Writer's Routine

Sam Lloyd has written sci-fi and fantasy before, but when he got the idea for 'The Memory Wood' he knew it had to be a thriller. It tells the story of Elissa, who is kidnapped from school and locked away in the woods, and Elijah who finds her, but won't tell a soul. It's a blend of two ideas - one he had while killing time at his son's school, the other was of Elijah... a character that wouldn't g...

Eleni Kyriacou is a journalist and editor, and has worked on stories for national newspapers and magazines. Her debut novel 'She Came to Stay' tells the story of Dina who leaves Cyprus for London in search of a better life. They're taken around by Bebba, a strange character with a secret past, and is absorbed by grimy 1950's Soho. It's a murder-mystery with an edge. She was selected as part of the...

Louise Hare's debut novel, 'This Lovely City', tells the story of Lawrie Matthews. A jazz musician fresh of the Empire Windrush, takes rooms in a tiny South London house, and immediately discovers a tragedy which threatens to tear the city apart. We talk about why this idea grew from a short-story, which she couldn't quite put down, also why she took on a Masters in Creative Writing, and what was...

Rory Clements has just released the 4th book in his 'Tom Wilde' series. It's a historical mystery called 'Hitler's Secret', in which Tom is enlisted to carry a valuable document out of Germany. If it is uncovered, it threatens to destabilise the Nazi party - and Tom must decide whether it's his duty to find out more. He's also written the 'John Shakespeare' stories too - more historical fiction se...

This week our guest is SD Sykes. She's just released the 4th in her 'Oswald de Lacy' thriller series,'The Bone Fire'. It's set in the 14th century, in the murky Kent countryside, and it's a locked-room mystery. We talk about why she locked Oswald in a castle to tell the story, and how she manages to blend crime and mystery whilst bringing the 1300's to life. Sarah is a big believer of the 'Hero's...

Pete Brown has one of the best jobs in the world. He's a food and drink writer. He is the chair of the British Guild of Beer Writers, been British Beer Writer of the Year 3 times and also won 3 Fortnum and Mason food and drink awards. Yet, all that seems to do him a disservice. Pete is a fantastic cultural commentator, drawing on history to talk passionately about society. His first book, 'Man Wal...

An Yu has just released her debut, 'Braised Pork'. It's tipped to be one of the literary debuts of the year, was acquired in a 7 way auction, and tells the story of nocturnal Beijing. It focuses on Jia Jia, who returns home to find her husband dead in the bathtub. Next to him is an image that she won't ever forget. It's an exploration of myth-making, loss and her journey to find herself. We talk a...

Lucy Foley has just released her second mystery thriller. It's called 'The Guest List', and is set at a dream wedding, on a remote island, where someone gets killed and everyone has a motive. We talk about the fundamentals you need to include in writing whodunnits, and how to flip the tradition on its head. It comes after the huge success of her first whodunnit, 'The Hunting Party'. It was also se...

BA Paris has sold over 1 million books, they've been translated into 39 languages, and her new novel, 'The Dilemma' was released in early 2020 to huge acclaim. The idea is simple: what if you had to tell someone something which would destroy their lives. Bernadette tells the story hour by hour, across one day. She's a pantser by nature, so we talk about how she had to slightly change the way she p...

Caroline Scott's new novel is a 'Radio 2 Book Club Pick', high praise in British books, and is set in the murky time straight after the First World War. 'The Photographer of the Lost' sees Edie go in search of her "missing in action" husband Francis, after she receives a strange photograph in the post. It's a twisting, turning, slightly romantic mystery, which is a fantastic read. We talk about wh...

Paul French has just released a 12 part audio series, 'Murders of Old China', through Audible. As the name suggests, it tells the stories of unsolved crimes from the early 20th century of China. We talk about how Paul discovered these crimes, and then set about researching them and possibly even solving them. As this has been specifically made for Audible, we talk about whether that changed his wr...

Hugh Montgomery is a someone who, if he wasn't so darned lovely, you'd probably have to envy quite a lot. He's a practicing clinician, a UK lead on climate change, he's written screen-plays, runs ultramarathons, learns a new skill a year, holds a world-record, and is now releasing his first full-novel. It's called 'Control' - a thriller set in the medical-world (write what you know) all about a bu...

