Writer's Routine

'Critical Incidents' is Lucie Whitehouse's 5th book, and it marks something of a departure for her. Her previous novels are mainly focused on psychological thriller, whereas the new one is procedural. This means things need to be spot on, the way the police work, the way the crime is committed and how it's solved. We talk about the move, how she found changing styles liberating and where it takes...

Mhairi McFarlane has published 5 novels, her new first 'You Had Me At Hello' was a huge bestseller, and her new one 'Don't You Forget About Me' looks set to do the same. It tells the story of Georgina, and her new boss at work who turns out to be an old flame... only he seemingly doesn't remember her at all. We talk about the planning of rom-com novels, how she likes to embrace the contrivances th...

Namwali Serpell had been named one of the best African writers under 40 before she'd even published a novel. She's a student of the craft, and now a teacher of it at the University of Berkeley. Finally, after finishing a book that will forever sit in a drawer, she's publishing her first novel, 'The Old Drift'. It's a huge project, telling the stories of 3 families across generations in the new nat...

Val McDermid is one of the most successful crime authors in the world. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages, they've sold over 15 million copies and show no sign of letting up. She has written procedural crime, cold-case crime, and even penned the first ever 'cynical, socialist, lesbian, feminist journalist'. We talk about how her method of writing has changed over the course of 38 bo...

C.L. Taylor has just released her 6th thriller 'Sleep', after having much success in psychological thriller over the last 10 years, even writing YA fiction too. We talk about how she works her story-telling around children, family life and Twitter. Also, we talk about the busiest year of Cally's life, writing a book having just gone back to work, with a child, and a lot of words to crack through....

Although she's not a fan of the word, Sarah Pinborough is a prolific author. She's written over 20 books across a wide range of genres, always looking to keep interesting and varied. Her new book, 'Cross Her Heart' takes inspiration from a real-life crime, and tells the story of a group of women all trying to keep their past a secret. It's been called a 'feminist novel', and you can hear why Sarah...

This week Adam Foulds shares his writer's routine. He's a Booker Prize nominee, being shortlisted for 'The Quickening Maze', and is now publishing his fifth novel, 'Dream Sequence' about an actor who becomes embroiled in a strange, twisted relationship. It's literary fiction, and we talk about why that genre pulls Adam's creativity in, and why he thinks different authors write in different styles....

Frank Cottrell-Boyce is a Carnegie Medal Award winning author - his 2004 novel 'Millions' is incredibly successful, and was turned into a film by Danny Boyle, for which Frank wrote the script. It was even Danny's idea that Frank should write the novel in the first place. He's published 10 novels, brought back 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', and wrote the Opening Ceremony to the 2012 Olympic Games. We c...

After working for years as a criminal barrister, Harriet Tyce gave up work when she had children and decided to write. A few attempts at getting novels published later, she realised she may need a little bit of help in tweaking, cutting and getting her foot in the door, so she enrolled in a Creative Writing course at University, to study how to become a better author. 'Blood Orange' is her debut p...

HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY. To celebrate one of the top 3 days of the year, here's a little treat. A mash-up of some of the best authors we've had on the podcast this last year. You'll hear the writing routines of Ian Rankin, Cecelia Ahern, Garrard Conley, Helen Fields, Tim Marshall, Bridget Collins and Mark Billingham. Give us 5 lovely stars on Apple Podcasts if you get a chance. @writerspod writersrou...

In 2017, Nuala Ellwood's debut thriller 'My Sister's Bones' received rave reviews and was hailed as the new 'The Girl on the Train'. It propelled her onto The Observer's list of 'New Faces in Fiction' and gained commercial success - now she's back with a second novel. 'Day of the Accident' tells the story of Maggie, who wakes up from a coma to find her daughter dead, and she is being blamed for th...

With over 30 published books, Susan Lewis is a master-storyteller that moves through genres, styles and stories as easily as turning a page. She's lived all around the world, getting inspiration from towns in France (where she had a love affair with one of the FBI's Most Wanted) to hills in LA (where she was neighbours with George Clooney) Her new novel, 'One Minute Later', tells the story of Viv...

