Sarah Bailey is the guest. In this bumper episode I talk about some of my favourite books of the year before speaking with the author of two Gemma Woodstock crime novels, Into the Night and The Dark Lake. We also talk about the feeling of flow, flawed characters and high expectations. 

Episode 50 - Sarah Bailey - Into the Night

Join us every month as we speak with recently published or well established authors, gleaning insights and real tips from writers following their process from beginning to write, editing and proof reading, to finding an agent and publisher and finally finding an audience. Past guests include Joyce Carol-Oates, E.L James, John Safran, and Charlotte Wood.Twitter @_on_writing

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The guest is Robbie Arnott. The book is The Rain Heron. Robbie's debut Flames  was shortlisted for and won a number of major literary prizes. His second novel is just as good. He writes compelling, inventive stories about our relationship with and dominion over the natural world. We talk about writing second novels, finding inspiration and our writing process. Robbie is also the first guest to feature on the show twice.

Episode 63 - Robbie Arnott - The Rain Heron

Chris Hammer is the guest. The book is Trust, the third novel in the Martin Scarsden series. We talk about writing break out debuts, why setting is so important and how Chris manages to find new compelling stories for the same characters. We also talk about writing and setting novels in the time of Covid.

Episode 64 - Chris Hammer - Trust

The guest is Ceridwen Dovey. The book is Life After Truth. Ceridwen is an author, essayist and academic. She attended Harvard University on a scholarship where she met Jared Kushner and Natalie Portman. Her brilliant latest novel, Life After Truth, is inspired by her experience of attending the 15 year reunion of her class at Harvard. We talk about tech, machine learning, politics, how people change, an ill fated meeting with George Lucas and about raising children among many other things. This was one of my favourite interviews and Ceridwen is an author everyone should read.

Episode 65 - Ceridwen Dovey - Life After Truth

Mirandi Riwoe is the guest. She is the author of a number of books, most recently the historical fiction novel Stone Sky Gold Mountain, set in 1870s in a gold rush town in Queensland. Mirandi is an enormously generous writer, providing deep insights into her process and the ways she created authentic migrant characters and brought to life a town which no longer exists.

Episode 62 - Mirandi Riwoe - Gold Mountain Stone Sky

The guest is Liam Pieper, author of a number of books including his most recent novel Sweetness and Light. Liam has an intriguing story and he talks to us about how his time abroad inspired much of the story and how to write with authenticity and accuracy about cities and countries you don't live in. Sweetness and Light is a beautiful novel full of heart and life, sitting snugly in that magic cross section between literary depth and commercial pace.

Episode 50 - Sarah Bailey - Into the Night

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