In this week's podcast we talk to some of the year's most successful debut writers about how they did it. Fresh from winning the Crime Writers' Association New Blood Dagger, SJ Watson talks about the challenges of an amnesiac narrator in his thriller Before I Go to Sleep. Erin Morgenstern, whose debut The Night Circus has been touted as the next Harry Potter and is on the longlist for the Guardian first book award, explains how her love of theatre powered her imaginative world. And Jacques Strauss recalls the South African childhood which he shares with the protagonist of his first novel.
We also pay a visit to the Guardian/UEA masterclass to find out how creative writing students feel about the challenges of getting published. And we gather some tips from leading authors on how to write fiction, which will feature in a booklet to be published free this weekend with the Saturday Guardian, and also available as an ebook.
Reading list
Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson (Doubleday)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Harvill Secker)
The Dubious Salvation of Jack V by Jacques Strauss (Vintage)
How to Write Fiction (Guardian Books)
