In these intimate and frank conversations with some of our best-loved writers, Hattie Crisell uncovers the mysteries of the creative process, asking: Where do ideas come from? How do stories find their shape? What happens when confidence falters or the work fails – and what does success look like?

The answers range from the thought-provoking to the hilarious. Here we meet the novelist who makes a playlist for each manuscript; the screenwriter who considers swearing an art form; the author who prefers to work in near-darkness, and the confessional writer at risk of revealing too much. Taken as a whole, these inspiring interviews amount to an insider’s guide to the writing process: its disciplines and demands; its ecstasies and agonies; its coffees, word counts and publishing hurdles. Most of all, they reveal how it really feels to write and be read.
With contributions from James Acaster, André Aciman, Ayobami Adebayo, Rumaan Alam, Amer Anwar, Mona Arshi, Andrew Billen, Holly Bourne, Charlie Brooker, Wendy Cope, Cressida Cowell, John Crace, Elizabeth Day, Grace Dent, Kit de Waal, Geoff Dyer, Wendy Erskine, Tor Freeman, Will Harris, Anna Hope, John Lanchester, Sophie Mackintosh, Emily St. John Mandel, Meg Mason, Mhairi McFarlane, Liane Moriarty, David Nicholls, Mary Norris, Graham Norton, Maggie O’Farrell, Ruben Östlund, Robert Popper, Lucy Prebble, Georgia Pritchett, Kiley Reid, John Rentoul, Hugo Rifkind, Jon Ronson, Michael Rosen, Sathnam Sanghera, George Saunders, David Sedaris, Elif Shafak, Alexandra Shulman, Curtis Sittenfeld, Raven Smith, Will Storr, Brandon Taylor, Craig Taylor, Barbara Trapido, Emma Jane Unsworth, Robert Webb, Zoe Williams, Meg Wolitzer.