Fiona Barton is an award-winning journalist, worked as a senior writer at the 'Mail on Sunday' and reported on many high profile cases. After covering crime for so long, she thought it time to invent some of her own. Her third book, 'The Suspect', details two 18 year old girls who go missing on a gap-year, which reminds journalist Kate Waters of her own son, who is off travelling, that hasn't been...

Bridget Collins has published 7 Young Adult books, a few plays, and now her first full adult novel, 'The Binding', is due to be one of the biggest of 2019. It's been lauded as a 'genre defying fusion of history, magic and a powerful exploration of mental illness'. It tells the story of Emmett Farmer, a book binding apprentice, whose job is to help people forget their darkest secrets. We talk about...

James Oswald is a farmer for 12 hours of the day, then at night he'll head to his bespoke writing room atop his garage, and bash away at the keyboard. He's known for the 8 novels of the 'Inspector Tony McLean' series, and also his fantasy saga 'The Ballad of Sir Benfro', and you can hear what it's like to start a brand new series - 'Constance Fairchild'. She makes her first appearance in the new n...

Tim Marshall worked for some years as the Diplomatic Editor for Sky News, travelling and living all over the world to get the stories. His book 'Shadowplay: The Overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic' is widely regarded as one of the best accounts of life in the former Yugoslavia. Tim reported in the field from Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, and has since found huge writi...

After working as a stage manager, running all over the place in a theatre, then being shackled to the desk writing for soap operas, Liz Nugent became bored with dull, desk-driven office work, and became an author. Well... became an author over 6 years of writing her first book 'Unravelling Oliver'. It won an Irish Book Award, became a bestseller and gave her a career of being a proper writer. She'...

Ben Schott designed 'Schott's Original Miscellany' as a whimsical Christmas present to his closest friends, and after much pushing and prodding, finally published it to the world. Over the next few years, he had created a series of bestselling works providing an entertaining and informative analysis of the year's events. He's releasing his debut novel 'Jeeves and the King of Clubs', an homage to P...

Since publishing her debut novel when she was 21, Cecelia Ahern has written, pretty much, a book a year. That debut went on to become a blockbuster film, and she's one of the biggest, and bestselling authors around today. Her new book 'Roar' comprises 30 short stories about 30 different women. You can hear why a script-meeting in Los Angeles gave her the idea for the book, and how she developed th...

Elizabeth Foley and Beth Coates both work in publishing as editors, and when they had one idea too good to give away, they hurried to the office on Saturdays to write it themselves. That became 'Homework for Grown-ups', and since they have written many other works of novelty non-fiction. Their latest is 'What Would Boudicca Do? Everyday Problems Solved by History's Most Remarkable Women'. It looks...

Sir Ian Rankin is one of the biggest selling crime authors in history. His most famous character 'Detective John Rebus' has transcended novels, and is an icon of literature. He's appeared in TV shows, radio plays, and now his 22nd book, 'In a House of Lies'. As a teenager, Ian found himself being thrust into a life of economics and accountancy, but after time (and some poor maths exam results) he...

Gabriel Tallent was working full-time in a restaurant, whilst doing some pretty serious mountain climbing on the side, when he felt the compulsion to tell this story. He would lie on his floor, as soon as he got home from work, fill himself with coffee and try to write 30,000 words a week. 'My Absolute Darling' started off as something else, what he describes as a 'brainy, environmental novel', un...

Keith Anthony has waited some time before finally penning his debut novel, although he always knew he would write, and indeed the room in which he would work. It took a cruise-trip with his Mum, and a week away in a silent retreat to finally give him the focus and idea for 'Times and Places' The story stars Fergus, who escapes on a cruise to come to terms with the death of his daughter. Whilst the...

One Christmas, Eve Makis went home-made for her Dad's present. She bought a notebook and along with her friend Anthony, a fellow creative-writing teacher, she filled it with prompts and exercises to encourage her Father to write down the stories of his life that he was unable to express with words. When that went well, they took it to a publisher, and a few years later 'The Accidental Memoir' is o...

Thriller author Jacqui Rose talks us through the story of how her brand new urban gangland story, 'Toxic' got written! Jacqui has written many books in a huge range of genres, and she's back with new thrillers to add to the 6 already published, that have sold over 100,000 copies. She plans almost nothing. Jacqui simply has a tiny idea, a little flicker of a character, and she'll sit down to write....