Never Too Old For Y.A. & N.A. Books discussion
Author Interview of the Month
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JANUARY Interview with Jamie McGuire
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She seems so down to earth! I can't wait to read her novel :)!
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That was soo good. I cant wait for those other two books. I love that Travis was based on a real guy, god he must have been hot.
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What an awesome interview! Love the background information on her writing as well as the tips she gave for aspiring writers!
Loved the interview! Can't believe Travis is real. Also so happy that there'll be sequels to BD!
A sequel to Beautiful Disaster?! That will be interesting. I felt like it was all concluded up but there definitely could be more. Don't want to spoil anything in this thread.
Thank you for conducting and posting the interview. It is always a treat to get an author's insight on their work, and as I just finished "Beautiful Disaster" last night, very timely. I'm intrigued about the self-publishing trend and how different authors have used various approaches to varying degrees of success. And I confess ... I have a real weak-spot for male character POVs. :-) I would love to see some of the scenes in BD from Travis' viewpoint. Thanks again!
I love male POV characters. We need more of them. That's MHO. Thanks for the great interview.
1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? I suppose when I started selling copies of Providence. I had written since childhood, but never thought about writing a novel until my best friend Beth pushed me to do so. Even after I finished the book, I never thought I could be a full time writer until the books began to sell. Writing was always something I did, but no one had told me doing it for a living was possible. Being an author was something I thought only East Coast Ivy League graduated did. Amazon, the eBook revolution, and self-publishing are all equally responsible for making writing a reality for me. 2. How long does it take you to write a book? Providence took 11 weeks, and Beautiful Disaster took 7 weeks because it wasn’t set in a specific place, and the amount of research wasn’t required. The editing took a year for Providence. I never thought BD would be published, so I just gave it once-over and uploaded it to Amazon. I never thought it would garner the attention that it has. Requiem took a year for me to complete, and the third installment of the Providence series, Eden, I’ve been working on for four months and plan to finish by March. 1.
3. What do you think makes a great story? If a story creates strong emotion within the reader, it is worth the read. If you finish a book and feel like you were there when it happened, it’s a must-read. 4. What is your work schedule like when you're writing? I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of woman. I write when my creative mind tells me to. I try to put in the hours, but sometimes life makes that difficult. I’m an emotional person, and that comes across in my writing. Stress or a bad day makes writing about love nearly impossible, so those days I don’t even try.
5. How do you balance family and writing? My daughters are school-age. I write while they are at school or on weekends they are with their dad. Once in a great while I get on a roll and choose to write in the evenings, but that is few and far between.
6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? Usually listening to a song, or hearing an interesting word that would make for a great book title. Then I write an outline around it. 7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? I had to do a lot of paranormal research for the Providence series. I learned a lot about the city of Providence, but the coolest thing I learned about was the Nephilim, and the hierarchy of angels and demons. Regarding the Nephilim (angel hybrids like Goliath in the Bible), actual human remains have been found that were 9-14 feet tall, with two rows of teeth. I think that’s incredible. 8. How many books have you written? Which is your favourite? I’ve written three books, and I’m working on a fourth. I have at least a dozen in the queue to write, though, including a Beautiful Disaster from Travis’ POV, a story for Travis’ brother, Trent, a zombie book called Red Hill, and a sci-fi romance called Apolonia.
9. Your characters in Beautiful Disaster are so real and very relatable. Are they based on anyone you know? Especially Travis! (There seems to be a lot of guys out there like him). If so, who? Yes, Travis is based on a boy I had a huge crush on in college. Of course, certain dramatic flair was added for fictional purposes, but a lot of the personality and detail of his apartment is real. Shep is also a real person, who was modeled after his namesake.
10. Do you have a favourite place you love to write? In my recliner. Hopefully that will change this spring when I purchase my first home, which has an office.
11. How hard is it to self-publish? It’s not. Of course, some attention to detail and story-telling skills are needed, but it basically takes completing a novel and uploading it to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. I have an FAQ on my Facebook page that tells you literally everything you know to self-publish. Look me up as “Author Jamie McGuire” to check it out.
12. What do your family and friends think about your books? They tell me love them, but they’re biased of course. They are all amazed and mention on occasion (read: all the time) how proud they are. I have a great support group.
13. What do you like to do when you are not writing? I love watching movies, reading (but rarely have the time) and of course spending time with my children. 14. Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they? I am no Jane Austen, so it’s hard for me to say, but I can share what I’ve learned.
Put the time in
Finish what you start
Always end the chapter with the reader wanting more
Set a goal
Appoint Cheerleaders. Let someone you trust, that will be enthusiastic and non-judgmental read your book chapter by chapter if you need some extra motivation.
Trust the reader to know who is speaking. No need to write “he said” after every piece of dialogue.
Write what you like. When you start writing for others, it’s time to stop writing.
With self-publishing, there are no rules. Don’t let the agent or publishing house blogs tell you what you can or can’t write about. Someone somewhere will like reading your book.
You might not make a living writing, and that’s okay. Do it because you love it. Do it because you want to.
Reviews won’t always be glowing. When it starts to affect your confidence, stop reading them. First rule of writing: You can’t (and won’t) please everyone. If you love it, do it, anyway.
Get an editor. Whether it’s your high school English teacher, or a (legit) freelance editor, it’ll be worth it.
15. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? A dog catcher/veterinarian/ shelter/pet adoption center, a marine biologist, or a famous singer.
16. What are your favourite books and which authors inspire you? I am proud to admit I love the Twilight Series and Stephenie Meyer inspired me to write my first book. I love her easy, heavy-dialogue writing style and once I read those books, I knew I could do it, too. I also love Jessica Park, Tina Reber, Tammara Webber, Liz Reinhardt , and Abbi Glines, and not just because they are dear friends. They also happen to be damn good writers. 17. For an aspiring writer what do you feel are certain do's and don’ts for getting their material published? There are no rules. Self-publishing has set us free. Go forth, my son! Only if you want to go traditional (and there is no need for that, anymore, unless you just really want to give most of your profits to the publishing house) are there a set of do’s and don’t’s, and I’m not familiar with them because I chose not to be.
18. Are you planning on writing anymore about Beautiful Disaster and Providence? Yes, the Beautiful novels will have at least two more installments, but Providence’s final book is Eden, the one I’m working on now.