Antonia Hodgson, author of 'The Raven Scholar' - Fantasy writer discusses shifting the day, switching genre, and researching your own world

Writer's Routine

Dan Simpson

Arts, Hobbies, Books, Leisure

4.9 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Antonia Hodgson is a novelist, screenwriter, former publisher and now, fantasy author. She made her name writing historical crime. Her debut, 'The Devil in Marshalsea', won the CWA Historical Dagger Award in 2014 and was shortlisted for Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year, it was a Richand and Judy, and Waterstone's Book Club pick. All in all, a huge debut.

Now, she's returning to her first love, with a brand new fantasy trilogy. 'The Raven Scholar', tells the story of Bersun the Brusque, Emperor of Orrun, who is bringing his reign to an end after 24 years on the throne. It looks at the 7 contenders to replace him... who soon become 6. It's up to Neema Kraa to investigate the killer before the Empire falls.

We discuss the tricks and tropes of fantasy, and how much you can possibly research the world you're creating. Also, you an hear why fantasy is all about asking strange questions, how much she knows about the future of the series, and how much planning can go into a sprawling, epic saga.

You can get a copy of the book at uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome along to a brand new episode of writers' routine. This week we're chatting to the award-winning author, Antonia Hodgson, from making her name and winning awards with historical crime,
0:21.1	she's started a new fantasy series.
0:24.2	It's called The Raven Scholar.
0:26.2	And you can hear how happy her publishers are with her switching genre.
0:30.8	Also, why writing fantasy, it's all about asking questions.
0:34.5	How does this world work?
0:36.0	Where has it come from? What's its history? Why, you know,
0:39.8	why are they, if you've got these animal, eight animal guardians that the people are drawn to,
0:47.3	why, you know, is what happened to this society? You know, also with the map, what's it geography
0:53.3	telling me, you know, if an empire is vast and it's got, you know, also with the map, what's it geography telling me, you know, if an empire is
0:55.7	vast and it's got, you know, what's it like to live on one end of the empire from another?
1:00.4	And we talk about how she charts the day. She doesn't write a word count, so how does she
1:05.6	know that she's done? I'm very absorbed and, you know, I'm just deep in the flow of it and I'm writing away.
1:12.8	And when I lose that, I can still tinker and I can go back and edit, but I don't, that I think I've just instinctively go, okay, that's, that's it.
1:24.0	I just think, you know, I've drawn all like I can for the day.
1:28.2	It's all on the way with Antonia Hodgson in a brand new episode of writer's routine.
1:40.3	Yes, welcome along to the show. My name is Dan Simpson. It's a podcast where we take a look inside an author's working day. If it sounds particularly echoey today, I'm talking to you from a room in the Crown Hotel in Harrogate, in the north of England. And Harrogate feels like one of the homes of books in the UK. So many writing
2:06.4	festivals here. I have been up at the Harrogate Literature Festival. I spoke to Mark Watson
2:12.4	last night about his brand new book, which is called One Minute Away, which is, it made me feel really uneasy,
2:20.3	actually. If you know Mark's comedy, he's actually being on this show a few years ago,
2:24.3	but if you know his comedy, high energy, fairly chaotic, a brilliant, almost rambling storyteller.
2:32.2	And you wouldn't expect him to write the books that he does, I think.
	...

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