The Writing Life

We're a weekly podcast for anyone who writes. We talk to writers about their writing journeys and techniques, from early career debuts to self-publishers and narrative designers. We've featured Margaret Atwood, Jackie Kay, Sara Collins, Antti Tuomainen, Val McDermid, Sarah Perry, Elif Shafak and many more!Brought to you by the National Centre for Writing at Dragon Hall in Norwich.


All Episodes

#33 How to write video games with 80 Days’ Jon Ingold

Jon Ingold, co-founder of Inkle Studios, joins us on the podcast today. The studio has produced award-winning adventures for mobile and PC, including the Sorcery series and 80 Days, and they’re only weeks away from releasing their latest project, Heaven’…

#32 How to write collaboratively with Nicci French

This week we have an interview with the entity that is Nicci French, comprised of wife-and-husband team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. They discuss their Frieda Klein books and how they write collaboratively.Asking the questions is Chris Rushby, the mu…

#31 Alan Moore And John Dee

This week we’re visiting the archives to pull out an amazing recording of comics writer Alan Moore. This is from the Norfolk and Norwich Festival way back in 2013, when audiences were treated to a rare glimpse of an unreleased Moore project. It was to be…

#30 How to be a productive writer with Tim Clare

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who is more passionate and driven about writing than Tim Clare. We talk about Tim’s Weekly Writing Workout newsletter, his Couch to 80k Writing Bootcamp as well as his novels The Honours and forthcoming The Ice Hous…

#29 Constructing a book series with Roz Watins

We talk to Roz Watkins about techniques for constructing a book series, how to develop a lead detective characters over multiple novels, and how plans can change from book-to-book. Interview by Elspeth Latimer, made possible by CHASE (Consortium of the…

#28 Inventing new digital forms with Tom Abba

This week we catch up with Tom Abba, one of the minds behind storytelling innovation lab Ambient Literature. Tom has been exploring how digital technology can influence storytelling and in this episode we dive into his experiments and how they intersect …

#27 Death In Paradise creator Robert Thorogood

Season 8 of the massive BBC television crime drama Death in Paradise starts this week. Robert Thorogood was here at Dragon Hall last year for the Noirwich Crime Writing Festival, and today’s episode is a recording of the conversation he had with Nina Nan…

#26 The Importance of Arts Funding with Tamsin Flower

Today we’re chatting with Tamsin Flower about arts funding – what it is, why it’s important and how to get it. Her latest project, a cross-form video-poetry cycle called The Lives of F, was made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England.Host…

#25 Finishing Your First Book with Amer Anwar

We’re chatting with Amer Anwar, debut writer of the crime novel Brothers in Blood. Amer was in town earlier in the year for the Noirwich Crime Writing Festival and we talked to him about the creation and publishing of his first book.Hosted by Simon Jon…

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