Writing Podcast Episode 713: George Kemp dishes up his debut novel, ‘Soft Serve’

Would you like fries with that? Playwright and author George Kemp’s debut novel, Soft Serve, follows a particular day at a regional McDonalds restaurant and the various characters who work there. In this episode, George shares his influences and some of the curious choices he made in writing the book, as well as his writing routine and differences between novel and script writing.

You can listen to the episode below, on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or add the podcast RSS feed manually to your favourite podcast app.  

00:00 Welcome
10:51 Writing tip: Focus on positive feedback
15:00 WIN!: Click by Sarah Bailey
17:29 Word of the week: ‘Mensal’
18:06 Writer in residence: George Kemp
18:44 What his book Soft Serve is all about
19:47 Origins and influences
21:54 Novel versus script
23:27 The differences between the two
27:21 Defining the age range
30:48 Small town limitations
34:41 Unconventional dialogue and POV choices
37:01 Acting skills in writing
39:43 George’s writing routine
42:54 The publication process
45:54 Editing collaboration
48:25 A writing tip
50:13 Next projects
51:03 Final thoughts

Links mentioned in this episode

Writer in residence: George Kemp

 

George Kemp is a writer for stage, page and screen, based on Gadigal land. He was selected to be part of the Faber Academy in 2023–24, during which he completed the first draft of Soft Serve. His award-winning play Shack has been performed frequently around the country and internationally, and is included on the new NSW Drama Curriculum. George has had a successful career as an actor across Australia and England, in productions such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Cyrano de Bergerac (Sydney Theatre Company) and national and international tours of The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong. He is also a passionate educator and mentor of actors and writers and is currently Resident Artist at Australian Theatre for Young People. Soft Serve is his debut novel.

Follow George on Instagram.

Follow UQP Books on Instagram.

This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre and our course Creative Writing Stage 1.

 

Find out more about your host, Valerie Khoo (@valeriekhoo on Twitter and @valeriekhoo on Instagram).

Browse posts by category
Picture of Australian Writers’ Centre Team

Australian Writers’ Centre Team

Stay up to date with posts from the AWC blog. You can sign up to receive our weekly newsletter, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook. Our carrier pigeon service is currently unavailable.

You might also like:

Browse posts by category
AWC 21st birthday blog sidebar

Start Writing Fiction

Creative Writing Stage 1

Our most popular writing course. Learn characters, scenes, dialogue and storytelling fundamentals in just five weeks.

Find out more 

Follow a Clear Path

AWC Creative Writing Program

From your first story idea to a polished manuscript, our five-course pathway shows you what to do next.

Explore the program

Build Specific Skills

Fiction Essentials

Strengthen characterisation, dialogue, point of view, scenes, structure, grammar and punctuation with focused short courses.

See all Fiction Essentials

Write for Young Readers

Writing for Children of different ages

Picture books, chapter books, middle grade or YA – discover the course that matches the stories you want to write.

 View children’s writing courses