Writing Process

Pharrell Williams on the writing process for 'Despicable Me 2'

This episode is all about the writing process, so naturally we've talked to a lot of our authors to find out what it is that inspires them, how they start off their writing day and what keeps them motivated.  Our authors are certainly kept busy, going on book tours and having interviews with journalists, all whilst they're writing another bestseller, so it was up to us to bring these special podcast interviews to them in a variety of different situations.

We telephoned Joanna Rossiter, author of The Sea Change, whilst she was having a quick break during a creative writing course she was teaching at in Dorset.  She's standing outside by the sea so there is quite a bit of wind, but we like to think it's atmospheric and very fitting with the title and themes of the book.

Next we grabbed Giovanna Fletcher, when she came to Penguin's offices for meetings, to tell us about her average day as a writer.  Her debut novel, Billy and Me, is a gorgeously romantic story about the redemptive power of love, and we couldn't help but all fall a little bit in love with Giovanna!

We also snuck in and asked Graeme Simsion about his writing methods when he was over from Australia promoting his hilarious book The Rosie Project, which features perhaps one of the most endearing characters of all time - Professor Don Tilman.  If you haven't "met" Don already, head over to Twitter and say Hi! @ProfDonTillman

We then have a reading from a rather unusual book by Latin America's greatest living writer Eduardo Galeano.  He provides a literary calendar in Children of the Days where each day brings with a story that really happened on that date, from all possible years and all corners of the world.  This reading is from today's (June 27th) entry entitled "We are all Guilty".

Next we have three of John Yorke's top tips for writing a screenplay.  John Yorke is the man behind some of the greatest UK dramas including Skins, Shameless, The White Queen and Wolf Hall and has recently written Into the Woods - a revelation of the fundamental structure and meaning of stories.

Finally, at this year's Puffin Party we went armed with a mic and recorder to ask a couple of quick questions to some of the best Children's authors of our time, including Jacqueline Wilson, Juliet Donaldson, Jeremy Strong, Meg Rosoff, Charlie Higson, Phil Earle, Michelle Paver and Cathy Cassidy.

Writing Process

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