Page One - The Writer's Podcast Write Gear

Jasper Fforde is the critically acclaimed author of The Last Dragonslayer series: THE LAST DRAGONSLAYER, THE SONG OF THE QUARKBEAST and THE EYE OF ZOLTAR, SHADES OF GREY, the Nursery Crime books: THE BIG OVER EASY and THE FOURTH BEAR and the Thursday Next novels: THE EYRE AFFAIR, LOST IN A GOOD BOOK, THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS, SOMETHING ROTTEN, FIRST AMONG SEQUELS, ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING and THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT. His latest book is RED SIDE STORY, a sequel to Shades of Grey.
We really enjoyed this chat with Jasper, hearing about how he dealt with initial rejections, and why you must persist with your writing in order to make it better. We also chat about not writing to market and hear how he develops initial ideas to full story, including the concept of the "narrative dare" that he as an author makes with himself. Plus, we talk about his rather unique author website!
Links:
Buy Jasper's books now
Visit Jasper's website
Follow Jasper on Twitter/X
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Eliza Chan is a Scottish-born speculative fiction author. Her short fiction has been published in The Dark, Podcastle, Fantasy Magazine and The Best of British Fantasy. Her debut novel FATHOMFOLK — inspired by mythology, ESEAN cities and diaspora feels — was published by Orbit in Feb 2024 and hit number 1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
We had a great chat with Eliza, talking about the differences in writing short- and long-form fiction, as well as the growing acceptance of wider representation in publishing. Plus, we talk about why Twitter isn't all bad (!) and hear about hopping vampires...
Links:
Buy Fathomfolk now
Follow Eliza on Twitter/X
Visit Eliza's website
The Submission Grinder
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Gareth Brown has been writing novels since he was a teenager. His first published novel - The Book of Doors - will be released in the UK (Bantam) and USA (William Morrow) in February 2024. Foreign language rights for The Book of Doors have also been sold to nearly twenty other territories including Germany. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary. 
It was great fun speaking with Gareth and hearing about his long writing journey, including hearing about why its so important to be patient as a writer. We talk about the difficulty of not selling a book on sub, and how to move past such disappointments, and why he thinks The Book of Doors has been such a success.
Links:
Buy The Book of Doors now
Follow Gareth on Twitter/X
Visit Gareth's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era, with a body of work spanning books, film, graphic novels, videogames, and non-fiction. An award-winning author and New York Times bestseller, his creations include Atomic Blonde, The Dog Sitter Detective, the Brigitte Sharp thrillers, and many more.
We loved chatting with Antony and hearing how he got his start as a professional writer through comics and graphic novels, including writing The Coldest City, which was the graphic novel on which the film Atomic Blonde was based. We also chat about his work in video games such as Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor and more (and hear about what it was like writing 4,000 orcish insults) and why he has recently moved into writing cosy crime novels with the Dogsitter Detective series. Plus, we talk about his process, which he has brought together in his book, The Organised Writer.
Links:
Buy Antony's books now
Follow Antony on Twitter/X
Visit Antony's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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James Logan (also known as James Long) has worked for years in the publishing industry, currently as Senior Commissioning Editor for Orbit. But for years, he harboured a secret - he really wanted to write his own fantasy epics instead of just editing them - and he has achieved that dream with his debut novel, THE SILVERBLOOD PROMISE, which is out in April 2024, and has already received rave reviews, including from the likes of Scott Lynch.
We really enjoyed chatting with James and hearing about his work on the publishing side of the fence, editing authors such as Richard Swan, as well as his desires to become an author. We hear how it too years for that writing to pay off, including what seemed like a doomed submission process with other editors only for it to be picked up just as he was considering self-publishing. Plus, we reminisce about our favourite Fighting Fantasy books.
Links:
Buy The Silverblood Promise
Follow James on Twitter/X
Visit James's website
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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This episode is also available as a full video interview on our YouTube channel
Felicity Blunt has been a literary agent with Curtis Brown since 2005, and represents authors that span the literary to commercial spectrum, including Booker Prize shortlisted Claire Keegan, Women's Prize shortlisted Meg Mason, Rosamund Lupton, Renée Knight and Gillian McAllister in addition to NYT bestselling debut authors Abi Daré and Bonnie Garmus.
Gráinne Fox is a literary agent with UTA and represents award-winning novelists, New York Times bestselling journalists and academics. Her clients have been shortlisted for, or won, various awards including The William Hill Sports Book of The Year, The Booker Prize, The Women’s Prize, The Irish Book Awards, The British Book Awards, The Orwell Prize, The Plutarch Award, the RTÉ Short Story Competition, and the NBCC.
We were delighted to have the chance to catch up with both of them just ahead of the start of this year's London Book Fair to hear why that and other literary book fairs are so important, and to talk about what really happens at these events!
Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one
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