Podcasts · Arts

Character Study

Freya Bromley

25 episodes

Everyone plays a character, right? Welcome to Character Study the podcast that explores how creativity shapes our lives. Each episode, author Freya Bromley talks to artists of every discipline about how turning their life into material changed how they see themselves. Whether we’re writing autofiction, standup or lyrics, what can we say in our work that we could never say as ourselves? And what does it cost the people closest to you to make art that mirrors your experience? These conversations explore how seeing yourself as a ‘character’ in your own story can unearth unexpected courage, compassion and curiosity. And maybe even a bit more self-reflection. This podcast isn’t just for writers, it’s for anyone trying to make sense of who they are. Follow Character Study to explore how the art of storytelling shapes our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

More about the show

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Episodes

  1. Jem Calder: Passage Reading – I Want You To Be Happy

    · 20 min · Bonus

    Novelist Jem Calder reads from I Want You to Be Happy in this passage episode of Character Study, a scene about a hundred pages in, as his two characters go on early dates and feel each other out across a pub table by…

  2. Jem Calder: The Novel as a Gift

    · 46 min · S1 E9

    Novelist Jem Calder joins Freya to talk about I Want You to Be Happy, his debut novel about two people trying to fall in love while everything around them is engineered to distract them. Jem’s writing career started…

  3. Will Harris: Passage Reading – Speakee

    · 9:11 · Bonus

    Poet Will Harris reads Speakee Stonehenge, an exclusive sneak peek into the collection of poems he is currently working on, Speakee. It's a piece that keeps circling back on itself, returning to the same small moment…

  4. Will Harris: A Brother, and One Big Lie

    · 45 min · S1 E8

    Poet Will Harris joins Freya to talk about writing a whole collection around a brother he never had. Will, who won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, tells Freya where that idea came from: a hunch that people…

  5. Sufiyaan Salam: Passage Reading – Wimmy Road Boyz

    · 22 min · Bonus · Explicit

    Screenwriter, artist and Murky Book Prize-winning novelist Sufiyaan Salam reads the opening chapters of Wimmy Road Boyz: three young men in a BMW, cruising towards Manchester's Curry Mile at the start of a night that…

  6. Sufiyaan Salam: "Someone's Got to Take Shakespeare Out"

    · 44 min · S1 E7

    Screenwriter and novelist Sufiyaan Salam won the #Merky Books New Writers' Prize for his debut Wimmy Road Boyz. He joins Freya to talk about his novel that follows three young British-Pakistani men across one chaotic…

  7. BONUS EPISODE: Prologue to A Real Piece of Work

    · 14 min · Bonus

    This week, a special bonus episode: the prologue of Freya's debut novel, A Real Piece of Work, read by actor Ellie Kendrick. OUT NOW A Real Piece of Work follows Nola, whose memoir about her late sister Darina has…

  8. Sarvat Hasin: Passage Reading – Strange Girls

    · 14 min · Bonus

    Novelist Sarvat Hasin reads from the second chapter of her novel Strange Girls — the beginning of Alia's story. Sarvat and Freya talk about how the two narrators of Strange Girls arrived in different voices and…

  9. Sarvat Hasin: When a Friendship Falls Apart

    · 40 min · S1 E6

    Novelist Sarvat Hasin, author of This Wide Night, You Can't Go Home Again and The Giant Dark , joins Freya to talk about her latest novel Strange Girls a novel that explores the relationship of two former friends…

  10. Lucas Oakeley – Listener Q+A

    · 7:12 · Bonus · Explicit

    Author and Boys Book Club co-founder Lucas Oakeley answers listener questions in this Q&A episode of Character Study. Listeners ask Lucas where his creative spark comes from, whether he has a way of dealing with…

  11. Lucas Oakeley: Passage Reading – Nearly Departed

    · 8:17

    Author and Boys Book Club co-founder Lucas Oakeley reads from his debut novel Nearly Departed in this passage episode of Character Study. Lucas reads the chapter What Dreams May Come, in which grief-stricken Joel…

