Page One - The Writer's Podcast

Watch as a full video on YouTube

This week, we’re unpacking the controversy surrounding Emerald Fennell’s "Wuthering Heights" adaptation. From historically inaccurate corsets to Margot Robbie’s "raunchy" take on Cathy, we debate how far a retelling can stray before it loses the source material entirely.

Plus, we look at how one writer used AI to publish 200 novels in a single year, allegedly earning six figures. But is she a ...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube

Rebecca Hannigan has an MA in Creative Writing Crime Fiction from UEA, graduating in 2023. She won the UEA/Little Brown Crime Prize for her dissertation. She has also been shortlisted for Virago/The Pool’s Best New Crime Writer. Her first novel, Darkrooms, is out now.

We had a great chat with Rebecca, hearing about her experience of getting a masters in crime writing and how that hel...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube

Jacob Rollinson was born in England in 1984. He is currently based in East Sussex, employed as an academic librarian. Jacob has a PhD in creative and critical writing from the University of East Anglia. He is always looking things up, and he never knows where his next interest is going to take him: he has delivered papers and joined panels on topics ranging from literature and archive w...

Watch this episode as a full video episode on YouTube

On this week's Drafting Notes, we are discussing whether professional editing/critique services are useful to first-time authors. On the one hand, you are getting professional feedback on your writing, but on the other, they are often very expensive! So is the reward worth the cost? We discuss our own thoughts and experiences!

Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube

In this week's episode of Adventures in Publishing-land, we dive into the heated debate surrounding Val McDermid and the use of sensitivity readers to revise backlist titles. Should books be treated as historical artifacts, or is updating them a necessary step for modern audiences?

Plus, we’re tackling two massive shifts in the industry: We break down the Society of Authors' "Brave New...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube

Screenwriter and editor James Alistair Henry first started writing while working as a bookseller. He joined the writing team for Channel 4’s Smack the Pony and went on to write the BAFTA-award winning Green Wing, ITV comedy Delivery Man and cult hit Campus as well as episodes for smash-hit children’s television shows Bob The Builder and Hey Duggee. His Radio 4 sketch show, Wosson Cornwa...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube

Vaseem Khan is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India and the bestselling Quantum of Menace, the first in a series featuring Q from the James Bond franchise. His debut, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020. In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House, the...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube

Lyndsey Croal is a Scottish author published in over eighty magazines and anthologies, including Apex, Analog, Weird Tales, and Mslexia’s Best Women’s Short Fiction. She’s a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardee, Shirley Jackson Award and British Fantasy Award Finalist, and former Hawthornden Fellow. Her longer works include Have You Decided ...

Watch as a full video interview now on YouTube

Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India which have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 15 languages. His books have won numerous awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel, the Prix du Polar Européen, the Wilbur Smith Award for Adventure Writing and the Amazon Publ...

Watch as a full video on YouTube

We're back! On this week's episode, we discuss the show everyone is talking about - The Traitors! With crime author Harriet Tyce's appearance, we chat about the impact it has had on her book sales, and also wonder which reality show we would choose to go on to boost our publicity (there is also some spoiler discussion about this season of the UK Traitors, so be careful if you are not up-to-date!)

Watch as a full video episode now on YouTube

We are joined by three brilliant returning guests for our bumper-length festive special to mark the end of the year! Fiona Cummins, Cally (C.L.) Taylor and Ed James return to tell us all about their year in writing, what they are looking forward to writing-wise in 2026, and what their favourite reads and watches of the year have been. Plus - our Between The Lines game returns as they ...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube

Joe Hill is a Sunday Times bestseller and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box, The Fireman, and Full Throttle. He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long-running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with artist Gabriel Rodriguez. Much of his work has been adapted for movies and television. His second novel, Horns, was translated ...

Watch this episode as a full video episode on YouTube

A good ending can stay with you long after you've finished a book or a film, but a bad one can ruin everything that came before. On this week's episode of Drafting Notes, we talk about what makes a good ending, and talk about some of the ways to think about crafting that ending to try and give a satisfying conclusion to your stories. Plus, we talk about some of our favourite ...

Watch this episode a full video episode

Kesia Lupo is the commissioning editor at MacMillan Children's Books, as well as being a former agent and author of three YA books.

We had a great chat with Kesia, learning about how she first got started in the publishing industry, and the differences between working for a smaller and larger publisher, and the impact that has on acquisition decisions. Plus, we discuss the differences i...

Watch this episode as a full video episode on YouTube

You only have one chance to make a first impression, so you better make sure you offer your prospective agent/editor/reader the best you can! On this week's episode, we chat about what makes a good opening compared to bad and why it matters. Plus, we discuss some of our favourite openings — as well as some not-so-good ones...

Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-w...

Jenny Brown established Jenny Brown Associates in 2002. She was previously Head of Literature at the Scottish Arts Council, presenter of book programmes for Scottish Television, and founder Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She was shortlisted in 2014 and2020 for Agent of the Year Award. She is former Chair of the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival (2011–21). She was made an Honorary&nbs...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube

Richard Swan is a critically acclaimed British genre writer. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Empire of the Wolf and Great Silence trilogies, the Decurion Saga (2026), and various short fiction for Black Library and Grimdark Magazine. His work has been translated into nine languages.

We enjoyed having Richard back on the podcast, catching up with him since we last spoke...

Watch this as a full video episode on YouTube

On this week's episode of Drafting Notes we are discussing that thing every writer hates: The Synopsis! Nobody enjoys them, but how do you write them? What should you include? What should you leave out? We discuss all this and even talk about why synopses can help you find the heart of your story.

Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopeful...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube

Phoebe Morgan is the Executive Fiction Publisher at Simon & Schuster, with a career spanning major publishing houses including HarperCollins, Orion, Octopus Books, and Hodder & Stoughton. Specialising in crime fiction while also working across general and book club fiction as well as romantasy, she has published numerous Sunday Times, New York Times, and Kindle best...