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Write Through The Roof | For writers who want to improve their writing
By Madeleine D'Este | interviewing writers and authors about their writing craftSociety & CultureEducationArtsBooks
Write Through The Roof | For writers who want to improve their writing episodes
- #46 – Peter McLean – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 46 with Peter McLean – urban & grimdark fantasy author“Grimdark doesn’t work like that. If your leg gets cut off, you’re going to get gangrene.”
Episode 46 – Peter McLean – Show Notes- Writing binges. Plotter and pantser
- Strong black coffee and whiskey
- Thriller writer at heart but in the fantasy genre
- Aftermath of war, Peaky Blinders, retired service people as sensitive readers
- Defining “grim dark” – consequences and more in line with reality
- Reading and writing
- First novel published was the fourth novel completed
- Ed McDonald, Sarah Pinborough, Crab- cakes and Courtesans – republican Athenian social history, Anna Smith Spark, Joe Abercrombie, George RR Martin, Stephen King, Tanith Lee
- Exploring different POVs
- Writing urban fantasy but reading swords and horses fantasy
- Priest of Bones inspired by a gangster character in a Joe Abercrombie novel and Peaky Blinders
- The explanation behind the name Talonwraith
“I am one of the most undisciplined writers you’ll ever meet.”
“Just years and years of practice. I don’t think there are any shortcuts.”
Links- Talonwraith
- Goodreads
- Twitter
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29 min - #45 – Elizabeth Spann Craig – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 45 with Elizabeth Spann Craig – cosy mystery writer & writing tip gatherer“Don’t discount the elderly.”
Episode 45 – Elizabeth Spann Craig – Show Notes- Started off as a pantser
- Understanding your genre’s patterns
- Muscle memory after 26 books
- Old fashioned puzzle mysteries – escape for the reader
- Key theme – don’t discount the elderly
- Set the bar the low
- Twitterific Writing tips
- Doubling down on production and reading more
- Agatha Christie, MC Beaton, Anthony Horowitz
- A reader’s suggestion inspired Cleaning is Murder
- Traditional and independent publishing – getting rights back
“Set the bar low.”
Links- Elizabeth Spann Craig
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27 min - #44 – Charles Christian – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 44 with Charles Christian – award-winning journalist, podcaster & author
“People get carried with their gadgets… and forget about the human element.”
Episode 44 – Charles Christian – Show Notes- Novella length is favourite length. Better for ebooks and easier to consume.
- Writing every day and learned discipline from career as a freelance journalist
- ‘All written out’ by freelance journalism
- Green tea, dark chocolate, chips and baked beans
- Exploring how one event can change the entire direction of life – JB Priestly
- Stop doing courses and start writing your own stories
- Stick to the brief, meet the deadline & work count – who, why, what, where, how
- Asking the question – is this project fun to write?
- Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, MR James, David Sedaris, Richard Brautigan
- Genre fiction tips: less about the gadgets, more about the characters
“Get on with it and be business-like about it.”
“If I can’t be bothered reading it, I can’t expect the reader to.”
Links- Urban Fantasist
- Charles Christian on Twitter
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40 min - #43 – Trevor Young – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 43 with Trevor Young – PR and marketing specialist
“If you’ve got a blog you’ve got a digital heartbeat. You’re not on rented land.”
Episode 43 – Trevor Young – Show Notes- Books are more permanent but blogging helps develop a writer’s conversational personal style
- Writing in focussed short sharp bursts; doing less but doing more
- Fiction at night with beer and non-fiction in the morning with coffee
- Joining the dots, identifying a trend and developing a philosophy
- Tips on writing 1300 characters micro-stories – start with one tight idea
- Writing Melbourne Noir. Inspired by childhood reading of Ed McBain and Ian Fleming
- With non-fiction you need to know your market but with fiction you can write what you want to read
- Creating an alter-ego for fiction writing
- Seth Godin, Dorie Clark
- Micro Domination and the changing nature of blogs
- New book coming in October 2018 – Content Marketing for PR
“Getting more done by doing a little bit every day.”
“Edit your way to greatness.”
Links- Digital Citizen
- Trevor Young
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35 min - #42 – Valerie Stivers – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 42 with Valerie Stivers – writer, editor & journalist“The spirit of the book comes alive when you’re cooking from it.”
Episode 42 – Valerie Stivers – Show Notes- Personal non-fiction is the favourite or novels if the words are flowing
- The Muse has to know where to find you
- Afternoon tea and scones
- Connections between people – both non-fiction and fiction
- Training in an old-school newsroom – learning to write concise & communicative copy
- Time pressure of modern newsroom – erosion of standards in journalism
- Cooking along with writing
- “Outrun your inner critic” – from Pat Barker
- Food styling – the skill of the photographer
- Ivan Doig, George RR Martin
- Eat Your Words – The Paris Review Daily
“I want to show other people what’s inside my head.”
