The Creative Writer's Toolbelt

One of the most popular genres for fiction writers is the murder mystery or police procedural. But this is also a genre where writers can easily get things wrong. In this episode I'm joined by crime writer Wendy H Jones and we speak to Patrick O’Donnell, a serving officer with 25 years of experience in a large city police department in the US. In this conversation we cover: responding to a homicide, the arrest and court process, hostage situations, and what writers usually get wrong with police work.

This is a special episode examining the rise in the popularity and influence of Chinese Science Fiction. In the last twenty years, Chinese Sci Fi has flourished across a range of media, spurred by successes like Liu Cixin's Hugo Award-winning novel The Three-Body Problem, and this year's Chinese funded and created movie The Wandering Earth. In this episode I talk to two writers: Chen Qiufan and Peng Simeng, and an editor, Gabrielle Wei of Science Fiction World, all based in China, to discuss the issues that are important to Chinese writers and to find out what opportunities writers from the West might have in this newly emerging market.

My guest for this episode is my friend Sarah Werner. Sarah is a creator, producer, and encourager of fellow creatives. She is also the host of the 'Write Now' and 'Girl In Space' podcasts. Sarah always manages to combine warmth and wisdom in what she says, and in this conversation she shares insights and practical tips for developing perseverance and resilience as a creative, developing a brand for ourselves and our work, and the why and how of creating your own podcast as a writer.

This episode starts with a request. Tell me your writing challenges! What are the technical craft problems you're facing? Give me the challenge of research and presenting a solution for you and all of us here on the podcast. Also, it's story time. Sit back and listen to the original, unpublished opening chapter to 'The Centauri Survivors' my recently published novel.

My guest for this episode is Abidemi Sanusi. Abidemi is a Nigerian born former human rights worker turned author, and has been writing and publishing books across multiple genres for fifteen years. Her novel, Eyo, about a 10 year old girl trafficked to the UK with promises of a better life, was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

She's also the founder of abidemi.tv, the website for ambitious writers', and she provides business success templates for freelance writers.

A self-confessed tech geek, she is also the founder of writethemes.com - gorgeous Wordpress themes for writers that turn their Wordpress website visitors into paying fans.

My guest for this episode has spent over 40 years in the publishing business, editing everyone from Professor Stephen Hawking to Douglas Adams. And now it's his turn to write a book rather than edit one, and so Peter has written "Emeralds of Oz: Life Lessons from Over the Rainbow" a look at the wisdom we can glean from one of the greatest films ever made, which went out on general release on this date 25th August, exactly 80 years ago.

This episode is the second part of my conversation with Orna Ross: poet, author and founder and Director of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Here Orna and I discuss the amazing impact of self-publishing, the rise of the indie author, the priorities for indie authors, the challenges that they face, and how they can benefit from being part of ALLi, the largest global non-profit organisation for independent authors.

The combination of new social media platforms and the rise of opportunities for self publishing has led to an amazing renaissance in poetry and poetic expression, both digitally and on the page.

This is truly an exciting time for poets, and there are lots of new opportunities for poetic expression opening up. In this episode I talk to award winning author, poet, and founder and director of the Alliance of Independent Authors, Orna Ross about her work and the ways in which new and established poets can take advantage of the resources that are available.

This episode features a conversation with me about my book "The Centauri Survivors" which is published today, and explores some of the lessons any author can learn as publication day approaches. I'm the guest for this one and the questions are being asked by my friend Wendy H. Jones. In this episode we explore issues like: the biggest mistakes I made along the way, the difficult decisions I had to make in editing, and why every author, however experienced they are, gets nervous just before publication.

Writers are becoming more convinced of the need to use professionals to help them with their work, and one of the essential members of the team is the Development Editor. But what do Development Editors do and how can they add value? In this episode I talk to my development editor Amanda Rutter who worked with me on my book The Centauri Survivors. We explore how writers should approach this stage of the edit, and how to get the best out of the relationship with your Development Editor.