This week, we're chatting to Cathy Hayward.

Cathy is busy. She runs an award-winning PR agency, bought a bookshop in Brighton on a whim, runs a 5 AM writing club, and manages a creative writing programme. Amongst all that she's just re-released her debut novel, 'The Girl in the Midnight Maze', and has just published her new novel, 'The Secret of the Brighton House'.

The novel is all about Jackie, who always thought her mother died in childbirth. However, when she's preparing for her own, much longed-for, child, she discovers a truth that will change everything. It explores trauma, history and psychosis, and you can hear how Cathy's own experience as a new mother inspired and influenced the story.

We discuss why she writes in dual timeline, and how she plans her space round that. Also, when characters develop tics, the mechanics of a plot twist, and how to go again after a rejected book.

Get a copy of the book at uk.bookshop.org/store/writersroutine

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Daniel Sellers is the bestselling author behind the 'Detective Lola Harris' series. Each involves a mysterious crime set across Scotland. The new one is 'Murder on Skye', which sees Lola track a potential murderous reality TV star out to the remote, windswept island.

It starts as Lola discovers the body of a woman pulled from the river. Instantly, she knows it's Kathryn Main, who has been missing for a while, and was on the juror which convicted reality star Carter Craig of a double murder. When his conviction was overturned, people started disappearing... Kathryn is the latest body to be found.

We discuss why readers have taken to Detective Lola Harris so well, and how he brings to life evocative locations around Scotland. You can hear why he has a tight schedule, how precise he is with word-count, and what he does to try and write THREE BOOKS A YEAR.

It took Daniel many. years to finally get published, and you can hear what, after years of rejection, he changed to finally get signed.

You can watch the episode fully visualised on the Writer's Routine YouTube channel.

This week's episode is sponsored by Faber Academy's 'Writing a Novel' course. Find out more - faberacademy.com/writing-a-novel

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Nayantara Roy is a TV executive for the channel Starz over in Los Angeles, and now a published author. Her debut is 'The Magnificent Ruins'. It tells the story of Lila, on the verge of a massive career breakthrough, only to inherit her grandfather's home in Kolkata. She returns to face a resentful family and an unresolved childhood.

We discuss learning from many sources and how she's grown from her debut. You can hear why with an office, she chooses to write in the sanctuary of the comfortable sofa, and how she remembers characters are thoughts and emotions, not just two-dimensional ideas.

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This show is sponsored by Faber Academy's 'Writing a Novel' course. Find out more about their January submissions - faberacademy.com/writing-a-novel

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This week, we're looking inside the writing routine of Niall Williams. He is an acclaimed Irish author whose evocative storytelling has captivated readers and audiences around the world. He loves to capture a sense of place

Born in Dublin in 1958, his writing is rooted in the rich cultural and literary traditions of Ireland. Niall studied English and French at University College Dublin before moving to New York City, where he worked in publishing and honed his craft. He moved back home to 'see if he had any talent'.

In addition to his fiction, Williams is a playwright and co-author of four non-fiction books on healing, written with his wife, Christine Breen. Together, they live in Kiltumper, County Clare, where they restored a 19th-century cottage and continue to draw inspiration from the natural world around them. Their love of gardening inspires his fiction... we find out how much, and what the balance between the two is.

Best known for novels like 'This is Happiness' and 'Four Letters of Live', Williams’s work often explores themes of love, loss, resilience, and the profound connections between people and place. Niall's writing has been shortlisted for prestigious awards, including the Man Booker Prize, and his works have been translated into numerous languages.

His newest novel is 'Time of the Child' - here's the blurb: Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in the village of Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and dying mean he has always been set apart from his community. A visit from the doctor is always a sign of bad things to come. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father’s shadow, and remains there. But in the advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Doctor Troy’s lives are turned upside down when an abandoned baby is left in their car. As Christmas approaches, a deep and abiding love for this secret visitor takes root in the doctor’s household. But it is Ireland in the 1960s, and under the eye of the church, and the gossip of the parish, what chance does the unmarried Ronnie have of holding on to this most unexpected gift?

We discuss how a busy home-life through the years has dictated how his writing routine has evolved. Also his search for the perfecf first sentence, and why he keeps returning to write 11 novels later... what is he searching for?

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This week, we chat to the historical fiction author and academic, Steven Veerapen. He's best known for his Anthony Blanke series, set in the Tudor period, about the son of a black trumpeter, John Blanke, who was a real figure in the court of King Henry VIII. There's 'Of Blood Descended' and 'Of Judgement Fallen', which are out in print and just released as audiobooks. He's also written 3 in the 'Simon Danforth' series, and a few about the playwright Christopher Marlowe as a spy.

We talk about the balance of writing academia and finding time for novels. Also about the morbid curiosity which gives him ideas, and why we all love the Tudors.

