Genoveva Dimova is a Bulgarian fantasy author and archaeologist based in Scotland. Her debut novel inspired by Slavic folklore, Foul Days, came out in June 2024, with the sequel, Monstrous Nights, just out in October. When she’s not writing, she likes to explore old ruins, climb even older hills, and listen to practically ancient rock music.

We had a great chat with Gen, hearing about how she started to write in English, how she found her agent and how fantasy has changed from the old Anglocentric approach in recent years. We also hear about how her day job as an archeologist helps her writing - and why she would never want to write a story about an archeologist.

Links:

Buy Genoveva's books now

Follow Genoveva on Bluesky

Visit Genoveva's website

Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter/X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Bluesky

Follow us on Threads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel!

On this week's episode, we talk about that age-old writing divide - Planners v Pantsers! Some writers need to outline every plot detail before they start to write, while other like to, well, fly by the seat of their pants. Is one method better than the other - and are they as different as they first appear?

Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes (which after the first few episodes will be timed exclusives for our Patreon members!) in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!

Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter/X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Bluesky

Follow us on Threads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CHLOE C. PEÑARANDA is the USA Today bestselling author of The Nytefall Trilogy and An Heir Comes to Rise Series. A lifelong avid reader and writer, Chloe discovered her passion for storytelling in her early teens. Her stories have been spun from years of building on fictional characters and exploring Tolkien-like quests in made up worlds. During her time at the University of the West of Scotland, Chloe immersed herself in writing for short film, producing animations, and spending class time dreaming of far off lands.

We had great fun chatting with Chloe, learning about how she got into writing, and how she grew her TikTok following from zero to over 74k which led to a surge in her readership. We also talk to her about moving from self-pub to trad, and the pros and cons of both.

Links:

Buy Chloe's books now

Follow Chloe on Instagram

Visit Chloe's website

Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter/X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Bluesky

Follow us on Threads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel

On this week's episode, we ask the question many writers face: how do we deal with all the waiting? Whether it's from agents, editors or others, much of publishing involves waiting hopefully for news. We discuss some of the ways we try and deal with that, and also suggest ways that others can try to minimise the anxiety!

Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes (which after the first few episodes will be timed exclusives for our Patreon members!) in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!

Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter/X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Bluesky

Follow us on Threads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graham Bartlett is a former police officer, having risen to Chief Superintendent of Brighton and Hove before turning to writing when he left after 30 years in the police force. Working first with renowned crime author (and former Page One guest!) Peter James on two non-fiction books gave Graham the writing bug and he has now written three crime novels, with his latest, City on Fire, just out. In addition, he has set up a consultancy for all budding and established crime writers where Graham and his team of experts offer accurate, expert advice to writers such as Peter James, Mark Billingham, Elly Griffiths, Antony Horowitz and many more.

We had great fun chatting with Graham and hearing about how he set up his consultancy business and why he was tempted to try his hand at fiction writing. We also talk about him choosing to "write what you know" with his books, and ask about the police stories he couldn't include in his books.

Links:

Buy Graham's books now

Visit Graham's consultancy website

Follow Graham on Instagram

Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter/X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Bluesky

Follow us on Threads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube Channel

The Andromeda Award was launched in 2024 by UTA and C&W to seek out and support the best new emerging science fiction and fantasy writers.

Literary agents Clare Conville from C&W in the UK and Byrd Leavell from UTA join us to tell us why their agencies wanted to launch this new award for unpublished sci fi and fantasy authors, and tell us about the prizes and rules for entry.

Links:

Enter The Andromeda Award now

Visit Clare's website

Visit Byrd's website

Follow Clare on Twitter/X

Follow Byrd on Twitter/X

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel

Welcome to the first episode in a new series of podcast episodes (which after this episode will be timed exclusives for our Patreon members!) in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them!

This week, we are chatting about revisiting old material, and how easy (or difficult) it can be to rework that when doing redrafts or even taking the material into a new project.

Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter/X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Bluesky

Follow us on Threads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Harry Fisher is a native of Leith (the port for Edinburgh) so that’s where his crime thrillers are set. Prior to his debut, Harry had never written a word of fiction, so he just launched in – cold turkey for authors. Now he has three books published, with his fourth, "48 Hours and Then She Dies" out now.

​We had a good chat with Harry, hearing how he only ever intended to write one novel, why he chose to self-publish, then go trad, and then back to self-pub again. We get into how tricky it can be to buy back the rights to your books and whether he prefers trad or self-pub.

Links:

Buy Harry's books now

Follow Harry on Twitter/X

Visit Harry's website

Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter/X

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Bluesky

Follow us on Threads

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.