WE'RE AN AWARD WINNING PODCAST! On Saturday, in a ceremony alongside BBC Radio 2, Radio 4, Radio X and countless other titans of broadcasting, we managed to bag SILVER in 'Best Culture' at the British Podcast Awards. Thank you. Thank every single one of you. Even if you were going to download this but have been put off by this sycophantic blurb - THANK YOU.

Sophie Jenkins is our guest this week, sharing the Writer's Routine which helped get her debut novel published! It's a romantic comedy, 'The Forgotten Guide to Happiness', which stars Lara and the unusual living situation which a lonely 80 year old writer who helps find her love.

It's not the sole work of a debutant though, Sophie has been around words most of her life: working as a journalist, as a writer-in-residence, and even studying it as a Masters - so she knows how to tell a good story. Although, it was almost a completely different story. Sophie wrote a whole other draft, handed it to her agent and was told, 'to get it sold, you're going to need to make changes'... those changes ended up being about 90% of the book. Sophie was fine with that though, and you can hear why in the show.

Also, you can find out how she gets to know her characters, whether they could exist independently of the story or indeed, each other. And we talk about why comedian and worrier Jon Richardson helped her imagine the perfect hero for the story.

We get a top writing tip that may change the way you work forever from a thriller author who wants to COMPLETELY DISAGREE with every romantic notion of novel writing EVER.

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Sophie Jenkins - Writer's Routine #31

Writer's Routine