Young Adult (YA) fiction has been one of the real success stories of the 21st century and has seen rapid growth – particularly in the fantasy section of the book market. It has spawned hugely successful franchises like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, The Hunger Games, Twilight, and Divergent.

But audiences have also grown for YA books and films set in our own reality, finding drama in obstacles real teenagers may face. That trend began with the huge success of The Fault in Our Stars, which was soon followed by Paper Towns, Everything Everything, The Spectacular Now and Me, Earl and the Dying Girl.

On this new episode of We’d Like a Word we talk to two successful YA authors who have managed to find a middle ground that combines fantasy with ‘coming of age’ issues faced by young adults.

Shiulie Ghosh is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster. She has worked for the BBC, ITN and Aljazeera. She moderates debates for clients including the World Health Organisation and the UN. She also writes young adult fiction novels including the Daughter of Kali and Cetacea series.

Sarwat Chadda is also an award-winning author of YA books including the Devil’s Kiss and Ash Mistry series. His latest novel City of the Plague God is currently sitting at the top of the charts in several Amazon categories.

In this episode we discuss the appeal and success of YA and the process of writing for a young adult audience. How do you tackle complicated and emotive subjects such as relationships, race and bullying? Are any subjects taboo? How do you deal with the tricky business of teenage sex lives? It’s a lively, spirited and informative chat with two experts of their craft.

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We’d like a Word is a (nearly) award-winning podcast about writing, writers and readers hosted by authors Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan and served up in three easily digestible 20 minute chunks per episode.

You can find it on most podcast platforms such as iTunes, Spotify, ListenNotes, Podcast Radio, Anchor FM, Google Podcasts, etc.

Or just click here.

On this new episode Paul and Stevyn are joined, all the way from New Zealand by Elizabeth Knox, and all the way from Cornwall by Stephanie Bretherton – two authors who have created realistic, alternative worlds for their characters to inhabit.

Elizabeth’s latest book The Absolute Book is the story of two sisters. When one is killed and the perpetrator seems to get away with it, the other enters into an ancient and sinister world of myth and legend in search of revenge. It’s an electrifying contemporary fantasy, which features talking ravens, giant crocodiles and the search for the all-important titular volume, The Absolute Book.  

Stephanie’s novel Bone Lines is the story of two women, separated by millennia. Alternating between ancient and modern timelines, the story unfolds through the experiences of a prehistoric shaman, the sole surviving adult of her tribe who is braving a hazardous journey of migration, and a dedicated scientist living a comfortable if troubled existence in London, who is on her own mission of discovery as she studies the shaman’s bones.

We discuss how you do your research and how addictive and immersive it can be (and, more importantly, when to stop and get writing!).

We also mention, in passing, the extraordinary worlds built by people like J R R Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, Frank Herbert, George R R Martin, Ursula le Guin and many more.

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We’d like a Word is a (nearly) award-winning podcast about writing, writers and readers hosted by authors Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan and served up in three easily digestible 20 minute chunks per episode.

You can find it on most podcast platforms such as iTunes, Spotify, ListenNotes, Podcast Radio, Anchor FM, Google Podcasts, etc.

Or just click here.

A brand new episode of We’d Like a Word gets released into the wild today in which Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan discuss the topic of Northern Irish crime fiction. Joining them are authors James Murphy and Simon Maltman, and publisher and owner of the iconic Belfast No Alibis bookshop, David Torrans.

Among the many topics discussed are whether the ‘ship has sailed’ on Ulster Noir, how the NI Arts Council is supporting writers and writing teachers, and why writing about anything set during The Troubles is problematic. And just who is Barry Murderer??

Simon Maltman is the author of Witness, the Bongo Fury series, The Mark, Return Run and more. His blog is here.

James Murphy is the author of The Rise of Terror, the Terror Within, and Dark Light. His website is here.

David Torrans is the owner of the No Alibis bookshop and the No Alibis Press. Among the title he has published are The Lammisters by Declan Burke, Disorder by Gerard Brennan, and the much anticipated Seed by Joanna Walsh.

