Tag: fiction

Join Nicola Whyte on the Creative Differences Livestream

Nicola Whyte’s debut whodunnit 10 MARCHFIELD SQUARE has been getting rave reviews and I’m delighted that she’ll be joining me on the next livestream.

Nicola’s work has been listed for the Comedy Women in Print Prize, the Cheshire Novel Prize, the Daily Mail First Novel Competition, the BPA First Novel Award, and the Times Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition.

Join us live to join the conversation about writing whodunnits, being a debut novelist, and all those little things that make a big difference to the creative process.

As always, it promises to be a fun evening, so pop that date in your diary…

WEDNESDAY 11TH JUNE, 8PM BST

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Sarah Pinborough: Describe a House

Before you watch this clip, take a moment to describe a house (maybe even write it down), then watch this clip with bestselling author Sarah Pinborough whose novel WE LIVE HERE NOW is out now (and is set in a very spooky house!) and was partly inspired by this exercise — Credit to author Mark Chadbourn for the exercise!

TRANSCRIPT

SARAH: You know the author Mark Chadbourn?

MARK: Yes. Yes, yeah I do. Yeah.

SARAH: We were at an event somewhere, and he was doing this thing where you have to describe a house. So he was like, describe this house, da-da-da-da… And so, he goes, ‘Is there a path?’ ‘Yeah, it’s kind of a stone house.’ ‘Where is it?’ ‘It’s on its own, in the middle of nowhere. It’s quite a cold place. It’s quite forbidding. It’s kind of oppressive, doesn’t want you to come in and blah, blah, blah.’ But then when I got to the end of this, he said, when you get people to describe a house, it describes their emotional… How they view relationships and their emotional thing. And this idea of no one’s coming in my house. And actually when I look back, I’m like, well, here I am, single at 53 (laughs), and I maybe there was something in it, but it’s kind of that house in my head that I pictured then, you know, like this kind of in the middle of nowhere on its own, doing its own thing house.

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Sarah Pinborough: Relatable is Commercial

Here’s a clip of me mansplaining theme to bestselling author Sarah Pinborough, before she sums it up succinctly… 🙂

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TRANSCRIPT

MARK: We have a thing called the Green Room where people… we talk about writing, and I bang on and on about things like central dramatic arguments and themes. When you say, what is your book about? You’ve just given us a brilliant example because you’ve, you know, it’s about the lies couples tell each other and that thematically, you know, runs through the whole story and it’s so strong because we spent, you know, eight minutes talking about it already. And I think we could talk about it all night. But it’s and that’s what I think makes your book so compelling because it is, you know, about these terrible truths…

SARAH: It’s that awful word, ‘relatable’.

MARK: ‘Relatable’.

SARAH: ‘Relatable’.

MARK: Relatable equals commercial equals money in the bank. Yeah, it’s Mike says 100%. All you need is a dog. And we had we had, we had Mike and his dog on here a few episodes ago, folks. I’ll, I’ll put a link in the show notes. You can check the episode out.

MIKE SHACKLE: I am a professional. I’m sorry.

LINKS MENTIONED

The episode with Mike Shackle and his dog…

Here’s my writing group The Green Room…

JOIN THE GREEN ROOM

And here’s my favourite video on theme and the central dramatic argument with Craig Mazin…

Sarah Pinborough: “I Triple Write.”

This month’s special guest bestselling author Sarah Pinborough reveals when she knows that’s she finished a draft and how she ‘triple writes’ her books…

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TRANSCRIPT

MARK: How do you know when you’re done?

SARAH: Well, Mark, invariably, I am skating in the last knockings of the deadline. So when I write the end, I literally think ‘I’m going to scan through this and I’m sending this fucker off,’ so… But, because I do triple write, as it were, like I plan in a notebook, then I rough write into Scrivener, then I copy it over into Word, tidy it in Word. I do it in like 8000 word chunks. I’ve kind of… if it’s not untidy and it’s not…. You know, it’s probably most people’s second draft, when I hand it in. And I kind of think… I mean obviously this would be different if it was on spec, but I’m like; they’ve paid for it. Let’s see if it’s holding, you know, because if it’s not holding, it doesn’t matter how pretty I make it. (If) there’s a massive structural problem, let’s get to that. You know, so I kind of figure that’s the way.

Sarah Pinborough on Writing in Short Bursts

This month’s special guest bestselling author Sarah Pinborough reveals a great tip for writing in 20-minute bursts…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: What small thing has made a big difference to your creative process?

SARAH: Cocaine! Okay, that’s a joke. (laughs)

MARK: (laughs) You might have said that a little too quickly.

