Character Study

About Character Study

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Freya Bromley

Category

arts · arts · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 May 2026

Latest episode

6 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Aug 2026

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

   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 the river. Jem and Freya talk about writing romance that feels real without being neat, the transactional and inexplicable pulls that draw two mismatched people together, and why a "situationship" can carry the weight of a love story even when you know it won't last. They get into the small, specific power of complimenting a stranger who's dressed a little braver than usual, and then into the harder subject underneath the whole book: attention. Jem and Freya make the case for stepping back from social media to protect your writing: the compounding minutes, the shrinking attention span, the excuse that posting is somehow part of the work. 📚 Further reading mentioned in this episode: – Liadan Ní Chuinn, Every One Still Here (short story collection) – Zadie Smith on living without a phone 🎥 WATCH the full episode here (https://youtu.be/umM6XJT-D64) 📘 Buy Jem Calder's I Want You to Be Happy (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9780571387458) and Reward System (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9780571363797), plus Freya's novel: A Real Piece of Work (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9781529155433) 💛 Follow @freybromley (https://www.instagram.com/freybromley/) on Instagram for updates and to ask your questions 📚 Join Freya's newsletter at freyabromley.substack.com (http://www.freyabromley.substack.com/) for behind the scenes thoughts 🎙️ And hit subscribe (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/character-study/id1896655831) wherever you get your podcasts 00:00:00 Introduction — and last night's karaoke reading 00:00:56 Jem reads from I Want You to Be Happy 00:02:12 The power of complimenting a stranger 00:02:53 Writing an unironic love story 00:05:02 Being reverent about the relationships that don't last 00:06:33 The intimacy of two people who really listen 00:08:19 Sharing your writing with a partner 00:09:50 Sensitivity as a superpower 00:11:28 Why he gave himself a pass to write about writers 00:12:43 Bring back emailing someone a poem 00:13:34 The decision to quit social media 00:15:14 "You'll get your attention back" — advice for writers 00:16:20 Liadan Ní Chuinn and the myth that you need a platform 00:18:54 Zadie Smith on living without a phone Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   4 Aug 2026