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We’d like a Word is a (nearly) award-winning podcast about writing, writers and readers hosted by authors Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan and served up in three easily digestible 20 minute chunks per episode.

You can find it on most podcast platforms such as iTunes, Spotify, ListenNotes, Podcast Radio, Anchor FM, Google Podcasts, etc.

Or just click here.

Hello! And welcome to another episode of our (nearly) award-winning podcast (so close!). This episode we’re looking at the divisive topic of publishers. Are they too celebrity obsessed? Are they driven by accountants rather than people who appreciate good writing? Is it possible to land a book deal without an agent? What is the state of publishing today in the wake of COVID-19?

We put these questions, and a lot more, to our excellent guests – Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books and Miranda Jewess of Viper Books.

You may not be surprised to learn that the world of publishing is like any other area of business – it exists on a spectrum with the greedy and sales-obsessed quantity lovers at one end and the caring, quality book lovers at the other. Both Karen and Miranda are definitely towards the latter end of that sliding scale – of course they want to sell books but not at the cost of quality. Consequently, the books they publish are well-written, often bestselling, and popular with readers. And they care about their authors.

It’s a lively, fun episode and a must for any writers out there.

Find us on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Radio, Anchor FM and, indeed, anywhere else that hosts great podcasts.

Or, just click here.

Hello! We’d like a Word is back for its second series after a much-needed four month break. We’ve survived Covid-19, a US election, Christmas and New Year, various storms (meteorological and political) and we’ve both managed to stay relatively sane during lockdown.

But now it’s time to dust off the mics, power up the Zoom apps and get stuck into recording some new interviews with people involved – in all of their various roles – in the wonderful world of writing. In this episode we’re looking at the publishing success story of the early 21st century – the audiobook. And to guide us through this world we have three professional audiobook readers – Natalie Chisholm, Patrick Moy and Caroline Lennon.

The audiobooks market is HUGE. It’s worth £2 billion annually and has grown by around 24% per year. However the onset of Coronavirus has almost doubled that amount – a 43% increase in the first half of 2020.

Some other audiobook factoids:

• 57% of audiobook listeners are under 50.

• The average person listens to eight audiobooks per year.

• In 2019 15% of Brits had listened to an audiobook, and 77% had read a paper book but … sales of paper books plunged by £55 million.

So how do you become an audiobook narrator? What’s involved? How do you prepare? And what skills and equipment do you need?

And, looking at the wider topic, is the growth of audiobooks bad for reading skills? Is a book spoiled by a bad choice of reader? And should authors read their own books?

Join the discussion on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor FM, Podcast Radio and other places where good podcasts are hosted.

Or just click here.

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Natalie Chisholm (aka Red Head Voiceover)

Patrick Moy (aka Patrick Doddy)

Caroline Lennon

On the latest locked-down and SWEARY episode of We’d Like a Word, Paul and Stevyn find out all about the arcane art of editing with two jobbing editors – Russel McLean and Linda Nagle. Both have years of experience in the field and are a mine of useful advice.

Russel D McLean is the author of a string of crime novels, including Ed’s Dead, described as a “masterpiece of modern noir” by Euro Crime. In addition to writing his own novels, Russel has provided editorial services – from development reports to full edits – for many clients and has chaired discussions at festival events including The Edinburgh Book Festival, The Dundee Book Festival, Aye Write, The Blairgowrie Book Festival and many others. The authors interviewed include Martina Cole, John Connolly, Chris Brookmyre, William McIlvanney, Justina Robson, Louise Welsh, and Stuart MacBride.

Linda Nagle is a freelance editor specialising in small press and self-published work. She is also an author and screenwriter. She has been published in the following anthologies: Tales of the Female perspective (Chinbeard Books); Paladins (Near to the Knuckle); 6 x 6 x 6 (Ice Pick Books), Within Darkness and Light (Nothing Books), The Black Room Manuscripts, Vol. 3 (The Sinister Horror Company) and her own anthology – Stranger Companies. She has edited numerous books for Haverhill House Publishing and John McIlveen and too many short stories to mention. She was also one of the writers of the acclaimed 2015 TV series Tráfico: Every Body Has a Price.

