Over the past ten episodes of the podcast we've looked at a range of strategies and techniques to make story setting as compelling and attractive as possible for readers. Looking at research and description as well as the relationship between setting and character, and setting and voice. We've explored the creative tension between being "credible" and "immersive" in setting. This episode illustrates these principles with a quick sketch of the settings from three very different stories in very different genres, giving practical applications of the insights. ...
My guest this week is the author Becky Chambers, author of the critically acclaimed novel 'The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet'. Becky’s novel was shortlisted for the Kitschies in the debut category in 2014, longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2016, and it has just been shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke prize. Becky knows what it is to self-publish and she also knows what it is to be commercially published, since her self-published novel was picked up in 2015 by Hodder and Stoughton. In the interview she shares her experiences and advice on the craft and the publishing process. Many of you will know Becky’s work, but if you don’t just check the search engine of your choice and you’ll see what I mean when I say that Becky is the talk of the town in publishing at the moment. ...
We all know the opening scene in any book is the critical moment to make your mark on the reader, to grab their interest, to set out your stall, and to keep them hooked. This episode explores the four principles that make an opening scene work and give your whole story a great start ...
