From Louise Wise

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Whatever you do begin writing your novel in the CORRECT place!

This week Jamie Magee is here to talk us about where to begin writing a novel. At the beginning? You think?


Take it away, Jamie...




Whatever you do begin writing your novel in the CORRECT place!
by 
Jamie Magee



I always thought that there was only one way to write a novel – from the beginning to the end – but that was before I was writer.

When I began writing the Insight series I was chasing a daydream. The image I had of my main character, Willow Haywood, was painful and full of raw emotion.

I knew I couldn’t start at that point so I thought backwards and tried to figure out how this scene would come to life then I started the Insight series at the wrong place – the beginning.

Once Insight was complete my scene saw was nowhere to be seen. It was an awkward moment in my life. One thought would tell me that I’d wasted three months writing a story that would never be read, the next that this was simply the beginning and that I needed to write deeper and find that lost scene.

As beta readers began to read Insight I felt unfulfilled. Even though I’d told Willow Haywood’s story I felt empty – after organizing every closet and drawer in my house my restlessness became too much for me to handle, and before I had the verdict from the beta readers I began to write again.

This time I started with my lost scene. At first it felt like I was writing outside of the series but I began to let my characters guide me. It was a turning point.

I’d wrote what is chapter twelve in Embody all the way to end before I had any feedback on Insight, at that point it didn’t matter if anyone else was in love with Willow and Landen – I was!

More scenes came – but this was a good thing if I wanted to keep writing! What was different with the these scenes is that I didn’t try and figure out what happened before that point, instead I just wrote them down and made room for the next ‘big idea’ to come.

Image will be launched Nov 8th 2011
My third novel, Image, was written differently. In that novel I wrote countless scenes then placed them in order and connected them together. Somehow it created a fast paced novel, and looking back now I know I would not have managed to come up with the same effect had I written the novel from the beginning to end.




Jamie Magee has always believed that each of us have a defining gift that sets us apart from the rest, she has always envied those who have known from their first breath what their gift was. Not knowing hers, she began a career in the fast paced world of business. Raising a young family, and competing to rise higher in that field would drive some to the point of insanity, but she always found a moment of escape in a passing daydream. Her imagination would take her to places she'd never been, introduce her to people she's never known. Insight, her debuting novel, is a result of that powerful imagination. Today, she is grateful that not knowing what defined her led her on a path of discovery that would always be a part of her.




Not many Scorpio’s are known for their patience, and Willow Haywood is no different. Her only desire is to love Landen Chambers and redeem the lost souls of Esterious, but the path to that desire is long, dark and dangerous...

Before Willow’s life had a chance to balance the sudden revelations and grief she had to endure to get to Chara a disturbing discovery is made. A photo, one that shows Willow blissfully embracing the flawless image of Drake Blakeshire; giving her not only proof that she had lived before, but that she had loved him.



Running away from the memory of Drake’s hypnotizing touch, and the prophecy set before her seemed like the logical thing to do. That is, until a dark dream reignites her passion to save the hopeless dimension of Esterious. Willow struggles to find patience – to learn everything she needs to know before she faces Drake again, but her eagerness is dangerous and one step in the wrong direction takes everything and everyone away from her – the only way to survive this trial is for Willow to remember who she is and what she really wants out of this life.



Jamie Magee's Blog: http://ourbooksourvoice.blogspot.com/
FB page: http://www.facebook.com/Insight.Jamie.Magee
and twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/insight117

She'd love to hear from you!





5 comments:

  1. I spent ages trying to write my first novel starting at the beginning, or at least where I thought it would start. After a frustrating period I gave that up and wrote the scenes that were clearest in my head. Once I did that, it poured out. There were some gaps but they were a lot easier to fill later on. When I had most of the novel in front of me it was also obvious where it should start. I've done it that way since. I think that sort of approach also helps to get the characters established and then they almost write the rest themselves.

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  2. I agree too, Rod. Some authors unconsciously begin writing where the muse takes them already, others believe they HAVE to start at the beginning. I think Nanowrimo (write a novel in a month) has helped bring this to many oblivious authors' attention.

    Thanks Jamie for sharing.

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  3. Thank you for this interview! Very informative. Loved it.
    -Dawn aka dawnmomoffour
    thedoyle6@rogers.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for this stop on the Romancing Your Dark Side Tour ~ it was a pleasure to be here. Jamie M

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  5. It was in my third story that I realised I'd started in the wrong place. Thankfully, I got the feeling early on (after finishing what's now ch2) and all that was required was a quick delete, but not before some cut and paste to move the relevant info. Voila passive to active.

    Thanks to that story, I also now get why you have to 'kill your darlings'. ^_^

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