Words Are Hard Podcast

There are two things you need to know about this episode. One, that it’s completely, 100% off-topic, containing absolutely no writing advice whatsoever. Two, that it’s probably (okay, definitely) NSFW. Welcome to Words Are Hard: After Dark! In these special episodes, we’ll be taking a more relaxed approach than usual,… Continue reading

Love is in the air! Or, more accurately, we decided we’d better make at least a small concession to the fact that February is the month of Valentine’s Day. This episode, then, is all about writing romance. As we’re a podcast full of fantasy writers, we focus primarily on how… Continue reading

With the recent release of John Wick 2, we go back to the first film for an in-depth review and story chat. We cover plot, characterisation, symbolism and more in this discussion, proving that even action films – all too easily dismissed as being shallow – can have more depth… Continue reading

A new year is a great time for a new start, and fulfilling a few resolutions. If your plan in 2017 is to write a novel for the very first time, this is the episode for you! This one is particularly intended for anyone who wants to write, but has… Continue reading

What do you do to make your characters feel more real? How, as a writer, can you get into the head of a person who’s never existed anywhere but your head? What happens if the emotions your character needs to feel are a long way from what you as a… Continue reading

That title is self-explanatory, right? It’s time for another of our Q&A episodes, and this is the first we’ve managed to do with all four hosts! We also have, appropriately for the season, a festive theme, in which we find out that most of our hosts are… well, not very… Continue reading

It’s time to return to Anchorhead! In this episode, three of our hosts return to the Lovecraftian town of Anchorhead, to continue our investigations into this mysterious place, and the rather creepy house we now find ourselves in. It’s fair to say we’ve finally got the hang of navigating this… Continue reading

Somehow, November has come and gone, bringing with it this year’s NaNoWriMo. Two of our hosts were taking part and two weren’t, so in this episode we discuss what we’ve all been working on, both for NaNo and outside it. We chat about the plots and characters of our specific… Continue reading

Death is missing – presumed . . . er . . . gone. Which leads to the kind of chaos you always get when an important public service is withdrawn. Meanwhile, on a little farm far, far away, a tall dark stranger is turning out to be really good with… Continue reading

Continuing in the spirit of Halloween, today we delve into the Lovecraftian world of Anchorhead. Join us as we tackle this eerie text-based adventure game, discovering the secrets of a rain-soaked New England town as we break into buildings, get lost up dead-end streets, and find that there are apparently… Continue reading