Writer's Routine

Alex North seems to be one of those rare writers. It looks like his debut, 'The Whisper Man', will actually be made into a film. The novel was a Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller, and has been translated into 30 languages. The Movie will star Adam Scott, Robert de Niro, Michelle Monaghan and Michael Keaton.He's also published 'The Shadow Friend', and 'The Half Burnt House'. His new novel is 'The Man Made of Smoke'. Here's the blurb -Daniel Garvie was only a child himself when he saw...

This week, we're chatting to Hannah Beckerman. She's been dubbed the 'new Queen of Domestic Noir', and after the success of the bestselling, 'The Forgetting', has published her 5th novel, 'Three Mothers'. If you love Louise Candlish or Liane Moriarty, you'll enjoy how Hannah writes. Here's the blurb...When seventeen-year-old Isla Richardson is killed in a hit-and-run incident, a community’s lives are thrown into disarray. For Isla’s mum, Abby, it is her second devastating bereavement, having lost her husband five years ago. Tackling friendship, family, social prejudice and the...

This week, we're chatting to award-winning global bestseller, Faith Hogan.Faith has published many uplit/ women's fiction novels - the last one 'The Bookshop Ladies' won the An Post Irish Book Award for Best Popular Fiction Novel of the Year. Faith's writing journey has taken her from working in many different jobs, never quite sure if she will admit that she wants to be a writer, to becoming a Kindle #1 bestseller across the world. We discuss how she's ended up finally being a full-time writer. Faith has also published crime fiction as Geraldine Hogan.<...

This week, we're chatting to global bestseller John Niven. His breakthrough novel was the hit 'Kill Your Friends', a brutal takedown of his career in the 90's music industry. He went on to write the screenplay for the movie version too, starring Nicholas Hoult. John has published 10 novels, including 'The Second Coming', 'Straight White Male', and 'Kill 'Em All'. Also, he's written screenplays for more hit movies, co-writing 'How to Build a Girl', with Caitlin Moran.His new novel is 'The Fathers', which tells the story of Dan and Jada, who meet in a busy maternity...

Emma Cowell wrote her debut novel, 'One Last Letter from Greece', through the pandemic to come to terms with losing her mother. Since then, she's published more novels and been translated into 9 languages. They're inspired by Greece and its islands. We discuss how she gets the places right. Who does she speak to? How does she learn? Where does she travel to tell the island's story authentically?The new novel is 'Under the Lemon Tree'. Here's the blurb -Shattered by the sudden loss of her twin, Nik, Kat is lost in grief...

Claire Douglas is a bestselling thriller author. Her work has been published across the world, sold many copies everywhere, and she's been a Richard and Judy Book Club Pick. She's just published her 11th novel in 10 years, 'The New Neighbours'. It's about Lena who overhears a conversation between her kind, retired neighbours... that must be a mistake. It sounded like they were planning something awful. Lena can't stop thinking about it, it creeps into memories of her past, and she is consumed by choices of whether to do something.We discuss how Claire...

Guy Jenkin is a multi Emmy and Bafta winning writer. Along with Andy Hamilton, he co-wrote the sitcoms 'Drop the Dead Donkey' and 'Outnumbered'. He also worked on the films 'What We Did On Our Holiday', and 'The Sleeping Dictionary'.His new novel is called 'Murder Most Foul', a witty and fast-paced Tudor detective novel that plays with fact and fiction. In the middle of a deadly plague outbreak in 1593, William Shakespeare is implicated in the murder of his friend and rival, Christopher Marlowe. Teaming up with Marlowe's sister and his former flame Ann, they embark...

Lucy Foley is a mystery behemoth. She's sold 5 million copies of her novels which have been translated in over 40 countries. All of them are currently being made for film and TV right now. Following the success of 'The Hunting Party', 'The Guest List', and 'The Paris Apartment', 'The Midnight Feast' is out now in paperback, and focuses on the opening weekend of a luxury countryside retreat. Only, under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. When a body is found, old friends and enemies are trapped in the countryside, trying to discover whodunnit.It's the second time...

Frances Quinn is a journalist, copywriter and bestselling author. Her new novel, 'The Lost Passenger', tells the story of Elinor Coombes, who boards the Titanic trapped in an unhappy marriage to a controlling husband. When it starts to go down, she sees an opportunity to escape for a new life.Frances began writing after winning a place on the Curtis Brown Creative Novel Writing Course, which led through a meandering path toward publication in 2021. Her debut was 'The Smallest Man'. She followed that up with 'That Bonesetter Woman', which both sold well, yet didn't manage to...

Mike Gayle is a prolific author. He's published 20 novels, many of which land on the Sunday Times Bestseller List, and has been translated in over 30 countries. He was the first male writer, and writer of colour, to win the Romantic Novelist Association's Outstanding Achievement Award. He's back with a new novella called 'The One That Got Away'.It tells the story of Reuben and the love of his life who is getting married... only to someone else. He has a day full of activities planned to take his mind of the wedding, only when a phone...

