We welcome Sunday Times bestselling author CL Taylor back to the podcast with her new novel The Guilty Couple. In an interview packed with amazing advice, she takes us step-by-step through her creative process, from first idea to finished novel. And in the extended version for Patreons and Academates, the two Marks discuss wants, needs […]
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Scott Turow is a master of suspense fiction. He returns with his new thriller, Suspect, and tells us about the challenges of taking a minor character from a previous novel and putting them front and centre of their own story. He also describes how he uses plot to test and reveal his characters. Scott also […]
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Aggie Blum Thompson sent us an email in 2019 detailing her dream to see her book on a table in a bookstore. Aggie’s second novel, ALL THE DIRTY SECRETS, is out now and she tells us how she made that dream a reality. This is a hugely entertaining interview and Aggie reveals how she bounced […]
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Luan Goldie won the Costa Short Story Prize in 2017, and her debut novel Nightingale Point was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her latest novel, These Streets, touches on issues of homelessness, mental health, and single parent families, and is full of warmth, wit and life. Luan tells us how she’s balanced working […]
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Lesley Thomson’s latest book The Companion continues a bestselling streak that’s been inspired by some remarkable places and people, and she shares with us her writing routines and tells us why writers should stay within their own story. And the Two Marks give listeners a peek behind the scenes of their recent live show and […]
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We celebrate over 400 episodes of the podcast with a special live show from Waterstones in Canterbury with guest authors Rowan Coleman, Pernille Hughes, Nadine Matheson and Julie Wassmer. We discuss how authors can sustain their careers beyond the advance and publication date. This was a fun and lively conversation that demystifies a lot of […]
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What better way to celebrate our 400th episode than by speaking to some of our longtime listeners and members of the Bestseller Academy who have faced their greatest writing challenges and come through the other side:. . . Denise McGahan tells us about making the decision to commit to writing and how it changed everything. […]
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Elissa Soave is the winner of the inaugural Primadonna Prize, an accolade awarded to unpublished and unrepresented writers. Ginger and Me is her debut novel, a part-coming of age and part-mystery novel featuring vivid characters. Elissa reveals how her writing career started with just 500 words and the realisation that her story was worth telling. . […]
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Christopher Abbott is the award-winning author of the Watson Chronicles, a continuation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Christopher tells us how he’s worked to retain the authenticity of Conan Doyle’s style, and what he’s learned about crafting a mystery. . . We discuss… Writing as a superfan How to seed clues in a mystery And […]
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Mark Ellis is the bestselling author of the DCI Frank Merlin series set in the Second World War. Mark celebrates the publication of the fifth book in the series, Dead in the Water, and reveals his research methods and how he uses real history to develop his stories. He also tells us what he learned […]
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