Writing Podcast Episode 720: Fiona Hardy challenges you to ‘Old Games’

Do you spend your weekends visiting cliffs with your child to find out which ones would be deadliest? Well, that’s something Fiona Hardy did in researching her new ‘cosy crime’ novel, Old Games! In this episode, Fiona joins us to discuss the inspiration for this latest book, her own writing process and how she went from kids to adult fiction!

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
06:31 Writers in the wild
11:06 Writing tip: Metrics of success
14:31 WIN!: The Clueless Guide to Solving a Mystery by Samera Kamaleddine & Hykie Breeze
16:10 Word of the week: ’Obstreperous’
16:57 Writer in residence: Fiona Hardy
17:50 What is her new book ‘Old Games’ all about?
20:09 Plotting and pitching this second novel
23:25 Cosy crime without a murder
26:19 Writing fight scenes
27:41 Realistic consequences
28:28 Setting the story in Victoria
30:23 Researching crime and cliffs
32:42 Balancing bookselling and writing
34:11 Daily writing process and goals
35:31 Publicity, creating socials and anxiety
39:17 How Fiona moved from kids to adult books
40:34 Future projects
43:39 Writing tip
45:10 Final thoughts

Links mentioned in this episode

Writer in residence: Fiona Hardy

Fiona Hardy is a writer, bookseller and reviewer from Melbourne. Her books for kids include How to Make a Movie in 12 Days, which was a CBCA Notable Book, and How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life, which won the 2021 Children's Peace Literature Award; her first crime book, Unbury the Dead, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Awards. Despite her murderous literary writings, in real life the worst crime she has committed was stealing a single chocolate freckle from a milk bar, aged 7.

Follow Fiona on Instagram.

Follow Affirm Press on Instagram and Twitter.

This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre and our course Writing Young Adult Fiction.

 

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

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