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing

James Acaster joins me this week to talk about writing stand-up comedy. James has filmed five stand-up specials – the first four make up the series Repertoire, available on Netflix, while the most recent, Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, arrived on Vimeo earlier this month. He was also nominated a record-breaking five years in a row for Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Fringe, from 2012 to 2016. He talks me through how he writes a set; the structure of stand-up, and the art of a well-placed callback; and how he reconciles the inherently stressful dynamic of his job with his efforts to protect his mental health.

James also wrote the bestselling books James Acaster's Classic Scrapes and Perfect Sound Whatever, which can be found alongside other books by guests of the podcast here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing

I'd also recommend Steve Martin's Born Standing Up for anyone interested in the construction of stand-up comedy (even though James has been given three copies of it and still hasn't made it to the end). I can't find it on Bookshop.org so here it is at Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/born-standing-up/steve-martin/9781847391483

Watch Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 here: https://www.jamesacaster.com/cold-lasagne/

And listen to James's podcasts here:
James Acaster's Perfect Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p089rgkp
Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/off-menu-with-ed-gamble-and-james-acaster/id1442950743?mt=2

This week I'm joined by Wendy Erskine, author of the remarkable Sweet Home, an award-winning short story collection set in modern Belfast. I have a personal connection to Wendy – she was my English teacher in the mid-nineties, and is still a teacher today. She talks about how she found her way to publishing an acclaimed collection in 2018; how her 'imagination headphones' allow her to work at the kitchen table with family life unfolding around her; and how drafting and redrafting leads to her stark, fearless prose.

Wendy's second collection will be published by Stinging Fly and Picador in February 2022. In the meantime, read her latest short story Gloria and Max here: https://stingingfly.org/2021/03/03/gloria-and-max/

Buy Sweet Home and other books by guests of the podcast here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing

And let me know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@hattiehattie) or Instagram (@hattiecrisell), or share your thoughts with the hashtag #InWriting.

Back in early November 2020, Will Storr spoke to me from a solo writing retreat in Spain, where he was working, sleeping and doing nothing else. This turns out to be Will's process: he also tells me about his zero-distractions writing routine at home, which involves a black-out blind and total immersion.

I first discovered Will's work through the brilliant book The Science of Storytelling; he's also the author of Selfie, The Heretics and Will Storr Vs The Supernatural, plus the novel The Hunger and the Howling of Killian Lone – and several very successful ghost-written autobiographies. Will also won the Amnesty International Award and a One World Press Award for reporting on sexual violence against men. In this episode we discuss his method for creating a three-dimensional character; how he approached interviews in Uganda on the highly sensitive subject of sexual trauma; and the indispensable writing advice he once received from Jon Ronson.

This episode of In Writing is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Use code INWRITING20 for £20 off one of their four, six, or ten-week online writing courses. Go to curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to find out more.

Buy Will's books at https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing – your purchases support independent booksellers, and help me to keep making this podcast.

And to continue the conversation about writing, find me on Twitter (@hattiehattie) or Instagram (@hattiecrisell), or share your thoughts with the hashtag #InWriting.

The writer and illustrator Cressida Cowell joins me this week, with a backdrop of birdsong from outside her writing shed. Cressida wrote and illustrated the Wizards of Once series, and the How to Train Your Dragon series, which became a highly successful Dreamworks franchise. She also wrote the Emily Brown picture books, and is passionate about getting kids into reading, and showing them that whether they're good at school or not, they're still smart. She talks about her quest as Waterstones Children’s Laureate, and about what it's like to write a book that becomes a global hit on the big screen – plus everything she learnt from her wild childhood on a Viking island.

Buy Cressida’s books and other titles by guests of this podcast by visiting https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing – when you buy from my shop, 10% of your money supports the making of the podcast, and 10% goes to independent bookshops.

This week I speak to George Saunders: author of 11 books including the 2017 Man Booker Prize winner Lincoln in the Bardo; regular contributor of short fiction to The New Yorker for almost 30 years; and creative writing teacher at Syracuse University. George's new book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, uses classic Russian short stories to analyse good writing and storytelling. His special skill, other than writing, is in demystifying the subject and providing comforting, encouraging, practical advice to students, readers, podcast listeners... and me.

This episode of In Writing is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Listen for a discount code to get £20 off one of their four, six, or ten-week online writing courses. Visit curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to find out more.

Buy George's new book and other titles by guests of this podcast by visiting https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing – when you buy from my shop, 10% of your money supports the making of the podcast, and 10% goes to independent bookshops.