31: Elizabeth Baines (Used To Be; Astral Travel)

Charlie and Elizabeth Baines (Used To Be; Astral Travel) discuss writing for radio, short stories - the relative importance of their first lines and differences to novels - writing a book about trying to tell a story, and the difficulties in labelling someone complicit or a victim in the context of past societal values. Some podcast apps do not show description links properly unless the listener subscribes to the podcast. If you can't click the links below and don't wish to subscribe, copy and paste the following address into your browser to access the episode's page on my blog: http://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/podcast/episode-31-elizabeth-baines Question Index 00:38 Can you tell us about your screenplay work? 01:13 How did the vampire play come about? 01:48 Do your plays influence your prose or is it the other way around? 02:23 Do you have a preference between these three modes of writing? 09:39 All these stories were in other publications - how long in coming was the collection itself? 11:13 Tell us about the splitting of these stories into two categories 13:00 How important is the first line of a short story compared to a novel? 13:46 Did the short story 'Clarrie and You' inspire Astral Travel? 19:01 Astral Travel is a difficult read. How long did it take to write - was it difficult to write? 22:55 How far into the various drafts did the written structure (white space; chapter headings) come in? 23:55 Where is the father 'from'; what were the influences in creating him? 24:23 Is the mother complicit or a victim? 26:43 [Within and without the context of Josephine's boyfriend's family] do you think that Josephine would continue on her journey of healing? 27:50 Was the revelation about the father always in your mind? 28:30 Where on the scale between empathy and upset do you think the reader is, or should be, by the end? 29:13 What's your favourite Bronte novel? 29:50 What's next? Purchase Links Used To Be: Amazon UK Amazon US Waterstones Hive Barnes & Noble IndieBound Astral Travel: Amazon UK Amazon US Amazon Canada Waterstones Hive Chapters Indigo I am an IndieBound affiliate and earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. Photograph used with the permission of the author.