Information, inspiration and interviews on writing, self-publishing, book marketing and making a living with your writing. If you need help with writing your book, or you want to learn how to navigate the new world of publishing and book marketing, then join Joanna Penn and her guests every Monday. Also covers the business of being a writer and how to make money with your books.
https://www.thecreativepenn.com/blog/
Writing Religious Thrillers And Storytelling Lessons From Commercial TV With Simon Toyne
OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna PennIt's always fantastic to talk to mega bestselling authors and a few years back, Simon Toyne's Sanctus series was one of the biggest books in the UK, as well as an international bestseller. In this interview, he explains the inspiration behind the books and how 20 years of TV experience taught him the most important elements of storytelling.
In the introduction, I talk about the launch of Business for Authors, my trip to Stockholm and the launch of 1 Fred's Place in London, plus the audio edition of Day of the Vikings, available now.
This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.
Kobo’s financial support pays for the hosting and transcription, and if you enjoy the show, you can now support my time on Patreon. Thank you!
Simon Toyne is the bestselling author of the Sanctus trilogy, translated into 28 languages and published in 50 countries. Sanctus was the UK's biggest selling debut thriller of 2011, and all three books of the trilogy were Sunday Times bestsellers in both hardback and paperback.
You can listen above or on iTunes, watch the interview on YouTube, split into two, here (for readers) and here (for authors). You can also read the transcript below.
We discuss:
* Simon talks about the origins of the Sanctus trilogy and what inspired him to write the books. They are fast paced thrillers but they're also about the identity of religion in the West, and the real identity of the main character.
* Sense of place: The importance of the city of Ruin with the medieval Citadel, and the mysterious Sacrament that lies within. What's real and what is fiction.
* On research and traveling for work – Simon worked for 20 years as a Director making travel shows, so a lot of that goes into the books.
* How Simon took 6 months off his TV job to write his first novel. He took his family to France to take a real break.
* On walking the line on religion on spirituality. There's a lot of Christian ideas in the books,