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Rachael Johns

101 min • 4 december 2022

THIS EPISODE CONTAINS SPOILERS.

In this episode, Rachael Johns takes us through the process behind writing her novel The Work Wives.

Rachael very generously decided she was more than happy to discuss the twists and turns of the novel so that all you writers out there could learn from this novel. She also takes us through her physical notebook for the novel - the original character outlines and plot points - so we can really see how this novel took shape from its inception. Rachael also read through the detailed developmental and structural notes from her editors which was such a terrific insight, not only into how a novel is edited, but how the publication process works.

This episode is a real masterclass in crafting a piece of contemporary, commercial fiction.

You’ll find links to buy both paperback and ebook versions of The Work Wives here.

ABOUT RACHAEL JOHNS

Rachael Johns is an English teacher by trade, a mum 24/7, a Diet Coke addict, a cat lover and chronic arachnophobe. She rarely sleeps and never irons. She is also the bestselling, ABIA-winning author of The Patterson Girls and a number of other romance and women’s fiction books, including her recent bestseller, Something to Talk About. Rachael is currently Australia’s leading writer of contemporary relationship stories around women’s issues, a genre she has coined ‘life-lit’.

Rachael has finaled in a number of competitions, including the Australian Romance Readers Awards. Jilted (her first rural romance) won Favourite Australian Contemporary Romance in 2012, and The Patterson Girls won the 2016 Romance Writers of Australia RUBY Award and also the 2015 Australian Book Industry Award for General Fiction. She continually places in Booktopia’s Top 50 Aussie Authors poll.

Rachael lives in the Swan Valley with her hyperactive husband, three mostly-gorgeous heroes-in-training, two ravenous cats, a cantankerous bird and a very badly-behaved dog.

Website: https://www.rachaeljohns.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachaeljohnsauthor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RachaelJohnsRomance

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachaeljohnsauthor

Questions this month were from:

Deb Jordan - https://www.instagram.com/deb_jordan_writer/

Renae Black - https://www.instagram.com/renae_black_writes/

Links to writing craft books mentioned by Rachael:

The Bestseller Code by Jodie Archer, Matthew Jockers

The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes

by Caro Lafever, Tami D Cowden and Sue Viders

Rachael Johns’ Book Club Retreat