Peter James has sold over 20 million books, publishing across 37 languages. Many of them star DS Roy Grace, who is back in the new one 'Find Them Dead'. We talk about how Peter's writing routine and style has changed through the years, and what he now needs to know before he starts work.

You can hear how he charts the flow and beats of the story before he starts writing, and how ruthless editing helps him keep things tight, and keep the listener wanting more. 'Find Them Dead' sees Roy Grace on secondment with the Met Police, confronting a wave of drug gang violence and county lines crimes, and Peter tells us about the very first idea he got for the story, and how he expanded it before getting started.

Peter has some brilliant tips and advice for writers, and has pulled them together on his website peterjames.com, where he runs a great YouTube channel, so is the perfect guest for this show.

If you like what you hear, and want to help us out, please support us over at patreon.com/writersroutine.

WARNING - a couple of fruity words in here, so don't listen with kids.

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Chris Whittaker seems like one of the busiest people in the world. He works as a City Trader, volunteers at his local library, is renovating a house, looking after his family, and has had the time to write his 3rd crime thriller. 'We Begin at the End' is Duchess Radley, out for revenge against the murderer who killed her Aunt. It's American Noir. We talk about what that is, and how he does justice to such an evocative genre with words on a page.

We also chat about why he devotes such attention to character, how they spawn the plot, and why he needs the help of a good editor. It follows up on the success of 'All the Wicked Girls' and his debut, 'Tall Oaks, which won the 'New Blood Dagger' Award. You can hear how the prize has changed the way he writes, and why he wants to put as much detail into the story as possible.

There is a little bit of a tech issue in the recording, please do push on through, Chris has some fantastic tips.

YOUR BOOK CAN SPONSOR THE SHOW - find out more at patreon.com/writersroutine.

Also, please leave a review on Apple, if you can.

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Here's something brand new! A kind of bonus, hopefully semi-regular thing!

This is the first Writer's Routine Roundtable, where we get authors together to chat about how they do what they do. How they plan, plot and then publish.

In this episode, we have 3 fantastic crime authors, who all used to work for the Police... they say write what you know.

Merilyn Davies published her first 'Carla Brown and Nell Jackson' thriller last year, called 'When I Lost You'. The sequel 'If I Fall' is out next year. She used to be a crime analyst, and now works as a Councillor in Oxfordshire as well as writing. Find out more about her here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Lost-You-Merilyn-Davies/dp/1787461556

Rebecca Bradley has published many books across the 'DI Hannah Robbins' series, and standalone ones too. Her new book is 'A Deeper Song'. She used to work as a Police Detective, and now has writing 'murder down to a tea' - https://www.rebeccabradleycrime.com/

Neil Lancaster told us his writing routine earlier on in the year. He's published 2 'Tom Novak' thrillers, there's a third being released soon, and he's got another series in the works too. He worked in the Met Police before moving to the Scottish Highlands to write - https://neillancastercrime.co.uk/

We discuss how much editing defines what a story is, and how editors often get it write... but also what hill authors are willing to die on with their story. You can hear about how they have initial ideas and begin to plot them, and how they plan a series of stories around 1 character.

Please do support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine, follow us on Twitter, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

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Rachel Abbott is one of the best-selling Kindle novelists in history. Her debut 'Only the Innocent' became a number 1 bestseller on Kindle, since then she's published 11 books, sold over 4 million copies and been translated into 21 languages.

We talk about what changed when she got 'properly' published after that, and how an editor made her see her work in a different way. We chat about why she focuses mainly on writing psychological thrillers, and how her storytelling process has changed through 11 novels. You can hear about the business plan that she made to make sure her first books were noticed, sold and read.

Her new novel is 'The Murder Game', all about a group of friends who meet in Cornwall, where a murder mystery game becomes a bit too realistic. We chat about the colour-coded cards and images that she relies on to write books too.

ALSO, this episode is sponsored by 'Agatha', by Anne Cathrine Bomann, which tells the story of a psychiatrist in 1940's France who is on the verge of retirement, when one of his final clients changes his life forever. It's a joyous tale of loneliness, making huge noise across the world, and has been called a 'literary phenomenon'. You can find out more about it - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Agatha-Anne-Cathrine-Bomann/dp/1529361370

If you'd like your book to sponsor the show, get involved here - patreon.com/writersroutine

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Anthony McGowan is a highly acclaimed, multi-award winning author of novels and children's stories. He's written across almost everything, adult thrillers, YA books, children's fiction, even philosophy books for dogs.