You can hear about his sparse writing environment, how he plans a busy year, and what Tudor fiction needs to have in it.

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Alex Pavesi spent a long time writing many debut novels. He would write a few thousands words, get struck by a brilliant new idea, get bored, stop writing and the cycle would continue. Finally, he landed upon a way of storytelling that allowed him to write a finished book. That became 'Eight Detectives', which was a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year and a smash-hit.

He's followed it up with 'Ink Ribbon Red'. It tells the story of a group of old friends who meet for an annual birthday weekend away, deep in the English countryside. One of them suggests a parlour game in which they write murder mystery stories about each other... what happens when murders really start happening. Will you be able to tell the real murder, from the ones they're writing? It's a brilliant way of telling stories within stories, and twisting the murder mystery genre even further.

We discuss how he landed on a writing routine that helped him finally get published, also how the success of the first novel changed what his second had to be, and why he's obsessed with pen and paper.

You can hear about accidentally becoming a full-time writer, about the balance of plot and character, and why he doesn't agree with a classic piece of writing advice.

If you'd like a copy of 'Ink Ribbon Red', please do take a look at our dedicated Writer's Routine bookstore at - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine

You can get a writing tip everyday through NaNoWriMo on our TikTok and Instagram page.

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Sarah Easter Collins is an all-round creative. Alongside being a painter, she's just published her debut, 'Things Don't Break on their Own'. It tells the story of Willa, whose life shattered into tiny pieces when her sister disappeared on the way to school, and she has never been able to put them back together again. Willa sees Laika everywhere: on buses, at parties, in busy streets. It’s been twenty-five years, and the only thing that has kept her going is her belief that her sister is alive, somewhere. But when a dinner party conversation about childhood memories spirals out of control, a shattering revelation from one of the guests forces Willa to rethink everything she thought she knew about her past.

It was inspired by many things - travelling around Africa and Thailand, teaching in the South West of England, the first dog in space, and also an obnoxious dinner party guest.

We discuss bringing those themes together, also the art of showing without telling, and how her painting inspires her writing... and vice versa.

You can hear how she knew the beats of a genreless novel, why she wakes up shockingly early, and how poetry helps her focus on prose.

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Louise Swanson is the pen-name of bestselling and award-winning author, Louise Beech. Louise has 8 novels out, a memoir, and has picked up all sorts of prizes for her work. She has written the play based on her debut novel, 'How to be Brave', which is currently touring the UK, and has written columns for local newspapers.

She's back with a Louise Swanson novel, called 'Light's Out'. Set in a strange version of the UK, where a state of emergency is declared and all electricity cuts out at 8pm every night. So, what happens when Grace, terrified of the dark, wakes up every morning after the cut-off, to find a different note from the same intruder - one, seemingly getting closer to something drastic?

We talk about getting to the end of a novel as a panster, and how perhaps she's been figuring out how it ends the whole time, but never realising that. Also you can hear how her work writing novels, plays and columns is a bit like riding a bike, and we discuss how one influences the other.

We chat about how she was improving in-between rejections, why she needs a news programme on whilst writing, and why her strict routine comes from working class guilt, perhaps.

You can watch this episode on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@writersroutine

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Gareth Rubin is back with one of the few Sherlock Holmes books officially authorised and certified by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle estate. It's called 'Holmes and Moriarty', and tells the story of two of fiction's greatest adversaries being forced to form an alliance, to face a threat bigger than anything that's gone before.

It's Gareth's 4th published novel, coming after 'Liberation Square', 'The Winter Agent', and 'The Turnglass'. They're high-concept historical thrillers that twist the way stories are told.

We talk about the pressure of writing a Holmes story, and how concerned he was with getting the small details correct. You can hear how he went about planning the clues, the tricks and the mystery, and why he has to escape to somewhere incredibly dull to write.

Also we discuss how, surprisingly, for a published author... Gareth doesn't enjoy writing. He likes being published... but not the act of getting words down.

It's your last chance to get 10% off Writer's Rising 2024, one of the biggest writing retreats of the year. Use the code 'wr10' at writersrising.com.

Support your local independent bookshop, and get a copy of Gareth's book in the dedicated Writer's Routine shop at Bookshop.org - https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine

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Molly Green writes wartime novels that celebrate the women who stayed home and served their country. Her new novel is 'Courage for the Cabinet Girl'. Set in 19412, with Britain in the throes of the Second World War, it's about Katharina Valentine who feels sidelined. Employed as a shorthand-typist in the War Office, she is transferred to the basement below – home of the top-secret Cabinet War Rooms. Unexpected staff shortages present an opportunity to work directly for Winston Churchill himself, and Katie jumps at the chance. 

We talk about her working writing under 3 different names, why a job she had 40 years ago still makes her start early, and why she gets angry when people think she's wrong.

To save money on one of the biggest writing retreats of the year, head to writersrising.com and use the code 'wr10'.

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