Here are ten links we've seen that are worth sharing.

Where do Booker-prize authors find their inspiration? The Guardian asks the contenders. Lucy Ellmann: I wrote this book out of utter despair about people and the environment. But the way I wrote it turned out to be a blast. A blast from the past, in fact. To convey the workings of a person’s mind, I retrieved an earlier technique of mine: collage. They also asked the same question of the nominees in 2016. Of course, the announcement of two joint winners of the Booker prompted much debate. Here's their joint interview with The Guardian.

From the archives of Thames Television on YouTube here's a couple of interesting interviews. One of British television's great interviewers Mavis Nicholson speaks to Patricia Highsmith in 1978 and to Roald Dahl in 1984.

Actor Christopher Eccleston writes a letter to his younger self in The Big Issue. I wanted to get away from what I felt was my fate: a factory, a building site or a warzone. And they said if you want to go further with acting, go to London. I was a strange mix of self-dismissal and raging ambition. Some part of me must have believed in myself, but the larger part was getting in my own way with the anorexia and what Billy Bob Thornton once called ‘the personal radio in his head’. The minute I thought I wanted to be an actor, I also thought, ‘You can’t do this because you are not artistic, you don’t look or sound like an actor, you don’t have a poetic sensibility.

The Sitcom Geeks Script Challenge is for British Comedy Guide Pro members, but the cracking series of articles and podcast episode on sitcom writing is free for anyone to read.

Lots of good interviews on how writers write at Writers Routines. A good writing day is typically two hours of new words on the page. I don’t really care about output, which is something you really can’t control. My job is to spend my time the way I intended. As an author, you can’t predict when a breakthrough idea will hit you, but what you can always control is the time you put into your work. Nir Eyal

Playwright Annie Baker speaks to Mark Lawson in The Guardian. “I have always tried to make the kind of theatre I want to see,” she says, “and although I haven’t always succeeded, it’s obvious to me that, if you’re making a choice from a place of fear or obedience, it’s the wrong choice. I know at times this has frustrated people.” The Globe and Mail recently looked at the infamous pauses in Baker's play The Flick.“There’s a different kind of listening required in Annie Baker’s work,” says Mitchell Cushman, director of the current Toronto production of The Flick. “It’s interesting working on her stuff because most theatre is about trying to pick up the pace. She’s after real life, where silence is actually the rule.”

For theatre folk there's lots of great resources in the Theatre Casting Toolkit. The toolkit is for anyone who wants to see a broader range of actors on our stages and in our rehearsal rooms. It features a mix of practical tools, inspiration, information and guidance. Hat tip - Sara Jo Harrison. 

It's November, so it's NaNoWriMo, where writers sign up to write 50,000 words of their novel before December. It's not about editing or worrying, it's about getting the pages filled, and giving yourself something to work on later. It's brilliant for inspiration, community and overcoming the fear of the blank page. 

BBC Writersroom have some great podcasts with writers, the latest episode features Jack Thorne, who has adapted Philip Pullman's epic His Dark Materials for television. 

Howlround is an American website for progressive theatre makers that hosts some fascinating podcasts, essays and videos. 

The best of the writing and theatre related Twitter threads we noticed in October.

Brian Koppelman, creator of Billions, on 'gaming the market'.

Poet and playwright Kevin P. Gilday has a lengthy thread on his finances after the Edinburgh Fringe. 

Joanne Harris on things people ask authors for.

Long thread by Christopher McQuarrie on the business side of screenwriting.

Author of Leonard and Hungry Paul Rónán Hession tweets his recommendations of indie-published books to read.

Writer and editor Madeline Anthes provides this thread on flash fiction submission dos and don'ts.

Kieran Hurley asks what the word 'emerging' means in theatre.

We're in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ayr for our Christmas shows. We have six Christmas themed plays from Derek Banner, Karen Barclay, Kat Harrison, Claire McLaine, Tom Murray and one more to be announced.

We're at the Gilded Balloon on Rose Street, Edinburgh on Wednesday 4th December. Tickets are £6 and you can get them on the Gilded Balloon website. We're back at The Rum Shack on Thursday 5th December. Tickets for that one are available on Tickets Ignite. Then we're by the seaside at Cameron's in Ayr on Friday 6th December. Contact the venue to book a seat for that one.

There will be more information about the plays in the December newsletter.