SARAH: What small things made a difference to my creative process. I mean, it’s not a small thing, but obviously… Oh, actually, I do have one for this! So I use the Freedom app. You know, which turns the internet off. And my friend Harriet Tyce… because I used to just turn it off for an hour and then dick around on my phone. Pointless. But she told me to do it… There’s that thing where you do it in 20 minute bursts. So you set it for 20 minutes, and then you work… because 20 minutes you can work for. And so three lots of 20 minutes, and you’ve done, like, nearly a thousand words. And it’s much more focused. So I do try and do these 20 minute bursts if I’m not feeling it. And that does help, you know. And also I’m not a great fan of the word count thing. You know, people say I must write 2500 words a day. I think it’s better to have a good thinking time.

MARK: Yeah, absolutely. That 20 minutes is that sort of Pomodoro timer.

SARAH: Yeah. That’s the word! Pomodoro. That’s it.

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Mark Stay’s Creative Differences Episode 10 with Sarah Pinborough: THE LIES WE TELL

I chat with Sarah Pinborough, the bestselling and award-winning author of Behind Her Eyes about her new thriller We Live Here Now, spooky houses, her method of ‘triple writing’, going on tour and the lies we tell each other…

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LINKS

The book links are affiliate links and I earn a wee bit of commission if you buy from them.

WE LIVE HERE NOW

LAUNCH AT WATERSTONES MILTON KEYNES ON WEDNESDAY 4TH JUNE

SARAH’S US TOUR

MOBLAND
THE HANDMAID’S TALE
DOPE THIEF
TUBI FOR JACK PALANCE HORROR
YOU KILLED ME FIRST BY JOHN MARRS
THE HAMLET BY JOANNA CORRANCE
PAM KOWOLSKI IS A MONSTER BY SARAH LANGHAM
THE DEVILS BY JOE ABERCROMBIE
ANDOR
IT AIN’T ME BY EMILY ZECK

COME AND MEET MARK AT A COMIC CON

Mark Chadbourn on Bluesky
The Mike Shackle episode

Edit by Kai Newton
Production assistance by Emily Stay
Jingle by Dom Currie

THE GREEN ROOM

The Corn Bride Spoiler Night Recording

Here’s the recording of last night’s Corn bride spoiler special, though in the end we didn’t end up talking much about the book, and more about what might happen next…

Tracy Buchanan on her Biggest Mistake

This month’s special guest bestselling author Tracy Buchanan reveals her biggest mistake in her career…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: So what’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in your writing career?

TRACY: I think not being consistent and maybe pivoting too much sometimes. So, because I’m savvy I’m very aware of being careful with what publishers I’m with. I’ve learned that publishers are pretty much the same. A lot of publishers are the same. As in they’re great. A lot of publishers are great. And at the end of the day, you’re the one who’s in control. So they are helping you in a way. They’re almost like a freelancer for you. So staying with publishers, you know, I think there’s… it’s important to have that consistency. So I probably have, when I’ve been offered opportunities, jumped around a little bit too much. So, I think that’s, that’s something… I wouldn’t say it’s the biggest mistake I’ve made, but , you know, just being a bit more consistent.

Tracy Buchanan: Writing and Walks

This month’s special guest Tracy Buchanan reveals how her dog inspires her creativity…

TRANSCRIPT:

MARK: What small thing has made a big difference to your creative process?

TRACY: Oh, having a dog in my office. A small thing: it’s walks. I know that sounds really… Going out for walks when I get stuck on something or trying to come up with ideas. And that’s what my dog — my dog assistant is snoring at the moment — comes in. So that’s that is a small thing for me, because if I’m sat there and I cannot figure out this plot hole, if I go out into nature, walk around… It untangles. So I’d always recommend that to anyone: going out for walks.

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Join Sarah Pinborough on the Creative Differences Livestream

Join me with bestselling author Sarah Pinborough on the livestream that looks at the little things that make a big difference to the creative process.

Sarah Pinborough is an award-winning and New York Times, Sunday Times, and internationally bestselling author and screenwriter who is published in over 30 territories worldwide. Having published more than 25 novels across various genres, her recent books include Behind Her Eyes, now a smash-hit Netflix limited series; 13 Minutes that’s she’s developing with Carnival/NBC, The Death House that she’s adapted herself for Compelling Pictures, and her most recent book Insomnia which she adapted herself and is now streaming on Paramount+
And she’s hilarious, wise and has a lovely dog called Ted.
Do please join us live as you’ll have the opportunity to ask Sarah questions on the night (and just before her big America tour!). 

It’s going to be so much fun. Put that date in your diaries now… 

Monday 12th May 8pm BST.

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