Writer's Routine

Elif Shafak is an incredibly successful and influential author. Born in France to Turkish parents, Elif was raised by her single mother and traditional grandmother. She spent her childhood moving across the world, living in Madrid, Cologne, Amman and Istanbul.

Her debut 'Pinhan', won the Rumi Prize in Turkey, and since her first English translated novel, 'The Gaze', she's published more than 20 books which have been translated into almost 60 languages. Her books have been finalists for the Costa Award, the British Book Awards, the Women's Prize for Fiction, have been Reese Witherspoon Book Club Picks, and Elif has been nominated for the Booker Prize. Her novel, 'The Forty Rules of Love', was picked by the BBC as one of the 100 novels that have shaped our world, and her book, 'There are Rivers in the Sky', was the UK's bestselling literary hardback novel in 2025.

Elif's new book is 'In One Brief Moment All Eternity'. It's a reinvention of the story of Gustave Flaubert. The French author created perhaps literature's most scandalous heroine, in Madame Bouvary. Shafak imagines a moment where the women history have overlooked get to tell their side of his story.

We discuss why colour is so important to her space and stories, also why connection is more important than ever, and why she doesn't really believe in routines.

You can hear why she believes stories tap into something bigger than us all, why you need to ask childish questions, and also how it ends up damaging her health.

Get a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine

This week's episode is sponsored by Damonza, the premier cover design and formatting solution for independent authors. Head to damonza.com/routine for a free cover genre guide, and use ROUTINE10 when you're ready to get started, to save 10%.

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Jenna Helwig is a food editor, a cookbook evangelist, and now novel writer. She's a culinary school graduate, and in 2025 launched, the Cookbookery Collective, a very successful Substack for cookbook lovers. Jenna has published 5 cookbooks herself focusing on everything from feeding a baby, to cooking on a budget.

Her debut novel, 'The Foreign Correspondent's Wife' tells the story of reporter Kat Kelly, and her husband, a foreign correspondent. She lives in Paris in 1949, just a few years after the end of the war, at a time when the city is starting to find its joy again. When Kat finds the body of an old American classmate, she must race to solve the case, and save her marriage, before it's too late.

We talk about what inspired her switch to novel writing, and how difficult she found diving into the story after so long focusing on food. You can hear about her incredibly focused research, and how she got into the mind of a half-French, half-American journalist living in Paris 70 years ago.

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This week is sponsored by Philippa Hall's 'Quick Book Reviews Podcast', take a listen wherever you've found this.

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Benjamin Abravenel practiced medicine for 35 years, whilst in snatches of spare time, started work on a novel with a message he was passionate to get heard in the world. When he retired with something like a first draft, he hired a Professor to help him edit into something publishable - she said there was very little chance it would ever be traditionally published. Benjamin went the hybrid-route, and has spent the last few years putting the finishing touches on 'The Past, Again'.

It asks the question, what if the horrors of Jewish history could happen again in 21st Century America?'. The story tells the tale of Judah Cohen, who whilst living in sun-drenched California, stumbles upon the truth of the Holocaust, he then spends the rest of his life running from his Jewish identity.

We talk about learning from history and having a message you're so passionate about, you'd do anything to get it heard. Also, his unique road to publication, and how hard it was to act on feedback you've paid for.

You can hear about the name change that helped him tell his story, where he goes from here, and how he researched by finding real life experience.

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This week is sponsored by the 'Quick Books Reviews' podcast with Phillipa Hall. Take a listen wherever you're listening to this.

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This week, we're chatting to the million-copy bestseller, Claire McGowan. She's an Amazon bestselling crime and thriller author, with almost 30 novels. Best known for the 'Paula Maguire series', she's also known for non-fiction true crime, and has published women's fiction under the name Eva Woods. Claire was director of the Crime Writers' Association, and launched the UK's first MA program in Crime Writing, and now writes regularly for TV and radio.

Her newest novel, 'The Other Couple', tells the story of Beth and Vince, who escape to a luxurious Spanish resort for a break from the brewing tensions in their marriage. They befriend a a glamorous couple who seem perfect, but when a body is found in the water, Beth begins to wonder if everything she knows about her husband is the truth.

We discuss why Claire floats across genre, regularly writing out of contract if there's a subject she's interested in. Also, Claire joined us on the show 5 years ago, and is one of our rare returning guests, so we chat about how her life and routine has changed in that time. Plus, what she's learned about the publishing industry, and how that affects what she works on, and how much she thinks about the future.

Get a copy of the book - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine

This week's episode is sponsored by Faber Academy, their flagship 'Writing a Novel' course is back. Find out more - https://faberacademy.com/creative-writing-courses/fiction-writing-courses/

Support the show -
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This week we're chatting to one of the UK's best-selling thriller writers. Scott Mariani has published 30 novels in the 'Ben Hope series', a few more in his 'Will Bowman historical thriller adventures', and some chilling books about vampires. He writes in his sprawl of land hidden in the Welsh countryside, almost secluded with his stories.

Ben Hope is an ex-SAS soldier turned reluctant hero, who finds himself in thrilling chases across the world, all centred around an historic mystery waiting to be solved. His debut, 'The Alchemist's Secret', was a number 1 bestseller for 6 weeks, although it took quite a strange route to success. Following it up with 29 more Hope novels, Scott finally retired the character... only to be drawn back to his hero a few years later. He has announced a new one, 'The Jericho Road', due to be released in 2027.

We discuss why his routine is built around strict discipline, putting the words together much like a builder will make a house with bricks. Also you can hear about how he's learned what a reader wants, whether he's figured out any plotting tricks, and how he researches his globe-trotting adventures without the internet.

Get a copy of the debut novel here - uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine

This week's episode is sponsored by Faber Academy's 'Writing a Novel' course, which is back. Find out more - https://faberacademy.com/

Also, we're supported by Philippa Hall's 'Quick Book Reviews' podcast. Take a listen wherever you've got this show.

Read the newsletter - writersroutine.substack.com

Support the show -
patreon.com/writersroutine
ko-fi.com/writersroutine

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