“That experience of going under the ground and feeling how alienating it feels down there. That feeds very nicely into the sort of gothic ideas that we're talking about here, that sense of the past is oppressive.” – Rosie Andrews

Somewhere on the border between Wales and England, Miss Catherine Symonds arrives at the shadowy Locksley Abbey to take on the role of governess. She’s traveling in disguise, because what she’s really after is uncovering the circumstances surrounding her sister Emily’s death. Emily was the previous governess.

In The Puzzle Wood, author Rosie Andrews delves into tales of Welsh mythology, forgotten childhood memories, and an unreliable narrator. With this second book, the bestselling author of The Leviathan offers us a classic piece of gothic literature.

This episode explores how Rosie Andrews managed to write a pure gothic novel, inspired by gothic legends like Robert Louis Stevenson and M. R. James, while simultaneously retaining her own style. Hear about her choice of including a crime in the plot, as well as the challenges of writing a second book after a successful one.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why you should leave your house to become a better writer.
• How settings and landscapes can become characters in your story.
• How to write that perfect twisty end to your mystery novel.

Find out more about Rosie here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up for the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

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Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk

“Yes, there is oppression and hardship, but there’s also culture and joy and beauty and love and friendship. I think sometimes even we forget that there is life, and life always finds a way, even under occupation.” – Sarah Agha

What gives you a sense of identity and makes you feel connected to your community, your people? The narratives we build through art are at the heart of these identities. As we explore in this episode, getting them right is crucial, especially if you are Palestinian today.

The Arab Film Club showcases exceptional cinema from the Arab World. The first series of their new podcast, which launches today, focuses on five pioneering Palestinian directors and their multi-award-winning films. Over the years, Sarah Agha, the club's founder, has shared a great deal of her culture and expertise in the subject.

This episode explores some of the narratives built around Arab, and specifically Palestinian, lives, and who gets to tell those stories. It reminds us of the long history of Palestine, as Sarah recounts what it was like returning to the land where her father is from. And gives you recommendations on how to start your journey into the exciting world of Arab cinema.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why you shouldn’t be afraid of your own ignorance.
• Why research is a central part of the writing process.
• Why there are no small stories.

Find out more about Sarah Agha and the Arab Film Club here.

You can listen to their brand new podcast here.

You can listen to the episode of The End of the Line featuring Sarah here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up for the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk

“I've certainly met men like Cole and you are fooled by them because they're fooling themselves. They're so dangerous and insidious for that reason, because you are actually sucked in a bit” - Araminta Hall

Are you “one of the good guys”, supportive of women’s rights and equality and opposed to gender injustice? This episode will make you think twice. Cole has escaped to the coast after his marriage imploded, and finds himself caught up in a media firestorm after two feminist activists go missing in the area.

One of the Good Guys is the sixth book from established author Araminta Hall and is an exploration of how women are treated in the modern world. Written in three distinct parts, we first see life through the eyes of “good guy” Cole. The story is then told through the eyes of his ex-wife, and that’s when we begin to see his perception of himself unravel. And in part three we’re caught up in the social and mainstream media reaction to what happens to Cole.

This episode explores the abuse women still have to put up with in a post #MeToo era, and the fear they still feel simply walking the streets alone. It looks into the insidious nature of patriarchal power. And it ventures into the territory of social media, and how damaging our obsession with “the truth” can be.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why stories about minorities facing injustice don’t need to be victim stories.
• Why characters that believe they are good are more frightening than those that are pure evil.
• To examine your own ideas about being “one of the good guys”.

Find out more about Araminta Hall here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up for the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk

“This senior copper said to me, Well, you have to remember we're dealing with criminals who know no restraints at all, who are just absolutely hard bastards with no emotion and no compassion. We have to have a few of them in our ranks to balance it out.” - Alan Johnson

Alan Johnson is a well-known name in British politics, having held a range of cabinet positions in both Blair and Brown governments, including Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Health. Utilising his insider knowledge, he’s created a compelling, authentic and truly immersive series of crime books.

The Mangan Series stars detective constable Louise Mangan. In the latest, Death On The Thames, we’re taken back to 1999 as she follows a lead that takes her to Tagg Island, a community of houseboats near Hampton Court in London. We’re then brought to the present, where trouble rises from that same island.

This episode explores Alan’s intimate knowledge of politics and the police and how that has influenced much of his fiction writing career. We discuss the misogyny faced by our protagonist throughout the novel and hear why Alan decided to pay homage to murdered TV personality Jill Dando.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why it can be useful to write fictional stories in real places.
• That there isn’t one single way to do a dual-timeline narrative.
• To always keep your audience in mind when you’re thinking of moving onto the next big idea.