  12. Lucas Oakeley: Why I Wrote a Rom Com About Grief

    · 1 h 01 min · S1 E5

    Lucas Oakeley is the author of Nearly Departed, a debut novel about a man navigating grief and love three years after losing someone close — a rom com that somehow manages to be genuinely funny. He's also the…

  13. Hope Tala: Listener Q + A

    · 13 min · Bonus

    Singer-songwriter Hope Tala answers listener questions in this Q&A episode of the podcast. Listeners ask Hope what she wouldn't change about the music industry, who her dream collaborator is — her answer is Kendrick…

  14. Hope Tala: Passage Reading – A Story To Tell

    · 10 min · Bonus

    Singer-songwriter Hope Tala reads from her debut album Hope Handwritten in this passage episode of Character Study. Hope reads the lyrics to A Story to Tell — a song she wrote on a sunny day in Los Angeles when the…

  15. Hope Tala: The Art of Feeling Everything

    · 35 min · S1 E4

    Singer-songwriter Hope Tala, one of the most exciting voices in British R&B, whose debut album Hope Handwritten charts three and a half years of heartbreak, new love and coming of age. As if writing an acclaimed album…

  16. Ben Pope: Listener Q+A

    · 8:00 · Bonus

    Stand-up comedian, writer and Peckham bookseller Ben Pope answers listener questions in this Q&A episode of the pod Listeners ask Ben whether inspiration comes in sparks or from hard work, how you know if your joke is…

  17. Ben Pope: Passage Reading — Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

    · 8:17 · Bonus

    Comedian Ben Pope reads his mischievous short story, Tomato Mozzarella Salad. A recipe that is also, somehow, an entire relationship contained in a single dinner. The story begins as a set of instructions and ends as…

  18. Ben Pope: There's Less of Me Now. But In Some Ways There's More.

    · 51 min · S1 E3

    Ben Pope is a comedian, bookseller and writer based in south London. He manages Review bookshop in Peckham, has been doing stand-up for over a decade, and has taken a string of critically acclaimed shows to the…

  19. Hannah Murray: Listener Q+A

    · 8:29

    Freya puts listener questions to actor and author Hannah Murray, whose memoir The Make-Believe is out now from Penguin. Hannah answers questions from listeners about her time on Skins — including the behind-the-scenes…

  20. Hannah Murray: Passage Reading — The Make-Believe

    · 9:41 · Bonus

    In this passage episode, Hannah reads from the opening chapter of her memoir The Make Believe. A scene from the set of the film Detroit, where she played a victim of sexual assault in one of the most physically and…

  21. Hannah Murray: When the Character Takes Over

    · 51 min · S1 E2 · Explicit

    In this episode of Character Study, Freya sits down with Hannah Murray: actor, author and now writer, best known for playing Cassie in Skins and Gilly in Game of Thrones. Hannah's debut memoir The Make Believe…

  22. Emma Gannon: Listener Q&A

    · 11 min · Bonus

    In this listener Q&A, Emma Gannon answers questions sent in by Character Study followers from around the world. On everything from how to get noticed as a new author, to beating writer's block, to whether nature really…

  23. Emma Gannon: Passage Reading — Creative Compass

    · 16 min · Bonus

    In this passage episode from our guest, Emma reads from her latest book Creative Compass — a story about watching a Bill Cunningham documentary in her early 20s and the creative philosophy it unlocked. Bill…

  24. Emma Gannon: Permission to Be a Writer

    · 41 min · S1 E1

    In the first ever episode of Character Study, Freya sits down with Emma Gannon: author of nine books, Substack writer to 80,000 readers and one of the most distinctive voices on the internet about creative life. They…

  25. Introducing Character Study with Freya Bromley

    · 1:33 · Trailer

    Everyone plays a character. But what does it really mean to turn your life into art? In this new podcast series, Freya explores how writers, artists and performers shape their character. Each episode, she’ll be talking…

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