Writer's Routine

Amy Neff's new novel is 'The Days I Loved You Most'. It's taken 10 years to get to shelves. Amy has spent 10 years refining the story, sending it to publishers, even hiring her own editor to help get it into shape. We discuss how she stayed positive through that time and learned to deal with rejection.

It tells the story of Joseph and Evelyn, once childhood friends now, 60 years later, married with children. One summer, they reveal the staggering news that Evelyn has received a life-ending diagnosis, and as Joseph cannot bare to live without her, they will both take their own lives. It looks at memories of lives, how decisions impact families, and how they face the prospect of making their plan reality.

You can hear how the story is inspired by a long family tradition, what she starts off with, and how the story developed over 10 years.

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Julietta Henderson's debut novel, 'The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman', was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and sold around the world.

Her second is, 'How to Get a Life'. It tells the story of Danny Mulberry, a man who could do better... better at life, better at being an adult... generally better than everything. When a photo of him accidentally ends up in the papers, people across the country start to think he is actually a man with all the answers... and suddenly Danny becomes the guru who can solve everything.

We talk about the north star for this story, and how Julietta pulled everything together whilst writing scattered scenes. Also, how she realised that writing won't get any easier, and whether that knowledge is comfort to her or not.

You can hear how much she has learned about how she works best, what she does to get in the writing zone, and whether you really feel improvement when you're trying so hard to get better.

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Shaun Bythell runs 'The Bookshop' in Wigtown, it's Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop, and is now incredibly popular. 

Back in 2017, Shaun published, 'The Diary of a Bookseller', a book filled with his daily experiences running the store. People fell in love with his wry musings, the life of a bookseller, and it became a Sunday Times bestseller. He's followed it up with 'Confessions of a Bookseller', and 'Remainders of the Day', in the 'Bookseller Series'.

We talk about why everyone finds the life of a bookseller appealing and whether that's really what it's like. You can hear how a diary becomes published, how an editor works on it, and whether having them published has changed how he writes a diary. 

This was recorded back in 2022, I have no clue why it's taken so long to be released. Sorry Shaun, and I hope you enjoy the episode!

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Jonny Sweet won the 'Best Newcomer' Prize at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, created a sketch group with 'The Inbetweeners' Simon Bird and Joe Thomas, and appeared in many TV Comedies, including 'Chickens' and 'Him and Her'. He wrote the movie 'Wicked Little Letters' starring Olivia Colman, which was released this year.

He has also just published one of the most acclaimed novels of the year. 'The Kellerby Code' tells the story of Edward, living in a world he can't afford and to which he doesn't belong. Getting by doing odd jobs for friends, he falls in love with one of them, and after a little act of kindness in the group takes a sinister turn, it unleashes the unspeakable brutality at Edward's core.

We talk about why he's been lying to people about the plot, and how the writing process changes depending on what he's working on. You can hear how much he thinks like a director when writing, and why he prefers not to hear himself think.

This novel has been highly recommended by some of the best authors around, and we discuss how he deals with such praise.

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Our special guest this week is Kate Storey. Under the name Lisa Timoney, she's published 3 books, 'Her Daughter's Secret', 'Her Mother's Lies' and 'His Secret Wife'... but a change of genre means a change of name.

Kate's back with book club fiction now, and has published, 'The Memory Library'. It's all about Sally Harrison, who has been building a library for 43 years. Every year she adds a new book to it, dedicated to her estranged daughter Ella who has fled to Australia... however, when disaster strikes, Ella must return home and fix their relationship. It's an ex-English teacher's dream novel, a book about books!

We discuss outlining, how much she knows what she's doing, without trying to limit the places her characters could take her. Also, we chat through how how she has learned as an author, and what she wants to change about the way she works.

You can hear why she finds pictures online to inspire her characters, what it's like to work with an editor, and how far the finished book is from her very first idea.

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After writing around 7 books and getting many rejections or near-misses, Alina Khawaja finally has a published novel. It's called 'Maya's Laws of Love', and tells the story of Maya on her way to Pakistan for an arranged marriage she hopes will end with love. Only, after a disastrous journey, she begins to wonder if Mr. Right might actually be someone else she meets along the way.

