Writing Podcast Episode 655: Margot McGovern’s hair-raising novel, ‘This Stays Between Us’

Capturing the nostalgia of ’90s horror flicks, This Stays Between Us is the latest novel by Margot McGovern. In this episode, Margot shares her inspiration for telling this kind of story, writing her cast of characters and her experience publishing the novel.

You can listen to the episode below, on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or add the podcast RSS feed manually to your favourite podcast app.  

00:00 Introduction
09:13 Writing tip: Scheduling time for reading
13:53 WIN!: 2 Sisters Murder Investigations by Candice Fox and James Patterson
15:28 Word of the week: ‘Lycanthrope’
17:00 Writer in residence: Margot McGovern
19:40 The attraction of horror stories
21:00 Representing and reflecting young people’s worlds
23:11 The differences between 2000 and today
25:26 School camp inspirations
27:38 Nostalgia for ’90s horror films
28:49 Writing multiple points of view
30:23 Drafting and editing process
34:20 Publishing journey with Penguin
38:07 Publicity and the social media landscape
39:56 Upcoming projects
44:26 Margot’s tips for aspiring writers
45:48 Final thoughts

Links mentioned in this episode

Writer in residence: Margot McGovern

Margot McGovern lives in Adelaide and has a creative writing PhD from Flinders University. Her debut novel, Neverland, was shortlisted for the Text Prize and the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, and her short horror fiction has appeared in issues of The Dark and the Aurealis-Award-shortlisted anthology Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Tales.

Follow Margot on Instagram.

Follow Penguin Teen Australia on Twitter and Instagram.

 

This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre and our course Anatomy of a Crime: How to Write About Murder.

 

Find out more about your host, Valerie Khoo (@valeriekhoo on Twitter and @valeriekhoo on Instagram).

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