Writer's Routine Dan Simpson

Caz Frear was launched to debut success after winning the 'Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller' competition. Her novel, 'Sweet Little Lies', won the prize and found the bestselling status they searched for. What happens next? How do you follow up on debut success?
Caz discusses how she dealt with that writing her 2nd and 3rd novels, and why she's constantly looking to make her day better and improve how she works. We talk about the tech problems she attempts to deal with, how the process has changed after being a number of books down, and how she deals with the pressures of being an author that needs to do everything.
Her new novel is 'Five Bad Deeds', which tells the story of Ellen Walsh, a teacher, mother, wife, and all round good citizen, who discovers she has done something incredibly bad... but has no idea what.
You can hear about why she's changed her work-day to go easy on herself, how he stays creative while doing the admin, and how she's changed her mindset of working.
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Chioma Okereke's writing career started as a performance poet, even though she was terrified of performing poetry. From there she wrote short fiction, and was a highly placed runner up in the Costa Short Story Award, for 'Trompette de la Mort'. Her move into long-form began with her debut 'Bitter Leaf', which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize.
Her new novel is 'Water Baby', which looks at a 19 year old woman trying to escape her community in Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria. It explores the themes of education, digitalisation, and the representation of Africa. Her research for the novel prompted her to start a charity, 'Makoko Pearls', which is a direct and safe way to financially support the community.
We discuss why it was inspired by her wandering thoughts during a cooking show, also how she researched the location, which is so vital to the plot, without going there for a while. You can hear why living around the world has influenced her reason to write stories, how changing her plotting method has helped her 2nd novel, and find out why you can accept that some days are simply bad.
You can hear why her desk is always messy, how performing poetry affected how she viewed novels, and what she does when facing a creative block.
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Paul Carlucci has published 3 short story collections and works as a copywriter, making other peoples work read better. He's just released one of the most hotly anticipated debuts of the year, it's called 'The Voyageur'.
It tells the story of Alex, a motherless stockboy in 19th century Montreal, who is taken in by Serge, a drunken fur trader. After heading out on an expedition into the wilderness which goes awry, Alex must fend for himself at the mercy of stranger men, and a seemingly brilliant saviour in Dr Beaumount.
We talk about the novel being inspired by real life, and how he blended fact with fiction. Also, you can hear about the switch from short stories to long form, and what he's learned from a day-job in copywriting.
We chat through learning grammar and how that affects creative storytelling, and how much he worries about the formalities of writing when getting down prose. You can hear about his particular blend of plotting and pantsing, and why this project would be lost without his current publisher.
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Kerry Andrew is an all-round creative. As a composer, they've won 4 British Composer Awards, as a writer they've been nominated twice for the BBC National Short Story Award. Kerry has published 2 novels, 'Swansong', 'Skin', and is back with a third, 'We Are Together Because'.
It's all about siblings Luke, Connor, Thea and Violet, spending their first summer in their estranged father's house. Truth is, they don't even know each other too well, and when the worst happens, they discover if they can rely only rely on each other.
We talk about what life is like on a writing retreat and whether being around creatives gives you a different kind of energy. Also why writing in the past might change you write in the present, you can hear about the search for the perfect word, and why a recent health diagnosis has made Kerry evaluate what they really want to do.
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Daisy Goodwin has created some legendary television shows. She's the brains behind 'Grand Designs', 'Escape to the Country', and the historical drama, 'Victoria', based on Queen Victoria, which was sold in 146 countries.
She's published poetry, had 3 bestselling novels, 'My Last Duchess', 'The Fortune Hunter', and 'Victoria, which together have been translated into 17 countries.
Her newest novel is 'Diva'. It tells the story of Maria Callas, one of the world's greatest opera singers, who falls in love with rich magnate Aristotle Onassis, right before he marries First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. We discuss the thorough research, which included having singing lessons. Also you can hear about the balance of fact and fiction in historical novels, how she has adjusted to having ideas for novels rather than TV, and why she took 5 years away from novel-writing.
You can hear about the differences between international editors, why she's careful about what she reads when writing, and we ask whether you're an architect or a gardener.
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One of the most frequent requests to writersroutine.com is for fantasy authors. World builders. Authors with the ability to take you on an adventure across times, dimensions and brand new maps.
This week's guest, Max Moyer, has figured a way to do that. His new book 'Zodak - The Last Shielder', is the first in a new series, 'Tempest Rising'. There is a prequel novella already out, 'Throne Born', and this properly sets up a new world that's been in Max's head for 30 years. It started as an idea for a board-game and fantasy series with his brother, yet when life got in the way, Max left it untouched for 18 years. Now, alongside his sibling, he's created a brand new world with new lands, strange magic, and unusual creatures.
We get right into the detail of world-building - how to get the specifics right, how to create lands, magic, even accents. You can hear whether the plot comes before the world and how organic the world is created. We discuss whether it provides an easy get-out for a character in danger, and why he went back to his idea after 18 years away.
Max runs a law-firm and has helped raise a big family, you can hear how he's created time to do this, and what big plans he has for the series.
This week's episode is sponsored by 'Who is the Cheese Wire Killer?', a brand new podcast series you can binge now.
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