When Nicola Harrison graduated from college, her beloved professor told her NOT to write a novel because she had "nothing to say yet." So, she moved to New York, worked as a fashion journalist, and didn't publish her first novel until she was 40. Now, Nicola is a bestselling historical fiction author with four books and a devoted readership.

In this episode of Literary Prospects, Nicola discusses her sun-soaked new novel The Island Club, set on Balboa Island, California in the 1950s. Nicola opens up about the winding road from fashion journalism to fiction, what it's like to write from three points of view for the first time, the 5 AM writing habit that transformed her productivity, and the real-life 1920s tennis star who inspired one of her central characters.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to find your writing community — why Nicola credits writing groups with keeping her accountable, sane, and moving forward

• The 5 AM Writers' Club — how waking up before the house stirs gave her two uninterrupted hours of pure creative output

• Research before you write — why she spends two full months researching before typing a single word, and why knowing more than you'll ever use is the key to authenticity

• Plotter vs. pantser — Nicola's honest take on why leaving room for surprise is actually a creative superpower

• Jumping into multiple POVs — what made her take the leap from single-narrator storytelling to three alternating perspectives, and how she pulled it off

• From journalism to fiction — how Nicola’s background in fact-based writing became an unexpected asset, and how she got past the fear of "just making things up"

• The road to publication — finding an agent, signing with St. Martin's Press, and why patience is non-negotiable in publishing

• Life experience is your raw material — the professor advice that stuck: get out, live your life, and then write

*To support the podcast and get awesome, bookish merch, check out the Literary Prospects Shop at https://shop.literaryprospects.com

*For books featured on the podcast and other curated booklists, check out our online store at Bookshop.org, Literary Prospects Books: https://bookshop.org/shop/literaryprospects

*More good stuff for writers and readers: https://literaryprospects.com

Topics and Timestamps:

1:10 — Welcome & book introductions: *The Island Club*

2:00 — What is *The Island Club* about?

3:39 — How Nicola discovered tennis and found community as an adult

6:30 — Joining the 5 AM Writers' Club

8:47 — Why Balboa Island? The history, the frozen bananas, and "Bal Week"

11:19 — Real tennis legend Suzanne Lenglen, the inspiration behind Adele

13:57 — Nicola’s research process

16:54 — Nicola’s Writing process

18:41 — Plotter vs. pantser

21:34 — Why *The Island Club* demanded three POVs

26:20 — What draws Nicola to writing historical beach fiction

27:43 — From fashion journalism to fiction

29:16 — Growing up in England, and writing as a child

29:33 — The professor advice that changed everything: "You have nothing to say yet"

30:42 — Road to publication

34:03 — The Taylor Swift boost: how *The Showgirl* got a surprise viral moment

35:46 — What Nicola wishes she'd known before publishing

37:35 — Surviving book tours: why Nicola brings her mom along

38:24 — Nicola's new writing workshop for aspiring authors (nicolaharrison.com)

40:27 — Best advice for aspiring authors: find your writing community

41:39 — Theme song pick

What would happen if everyone in the world received an email (or telegram) at the exact same time, naming their true soulmate? This is the question Joan F. Smith explores in her thoughtful and original adult debut novel, YOUR SOULMAIL IS ATTACHED. But before Joan sits down to write, she has more than a simple question in mind. A self-confessed “extreme plotter,” Joan grounds wildly speculative elements and keeps readers turning pages with meticulous research and extensive structural outlining.

In this episode, Joan gets real about her process, the writing “rules” she refuses to follow, her obsession with TV pilot episodes, navigating publishing's unpredictability, and building a creative life that lasts. Whether you're drafting your first chapter or querying your tenth manuscript, Joan's practical, hard-won insights will meet you exactly where you are.

