I had the best time discussing the classic novelisation of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by Vonda N McIntyre with the Authorized podcast gang. I discuss my relationship with the film and the book and how both have inspired me as a writer…
Talking Bowie at the Faversham Lit Festival
Saturday 22nd February, 2025
Faversham Literary Festival
Faversham Assembly Rooms, 5pm
I’ll be chatting to Simon Goddard about the latest of his books chronicling the career of David Bowie. He’s up to 1974, the year in which one man is trying to find his soul in a world that’s gone to the devil. Wickedly funny and shockingly tragic.
Join Nicola May on the Creative Differences livestream
We kick off 2025 with a brilliant special guest! Nicola May is a hugely successful bestselling author renowned for her heartwarming and humorous …
Join Nicola May on the Creative Differences livestream
Fancy a FREE Witches of Woodville Short Story?
A Dream of Scissors is a new FREE Witches of Woodville short story now available to subscribers of the Woodville Village Library newsletter. Sign up now for the latest news and grab a FREE eBook or two while you’re at it!
And please take a moment to enjoy the stunning cover design by Andrew Bowden…
The Crow Folk & Babes in the Wood for just 99p you say?
The Crow Folk and Babes in the Wood are 99p on Kindle throughout January 2025!
What’s the best social media platform for marketing books?
This month’s special guest GB Ralph reveals his preferred social media platforms for marketing his books…
TRANSCRIPT
MARK: Marketing wise, which platform do you find the most successful for your books?
GB RALPH: I presume you mean, like, social media platform? All sort of have different purposes.
My Instagram is sort of… I’ve inherited friends and family who are very lovely. There’s only so many times you can sell the same book to your friends and family. Then Facebook. I’ve picked up a lot of readers who I wouldn’t have expected. TikTok was really fun. It comes in waves where I get enthusiasm to do some videos and then it drops off again. But that is… because TikTok shows your stuff to a lot of people who don’t follow you. So I think that has been really interesting to pick up people who’ve never heard of me because my videos have been shown to them or whereas on the other platforms a lot of it is your stuff getting shown to a subset of your own followers who already know you. I don’t know. Probably the most engagement is through my mailing list actually, because that’s the most reliable. It gets sent out and I can see roughly how many people open it. That’s where it starts. And then it’s sort of like, okay, I have the content now, I need to now I can recycle that to the social medias.
GB Ralph on Starting a First Draft
This month’s special guest GB Ralph reveals when he’s ready to start writing a draft…
TRANSCRIPT
MARK: What’s the thing that makes you think you’re ready to start writing on a project?
GB RALPH: When I back-calculate from my deadline and find that I’m already behind schedule. (laughs) I don’t know, where is even the start line? Is it jotting down ideas, sketching them out? Plotting? Is it start writing, ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’? I’m ready to start drafting my next book now. Like, as in, chapter one, scene one as of this week. I have a victim. I have a handful of suspects, each with their potential motives, and that’s about it. But I have I have about two novels’ worth of content and that I want to fit into one novel. So we’re bursting at the seams, and I need to start writing to see what ideas are actually smaller than I thought they were. Ones that don’t fit in at all. Ones that are maybe bigger than I had originally thought and will spark more ideas.
Or watch the whole show on Youtube…
I Get Nostalgic on Chris Deacy’s Nostalgia Podcast
I’ve done a fair few podcast interviews, but I’m in a strangely reflective mood in this one. I’m interviewed by the excellent Chris Deacy, and in lieu of finding a studio to record in we did this in my car (hence the occasional gentle whoosh of passing motors) and it was recorded the night before the US election. My favourite bit is my thesis that nostalgia is a slippery slope to fascism… Yes, I was in one of those moods! Do please enjoy…
210: Stephen Willoughby – Nostalgia Interviews with Chris Deacy
My guest this week is Stephen Willoughby, who studied Theology at Lampeter between 1984 and 1987. After university, Stephen’s path took a technical turn – he became a computer operator and later completed an MSc in Computer Science at Aberystwyth, a journey that reflects a broadening of Stephen’s skills.
Stephen now works in quality assurance and holds a PhD in a related field. Originally from Orpington in Kent, he now lives in Derbyshire.
Stephen has had a lifelong passion for radio, sparked on his 7th birthday when he received his first radio set. He was captivated early on by classical music and Radio 3, but it was Radio 2 in the 1980s that gave him a window into the wider world. He's steeped in the station's history and recalls listening to Alan Dell on Sunday afternoons, including the public reaction when there was talk of Dell leaving the airwaves.
We discuss the magic of live radio, the days when Radios 1 and 2 shared the FM frequency, and the role of DJs like David Hamilton—who used to include the pop charts in his Tuesday afternoon Radio 2 shows.
Stephen also shares which stations he listens to today, including Boom Radio, and reflects on whether he’s more of a looking back or a forward-looking person.
What’s Bringing us Joy now…?
My special guest GB Ralph and I reveal the things that are bringing us joy this month, including books, TV and games. See below for a full list of links…
LINKS
GB Ralph’s website
Everyone this Christmas has a Secret
The Holly King by Mark Stay
Only Murders in the Building
Arcane
Mini Metro game
Allie X Last Christmas
Altego Music’s Wham/Chappel Roan mash-up
The Penguin
Beyond the Throne by Kristian Nairn
Rosalie Cunningham, To Shoot Another Day
December will be Magic Again by Kate Bush
Christmas at the Airport by Nick Lowe
Edit by Kai Newton
Production assistance by Emily Stay
Jingle by Dom Currie
Or watch it on Youtube…
GB Ralph on Deadlines and Pre-Orders
This month’s special guest GB Ralph reveals the importance of deadlines, and why he sets up a book for pre-order before it’s even written…
TRANSCRIPT
MARK: What small thing has made a big difference to your writing process?
GB RALPH: A small thing that has made a big difference in my creative process is having a deadline. No deadline, nothing happens. Deadline: Let’s go. I work well to a deadline, which is something I learned back in school. But as an indie author, there’s not really such a thing as a deadline, so I had to create one myself, which is… the main one is setting up a preorder for the next book, which forces me to get going through that, don’t you?
MARK: Because if you get that wrong, certain online retailers get very upset with the authors.
GB RALPH: Oh yeah. I know, I know which is is motivating. It can be stressful, but I think it’s a good kind of stress, the motivating kind, not the debilitating kind. It’s still deadline. It can be a year away, which is forever. And I need to constantly remind myself that I need to make little deadlines along the way. Ones that have consequences. Otherwise, I’ll pull a Douglas Adams and enjoy the wooshing sound as deadlines go by.
Mark Stay Writes 