Page One - The Writer's Podcast

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube This week, we’re diving into the unmasking of one of the world’s most successful authors. Freida McFadden, the bestselling author behind The Housemaid, has officially revealed her true identity as Dr. Sara Cohen. We wonder 'why now', talk about imposter syndrome, and discuss why authors use pseudonyms. Plus, we of course chat about some AI-related stories:...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube Izzy (Isabelle) Broom is the author of 12 escapist books and has been published in 14 overseas territories. In 2015, she won The Great British Write Off with her short story, The Wedding Speech , which was later adapted into a prize-winning short film. Her fifth novel, One Thousand Stars and You , was awarded Contemporary Romance Novel of the Year at the 20...

Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel Do your characters have to likeable? No! There are plenty of brilliant books and movies with horrible protagonists. So what makes them work? How do you write characters who are deeply flawed and unlikeable without turning the reader or viewer off? We discuss it all on this week's episode of Drafting Notes, while also discussing some of our favou...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube Katalina Watt is the instant Sunday Times Bestselling author of Saltswept. They were selected for a 2025 Literature Matters Award from the Royal Society of Literature and served as the AIR Literature UNESCO 2024 Writer in Residence for Konstkollektivet in Sweden. A finalist for the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine as founding Audio Director for khōréō...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube This week, we lead with the scandal that has the industry in a frenzy, with Hachette pulling the release of Mia Ballard’s horror novel Shy Girl after viral claims that the prose was generated by AI. We discuss the YouTube video with over a million views that started the fire, the author’s defense involving an "acquaintance," and what this means for the futu...

Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. After a varied career including marketing, reporting for a local newspaper, and a stint as a postie, she turned her hand to writing the crime fiction she always loved. Her debut novel, Hold Your Tongue, won the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year and is the first in her DI Eve Hunter series. Her new standalone thriller, I’ll Be Watching Y...

Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel On today's Drafting Notes, we discuss twists and reveals! Are they the same thing? What makes some twists land and others miss the mark? What are some example of good twists (some spoilers here, but we announce that in the episode!)? And do you always need a twist in a novel? Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) a...

Watch as a full video interview on our YouTube channel Abigail Dean is a writer from Manchester, living in south London. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, the Times and the New York Times. Abigail’s first novel, GIRL A , was an instant Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller. Her third novel, THE DEATH OF US , is out now. We loved chatting with Abigail and hearing about ho...

A bonus episode for Page One listeners - for the next parts of this story, be sure to subscribe to our Narrative Damage podcast ! Watch as a full video episode on YouTube Descend into madness with us as our cast of three authors swap pens for dice in the first part of this Call of Cthulhu scenario. "I must know why my son took his own life." When Lord Gladstone calls three hardy investigators to h...

Watch as a full video on YouTube This episode of Adventures in Publishing-land dives deep into the battle for the "human soul" of the industry, featuring a frontline interview on the newest weapons in the author’s arsenal. We sit down with Anna Ganley and Sam Blake from the Society of Authors to discuss their new "Human Authored" scheme which launched at the London Book Fair. We explore the strate...

Watch as a full video interview on our YouTube channel In the final of our cross-over interview episodes with Narrative Damage, we chat with the brilliant Mike Mason! Mike Mason is an award-winning game designer and writer, and the creative director for the  Call of Cthulhu  tabletop roleplaying   game. As well as being the commissioning editor and lead writer for the line, Mike als...

Watch as a full video interview on our YouTube channel Dennis Detwiller is an illustrator, writer and designer who has worked in the field of video games, card games and tabletop roleplaying games. He worked on Magic: The Gathering, and is a co-creator of the award-winning TTRPG, Delta Green, including being author of the legendary Impossible Landscapes campaign. We loved having the opportunity to...

Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel! On today's episode of Drafting Notes, we are talking about the dreaded imposter syndrome - what is it and why do so many writers feel it? Is it only writers starting out, or do all writers continue to feel like they are imposters? Plus, we discuss dealing with comparison to other writers' successes - how do you stop the envy getting to you...

Watch as a full video on YouTube This week on Adventures in Publishing-land , we’re heading to San Francisco to look at Bindery Books. This startup is turning "bookfluencers" into acquiring editors, letting communities choose their own bestsellers. Is this the "Taylor’s Version" of publishing, or a risky bet on "tastemakers"? Plus, we discuss top literary agencies sounding the alarm on "formulaic"...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube Welcome to the first in a short series of cross-over episodes with our new podcast, Narrative Damage - a podcast where some of your favourite authors gather together to rolll dice, craft worlds and tell stories together through the medium of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs)! For our first guest, we are delighted to chat with the brilliant Sydney Amanue...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube TM Logan is the bestselling author of thrillers that have sold over three million copies in the UK and been translated into 22 languages worldwide. A former national newspaper journalist, Tim is also the author of The Holiday — a Richard & Judy Book Club pick adapted for TV — as well as The Catch, The Dream Home, The Mother, The Curfew, T...

Watch as a full video on YouTube This week, we’re unpacking the controversy surrounding Emerald Fennell’s "Wuthering Heights" adaptation. From historically inaccurate corsets to Margot Robbie’s "raunchy" take on Cathy, we debate how far a retelling can stray before it loses the source material entirely. Plus, we look at how one writer used AI to publish 200 novels in a single year, allegedly earni...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube Rebecca Hannigan has an MA in Creative Writing Crime Fiction from UEA, graduating in 2023. She won the UEA/Little Brown Crime Prize for her dissertation. She has also been shortlisted for Virago/The Pool’s Best New Crime Writer. Her first novel, Darkrooms, is out now. We had a great chat with Rebecca, hearing about her experience of getting a masters in c...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube Jacob Rollinson was born in England in 1984. He is currently based in East Sussex, employed as an academic librarian. Jacob has a PhD in creative and critical writing from the University of East Anglia. He is always looking things up, and he never knows where his next interest is going to take him: he has delivered papers and joined panels on topics rangi...

Watch this episode as a full video episode on YouTube On this week's Drafting Notes, we are discussing whether professional editing/critique services are useful to first-time authors. On the one hand, you are getting professional feedback on your writing, but on the other, they are often very expensive! So is the reward worth the cost? We discuss our own thoughts and experiences! Drafting Notes is...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube In this week's episode of Adventures in Publishing-land , we dive into the heated debate surrounding Val McDermid and the use of sensitivity readers to revise backlist titles. Should books be treated as historical artifacts, or is updating them a necessary step for modern audiences? Plus, we’re tackling two massive shifts in the industry: We break down the...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube Screenwriter and editor James Alistair Henry first started writing while working as a bookseller. He joined the writing team for Channel 4’s Smack the Pony and went on to write the BAFTA-award winning Green Wing , ITV comedy Delivery Man and cult hit Campus as well as episodes for smash-hit children’s television shows Bob The Builder and Hey Duggee . His...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube Vaseem Khan is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India and the bestselling  Quantum of Menace , the first in a series featuring Q from the James Bond franchise. His debut,  The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra,  was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020. In 2021,&nbsp...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube Lyndsey Croal is a Scottish author published in over eighty magazines and anthologies, including  Apex, Analog, Weird Tales,  and  Mslexia’s Best Women’s Short Fiction . She’s a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardee, Shirley Jackson Award and British Fantasy Award Finalist, and former Hawthornden Fellow. Her longer...

Watch as a full video interview now on YouTube Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India which have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 15 languages. His books have won numerous awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel, the Prix du Polar Européen, the Wilbur Smith Award for Adven...