Halloween is just around the corner, so what better way to mark the occasion than by celebrating AWC grad Amy Hutton’s latest book – a paranormal romance novel, Ghosted! In this episode, Amy shares her writing process, how she wound up writing paranormal romance, afterworld-building and much more!
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 Welcome
06:39 Writing tip: Work with teachers and mentors
10:06 WIN!: Remain by Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan
12:29 Word of the week: ‘Bodacious’
13:52 Writer in residence: Amy Hutton
15:09 What her latest book Ghosted is about
16:30 What inspired this topic of paranormal romance?
19:48 Edits to the story
21:05 Amy’s approach to (after) world building
23:13 Pacing the story and unravelling the mystery
24:16 Writing short stories as a writer’s block strategy
28:10 Amy’s first break
29:22 The thing she didn’t know when she started
32:45 The one thing you can control
33:38 Amy’s average writing day and how it has differed over time
37:25 Freaking herself out in her own writing
39:54 Final thoughts
Links mentioned in this episode
- WIN Remain by Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan
- Buy So You Want to be a Writer – the book!
- Facebook group for So You Want to be a Writer
Writer in residence: Amy Hutton
Amy is an award-winning author and former TV producer who spends her days writing swoony love stories.
Her debut rom-com Sit, Stay, Love was one of Kobo AU’s best romances of 2023, and her follow up Love from Scratch was a 2024 Spotify Wrap Editors’ Pick. Amy’s latest book, Ghosted, is a swoony, sexy, spooky paranormal romance, and a Romance Writers of America prize winner for Best Light Paranormal.
Amy is in a longterm relationship with Disneyland. She loves to travel, adores anything Star Wars, and has a fierce and unwavering commitment to Hallmark Christmas movies.
When not busy toying with her character’s emotions, she’s probably hanging with her rescue dog Buffy, or lost in the pages of her latest favourite romance read.
You can also meet Amy on our blog.
Follow Amy on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Simon & Schuster AU on Twitter and Instagram.
This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre and our course Plotting and Planning.
Find out more about your host, Valerie Khoo (@valeriekhoo on Twitter and @valeriekhoo on Instagram).




