The Failing Writers Podcast

First things first. Our Big Flash Fiction Competition is Awaaaaaay!

And a special big ole THANK YOU to Scrivener for sponsoring it!

If you fancy 20% off their wonderful and frankly invaluable writing app, git yourself to https://www.literatureandlatte.com Pop in the code ‘failing’ and Bob’s yer nuncle!

So get cracking – and get yourself a free audiobook courtesy of the beautiful folk at https://libro.fm the ethical audiobook alternative, just for taking part!

Now…

Jon has been a big admirer of Benjamin Myers’s writing for a while now. So you can imagine he was pretty blummin thrilled when the opportunity to chat to him arose.

Of course, as usual, Jon played it very calm, cool and collected on meeting one of his literary heroes.

Didn’t he?

Presumably?

I mean, that’s what a professional would do.

Well… No. He didn’t. Not especially. No.

So come and hang out with Benjamin Myers with us. Get the skinny on the slog to get his writing career launched, how he tricks himself into writing an entire book and even the story of his punk band Sour Face’s first big gig… plus a whole ancient cathedral-full of other fascinating facts about this frankly brilliant writer.

And yes, Jon did write that bit. The big bum-suck.

Here’s a link to Ben’s website:

https://www.benjaminmyerswriter.com

And here’s a link to his amazing books:

https://uk.bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=benjamin+Myers

This week on our Hypewriter feature we have… another writer called Ben…

Ben Chase.

Hither be Ben Chase’s substack: https://ratracereleases.substack.com/ for all his writing bits n bobs,

and here’s Ben’s website for all things… you know… Ben Chase: https://benchasewrites.com/

Finally check out the excellent vocal athleticism of Ben Chase's Voice-Over friend, Dawn Falato here: https://dawnfalato.com

Great job! Thank you Dawn! x

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Ya know what they say. When one door closes another door opens.

And following the joyful culmination of our poetry competition

comes....

OUR MASSIVE ANNUAL £500 FLASH FICTION COMPETITION - Sponsored by

Scrivener!

Scrivener?

Yes, of course. The wonderful writing software Scrivener. 

Which you should quickly go and buy a copy of, before you do anything else, in order to make the writing of things easier, more intuitive and less brain-hurty.

It's an invaluable writing tool trusted by top writers for 20 odd years! (And also us two… but, you know… don't let that put you off - it's not Scrivener's fault, is it?!)

Well OK then.

Sure, why not? We'll let you use our special secret code and get 20% off...

Just go to: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/

and use the code: failing

No problem.

Now, where were we? Ah yes! Our big, annual, £500 flash fiction competition…

Which we're renaming The AMAZING writers flash fiction competition, in honour of our frankly magnificent listeners.

YOU. Yes! I'm talking about YOU!

If you're up for getting involved, which of course you are, just

go to https://www.failingwriterspodcast.com/flashentry

And don't forget to listen to this episode for all the

details including the special phrase you must include in your story!

Right about now, I'd like to give a big shout out to our star judge… David Gaffney!

Thank you David, for some great advice and a couple of beautiful little bits of short prose…

For all things Gaffney click here

And to buy David’s excellent short story collection, Concrete Fields, you’ll want to click here.

Finally... check out Tommy on the excellent Hellish podcast … here.

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It's time for us to reveal the winners in our rather spontanious poetry competition.

Huge thanks to Rowan McCabe for being head judge and helping us choose the winning poems. If you want to see him live on his new tour, check out https://rowanthepoet.com/home/upcoming-gigs/

Thanks to everyone who entered - and a MASSIVE thanks to our prize sponsors - in particular Libro.fm and WritersHQ. Please do check out their stuff.

Right, without further ado, get listening and find out who's won... 'cos no-one likes all that fake tension build up stuff do they??

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Fergus Craig. Not to be confused with Craig Ferguson. or Fraig Cergus... as sometimes happens... but not very often.

You may have seen Fergus on telly. This is because he is an actor. Who acts in things.

Or, perhaps you've seen him on your phone screen; a place where he likes to pop up from time to time. This is because he is also a comedian. Who does comedy. Mostly on people's phone screens.

Or, OR, maybe you've read his words on the page of a book. More than one page probably. This is because he is also an author.

So many hats.

which is ironic, because he is very rarely seen actually wearing a hat.

Fergus was a delight to chat to about all manner of writerly-type things. That is to say, I can't right at this minute remember the specifics, but I'll have a quick listen to remind myself and pop it all down here soon as I'm done.

So enjoy this little-itty-bitty-inbetweeny chitty-chat and we'll be back

Get Fergus’s new book here:

https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/fergus-craig/im-not-the-only-murderer-in-my-retirement-home/9781408734629/

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You know what it's like. You've just tapped the words "The End" into your laptop. You've only gone and bloody done it! You've written an actual book.

Congratulations. All that blood sweat and tears has paid off. You have pushed a great big 7 pounder out your imagination-hole.

Time to celebrate!

But hang on...

waaaait up just a teeny tiny moment...

