We'd Like A Word

Audiobooks (Part 3) with Caroline Lennon, Patrick Moy & Natalie Chisholm:  Caroline (who played Siobhan Hathaway in The Archers on BBC Radio 4), Patrick and Natalie, all audiobook narrators and actors (and in Natalie's case a producer too), reveal to We’d Like A Word presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan the secrets of audiobook narration and how they make your writing sound good. Part 3 is all Caroline. She is famous for playing the scarlet-haired temptress Siobhan Hathaway who has an affair with Brian Aldridge in The Archers on BBC Radio 4, so she takes questions from our audience on what happened on set and why she left. She also talks about the 350+ unabridged audiobooks she has narrated. 350! They include books by Brian McGilloway, Hannah Kent, Jane Casey, Maeve Binchy, Anne Enright, Peter Tremayne, Graham Masterton, Hannah Hauxwell and many many more. Caroline tells us about the only author who should be allowed to narrate their own books (only one), how she does it herself, discusses political extremes and representation. In the other episodes we hear from Patrick Moy (aka Patrick Doddy) who has narrated about 50 unabridged audiobooks, including Blackwatertown by Paul Waters (hurrah!), and books by Hilary Mantel, Catherine Doyle, Fintan O'Toole, Paul Murray, JP Donleavy, Helen Cullen, Eoin Colfer, Ian Cobain, Edward Rutherfurd, John Chambers, Jim Hutton and Tim Wapshott. Plus stories of Freddie Mercury backstage and theatrical disasters.  Natalie Chisholm, aka Redhead Voiceover, narrates classic short stories by Elizabeth Gaskell, Clara Venn and Oscar Wilde for B7 Media. She also has her own home studio for proper "punch and roll" recording - helped by her BBC presenting and producing background.  We also bring in authors Barbara Copperthwaite, Sue Jones, Joanne Frost Johnson, Monica Ali, Hallie Rubenhold and actors David Tennant, Rula Lenska and Andrew Scott.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from authors Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, editors, agents, celebrities, talkers, poets, publishers, booksellers, audiobook creators about books - fiction and non-fiction. We go out on various radio and podcast platforms. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our guests.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes, we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear from you - your questions, thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books. . .

Editing books (Part 1) with Russel D McLean & Linda Nagle:  Russel and Linda, both editors, both writers, reveal to We’d Like A Word presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan the secrets of book editing and how they make your writing better. (Warning - includes lots of swearing.) Russel is the Scottish noir author of Ed's Dead (fast, funny and deadly) and the J McNee series. A Dundonian reader once commented on one of his books: "I've read that book. It was so awful I had to burn it!" (PW adds: I also read it. It was awfully good.) Linda is a screen writer and author of work published in Tales of the Female perspective (Chinbeard Books); Paladins (Near to the Knuckle); 6 x 6 x 6 (Ice Pick Books), Within Darkness and Light (Nothing Books), The Black Room Manuscripts, Vol. 3 (The Sinister Horror Company) and her own anthology – Stranger Companies.  We talk about what structural and copy editors actually do, how they deal with rubbish writers who think they're prefect, how they dish out constructive criticism and why you should probably not write a sex scene and definitely never describe someone as having a "nonchalant nose". Other lessons - surprise does not equal tension (see The Sixth Sense), holding back tears is better than weeping, plot = character, abduction is better than murder (Denise Mina), simpler = more profound (says Hemmingway), "show, don't tell" does not mean referencing raised eyebrows in every third paragraph. We also bring in Jericho Writers, Harry Bingham, Duncan Bradshaw, Philip K Dick on hidden meanings, Splatter Punk, the Dystopian States of America, Beer and Book zoom talks with the Craft beer Shop in Little Chalfont, hermaneutics, Haverill House, Theakston's Old Peculier, Stephen King, JK Rowling, Chain by Adrian McKinty, Dreyer's English, Jake Thackray, James Ellroy, Frederick Forsyth, Lawrence Block, Jack Reacher's kidney stones (surely he must have some?), Alan Guthrie, Gerard Brennan, Blasted Heath, Five Leaves bookshop, Severn House, and... why "jock" is the rudest word of all. Phew! That's loads.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from authors Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out on various radio platforms and occasional Wednesdays on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes, we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books. . .