Barnaby Martin is a busy man. He works as a teacher, runs a successful YouTube channel with over 10 million views, as a composer he's had pieces performed across the world, and now he's released his first novel, 'The Quiet.It tells the story of a dystopian world covered by the Soundfield. A domer which surrounds the Earth and changes everyone's life. It brings deadly heat, ravages food and water supplies, and everyone lives with its constant background hum. When scientist Hannah learns her son Isaac has a gift which could threaten the Soundfield, she must battle...

Caitlin Davies has always wanted to be a writer. It took her a long time to admit it to herself, let alone voice it aloud. She started writing as a journalist, covering stories across Europe and Africa, and now, finally, is a published author. She writes widely, switching genres and styles, releasing 6 novels and 8 narrative nonfiction books along the way. Caitlin tends to be inspired by forgotten women from history, and water. Her most recent book is 'Private Inquiries: The Secret History of Female Sleuths'. It was partly inspired by 'Queens of the Underworld' and 'Bad...

Heidi Perks is the bestselling author of 7 novels, 'Now You See Her', 'Come Back for Me', 'Three Perfect Liars', 'The Whispers', 'The Other Guest', 'The Next Girl', and her new one, 'Someone is Lying'It tells the story of Jess and her daughter, Issie. They have an unbreakable bond and for years it's just been the two of them. However, when a new boyfriend, Dylan, takes Issie travelling... and contact dries up, Jess needs to figure out who is lying.The story is told through mixed media, merging true crime, podcasts and traditional...

This week's guest is the phenomenally bestselling author, Simon Scarrow. He mainly writes historical fiction, best known for his 'Eagles of the Empire' series, and has written about Ancient Rome and Nazi Germany too. He's also published futuristic sci-fi, and began writing dystopian fiction and comedy, before realising he should write what he wants to read, not what he thought might sell.Simon has sold more than 6 million books, and has been translated into 25 languages. His passion for storytelling was perfected at boarding school, learning how to engage class-mates, and keep them hooked with a daring...

Chris Bridges has worked as an NHS Nurse, a theatre reviewer, a columnist and now is a published author. It was his work as a nurse, coupled with his Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, that gave him the inspiration and experience to get the novel done. The novel is 'Sick to Death', it tells the story of Emma who can't go to work because of a neurological condition. When her boyfriend won't finally leave his wife, she takes matters into her own hands. Emma is sick, but not in the way you think. WHAT A LINE!<...

M.G. Leonard is the author of 16 children's books, which have won heaps of awards. She was awarded Sainsbury's Childen's Book of the Year, and the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year 2021. Meanwhile, as a child at school, she was told she'd never become a published author - that she simply wasn't smart enough.Before becoming a writer, she managed bands, ran an indie record label, and worked as a professional actor with some of the biggest names around. She now uses her performance experience to help her write, by reading her work aloud...

This week, we're taking a look inside the writing life of Hanna Thomas Uose, author of 'Who Whats to Live Forever'.Hanna won the Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour, was shortlisted for Orion and DHA's Space to Write project, selected for the Asian Women Writers Mentorship Programme, and went back to study for an MA in Prose Fiction.Her new novel is 'Who Wants to Live Forever', and it comes from the simple question - how would the world change if we didn't have to die? We discuss how Hanna expanded...

This week, we're chatting to Robert Whitlow, prolific writer of over 20 bestselling novels. His new one is 'Guilty Until Innocent', a legal thriller that looks an an old case being reopened, and the two lawyers who have to prove the convicted's innocence against the odds. His debut novel, 'The List', was adapted into a successful movie starring Malcolm McDowell. In fact, four of Robert's novels have been adapted for the big screen, and Robert still divides his time between writing and working as a local attorney. You can hear how he seperates his day, energy and...

Jennifer Saint worked as an English teacher in a secondary school for thirteen years, when all of a sudden, with an unexpected confidence, she felt the urge to write a novel. It wasn't just the confidence she could do it that surprised her, but the belief that it would do well. She was inspired by Greek mythology, and wanted to emphasise their relevance for the 21st Century. Her debut was 'Ariadne', which tells the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur from a female prespective. It was a Sunday Times Bestseller, a Waterstones Book of the Month...

Paul S. Edwards is a lawyer, a family man with two children, and has just published his first sci-fi novel, 'The Triton Run'. He found time to write it... anywhere. If he was early at a football game, he'd get words down. If he was at a gig with a few minutes to spare, he'd write. On the sofa with his family watching TV, he will get down it it. His new novel is 'The Triton Run', the start of a new sci-fi series which spans planets and, Paul hopes, does something a bit different in...