Find out more about Alan Johnson here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up for the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk

“I didn't get to see my family or Georgia for 17 years. So when I did go back, I found it really strange, really surreal. That was very emotional for me. So I started writing it really trying to make sense of it in my own head.” -Leo Vardiashvili

Inspired by his own estrangement from his homeland, Leo Vardiashvili tells the story of a family torn apart as they wrestle with the events of the past.

Hard By A Great Forest is told through the eyes of Saba, who is forced to leave London and return to Georgia, in search of his missing father and brother, 18 years after they fled the war-torn country. Saba follows breadcrumb clues left behind by his brother, whilst guided on his journey by strangers and old ghosts.

This episode explores Leo’s own experiences leaving Georgia, only to return to the country as a stranger. We hear about the history of the Georgian Civil War which is weaved throughout this novel, and about the culture and the people of Georgia. And we learn what Leo had to give up in order to write the book.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to use the inspiration of your own life experiences in your writing.
• Why minor characters must be furnished with a complete set of complex characteristics.
• If your novel seems like a dead-end, it may simply be missing one crucial ingredient you haven’t thought of yet.

Find out more about Leo Vardiashvili here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up for the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk

“I am probably the consumer from hell when it comes to this stuff, and I do like to believe that I’m fighting on behalf of other people. Some sort of consumer rights, compliance vigilante.” -Christian Hunt

If you’ve ever spotted a road sign that makes no sense at all, or been sent round in circles trying to cancel a TV subscription, you’re not alone. Society relies on us complying with rules on a daily basis, but sometimes the rules laid out for us are confusing.

Christian Hunt is an expert in compliance and risk management, and the author of Humanizing Rules: Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics and Compliance. From the funny to the deadly, he’s been analysing many of these peculiar rules through his Compliance in the Wild series on social media, spurring his fans to send in examples of their own.

This episode explores the impact these compliance faux pas have on consumers and the general public, and why we should make it our duty to call businesses out on this stuff. We hear how Christian’s method of crowdsourcing content allows him to take bigger creative risks and evolve his message. And we explore some of the challenges writers face and how Christian is dealing with them.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to evolve and adapt your message after your book has been written.
• How to deal with criticism and stop overthinking failure.
• Why audience connection is so valuable to a creator.

Find out more about Christian Hunt here.

Hear Mark interviewing Christian about his book on his own podcast, Human Risk.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up for the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk

“There are many, many ways to be a deaf person, but the important thing is to think about the ways in which you embrace it” -Sarah Marsh

The word ‘deaf’ encompasses so many different lived experiences. And by its very nature it’s hard to communicate what it means - what it feels like - to be deaf. But through writing, anything is possible.

Sarah Marsh is the author of A Sign of Her Own: The vivid historical novel of a Deaf woman's role in the invention of the telephone. Through the novel’s protagonist, Ellen Lark, we get a glimpse into what it must be like to be deaf, beautifully put in her shoes as she constantly struggles to both understand and be understood.

This novel also teaches us about deaf history. Hear the lesser known story of telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, and the role he played in the deaf community, from teaching a method called Visible Speech, to his oppressive views about sign language.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the huge variety in the deaf experience
• How history doesn’t remember everything in equal measure
• To never stop searching for ways to bring your lived experience to life through writing.

Find out more about Sarah Marsh here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up for the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk

“What we want is people in extreme situations. We enjoy watching people pushed to their emotional limits.” - L.D. Smithson

Have you ever watched a reality TV show and thought ‘I could do that’? It’s one thing watching the events unfold on-screen. It’s another thing entirely being in the thick of it, watching the essence of your personality unravel under the pressure. Now imagine the stakes were much higher. A game where death is a very real threat.

The Escape Room is the latest novel from Leona Deakin, writing under the pseudonym L.D. Smithson. The novel follows a cast of 8 characters through the eyes of Bonnie, our protagonist, as they compete for cash in a reality TV show of puzzles and games. But when the first contestant winds up dead, they soon realise the only way out alive… is to win.

Hear how L.D. Smithson drew inspiration from our fascination and love of reality shows like The Traitors and Big Brother. Discover how she leans into her background as a psychologist to give us an insight into the human psyche under pressure. And learn how she used a mixed-media narrative to bring this story to life in many unique ways.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to use podcasts as a narrative vehicle within a novel.
• The confidence you can gain from a pseudonym.
• And the importance of a good editor.

Find out more about L.D. Smithson here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up for the newsletter here.

You can buy copies of our anthology series here.

You can view the full transcript here.

Connect with the show:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine

Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk