Ian Rankin

My guest this week is so well-known that his unfinished manuscripts and first drafts have been displayed at the National Library of Scotland. Sir Ian Rankin has published more than 35 books in his 36 years of writing. That includes 24 novels about the Edinburgh police detective John Rebus, which have sold over 30 million copies around the world. His latest, A Heart Full of Headstones, came out this year.

What is so interesting about Rankin’s publishing history is that he really didn’t make it straight out the gate. In fact it took him a while writing in quite difficult circumstances, including a time when he suffered panic attacks in London and a period living as an impoverished artist with his wife in France, where he was living in fear of not being published again before the Rebus series really took off.

I love talking to him about the rejections for the first Rebus novel and how he still receives rejections today (can you imagine?!), about how he turned to thrillers thinking he’d write the next big airport book, before find his way back to Rebus and, about how writers are the weird kids at school.

Do come find me on Twitter - @francescasteele - or Instagram - @francescasteelewrites - I'd love to hear your stories about self-doubt, rejection and – of course – success!

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