Editing books (Part 2) with Russel D McLean & Linda Nagle:  Russel and Linda, both editors, both writers, reveal to We’d Like A Word presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan the secrets of book editing and how they make your writing better. (Warning - includes lots of swearing.) Russel is the Scottish noir author of Ed's Dead (fast, funny and deadly) and the J McNee series. A Dundonian reader once commented on one of his books: "I've read that book. It was so awful I had to burn it!" (PW adds: I also read it. It was awfully good.) Linda is a screen writer and author of work published in Tales of the Female perspective (Chinbeard Books); Paladins (Near to the Knuckle); 6 x 6 x 6 (Ice Pick Books), Within Darkness and Light (Nothing Books), The Black Room Manuscripts, Vol. 3 (The Sinister Horror Company) and her own anthology – Stranger Companies.  We talk about what structural and copy editors actually do, how they deal with rubbish writers who think they're prefect, how they dish out constructive criticism and why you should probably not write a sex scene and definitely never describe someone as having a "nonchalant nose". Other lessons - surprise does not equal tension (see The Sixth Sense), holding back tears is better than weeping, plot = character, abduction is better than murder (Denise Mina), simpler = more profound (says Hemmingway), "show, don't tell" does not mean referencing raised eyebrows in every third paragraph. We also bring in Jericho Writers, Harry Bingham, Duncan Bradshaw, Philip K Dick on hidden meanings, Splatter Punk, the Dystopian States of America, Beer and Book zoom talks with the Craft beer Shop in Little Chalfont, hermaneutics, Haverill House, Theakston's Old Peculier, Stephen King, JK Rowling, Chain by Adrian McKinty, Dreyer's English, Jake Thackray, James Ellroy, Frederick Forsyth, Lawrence Block, Jack Reacher's kidney stones (surely he must have some?), Alan Guthrie, Gerard Brennan, Blasted Heath, Five Leaves bookshop, Severn House, and... why "jock" is the rudest word of all. Phew! That's loads.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from authors Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out on various radio platforms and occasional Wednesdays on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes, we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books. . .

Editing books (Part 3) with Russel D McLean & Linda Nagle:  Russel and Linda, both editors, both writers, reveal to We’d Like A Word presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan the secrets of book editing and how they make your writing better. (Warning - includes lots of swearing.) Russel is the Scottish noir author of Ed's Dead (fast, funny and deadly) and the J McNee series. A Dundonian reader once commented on one of his books: "I've read that book. It was so awful I had to burn it!" (PW adds: I also read it. It was awfully good.) Linda is a screen writer and author of work published in Tales of the Female perspective (Chinbeard Books); Paladins (Near to the Knuckle); 6 x 6 x 6 (Ice Pick Books), Within Darkness and Light (Nothing Books), The Black Room Manuscripts, Vol. 3 (The Sinister Horror Company) and her own anthology – Stranger Companies.  We talk about what structural and copy editors actually do, how they deal with rubbish writers who think they're prefect, how they dish out constructive criticism and why you should probably not write a sex scene and definitely never describe someone as having a "nonchalant nose". Other lessons - surprise does not equal tension (see The Sixth Sense), holding back tears is better than weeping, plot = character, abduction is better than murder (Denise Mina), simpler = more profound (says Hemmingway), "show, don't tell" does not mean referencing raised eyebrows in every third paragraph. We also bring in Jericho Writers, Harry Bingham, Duncan Bradshaw, Philip K Dick on hidden meanings, Splatter Punk, the Dystopian States of America, Beer and Book zoom talks with the Craft beer Shop in Little Chalfont, hermaneutics, Haverill House, Theakston's Old Peculier, Stephen King, JK Rowling, Chain by Adrian McKinty, Dreyer's English, Jake Thackray, James Ellroy, Frederick Forsyth, Lawrence Block, Jack Reacher's kidney stones (surely he must have some?), Alan Guthrie, Gerard Brennan, Blasted Heath, Five Leaves bookshop, Severn House, and... why "jock" is the rudest word of all. Phew! That's loads.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from authors Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out on various radio platforms and occasional Wednesdays on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes, we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books. . .