Have you ever sat on a train and wondered about the lives of the other passengers? Author Samantha Sotto Yambao certainly has. In fact, she’s written a book based on that very concept! In this episode, Samantha shares her experience crafting and publishing her new novel, The Elsewhere Express, the unique lit scene in the Philippines and the manuscript that ended up becoming a donor for her other books!
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00:00 Welcome
09:40 Writing tip: Doodling words
12:02 Writers in the wild
13:16 WIN: She Lied First by Dinuka McKenzie
15:00 Word of the week: ‘Noctambulism’
15:57 Interview with: Samantha Sotto Yambao
16:33 Describing The Elsewhere Express
18:00 Crafting the characters
22:00 Using an ambiguous location
23:40 Samantha’s writing and publishing journey
27:40 Getting an agent and published
35:30 Paralysed by fear
39:00 Current book experience: reboot
47:10 The unique Philippine literature scene
51:00 Thoughts on other genres
52:07 What’s next?
55:20 Writing tip
56:28 Final thoughts
Links mentioned in this episode
- WIN She Lied First by Dinuka McKenzie
- Buy So You Want to be a Writer – the book!
- Facebook group for So You Want to be a Writer
Writer in residence: Samantha Sotto Yambao

Samantha Sotto Yambao is a professional daydreamer, aspiring time traveler, and speculative fiction writer based in Manila. She is the Sunday Times, USA Today, Indie List and New York Times Bestselling author of The Elsewhere Express, Water Moon, Before Ever After, Love and Gravity, A Dream of Trees, and The Beginning of Always.
Follow Samantha on Instagram.
Follow Penguin Books Aus on Twitter and 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).