Before you pop the cork on that 1998 Dom Perignon... there's something you need to do...

Yes. Friend.. you need to do some EDITING.

But what exactly does that entail?

Can you do it in a couple of hours, while simultaneously watching reruns of Friends?

Is it a quick bit o' spit and polish?

Well... perhaps... if you're a genius.

But for the rest of us... probably not.

So lets hear from an expert about what the best ways of breaking down the process are, in order to give us the best chance of succeeding.

Yes, we've got Sara Grant here. Writer of "The Ultimate Guide to Editing your Novel" and she's about to stuff your brain with her revolutionary approach to the entire process...

So cock your lugoles, and lets begin.

You can check out Sara here

Not only that but our Hypewriter this week features the fabulous Lucy Brazier.

Check out her What-nottery here

OK. Now go lie down.

You deserve it.

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Are you incredibly sad you missed out on seeing us live at the Alton Arts Festival? Well, don't worry! Here's the next best thing - a recording of that legendary night.

And even better, we've edited out all the boring bits - like the interval and Tommy's literary quiz. (Although that is available on the full video we've posted on YouTube, if you fancy)

Video of our live podcast with Claire Fuller

We had a lovely time with multi-award-winning author Claire Fuller, discussing her newest book, Hunger and Thirst, as well as discovery writing, character detail, coming up with titles, eavesdropping, writing awards, a whole load of other writingy things.

Claire's website

Then there was our live Hypewriter feature, starring the amazing Madelyn Postman. Check out her book, Staring Into The Sun, here!

Thanks to everyone who came, to the organisers of Alton Festival, and a HUGGGGGE thanks to Gary and the team at Goldfinch Books. They were the bestest hosts anyone could wish for. Goldfinch Books

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Should you quit your job to write?

Seems like an obvious answer to an obvious question.

(No! No is the correct answer!)

But hang on.

It's the dream isn't it?

Writing full time.

Quitting the day job and having time and energy to write the great novel you've thinking about for ages.

Well let's have a closer look at some writers who've done exactly that - and it ain't worked out too badly for 'em.

People like...

Children's author, Stuart Reid.

Thriller author, Jessica Payne.

and author of Bright I Burn - Molly Aitken, shortlisted for Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award.

All very different stories. All very fascinating and inspiring.

So come and find out what you need to do to become a full-time author.

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Welcome to our cheeky little bonus episode! The poetry competition has landed. 

What started off as a crazy little idea from Jon, has turned into a crazy BIG idea. 

We’ve got prizes (quite a few actually - huge thanks in particular to https://writershq.co.uk/ and https://libro.fm/)

We’ve got a judge (the amazing Rowan McCabe https://rowanthepoet.com/)

All we need now… are your poems!!!

Less than 250 words - FREE to enter - up to two entries per person. Any subject, any style. 

Send them to [email protected]

Good luck!!!

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It's been a while since we had a little poetry splurge. So to rectify that terrible neglect of our duty, Tom and I had a lovely natter with Hollie McNish. We meandered through where her love of poetry began, how it helps her assimilate ideas, writing essays, and the Olympic Breakfast at Little Chef, Chieveley Services. Oh... and we also discuss her brilliant new book, Virgin.

Buy it now... in fact, heck, buy all her books! ... right here

We also bring you our regular feature Hypewriter, where we celebrate one of our listener's glorious bits of work.

And what better to round off an episode about poetry, than a lovely, crisp little villanelle from Nichole Johnson.

Nichole's Insta: @nichole_johnson_poetry

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Writing competitions. Clearly they’re not all made the same.

Some are free, some are costly, some are actually impossible for mere mortals to enter due to their criteria.

The prizes vary too. From small cash prizes, to publishing deals.

Today, we’re asking the question… on the whole, if you’re serious about being a writer… are they actually worth it? Are they worth the money, the - let’s face it – likely disappointment, the effort and most importantly of all… the time?

And the biggest question of all - are there any quantifiable things you can do to help nudge your entry to the top of the pile?

We consider such things as:

Where’s the best place to send your piece? Maybe a competition isn’t the right destination? Maybe it’s a literary journal instead?

We get some top notch insider insight, from Bath Flash Fiction Award past winner and judge - Kathryn Aldridge-Morris to get the skinny on what works and what doesn’t. What will wow the judges, what will make them spit their tea out and what will make them slide you into their shortlist.

https://www.kamwords.com

Plus we hear from fabulous literary agent Joanna Swainson from Hardman & Swainson, for an agent’s eye-view.

https://www.hardmanswainson.com

Finally, the winner of a competition who we suspect is quite glad she entered DFB & Arvon Search for a Storyteller prize, because it won her a publishing deal with David Fickling Books – Miranda Moore.

I can personally recommend her excellent YA book, A Beautiful Terrible Thing.

Yes, devastating & emotional, but also joyful & redemptive.

https://www.mirandamooreauthor.com

And speaking of competitions… look out next week for our BRAND NEW POETRY COMPETITION!

We’re too good to you.  Seriously. We are.

Lovely episode art by Katie Rand.

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