In this episode the discussion ranges from the difference between copy editing and structure editing, why nobody seems to able to write a good sex scene, how to deal with ‘precious’ authors and how Jake Thackray inspired a very sweary short story.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Blackwatertown by Paul Waters

Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by benjamin Dreyer

The Long Drop by Denise Mina

Writing the Novel from Plot to Print to Pixel by Lawrence Block

On Writing by Stephen King

Duncan Bradshaw – Bizarro writer (website)

Jericho Writers website

Russel’s website is here.

Linda’s Blog is here.

Where to find us …

We’d Like A Word is hosted by Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan and goes out fortnightly. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Podcast Radio and many other podcast sites. Or you can listen to it via the hosting site – Anchor FM – by clicking here.

Contact the show via Facebook or Twitter at: @wedlikeaword

Or by email: [email protected]

Welcome to a new episode of We’d Like a Word with Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan.

On this episode they talk to author Stephanie Scott about her brilliant debut novel What’s Left of Me is Yours and the topic of cross-genre books.

The book is literary fiction but is also a romance, a thriller and seamlessly dips its toe into several other genres, thus proving that it’s very limiting to consider books solely on ‘what shelf they would go on in book shops’.

There’s also an element of true crime in that the novel was inspired by a real life case involving a wakaresesaya – a professional Japanese ‘breaker-upper’ who was employed to seduce someone in order to shatter a marriage. These agencies really exist and the topic is discussed in the podcast, as is Stephanie’s fascinating family background and history.

STEPHANIE SCOTT is a Singaporean and British writer who was born and raised in South East Asia. She read English Literature at the Universities of York and Cambridge and holds an M.St in Creative Writing from Oxford University. She was awarded a British Association of Japanese Studies Toshiba Studentship for her anthropological work on What’s Left of Me Is Yours and has been made a member of the British Japanese Law Association as a result of her research. She has also won the A. M. Heath Prize, the Jerwood Arvon Prize for Prose Fiction, and was runner up for the Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award.

Also mentioned on the show:

And we could hardly leave the podcast without mentioning two other debut novels – one by former guest Sue Clarke and one by your very own host Paul Waters. Note to Boy and Blackwatertown are now on sale wherever you find good books!

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We’d Like A Word is hosted by Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan and goes out fortnightly. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Podcast Radio and many other podcast sites. Or you can listen to it via the hosting site – Anchor FM – by clicking here.

Contact the show via Facebook or Twitter at: @wedlikeaword

Or by email: [email protected]

On this latest episode of We’d Like a Word, we have something of a coup! Because Steve and Paul are chatting to Kritika Pandey, overall world-wide winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize!

Kritika first won the Asian heat of the competition, which got her to the final along with winners from Canada and Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific zone. On Tuesday (30th) it was announced that her story The Great Indian Tee and Snakes – had been voted the overall winner!

The Commonwealth Foundation announced Pandey’s win in an online award ceremony which featured readings from Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo and actors Swara Bhasker, Elizabeth McGovern, Kerry Fox, and Leila Bertand. 

Pandey, who hails from Ranchi, Jharkhand, was presented with the prize by Ghanaian author and Chair of the Judges Nii Ayikwei Parkes during a video call. She is the second Indian national to win the overall prize after Parashar Kulkarni in 2016.

Pandey’s winning story, The Great Indian Tee and Snakes, tells of an unlikely friendship which reaches across religious divides, set against the background of a tea seller’s stall. She writes of two young people trying to solve an age-old riddle of human existence: how can love overcome the forces of hatred and prejudice?  Pandey says, ‘I created a strong-willed character of a Hindu girl who chooses to love a Muslim boy, even though she knows that she is not “supposed to”.’

You can read the winning story here on the Granta website here.

