The Dale Hurst Writing Show – Season 5

One of the most important — if not THE most important — element of any fiction writing is character development. A key pain point in the mind of every practising author, and, especially these days, a target for criticism from readers of every calibre.

So, what is correct character development practice? What are the pain points, and how do we avoid them? Iqbal Hussain, author of Northern Boy, takes us on a journey through some of the main dos and don’ts.

Explore Iqbal’s website to find out more.

It might not be obvious from the outset how much of a role politics plays in some of your favourite magical fantasy stories, but it’s there. How can we, as writers, use this to our advantage? Whether to advance the development of our characters, both heroic and villainous, but also to enrich our worldbuilding and stories overall. Creator of Aigia, fantasy writer Fin Cattanach sits down with us to discuss further.

For short story and world building content from Fin, follow him on Instagram.

Just to note, this isn’t an episode advising how to achieve social media stardom. Instead, Dale examines how influencers and social media “personalities” can be used as characters and what narrative opportunities they can present.

Award-winning filmmaker, director and writer Max James Walker joins the show on this occasion. His film The Façade follows the on- and off-camera lives of an influencer couple and explores the duality between social media and reality.

For more on Max’s work, follow him on Instagram.

A milestone for The Dale Hurst Writing Show, as we present this, our 50th episode. Former podcasting pals James Boxall and Aaron Hayes kick Dale out of the presenter’s chair and into the guest hotseat for a special interview, looking back on the podcast as it stands, and find out more about the upcoming collection, Silhouettes.

James and Aaron aren’t the only ones posing questions, as other former guests of Dale’s pipe up with their own enquiries, including Collin Glavac, Daniel Riccio, Daniel Pride, Dale Hall, Nels Challinor and S.P. Thane.

Forgive us in advance: this episode contains a lot of James Bond talk…

Author Terrance Layhew discusses the keys to a successful piece of espionage fiction, the need for a flawed protagonist, for cars, cocktails and casinos, and more.

For more on Terrance and his own podcast, Suit Up!, follow @tlayhew and @suitup.author on Instagram

In time for spooky season, it’s our annual trip into the horror genre. Or rather, on this occasion, the gothic. Specifically the part of gothic that centres around Cypriot folklore. For this, we look into the defining text, Motherwitch, a film by our first guest, writer and director Minos Papas.

However, this is a two-part special, with the second half examining the role of the actor in the storytelling process, archetypal characters in the horror genre, and more, in the company of Motherwitch cast member Jordan Walters.

For more on our guests and texts, follow on Instagram:

• Minos Papas: @cyprianfilms
• Jordan Walters: @jordanwalters_actor
• Motherwitch: @motherwitch_movie