BONUS EPISODE! In the late noughties, Mason Currey started blogging about the most interesting, unique and quirky routines from history. 'Daily Rituals' ran for year, and spawned its own book in 2013. Upon reflecting all the rituals in there, he realised an overwhelming amount where men's. So he's written a new book to correct that. 'Daily Rituals: Women at Work' details some of the most aspiring,...

Amy Heydenrych has been brooding on the idea for her latest novel, 'The Pact', for some time now. After experiencing office bullying in an old job, she thought about how the feelings it caused, and how they could lead to the plot of a crime novel. The story is all about Freya, Nicole and Jay, and the harmless prank that leads to murder. It's her second novel, after her debut 'Shame on You' achieve...

Ann Cleeves is a hugely prolific author - she once wrote a book a year for 30 years, and still publishes more or less every 12 months. We talk about that writing year - when she comes up with ideas, starts working on them and finally hands in the first draft. She has written 8 'Vera Stanhope' books, a character that went on to be played by Brenda Blethyn in a TV series. Also, she's published many...

Before publishing his first novel, Chris Hammer worked as a journalist. Travelling all over the world reporting stories gave him the ability to write anywhere, and taught him how to tell stories. He used all that knowledge to write 'Scrublands', his debut about Martin Scarsden, a journalist who becomes embroiled in a tangle of crimes after a vicar does something extremely unreligious. We talk to C...

For over 40 years, Jeffrey Archer has sold many, many books. The current count is over 275 million. He's written 37, including a volume of diaries from his time in prison - 26 of those have been Sunday Times Bestsellers. His new book is 'Nothing Ventured', and it's the start of a brand new series. Although, the start of his writing career wasn't as successful as many would have you believe. It was...

Harriet Evans' 11 novel could be her biggest yet. Even with the huge success of 'The Wildflowers', 'The Garden of Lost and Found' is everywhere at the moment, and tells the story of Juilet. She's sent the key to a house that holds a forgotten world within. We talk about the first idea for the story, and how it developed from many ideas Harriet had for another story that never quite made it. We als...

In his phenomenally successful debut, 'Stuffocation', James Wallman told everyone to stop valuing things, and instead value experiences and the time we have on this planet. He's back to tell everyone how to spend that time, how to make sure we're getting the most out of our experiences, and how to make sure we're picking them wisely. We talk about making non-fiction read like fiction, and how Jame...

Ruth Hogan's debut novel 'The Keeper of Lost Things' generated huge commercial success and critical acclaim across the world. Telling the story of Anthony Peardew, a short-story writer who collects treasures and trinkets. The whole story became clear to Ruth after she got a stunning first line, that simply appeared in her head. We talk about what she did next, how she developed one sentence to the...

Owen Nicholls is a pop-culture obsessive, having written for Empire and NME , the mission for his first novel was ' High Fidelty for movies'. Originally thinking it may be a screenplay, instead he enjoyed the space and time writing a novel gave him. For Owen, a screenplay needs to be tight, purposeful and focused, he thinks that with novels you can take time to discover your characters and plots....

Along with Dan Gillespie Sells, Tom MacRae wrote the hit West End musical, 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie'. It opened in Sheffield, before transferring to London, selling-out constantly and receiving rave 5 star reviews. After writing for comedy on TV and for Dr Who, Tom had always planned to write a musical with his mate Dan, from the band 'The Feeling'. Then, watching a BBC documentary about a...

Tim Smedley is a journalist who has worked for the FT, Guardian, New Scientist and many more. A few years ago, he was so disgusted at the levels of pollutants in the air around London where he lived - he moved. He also resolved to find out more about what was causing it, and to read a book on what could be done. He found out such a book didn't exist - it was up to him to write one. With just a yea...

Bestselling author Sheila O'Flanagan is prolific, published around 30 novels and has won the 'Irish Independent Popular Fiction Book of the Year. Her new book is 'Her Husband's Mistake', and sees Roxy finding her husband in bed with the next door neighbour. You know this immediately, it's the very first sentence. We talk about how long she worked on making that first sentence perfect, and how it s...

Rob Hart's new book 'The Warehouse' is in the mold of 'Farenheit 451' and '1984', and focuses on one big business that suffocates all others, and the stories of 3 people who work there. Because of this, his characterisation needs to be truly believable and authentic, we talk about this struggle and how he became his characters in writing. It's also his first proper foray into standalone novels, ha...