EP427 — Deep Dive — Unwelcome with Jon Wright and Mark Stay
Director Jon Wright joins Mark Stay to answer listener questions on the development of their new monster movie Unwelcome. They reveal what inspired them to write the script, how the story was developed (and was very early abandoned), how Jon blocks and shoots sequences and works with the cast and crew, they offer tips for […]
Continue readingEP426: Lou Abercrombie — “I Write Whilst I Swim.”
Lou Abercrombie worked in TV and film production and as a photographer, and a few years ago started writing children’s books combining her passion for swimming and mathematics. Her debut novel FIG SWIMS THE WORLD, was longlisted for the Bath Children’s Award, and her new book AMAZING MATHS makes the subject of mathematics accessible in […]
Continue readingEP425: MATT CAIN — “Write with Heart and Humour.”
Matt Cain endured rejections from thirty agents and fifty publishers before getting his debut novel published… and then it didn’t work out. Matt tells us how he made an extraordinary comeback, breaking crowdfunding records with The Madonna of Bolton, having a smash with The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, and now he’s back with Becoming […]
Continue readingEP424: Cole Haddon — “I Stripped the Censor in my Head”
Cole Haddon is an Australian-American screenwriter and novelist whose first TV commission, Dracula, was produced by NBC and SKY and starred Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Psalms for the End of the World is his debut novel and Cole tells us how he was inspired by looking into the eyes of one of his young children, why […]
Continue readingEP423: Christian Cameron — “You’re Always Worldbuilding.”
Christian Cameron is an incredibly prolific writer and military historian who also writes as Miles Cameron. His new novel as Miles is Against All Gods, an epic set in the Bronze Age that gives a new twist to familiar myths and legends. Christian tells how he learned to write without doubting himself, how historical recreation has […]
Continue readingEP422: Christmas 2022 Special and Setting 2023 Goals!
The Two Marks don their terrible Christmas sweaters and hats to celebrate the festive season and look forward to 2023. Mark Stay tests Mr D with a super-duper mega quiz, we discover that Americans don’t have Christmas crackers, we reveal where Santa comes from, tell terrible jokes, and we discuss taking stock and setting goals […]
Continue readingEP421: Margaret Weis — “It’s All About Characters.”
In 1983 Margaret Weis took on a job as a book editor at TSR, producers of the Dungeons and Dragons® role-playing game. Little did she know that the DRAGONLANCE® series she created with Tracy Hickman would go on to sell over 25 million copies and still be in print after almost 30 years. And now […]
Continue readingEP420: Elizabeth Noble — “Make the Reader Care.”
Elizabeth Noble is a Sunday Times bestselling author whose debut novel The Reading Group sold a quarter of a million copies. She’s since sold over a million and with her tenth novel, Other People’s Husbands, she skilfully works with a large cast of characters to create an authentic drama with lots of moving parts, but […]
Continue readingEP419: SJ Bennett — “A Relentlessly Positive Attitude”
SJ Bennett had a successful career writing award-winning books for teenagers, but after a change in the market and a life-changing diagnosis, she decided to completely change tack and began a brand new crime series, Her Majesty the Queen Investigates, which became an international smash, selling over 100,000 copies. With the latest book in the […]
Continue readingEP417: Harriet Tyce — “Trying to Outdo Myself.”
Harriet Tyce tells us about her brilliant new thriller It Ends at Midnight, how the amazing reception to her debut Blood Orange made her wonder if she could do it again, and how she gets herself into trouble by trying to outdo what she’s written before. And in the extended version for Academy members and […]
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