Alina is well read and decorated, with a degree in English, History and Creative Writing, and a Masters in Literatures of Modernity, and all the time whilst studying, she's been writing. She's been carrying on in the face of rejections, reading to get better, and cracking out stories. You can hear how she dealt with rejections and near-misses, and why she thinks this novel finally got her published. Also, at a time when self-publishing has never been easier or more successful, we talk about why Alina was desperate to follow the traditional route.

You can hear about her outlining process and whether that's likely to change, also why she tries to avoid tangents, and how she's trying to make her work stand out in busy bookshelves.

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Samuel Burr has worked as a TV executive, creating shows like 'The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds', 'Eight Go Rallying', and 'The Secret Life of Cleaners'. Many years ago he worked on a documentary in a retirement home, now it's given him the basis for his debut novel.

'The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers' looks at Clayton Sumper, an enigma who was abandoned at birth on the steps of the puzzlemakers, ending up being raised by some of the sharpest minds in the country. The hope is that he's learned from them, as to discover the secrets of who he is and who he can be, he needs to crack one last puzzle.

We talk about the details of writing such a tricksy book, matching chapter names to crossword answers, and how getting deep into those details impacted his ability to be creative. You can hear why he works towards a final sentence, also why he uses the pomodoro technique, and how he gets ideas by spying on strangers.

We discuss his time at the Faber Academy, how working in TV has influenced his storytelling in novels, and you can hear about the business of writing - what does an advance mean? What happens if you get a big deal? How do you get paid?

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Caz Frear was launched to debut success after winning the 'Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller' competition. Her novel, 'Sweet Little Lies', won the prize and found the bestselling status they searched for. What happens next? How do you follow up on debut success?

Caz discusses how she dealt with that writing her 2nd and 3rd novels, and why she's constantly looking to make her day better and improve how she works. We talk about the tech problems she attempts to deal with, how the process has changed after being a number of books down, and how she deals with the pressures of being an author that needs to do everything.

Her new novel is 'Five Bad Deeds', which tells the story of Ellen Walsh, a teacher, mother, wife, and all round good citizen, who discovers she has done something incredibly bad... but has no idea what.

You can hear about why she's changed her work-day to go easy on herself, how he stays creative while doing the admin, and how she's changed her mindset of working.

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Chioma Okereke's writing career started as a performance poet, even though she was terrified of performing poetry. From there she wrote short fiction, and was a highly placed runner up in the Costa Short Story Award, for 'Trompette de la Mort'. Her move into long-form began with her debut 'Bitter Leaf', which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize.

Her new novel is 'Water Baby', which looks at a 19 year old woman trying to escape her community in Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. It explores the themes of education, digitalisation, and the representation of Africa. Her research for the novel prompted her to start a charity, 'Makoko Pearls', which is a direct and safe way to financially support the community.

We discuss why it was inspired by her wandering thoughts during a cooking show, also how she researched the location, which is so vital to the plot, without going there for a while. You can hear why living around the world has influenced her reason to write stories, how changing her plotting method has helped her 2nd novel, and find out why you can accept that some days are simply bad.

You can hear why her desk is always messy, how performing poetry affected how she viewed novels, and what she does when facing a creative block.

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Paul Carlucci has published 3 short story collections and works as a copywriter, making other peoples work read better. He's just released one of the most hotly anticipated debuts of the year, it's called 'The Voyageur'.

It tells the story of Alex, a motherless stockboy in 19th century Montreal, who is taken in by Serge, a drunken fur trader. After heading out on an expedition into the wilderness which goes awry, Alex must fend for himself at the mercy of stranger men, and a seemingly brilliant saviour in Dr Beaumount.

We talk about the novel being inspired by real life, and how he blended fact with fiction. Also, you can hear about the switch from short stories to long form, and what he's learned from a day-job in copywriting.

We chat through learning grammar and how that affects creative storytelling, and how much he worries about the formalities of writing when getting down prose. You can hear about his particular blend of plotting and pantsing, and why this project would be lost without his current publisher.

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