Welcome to the Creative Pen podcast. I'm Joanna Penn, thriller author and creative entrepreneur,

bringing you interviews, inspiration and information on writing, publishing options and marketing ideas for your book.

You can find the episode show notes, your free author blueprint and lots more information at

TheCreativepen.com, and that's Pen with a double N. And here's the show.

Hello, creatives. I'm Joanna Penn, and this is episode number 497 of the podcast, and it is Friday, 10th of July 2020 as I record this.

So today I'm talking to Philip Athens about writing monsters.

Now, monsters tap into something primal that lies at the heart of being human.

We've always feared what lies at the edge of the campfire just out of sight.

And as writers, tapping into those fears can be a powerful form of creation.

And in this interview, Phil talks about how and why we find monsters so fascinating,

how to create them and why they can sometimes be a metaphor for society.

And it is mostly a craft interview about writing, but towards the end, I ask about

his career and multiple streams of income. Because Phil is a working writer with lots of different

things, and he says, walk through the door that's open, which is really interesting. It's about

taking opportunities in the direction of your goals and dreams, even if sometimes you didn't

expect that door to be open. And also, concentrate on the one thing you have control over the

quality of your work. Definitely something to hold on to in a time where we control very little

of what's going on right now. So that is coming up. In publishing news, I think the most

interesting thing I've seen this week and it's really inspired my imagination is Brandon Sanderson's

Kickstarter for the 10th anniversary edition of The Way of Kings. Now, it doesn't matter if you

don't like fantasy because this is fascinating. As I record

this, his Kickstarter is almost at four million pounds, so that is over five million dollars for the

...