Kritika’s website is here.

You can learn more about the prize here at the Commonwealth Writers website.

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We’d Like A Word is hosted by Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan and goes out fortnightly. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Podcast Radio and many other podcast sites. Or you can listen to it via the hosting site – Anchor FM – by clicking here.

Contact the show via Facebook or Twitter at: @wedlikeaword

Or by email: [email protected]

Welcome to this new episode of We’d Like A Word in which Paul and Steve chat to author Geoffrey Gudgion about his new novel Draca, and to General Sir Peter Wall – ex head of the British Army and now President of the charity Combat Stress which helps people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Geoff is an ex-Royal Navy veteran who, as you’ll hear, is no stranger to life-changing trauma himself (he’s not averse to the odd explosive prank either!). Draca is his latest novel and it tells the story of Jack, a man haunted by his past, who is rebuilding his life and a boat that belonged to his grandfather and which may have a kind of life of its own …

50% of all proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Combat Stress, a charity that means a great deal to Geoff.

For over a century the charity has been helping former servicemen and women deal with issues like PTSD, anxiety and depression. Today they provide specialist treatment and support for veterans from every service and conflict, focusing on those with complex mental health issues. They also act as advisers to people in other stressful work arenas such as the NHS frontline and police officers.

We also pay a pre-Covid visit to Geoff’s favourite bookshop in Marlow, Buckinghamshire (it’s also one of Paul and Steve’s favourite bookshops too) to have a chat and eat cake.

Combat Stress website is here.

The Marlow Bookshop is here.

Geoff’s website is here.

Buy DRACA here.

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We’d Like A Word is available from iTunes, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podcast Radio and wherever else good podcasts are found. Or you can listen to the episodes on their hosting site at Anchor by clicking here.

Welcome to another locked-down episode of WE’D LIKE A WORD with Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan and their guest this episode – novelist and screen-writer Dougie Brimson.

Dougie is the author of several novels including The Crew, Billy’s Log, Top Dog, Wings of a Sparrow and his latest – In the Know. He’s also the author of several non-fiction books that mostly centre on the culture of football fans and explore the subject of hooliganism. He’s also a screenwriter with several films to his credit including Green Street (starring Elijah Wood) and Top Dog, directed by actor an ex-Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp.

After 18 years service as an engineering sergeant with the RAF – including deployment during the Falklands conflict – Dougie’s literary career began in 1996 when he co-wrote a book exploring the culture of football hooliganism entitled, Everywhere We Go: Behind the Matchday Madness. He has subsequently written a further 14 books in a variety of genres including fiction thriller and fiction comedy.

In 2003 he made the move into screenwriting with the short film It’s a Casual Life, which looked at the world of football violence from the fans’ perspective. His first full-length feature, the Hollywood-funded Green Street won numerous awards including:

• Narrative Jury Prize-SXSW Film Festival
• Narrative Feature Audience-SXSW Film Festival
• Best of Festival–Malibu Film Festival
• Jury Award (feature)–Malibu Film Festival
• Official Selection–Tribeca Film Festival

His next feature was an adaptation of his own novel Top Dog in 2014 which won ‘Best Feature’ at the British Independent Film Festival 2014 as well as a string of acting awards.

November 2014 saw the release of We Still Kill The Old Way, a vigilante thriller starring Ian Ogilvy, Chris Ellison, Steven Berkhoff and Lysette Anthony.

On this episode we discuss the differences between writing for books and writing for the screen. We also talk about the difficulties faced by working-class writers who have huge audiences but almost no representation among traditional publishers.

Mentioned on the show:

Kit de Waal’s excellent Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers

Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son

Sabrina Mafouz’s Smashing It: Working Class Artists on Life, Art and Making It Happen

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WE’D LIKE A WORD is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Pods, Apple Music, and wherever good podcasts are hosted. We’re also to be found at Podcast Radio and here on our host site, Anchor. Or just click here!

Contact us by email at [email protected]

We’re also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as @wedlikeaword