Ellis Blackwood: I Hate Plotting | Mark Stay’s Creative Differences Ep19

Ellis Blackwood is the author of the brilliant Samuel Pepys Mysteries, and also had a previous career writing about his love of Doctor Who, David Bowie, and he once made a very strange video with me on Youtube (we were young and needed the money)…

WE ALSO DISCUSS…

Rapid Publishing & Series arcs

Historical accuracy versus story

And why he hates plotting (but does it anyway)…



Or watch it on Youtube…

LINKS

Ellis Blackwood’s books

Dalek, I Loved You video

The End of Gods Unboxing Video

Shire Books

Plottr

The Traitors

Ski Sunday

The Winter Olympics

Public Service Broadcasting

Ben Elton (this is an affiliate link, so I earn money if you buy using this)

A huge thanks to Emily Stay-Newton for production assistance, to Kai Stay-Newton for the edit, and Dominic Currie for the jingle.

Support the show:
Visit https://markstaycreativedifferences.com/
Join The Green Room: https://ko-fi.com/markstaywriter/tiers
Buy my books here: https://witchesofwoodville.com/#bookshop
And there’s more about me at: https://markstaywrites.com/

Me, Ben Aaronovitch, British Library, 30th March…

This promises to be fun! I’ll be chatting to Ben Aaronovitch about Stone Sky at the actual British Library on 30th March. Get your tickets here.

Join me and JULIE WASSMER for a LIVE recording of the podcast

As part of the Escalate Arts Literature Festival, I’m going to be interviewing bestselling author and screenwriter JULIE WASSMER at the Staines Library Hub on Saturday 14th March, 2026 from 3-4pm… and we’re recording it for the Creative Differences podcast! And you can join us live!

Julie wrote for Eastenders for over 20 years and is the author of Whitstable Pearl mysteries, which is now a hit TV series starring Kerry Godliman, and I can tell you from past experience that Julie is a brilliant guest, so generous with advice and very funny: you don’t want to miss this! 

Join us in person…



Who Am I, anyway…?

Who is this Mark Stay person, anyway? A quick hello/introduction to any news followers after that libraries vid went a bit popular…

Authors Get Money When You Use the Library

Did you know that every time someone borrows a book from a library in the UK or Ireland that the author gets money?! Guess who just got his PLR statement!

A Quick Tour of My Notebooks

Here’s a tour of my “live” notebooks…

I bought a second hand book and found a spooky note…

Ever bought a second-hand book and found anything strange inside…?

Ellis Blackwood on the Creative Differences Livestream

The Creative Differences livestream is back, back, back! Join me and the brilliant Ellis Blackwood for what promises to be a lively chat in which we not only discuss his super Samuel Pepys mysteries, but also a secret Youtube video that we recorded when we were young and needed the money…

Join the conversation on THURSDAY 22nd JANUARY, 8pm GMT.

Or on Youtube…

And catch up with all the previous episodes here: https://markstaycreativedifferences.com

Book Dedications: Where do they come from (part two)

Those little dedications authors put at the start of their books: why do we do it? What do they mean? Here’s a quick tour of my Witches of Woodville books…

You can find all these books here: https://witchesofwoodville.com/the-village-bookshop/

Book Dedications: Where Do They Come From? (Part One)

Those little dedications authors put at the start of their books: why do we do it? What do they mean? Here’s a quick tour of some of mine…

You can find all these books here: https://witchesofwoodville.com/the-village-bookshop/