Chris Hammer, author of award-winning 'Scrublands' - Winner of 'New Blood Dagger Award' talks writing anywhere, nuanced characters and learning from journalism.

Before publishing his first novel, Chris Hammer worked as a journalist. Travelling all over the world reporting stories gave him the ability to write anywhere, and taught him how to tell stories. He used all that knowledge to write 'Scrublands', his debut about Martin Scarsden, a journalist who becomes embroiled in a tangle of crimes after a vicar does something extremely unreligious.We talk to Chris about keeping track of plots, working to deadlines and making sure his characters are more than they seem. In January 2020, Chris will publish the follow-up 'Silver', in the UK, and we discuss how writing the first changed how he worked on the second, and how he comes up with new ideas for his protagonist.We'll have Hugh Montgomery on the show in the next few weeks, do read this article - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/aug/17/surgeon-ultrarunner-thriller-writer-hugh-montgomery-lives-life-to-the-full - before you listen to that chat!ALSO - please support us on Patreon, and if you're in the States, take advantage of our Libro.fm offer (use the code ROUTINE)Patreon.com/writersroutine@writerspodwritersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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How do the best writers get to work?In every episode, we'll chat to an author about what they do through a day. Where do they work? What time do they start? How do they plan their time and maximise their creativity, in order to plot and publish a bestseller? Some are frantic night-owls, others roll out of bed into their desks, and a few lock themselves away in the woods - but none have a regular 9 to 5, and we'll find out how they've managed it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.