In this new (and bonus length) episode of We’d Like A Word, Paul and Stevyn talk to authors Jake O’Kelly (in the studio) and Andrew Chapman (via phone) about self-publishing, the value of beta readers and the importance of good covers. We also talk about gay fiction and about writing sex scenes … because so few people seem to do it well and a great many authors (including your hosts) haven’t yet been brave enough to try. Why is writing a sex scene so hard? (Oo-er) And is it more difficult to write sex scenes that are outside of your comfort zone e.g. a gay author writing a hetero scene? It’s a fascinating discussion. Oh, and apologies for the slight background noise – there was a very excitable radio show going on in the studio next door to us.
Available as a podcast from Thursday 21st November on iTunes, Spotify, Anchor FM, Google podcasts and wherever good podcasts are hosted.
As always, do get in touch if you fancy answering this show’s brain-teaser or to suggest topics for us to cover. Email us at [email protected] plus you can find us on Twitter and Facebook as @wedlikeaword.
Paul, Jake O’Kelly and Stevyn
Andrew Chapman
Jake O’Kelly is the author of The Smell of Good Decisions, a near-dystopian near-future thriller set in his home town of San Francisco in which four people become the unwilling victims of a military experiment to weaponise the human olfactory system. He was formerly the head of publicity for Amazon Publishing and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). He now works for online developers Mozilla (creators of Firefox and other well-known software). Website
Andrew Chapman, with the full support of his family, gave up his job to ‘have a go’ at being a writer. He has self-published two very well received books Tripping the Night Fantastic – a booze-sodden and occasionally surreal whodunit – and The Accidental Scoundrel in which the hero discovers that, in order to marry his girlfriend, he has to join her eccentric father’s gang of gentlemen thieves. Andrew’s next book has recently attracted the attentions of traditional publishers and he hopes that he may not have to live in a caravan for much longer. Website
Useful links mentioned in this episode:
99Designs – to get book covers, logos etc. designed
ACX – to get affordable audiobooks made
The Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Award
And here are the San Diego Comicon photos that Stevyn mentions (and it was 2008 not 2005 – his memory isn’t what it was, obviously) …
Books mentioned in this episode:
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Taken by the T Rex by Alara Branwen and Christie Sims
List of the Lost by Morrissey
Scoundrels: The Hunt for Hansclapp by Major Victor Cornwall and Major Arthur St John Trevelyan