Writers Talking

Gabbie Stroud joins us to talk about The Angry Wives Club, her “domestic noir with a chick-lit twist,” set on the far south coast of NSW. We start with the story of how she met fellow author Emma Grey (a completely random meet-cute in a dental surgery waiting room), then dig into how three generations of women - Steph, Heather, and Joni - came together on the page as, in Gabbie's words, an integration of all the women she's been. Gabbie talks candidly about her pantser-meets-plotter process (she prefers “quilting” to “pantsing”), the moment a throwaway joke revealed the book's real theme, and the editorial note from her publisher that gave the women their best revenge. We also get a hint at what's next: after two memoirs and two novels wrestling with heavy themes, Gabbie says she's finally ready to just enjoy her writing.Connect with Gabbie: gabbiestroud.com | Instagram: @gabbiestroudofficial

We first sat down with Andrea Barton back when The Godfather of Dance came out; now she's back to mark the completion of her five-book Jade Riley Mysteries series!In this episode, Andrea unpacks the decade-long journey behind the series: how a psychologist named Tara Wells became journalist Jade Riley, why the book she wrote first (The Desert Thief) ended up published last, and how thirteen years living as an expat in Lagos, Houston, and Doha shaped the setting and stakes of each novel. She also opens up about traditional vs. hybrid publishing, what it's like pitching a series book by book, and gives us a first look at her next project… a climate-science thriller set partly in Antarctica.Connect with Andrea: andreabartonauthor.com | Instagram: @andreabartonauthor

Tricia Stringer joins us again hot off celebrating 30,000 copies sold of The Road Trip — and just months out from the October release of her next book, The Paradise Resort. In this episode, Tricia talks about how Road Trip favorites Kathleen and Omar found their way into the new story, and how a completely unplanned character, the irrepressible Beatrice, showed up around 20,000 words in and reshaped the whole book. We dig into what actually changes (and doesn't) about writing your tenth book versus your first, why Tricia writes toward “happy for now” endings rather than neat resolutions, and get into a wide-ranging conversation about AI, authorship, and what makes human-written fiction irreplaceable.Connect with Tricia here: Website - triciastringer.com.au Instagram - @triciastringerauthor

Fleur McDonald is one of Australia's most prolific crime writers... and she's the first to admit she has absolutely no idea how she does it. In this conversation, Fleur returns to chat about The Witness, the third instalment in her Kalgoorlie series (after The Prospect and The Missing), a book that deliberately flips the script: you might figure out who did it halfway through, but the real tension is whether anyone gets out safely.Anj and Fleur dig into what it takes to keep a series fresh when you're staring down book 27, why Kalgoorlie became Fleur's answer to an Australian version of Midsomer, and how setting can be just as gripping a character as any detective. They also get refreshingly honest about the chaos behind the craft - the editing process that's become more intense than ever, writing and editing two books simultaneously, a pregnancy timeline blunder, and a new experiment where Fleur submits chapters one at a time to her publisher in a bid to tighten the creative chaos. Plus: why a typo in a published book might actually be something to celebrate.https://www.fleurmcdonald.com/https://www.instagram.com/fleurmcdonaldauthor/

Kathryn Heyman is an actor, playwright, performance poet, novelist, and director of the Australian Writers' Mentoring Program. Her new novel Circle of Wonders (HarperCollins) is unlike anything she's written before. In this winding, generous conversation, Kathryn takes us inside what she describes as the "beautiful grapple" of writing this book about Roni Bloom, a charismatic woman at the end of her life who has, by her own reckoning, made a mess of things. The novel gathers the women in Roni's orbit to help her live a good death...even if not all are convinced she earned it with a good life.We talk about her intentional structure of this story alongside the muddier, more mysterious work of finding it on the page. Kathryn pushes back on the old idea that the novel is the realm of the intellect, making the case for fiction as the territory of feeling, and explains why she wanted to write something AI couldn't write! We also get into the craft questions she fields as a mentor: protecting creative energy through building real boundaries, the false binary of plotter vs. pantser, why "the facts are not always the same as the truth," and her dance teacher in Scotland, who taught her that encouragement does what shame never can.This is a conversation for readers, writers, and anyone interested in what it means to sit, even briefly, in our "messy and magnificent mortality."Find out more about Kathryn and follow her here:https://kathrynheyman.com/https://www.instagram.com/kathrynheymanwriter/

