Changing up the Christmas episode come season finale format, we're joined by acclaimed author and journalist A.J. West for a chat about everything that went into his novel, The Betrayal of Thomas True, plus a mutual love of Dickens, and, of course, a little bit of Christmas.

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For more on A.J. and his work, explore his website at ajwestauthor.com or on Instagram @ajwestauthor.

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Follow us on social media:

• INSTAGRAM: @dale_hurst_writing_show | @dalehurst_author
• FACEBOOK: Dale Hurst - Author
• TIKTOK: @dalehurst_author

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• THE BOURNEMOUTH JOURNAL: thebournemouthjournal.com

After nearly five whole series, we've finally ticked something off our topic bucket list. How does one go about writing scripts for video games? What does a video game script even look like? And how easy is it to get into games publishing?

These are just a handful of the questions put to our guest for this edition, games writer and creator of Heartsworn, Noe Sawaya.

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Follow us on social media:

• INSTAGRAM: @dale_hurst_writing_show | @dalehurst_author
• FACEBOOK: Dale Hurst - Author
• TIKTOK: @dalehurst_author

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• THE BOURNEMOUTH JOURNAL: thebournemouthjournal.com

From Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories all the way to Black Mirror's "Bandersnatch", where do we start when it comes to crafting immersive and interactive stories? Can we take it beyond the page, and indeed, even beyond the realms of fiction?

Our guest expert for the episode is Dr Bradford Gyori, leader of MA Creative Writing and Publishing at Bournemouth University; Editor-in-Chief of The Bournemouth Journal, and author of a book examining this very topic: "Creating the Interactive Digital Narrative: An All-At-Once Guide to Collaborative Planning, Production and Beyond" (releasing February 2026).

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Follow us on social media:

INSTAGRAM: @dale_hurst_writing_show | @dalehurst_author

FACEBOOK: Dale Hurst - Author

TIKTOK: @dalehurst_author

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THE BOURNEMOUTH JOURNAL: thebournemouthjournal.com