   Jem Calder: The Novel as a Gift

   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 with Sally Rooney emailing him about the first story he’d ever finished and now his debut is on the tote bag of every literary it girl this summer. He tells Freya why he’d rather write a novel than a memoir (he’s a self-described cagey person who doesn’t like giving too much of himself away) and why he thinks of fiction as a gift, something a reader can reach for in their worst moments. They chat about how quickly a good line about phones curdles into cliché, why he keeps thousands of words of notes he’ll almost never use and why writing within the constraints of a genre is a form of respect for the writers who came before. A funny, honest conversation between two writers about connection, cringe and what fiction is for. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:44 Book tour vs writing — the "spiritual maths" of promotion 00:04:24 Why Reward System reads like a novel, not a story collection 00:05:17 The novel-in-stories form and Tulathimutte's Rejection 00:06:04 "Limbic capitalism" and the little treats of modern life 00:09:26 Writing a love story when everything conspires against connection 00:10:29 Writing cringe, and the brutal comedy of small humiliations 00:12:08 Turning real life into fiction — the notes process 00:13:41 The anxiety of being judged forever on your first book 00:16:44 When readers over-read symbolism into your work 00:18:15 Cringe as comedy, and fiction that makes you feel understood 00:19:36 Why fiction, not memoir or autofiction 00:22:38 The Cazalet Chronicles and reverence for the family saga 00:26:32 Chuck as a version of Jem who took the other path 00:27:41 Comedy as inspiration, and the sauna theatre reading 00:30:25 Writing an unlikable character you still feel empathy for 00:32:40 The likability question and his Financial Times essay 00:39:30 Why he wouldn't want to adapt his own novel 00:42:09 Annie Baker, plays vs screenplays 00:44:41 Favourite live performers — and a clowning night gone wrong ⚠️ Contains spoilers for the ending of I Want You to Be Happy — skip forward when you reach that section if you'd rather go in fresh. Links to further reading: This Substack on writing (https://substack.com/home/post/p-192087947) by Naoise Dolan Liadan Ní Chuinn – Every One Still Here (https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Every-One-Still-Here-by-Liadan-N-Chuinn/9781803513294?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20920751754&gbraid=0AAAAADsTpAQLVv5kafQOSptYOiaEDK295&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-MDTBhCgARIsAKAkdlSm_KsyewioY3N9VuT8l2ydAwnbk_UoMoszse8dELFb5X4YiuUiKQkaAqPFEALw_wcB) Tony Tulathimutte — Rejection (https://www.waterstones.com/book/rejection/tony-tulathimutte/9780008759384) Philip Roth – On writing and re-writing a novel (https://www.webofstories.com/play/philip.roth/100;jsessionid=A5B559EB758A0671DDC5901870095C72) Elizabeth Jane Howard — The Cazalet Chronicles (https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/fiction/cazalet-chronicles-books-in-order), including the announcement of the reissue of The Light Years (https://www.instagram.com/p/DZfm6LfxW4i/) with a foreword by Jia Tollentino Elizabeth Taylo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Taylor_(novelist))r (novelist) Ella Hickson – The Writer (https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-writer/ella-hickson/9781848427549) Annie Baker – Infinite Life (https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Infinite-Life-by-Annie-Baker/9781839042775?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20920751754&gbraid=0AAAAADsTpAQLVv5kafQOSptYOiaEDK295&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-MDTBhCgARIsAKAkdlReWnkR9Og4DH0FKuhCOC3FekmipnpHALtbsuk2_ZU5hqoLO9d7NGgaAml2EALw_wcB) 🎥 WATCH (https://youtu.be/h4tuFTJ2iAw) the full episode 📘 Buy Jem Calder's 'Reward System' (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9780571363797 ), and I Want You to Be Happy ( https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9780571387458 ) 📘 Buy Freya's novel: A Real Piece of Work (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9781529155433) 💛 Follow @freybromley (https://www.instagram.com/freybromley/) on Instagram for updates and to ask your questions 📚 Join Freya's newsletter at freyabromley.substack.com (http://www.freyabromley.substack.com/) for behind the scenes thoughts 🎙️ And hit subscribe (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/character-study/id1896655831) wherever you get your podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Will Harris: Passage Reading – Speakee

   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 in a room full of people, and each time it comes back it has picked something up: a piece of research, an overheard shout, a memory of a stranger's grief. Nothing is explained, and by the end a single ordinary word has quietly turned inside out. It's about who gets to belong somewhere, and how language decides that for us before we've noticed. Will and Freya talk about writing people as names and voices rather than fully fleshed-out characters, why the most poignant moments are when someone stutters or says the wrong thing, and the danger of editing: that in smoothing out the clunky words, you can flatten everything interesting about a sentence. Plus, whether the internet and MFA culture have quietly made all our sentences sound the same. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:11 Speakee — the book Will is working on 00:00:32 Will reads Speakee Stonehenge 00:03:11 "Is it a poem? I don't know" 00:03:56 Writing people as names and voices 00:05:28 Why the poignant moments are the stutters 00:05:43 The exercise of transcribing overheard speech 00:07:15 Repetition, word choice and editing 00:07:58 The danger of smoothing out the difficulty 00:08:24 Has the internet made all our sentences the same? 🎥 WATCH (https://youtu.be/MKHe-HrIT_M) the full episode 📘 Buy Brother Poem, (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9781915051042) RENDANG (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9781783785599) and Mixed-Race Superman (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/11327/9781999922306) by Will Harris and Freya's novel: A Real Piece of Work (https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/a-real-piece-of-work/freya-bromley/9781529155433) 💛 Follow @freybromley (https://www.instagram.com/freybromley/) on Instagram for updates and to ask your questions 📚 Join Freya's newsletter at freyabromley.substack.com (http://www.freyabromley.substack.com/) for behind the scenes thoughts 🎙️ And hit subscribe (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/character-study/id1896655831) wherever you get your podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Contact Character Study

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.