In this episode, you'll learn:
•The difference between an idea and a book concept — and why writing before you know which one you have is the most common (and costly) mistake aspiring authors make
•How to make wildly speculative premises feel completely grounded — Joan's research-heavy, reader-first approach to world-building in Your Soulmail is Attached
•Why extreme plotting works — how writing a 20,000-word outline before drafting a single scene can actually set you free
•The unexpected craft lesson from screenwriting — why studying TV pilots and film structure gave Joan a story-shaping toolkit that fiction workshops couldn't
•What reading in your genre actually means — and how recent your comps really need to be

*To support the podcast and get awesome, bookish merch, check out the Literary Prospects Shop at https://shop.literaryprospects.com

*For books featured on the podcast and other curated booklists, check out our online store at Bookshop.org, Literary Prospects Books: https://bookshop.org/shop/literaryprospects

*More good stuff for writers and readers: https://literaryprospects.com

Topics and Timestamps:
0:22 — Introduction & book blurbs for *Your Soulmail is Attached*
2:46 — About the book: the premise and Olivia Adler's story
3:23 — How Joan came up with the Soul Mail concept
5:05 — Would Joan open her Soul Mail? How her answer has changed
6:48 — Making speculative fiction feel grounded
10:55 — How Joan draws characters from real life…and then flips them
12:28 — Joan's writing process: extreme plotting, 20K outlines, and writing non-linearly
14:55 — Why the best ideas come in the shower (and what that says about our attention spans)
16:33 — Moving from YA to adult fiction; it’s not a “pivot”
19:14 — How a screenwriting course transformed the way Joan thinks about story structure
21:10 — Reverse outlining TV and film
24:18 — Has Joan always been a writer? (Spoiler: she submitted a story to Cosmo in 5th grade)
24:55 — The road to publication: MFA, Pitch Wars, and finding her writing partners
27:06 — What made her writing partnership the catalyst for everything taking off
29:44 — Dance as storytelling: how being a dance teacher informs Joan’s writing
30:28 — The Darling Killers podcast
32:07 — The difference between an idea and a book concept (and why it matters)
38:14 — What Joan knows now that she wishes she'd known before her debut
39:59 — Best advice for aspiring authors: read and reverse outline!
43:46 — The theme song for *Your Soulmail is Attached* (the movie/series)

After years of rejection, losing his agent and editor, and a creeping number of novels sitting on his hard drive, Amin Ahmad said he was writing one more book and then he was done. Good thing he did! Amin’s new book club thriller has critics and readers raving, and it’s been optioned for a limited series: proof that craft, persistence, and knowing your obsessions always pays off eventually.

On today’s episode, Amin, a former architect and creative writing professor at Duke University, sits down to talk about his breakout thriller A Killer in the Family, a Gatsby-esque story of arranged marriage, family secrets, a wealthy New York dynasty, and a lurking serial killer. But just as compelling as the novel itself is the story behind it: years of failed drafts, lost agents, and hard-won lessons about what it really takes to become a successful author.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why failure isn't the enemy of good writing — it's the method

• The difference between a "discovery draft" and a finished manuscript (and why confusing the two stalls writers)

• How Amin uses index cards to outline without killing creative momentum

• Why building a writing community is as important as developing your craft

• The publishing industry realities no one warns you about — and how to navigate them

• How teaching writing accelerated his own growth as an author

• Why reading screenwriting books might be the best thing a novelist can do

*To support the podcast and get awesome, bookish merch, check out the Literary Prospects Shop at https://shop.literaryprospects.com

*For books featured on the podcast and other curated booklists, check out our online store at Bookshop.org, Literary Prospects Books: https://bookshop.org/shop/literaryprospects

*More good stuff for writers and readers: https://literaryprospects.com

Topics and Timestamps:

1:22 — Welcome & introducing *A Killer in the Family*

3:16 — The elevator pitch: arranged marriage, wealth, and a serial killer

4:17 — The real family secret that inspired the novel

5:59 — The Great Gatsby connection & the Jersey Turnpike moment

7:22 — Writing under a new name & finding Amin’s subject matter

12:40 — Literary thriller vs. genre fiction: how does Amin label it?

19:37 — Place as the way in: New York, architecture & expensive tastes

23:21 — Craft: writing immersive settings without slowing the pace

26:35 — Managing time, POV, and suspense in the novel

31:10 — From immigrant to architect to writer: the origin story

34:59 — Finding (and keeping) a literary agent

36:59 — Writing is failure — and why that's the whole point

40:05 — What Amin wishes he'd known before his first book was published

44:44 — The limited series option & the dream theme song