Writer's Routine

Niamh Campbell has always been around words, studying them, teaching them, constantly writing them. Her short story 'Love Many' won an Irish Times writing prize, and from that success she's published her debut novel, 'This Happy'. It tells the story of Allanah, who falls in love with an older man, and it unpacks the way that impacts her life. It's a novel of exploration, of description and words....

BONUS EPISODE! Here's something new I'm trying, hopefully every week. Taking a look back at some fantastic authors from our archive, and remembering just the routine, hopefully injecting a bitesize chunk of inspiration that might help you plan your day. Anthony Horowitz joined us back in 2018, as he was in the process of writing some Alex Rider short-stories. The teenage spy launched him to nation...

Lesley Kara's debut, 'The Rumour', was the bestselling crime thriller debut of 2019. She's back with her third novel, 'The Dare', it tells the story of Lizzie, who is suspected of being involved in the death of a friend years earlier, and someone is out to get revenge. We discuss her writing routine, and how it's a waiting game, and a process of discovery. Also you can hear why she likes to read a...

Tim Adler has always been around words. He's a journalist who has written for The Times and the FT, been a commissioning editor at The Daily Telegraph, and edited magazines. His fourth novel is 'Dead Already', it's a psychological thriller that crosses both the gangster and ghost-story genres. 'Dead Already' is the story of an East End Gangster who becomes haunted by the ghost of his dead daughter...

Rosie Wilby is a comedian, writer and podcaster. Her new book, 'The Breakup Monologues', is based on the podcast of the same name. It's non-fiction and looks at sexuality, stories, dating....breaking up. We talk about why the idea for the story changed as she worked on it, why she used ideas from fiction to plot and plan it, and how it's now affected her podcasting. You can hear why pets keep her...

Bryan Christy was the Head of Special Operations for National Geographic. He'd travel around the world uncovering crimes and reporting on the underworld. He's now an author. They say write what you know. Bryan's debut fiction is called 'In the Company of Killers', and it tells the story of Tom Klay, a spy undercover as a wildlife reporter. We talk about Bryan re-inventing real life into stories, a...

Bethany Clift's debut has come out at JUST the write time. 'Last One at the Party' tells the story of a woman alone on Earth, after humanity has been wiped out by a virus. We talk about how the idea came on a long, lonely journey, and how she got to know the character that readers would be spending so much time with. It's one of the publisher's lead titles this year, and the film rights have alrea...

Lisa Gardner is a prolific author. She's published 11 'DD Warren' novels, 2 'Tessa Leoni' books, and is back with her first standalone in 20 years. 'Before She Disappeared' tells the story of Frankie Elkin who spends her life doing what no one else will, searching for missing people the world has forgotten about. We talking about why she likes to get things done in the morning, and how she figured...

Ericka Waller's published debut is 'Dog Days', which tells the story of George, Dan, Lizzie and the dogs that bind their lives and emotions together. The word-play in the title gets to the heart of the book. It's a joyous and uplifting story about the heartbreak of mental illness, and it's about the small changing moments that occur when we let the light in. We talk about the times of tragedy that...

Abigail Mann has just released her second novel, very quickly after publishing her first. 'The Sister Surprise' tells us the story of Ava who discovers she has an unknown sister, and decides to pay her a secret visit. We talk about how she remembers how to write a book, when she between projects. We chat about public accountability with work, and how she's managed that through lockdown. Also, you...

Chloe James debut novel is so perfectly timed it must have been expertly planned. It was. Chloe James is also Fiona Woodifield, author of 'The Jane Austen Dating Agency' which received critical acclaim recently. Due to the success of that, she was asked by a publisher to write a book based on an idea they'd heard on the radio... what if two neighbours found love in lockdown? Chloe talks about the...

Naomi Ishiguro's debut novel is something quite special. 'Common Ground' tells the story of Stan and Charlie, unlikely friends who meet during a turbulent time and change each others lives. Naomi had the idea during 2016, after the Brexit referendum changed how she saw the world, and the people in it. We discuss how she moved the idea along, how she gets through the difficult final third of the bo...

Nick Petrie has just released the 6th Peter Ash novel, 'The Breaker'. It's all about the war vet with PTSD, trying to live a quiet life on the run, who cannot stand by when he sees an armed man walk into a crowd of people, and no-one knows what might happen next. His debut, 'The Drifter', won many thriller awards, he's award-winning for his short stories too, having gained MFA in fiction from the...