Amra Pajalic and I had so much more to chat about, so we continued our conversation!Some of the larger topics we cover in this second part include:Creating from passion rather than market pressureA big throughline is choosing creative projects based on personal passion and integrity, not trends, algorithms, or sales expectations. We talk about following curiosity across genres, letting reading habits shape writing, and resisting the pressure to “write to market” in favour of work that feels meaningful and sustaining.Midlife creativity: confidence, permission, and letting goWe also spend a significant time on how midlife brings less need for validation, more self-trust, and greater freedom to create without shame or apology. Amra shares about letting go of frantic energy, external approval, and the fear of judgment, and embracing creative work as self-expression rather than performance.The long game of creative practice (process over outcome)We repeatedly return to the idea that meaningful creative work requires time, repetition, patience, and release. We also highlight burnout, false starts, undercooked drafts, learning by doing, stepping away from projects, and trusting that clarity often comes through continuation rather than force.Writing as learning, healing, and identity evolutionAnother important concept we both speak to is writing as a vehicle for growth and transformation—from working through trauma, to shifting genres as life stages change, to reframing jealousy as a signal of unlived creativity. Writing is not just valued as output, but as a way of understanding oneself and one’s evolving voice.Don't forget to follow the links below to connect with Amra and let her know what insights landed for you...Discover more about Amra here:Website - https://www.amrapajalic.com/Instagram - ​https://www.instagram.com/amrapajalicauthor/Substack - https://substack.com/@amrapajalic?BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/authors/amra-pajalicAmazon - https://www.amazon.com/author/amrapajalic

Welcome to Writers Talking 2026!!I was thrilled to start the year with a fascinating conversation with author Amra Pajalic! In fact, we had so much to chat about that we decided to split it over 2 eps!!In this first episode, we chatted about:Writing fiction grounded in real historical traumaWe discuss the responsibility and ethical weight of fictionalising real events, particularly the Bosnian War and the Srebrenica genocide, and how to honour survivor experiences while still telling a compelling story.Transforming academic research into a novelA major thread is how the book emerged from a PhD project, the tension between historical research and storytelling, and the process of condensing vast research into an accessible narrative.Blending crime fiction with historical realityWe explore why the crime genre was chosen as a framework, how a murder mystery can exist within a war setting, and how genre expectations allow readers to engage with darker material.Identity, displacement, and inherited traumaThe conversation moves into personal and intergenerational experiences of migration, identity, ethnic division, and how political power fractures communities, both historically and in the present day.So good!! We hope you got a lot out of our convo today...and hope you check back in for the second part of our convo tomorrow!Discover more about Amra here:Website - https://www.amrapajalic.com/Instagram - ​https://www.instagram.com/amrapajalicauthor/Substack - https://substack.com/@amrapajalic?BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/authors/amra-pajalicAmazon - https://www.amazon.com/author/amrapajalic

Our final episode of 2025 is one I have been waiting for... A conversation with two of my favourite Australian authors, Angie Faye Martin and Alli Parker!!This episode gave us an opportunity (thanks to the fabulous suggestion from Angie) to dive into how each of their books was inspired by their culture and their family's stories. Though their novels are pretty different on the surface in terms of genre, they share some common motivations. Angie and Alli generously opened up about the challenge of balancing truth and fiction, especially when dealing with tough topics like racism and historical events. They discuss how they approached research, the editorial process, language choices, and how they try to keep their stories authentic without making them too heavy or sanitised. They even reveal some personal stuff about how they cope with the intense parts of writing. It was a brilliant reminder about why fiction is such a powerful way to connect and learn.I hope you love this episode as much as I did!Find out more about Angie and Alli (and pick up their books!!) here:Angie Faye Martin, author of MELALEUCA (2025)Website: https://angiefaye.net/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/angie_faye_martinAlli Parker, author of AT THE FOOT OF THE CHERRY TREE (2023) and UNTIL THE RED LEAVES FALL (2025)Website: https://www.alliparker.com/books/Instagram: https://instagram.com/alliparkerwriter