How difficult is it for two – or more – people to write together as a team? It seems to be fairly common practice for screenwriters and non-fiction authors. But how about novels? But how do you maintain consistency in your characters’ behaviour and voices? What happens if you disagree over the plot? In this brand new episode, Paul and Stevyn talk to to two teams of collaborative novelists about their process.
First up there’s consultant anaesthetist Dr Marisa Haetzman and her husband, the internationally bestselling and multi-award winning author Chris Brookmyre, who write together as Ambrose Parry. They’ve written a trilogy of thrillers set in Victorian Edinburgh – the most recent being A Corruption of Blood. We hear from them about how Marisa’s extensive medical history knowledge informed their writing (‘No he can’t have a robot leg’); whether being married helps their writing (and whether writing together helps their marriage); and why – when you’re an established author with a recognised name – would you masquerade as Ambrose Parry?
We then also hear from Dan Brotzel and Martin Jenkins, two of the three authors (along with Alex Woolf) of the new comic novel, Work in Progress (previously known as Kitten on a Fatberg). The three lads, who are in the same writers’ group, got together to write this book … about a fictional writers’ group (‘It’s all a bit meta’). We hear how the fictional authors and the real writers got together and how they succeed and fail in their efforts to keep readers laughing and turning the pages.
The authors are very kindly giving away copies of the book to a randomly selected few who retweet or share the We’d Like a Word announcement of this episode (see below for details of the accounts to follow).
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We’d Like A Word is a podcast & radio show from authors Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, editors, agents, celebrities, talkers, poets, publishers, booksellers, audiobook creators about books – fiction & non-fiction. We go out on various radio & podcast platforms. Our Twitter is @wedlikeaword & Facebook @wedlikeaword & our email is [email protected] Yes, we are embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear from you – questions, thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you’d like to come on We’d Like A Word to chat, review or read out passages from books.
And if you’re still stuck for something to read, may we recommend Blackwatertown by Paul Waters or Cockerings by Stevyn Colgan.