“Those years I spent getting yelled at by old newspaper guys were priceless.”
Links- Eat Your Words at The Paris Review
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29 min - #41 – Nin Harris – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 41 with Nin Harris – author, poet & Gothic scholar“I really love to dig into the guts of a novel to see how it works.”
Episode 41 – Nin Harris – Show Notes
- Inspired to write short stories by Angela Carter
- Both a plotter and a pantser
- Water or rooibos tea
- SFF and gothic but writing about the human experience
- Identity, memory and difficult connections between people
- Gothic in space
- Reading carefully – go outside your fishbowl
- Throwing books across the room – like a book poltergeist
- Beat sheets: major beats and minor beats; cause and effect
- Frances Hardinge, Graham Joyce
- Different writing depending on mood. Academic v fiction writing
“The first draft does have a bit of vomit in it.”
“For me, space is very gothic.”
Links
- Nin Harris
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22 min - #40 – Kira Leigh – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 40 with Kira Leigh– content marketer, artist, tech & games writer“I’m a nerd so I just think of it as role-playing as another person.”
Episode 40 – Kira Leigh – Show Notes- Prefers long-form articles because ideas are so big
- Playlists and peanut butter sandwiches
- Anger
- Nabokov
- Trying YouTube
- A disappointing career in tech turned into a successful writing career
- Describes current career as ‘Tech creative’
- The Russian Masters and random bloggers on Tumblr and reddit
- Use of online comments to build characters
- Writing reviews for anime
- Reaching people is the intent of writing
- Writing for LinkedIn
“If I feel like I’m stale, I go read Nabokov.”
“A typo is like a palette knife mark in someone’s story.”
“LinkedIn is the place to be for content writers and even artists.”
Links- Kira on LinkedIn
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26 min - #39 – Alexandra Sokoloff – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 39 with Alexandra Sokoloff – thriller author & screenwriter“You are directing a movie onto the page.”
Episode 39 – Alexandra Sokoloff – Show Notes- Good and evil and what good people can do
- Screenwriters have to be plotters. Journey from impro to screenwriting
- Milk
- Exploration of violence against women using a female serial killer
- Using screenwriting techniques to become better authors
- Multi-task while appearing to have a social life
- Taking your favourite movies and working out what the classic movies are doing: Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Casablanca, When Harry Met Sally, The Hunger Games, The Wizard of Oz
- Editors want a movie in their head
- Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, Denise Mina, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mo Hayder, Tana French, Val McDermid
- Huntress/FBI series – to be read in order – like a binge watch TV experience
- Hunger Moon is an unhappy read for Trump supporters
“If you’re going to talk about good and evil, you need to talk about people and what people do.”
“I do this with a total agenda of changing rape culture.”
Links- Alexandra Sokoloff
- Huntress FBI series on sale
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25 min - #38 – Gail Carriger – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 38 with Gail Carriger – comedy of manners paranormal romance author“The strength of the romance genre lies in the Heroine’s Journey.”
Episode 38 – Gail Carriger – Show Notes- A militant plotter and a purger
- 2000 words per day and only re-read words written the day before
- Novellas in the independent publishing world
- Chronic tea drinker – import from England
- Gentle, frivolous, strong female friendships and the help of others
- The Heroine’s Journey
- Give yourself permission to suck
- Beta readers with different coloured pens and revision pass for funny
- Scrivener
- Moving back into YA high fantasy
- Tamora Pierce, Mercedes Lackey
- Queer characters and power of normalisation
- Competence: with queer main character.
- Shared world of characters but stories are stand-alone
“No one but you has to read your first draft.”
“My goal is at least three LOLs per page.”
Links- Gail Carriger
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31 min - #37 – Emma Viskic – Write Through The Roof
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 37 with Emma Viskic – award-winning crime author“I kept one word from the story. It was Commodore.”
Episode 37 – Emma Viskic – Show Notes- Plantser, vomit and polish
- Writing at the extreme ends of the day
- Belonging, communication and loss, deaf and indigenous characters. Exploration of themes throughout a series
- Training wheels novels
- Taking the first sentence from a novel chapter to build a short story
- Short stories teach how to cut words, cut characters and have a clean line throughout
- The difficulty of a crime short story
- A 10 month unfinished vomit draft
- Each book is written in a different way with different pressures; first book, second book and third book
- Hilary Mantel, Peter Temple, JM Green
- And Fire Came Down – scars and fire season
“Sending them to the farm to play with the other words.”
“There’s vomit and there’s polish. It’s a mess.”
Links- Emma Viskic
- Emma on Twitter
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28 min