Sarah Leipciger's second novel features a strange, poetic mystery than spans 3 time-frames across different parts of the world. Her critically-acclaimed debut 'The Mountain Can Wait' came out in 2015, and she has been short-listed for many awards for her short stories. Sarah also teaches creative writing to prisoners. We discuss how lockdown has affected creativity, also how she gets things done e...

Lucy Clarke is the bestselling author of six psychological thrillers, which have been sold in over 20 territories. Her new novel is 'The Castaways', which tells the story of two sisters on holiday who have a fight at the airport right before boarding. One gets on the plane, the other doesn't, and when the airplane seemingly crashes, the sister left behind determines to get to the bottom of the mys...

This week's guest is the inspirational memoir and crime writer Shane Dunphy. Shane worked as a child protection worker for 15 years, the things he experienced gave him the ideas to begin life as an author, something he'd always wanted. His first nine titles dealt with his time on the frontline of social care work, and include the number one bestseller 'Wednesday’s Child'.  Under the name SA D...

Abigail Dean's 'Girl A' is the talk of the book world at the moment. It's been one of the biggest releases of 2021, and shot her straight onto the Sunday Times Bestseller list. It tells the story of Lex and her sister Evie, trying to fix their lives and future after growing up in a house of horrors. You can hear how she plans her day to get the words down, how she figured out writing as a passion...

Cherie Jones is a busy lady. She is a full time lawyer, a single mother of 4 children, is currently finishing a PhD, and has found the time to publish her first novel, 'How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House'. It's about four people the legacy of violence in the Bahamas, a place so many look on as paradise. Here's the blurb: In Baxter Beach, Barbados, moneyed ex-pats clash with the locals who o...

Susie Donkin has been a writer on the award-winning show, 'Horrible Histories', since it debuted on TV in 2009. She has now used that experience of hilariously retelling history for her new book, 'Zeus is a Dick'. It uses influences from Comedy Central's 'Drunk History' and Stephen Fry's 'Mythos' to reimagine ancient myths in a modern, edgy and fantastic way. Susie has also written on Channel 4's...

Will Dean appears to have a glorious writing life. Hidden away in the Swedish wilderness, in a house that he built, he dreams up stories and thrashes them out in a few weeks. In reality, it's the product of years of sitting on ideas, mulling them over, and a zombie-like fuge state when he finally knows enough to tell it. After the success of his Tuva Moodyson series, he's released a tense standalo...

Caimh McDonnell used to be a stand-up comedian, gigging all over the country and writing for television. Now, he's a full-time storyteller working out of his own office in his garden. His new novel, 'The Stranger Times', investigates life in a newspaper which reports on the weirdest stories... which sometimes turn out to be true. It's the start of a brand new comic supernatural thriller series fro...

Kate Mosse is the author of nine novels & short story collections, including the No 1 multimillion selling 'Languedoc Trilogy'. Her historical thriller 'Labyrinth' was one of the biggest selling novel of the 2000s and propelled her to success, she followed it with 'Sepulchre' and 'Citadel'. She's written bestselling Gothic fiction, non-fiction, plays, plus contributed essays and introductions...

Jeff Lindsay's new book is 'Fool Me Twice', the second 'Riley Wolfe' thriller about the master thief that targets the world's wealthiest. Jeff is best known for his 8 'Dexter Morgan' novels, which became the hit Showtime series 'Dexter', about everyone's favourite neighbourhood serial killer. We discuss the pressure on his new series after the success of 'Dexter', and how he found starting all ove...

Emily Schultz new novel, 'Little Threats', follows twin sisters in the 1990s, in an age of rebellion, when a night of partying goes very wrong, and one of them ends up under suspicion for murder... and she can't remember whether she did it or not. We talk about how she got into the 90s mindset with music, how she tackles the first draft, and whether she's fine with being it sloppy at the start. In...

Rosie Nixon is busy. She is the Editor-in-Chief of HELLO! Magazine, she's worked as a journalist for many years, she's a mum of two, and has just published her third novel, 'Just Between Friends'. We discuss how she splits up her time wearing many different work hats, and why she loves to escape to tell stories. You can hear what editing a national media brand has taught her about novel-writing, a...