His new novel is 'Lark', it's part of 'The Truth of Things' series, which is a trilogy that has ended up being four books. They're all short novellas, written for reluctant readers, telling the story of hardship and love growing up in a forgotten town in northern England. We talk about why he wanted to write the book, and how for him this was a slight change of style - writing about place over plot.

We hear about the first book he tried to get published, why it didn't quite work, and how he changed it to finally get it out there. You can also hear about his cluttered desk, how he gives himself space to come up with ideas, and why he gets to the British Library nice and early.

ALSO, there's a brand new idea in there if you want YOUR book to SPONSOR this PODCAST! Find out more at patreon.com/writersroutine

And leave us an Apple review if you fancy x

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David Baldacci has storytelling in his bones. He's published books across all types of genre, thriller, mystery, fantasy, crime, even kids books too. He's written well over 40 novels, and plans his year of writing fairly thoroughly in order to publish 2 new books a year. He has a huge array of characters to choose between, and we learn about how he decides which one he'll write about next.

His new one is 'Walk the Wire', about Amos Decker, 'The Memory Man', who is sent to the North Dakotan badlands, where he covers a religious sect based around a strange, unused military base. We chat about how he got the idea from a process of constantly consuming new media, and being on the lookout for new ideas and information every day.

We also talk about how much he knows about the story before he sits down to write, and what happens when it all goes wrong, his ideas are coming up short, but he has a book he has to deliver. David used to work as a lawyer, and we delve into how much that affected the way he started work as a writer, and how his career has moved on from there.

Please do support as at patreon.com/writersroutine, and leave a review for the show on Apple Podcasts.

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James Swallow is one of those writers who has stories burning inside him, itching to get out. He has written anything and everything. James writes sci-fi, fantasy, TV tie-ins, video games, audio dramas, and his new one is a spy thriller, 'Rogue'. It's about Marc Dane, an MI6 worker who usually spends time behind a desk and screen, but is thrown out into the field. We talk about how it's a pay-off for many readers who have stuck by the series from the start. Also we chat about how he first had the idea, and what it's like to switch between genre so frequently.

We talk about the perfect writing day, against the practical one that normally occurs. You can also hear how he acclimatised to writing full-time after finally making the leap to leave his job and tell stories for a living. We chat about what it's like to write for yourself after so many years telling others stories, and how he knew he would be a writer from a very early age.

Please do support the show at patreon.com/writersroutine, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

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Adele Parks has just published her 20th book in 20 years! 'Just My Luck' is about a group of friends who always pool in to buy a lottery ticket with the same numbers every week, only one week after a big fall-out, one couple buys the ticket alone... and wins. How do they cope with the fall out, betrayal and fights that come with that?

We talk about how Adele had the idea whilst asking a stranger questions at a dinner party, and in fact... why she gets quite a lot of her story ideas like that.

We also chat about why her work day is quite rigidly scheduled, why she reads her work to her husband frequently, and what happens when you have to throw almost 80,000 words in the bin.

You can hear about her views on genre, how much she thinks about who reads her books, and how her writing routine has changed over 20 novels.

Also, this is the first interview I recorded remotely on lockdown, so sorry if it's a little bit bumpy in places!

If you can, please do support us on patreon.com/writersroutine.

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Nicola Gill's debut novel is 'The Neighbours'. It tells the story of Ginny and Cassie, two unlikely friends who are thrown together when they both reach rock-bottom. It's a funny story of friendship, love and adventure. We talk about how Nicola got that first idea, how she crafted her day to make sure she got it down properly, and why she got to work incredibly early to make that happen.

Also, we chat about what her day-job taught her about writing, in creativity and efficiency. We talk about genre, how much she thinks about the voice she writes in, and whether she could switch genre and keep her passion for story-telling.

If you fancy, please do support us at patreon.com/writersroutine, and drop us a review on Apple Podcasts!

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Neil Lancaster has published 2 'Tom Novak' books. His most recent is 'Going Rogue', which sees Tom up against a wave of far-right terrorism.

Neil has an advantage in writing crime thrillers - he was in the Army, then worked in the Met Police for 25 years. We talk about how he took all the knowledge from his career, and made them into thrilling, page-turning stories, that are accurate... but also allow for the fantasy of fiction. We also chat about the stuff every book and TV show gets wrong about the police-force, and the hill that he's willing to die on in that respect.

We also chat about how he structures his day, why he's fine having to crack out the words but tries not to over-write, and we learn about the advice he got that helped his first novel get published.

If you enjoy the show, please do support us on patreon.com/writersroutine, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

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