The Bestseller Experiment

• Gareth L Powell is one of the most generous authors on social media and a font of writing wisdom. He's also the award-winning author of the Ack-Ack Macaque trilogy, his short stories have appeared in Interzone, Clarkesworld, and The Year's Best Science Fiction, and he has written for The Guardian, The Irish Times, 2000AD and SFX. With his new book Embers of War he has returned to his love of space opera. We discussed apes, outlining, and answered a few listener questions... In this episode you will discover… An outlining method that will help you work through the muddy middle
• What you can offer to your Patreon and Kofi supporters to create a community and generate revenue
• How to deal with characters who insist on hanging around in your story
• And how a short story about a monkey became an award-winning trilogy...

To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

This week's topic of adaptation came from one of our Patreon supporters and listeners Julian Barr, who joined me to discuss the various methods for adapting from one medium to another, including radio, epic poems, novels, TV and feature films.

Hear more at http://bestsellerexperiment.com/support

In this Deep Dive we take a look at one of the hardest parts of being a writer: coping with criticism. It can come in many forms: from writing groups, reviews, social media and more. We look at strategies on how to deal with criticism and how you can make it work for you.

Hear more at http://bestsellerexperiment.com/support

Julie Wassmer is an EastEnder who has written for EastEnders and she's now bumping off the locals in her wonderful series of novels The Whitstable Pearl Mysteries. I met Julie by the seaside on a beautiful summer's day at Whitstable and we chatted about the town, its strong sense of community, and how it has influenced her writing. Julie's new book, Disappearence at Oare, is out now!

In this episode you will discover… - Why location is so important to a novel

- How to keep a series character fresh

- And why you should live in fear of a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich

To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

Sharon Bolton (aka SJ Bolton) is the bestselling and award-winning thriller author of the Lacey Flint series and her writing continues the tradition of gothic mystery, mixed with the pace of page-turning modern crime thrillers. It was great fun to discuss her new novel, The Craftsman, we played backlist bingo, and we answered listener questions. In this episode you will discover… - Tips for historical research and how you can turn local history into thrilling fiction

- How you can keep readers on the hook with delayed gratification

- How your short stories can interlock with your novels and create a greater universe

- And why you have to write the books you love to read

To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality