Blog - Page 49 of 54

Where do the ideas come from?

February 20, 2013 By JPMcLean 1 Comment

A question I’m frequently asked is where do my story ideas come from? Truthfully, it’s a mystery. I’m as surprised as anyone that my imagination was responsible for the ideas that became The Gift Legacy.

It’s a process

I’ve come to believe that idea generation is a process. It starts with a seed you may not even know you’ve sown. The process is probably some deeply ingrained human problem-solving skill.

Apes in sub-Saharan Africa are likely doing the same thing. While they’re busy picking bugs out of their mate’s hair, their subconscious is working out how to keep the elephants from mucking up the watering hole.

For me, Emelynn Taylor and the idea of an unbidden gift were the seeds. New scenes would pop up at the strangest, often inconvenient, times. I learned not to go anywhere without a notebook and pen. I would jot down ideas that grew from snippets of other people’s conversations, or glimpses of interesting faces. Sometimes it would be an ad or a photo that sparked an idea.

Tuck the problem away

Even now, three books in, if I’m having difficulty with a particular scene, I set it aside and move on to write something else. Sometimes it’s a scene, sometimes it’s a new character, other times it’s a building or location description. The process often shakes loose that elusive idea. It may take a few hours or even days, but eventually the perfect idea trots along.

The more I wallow in the story, the more ideas come to me. Scenes that have no logical ending or segue magically sort themselves out while I’m gardening or vacuuming or peeling potatoes.

So though I don’t know where the ideas come from, as long as my imagination is fertile, I’ll keep sowing seeds and harvesting the ideas. I’ll leave it to my subconscious to figure out how the opposing thumb thing could improve my lot in life.

Leave a comment – I’d love to hear from you.

All of my books are available to purchase on the Bookstore Tab.

Photo by Jeffrey Eisen on Unsplash

Author Branding

February 17, 2013 By JPMcLean Leave a Comment

Do you ever sit down to research something on the Internet and come away more confused than when you started? Today was one of those days. I’m trying to learn more about marketing and promotion. My target research was author branding. Instead of answers, I’ve come away with my head spinning and my to-do list growing at an alarming rate.

Consistency in branding

The one actionable take-away from today is the importance of consistency when branding. The photo/gravatar that I’ve been using for this blog is a photo of a fir tree that met its end in a wind storm last March. As eerie and fabulous as that photo is, it doesn’t have anything to do with my books (other than it’s eerie and fabulous).

I’ve now changed it out for an author photo, which I trust is on-brand. What do you think? I’m always happy to hear your comments.

2020 Update: My branding has come a long way. I now have a logo and brand colours and even a tag line “Writing Addictive Fiction.”

You can hear me in a video conversation with Crystal Stranaghan at the Creative Academy discussing brand logo designs.

In fact, I’ve rebranded my entire series as well. Read about it here.

Using Camera Shots for Scene Development

February 7, 2013 By JPMcLean Leave a Comment

Every once in a while I come across another writer’s tip that resonates with me. I know I’m not the only one out there who is building a list of blogging and other on-line resources for writing, marketing and promotion, so whenever I find a good tip, I’ll post a link. This one is about using camera shots for scene development.

I found this link to C.S. Lakin through LinkedIn. C.S. Lakin talks about using a camera shot idea for scene development. It’s intuitive.

Pan Out

Most of us are consumers of video. We understand what it means to pan out. If you’re taking a video of a group of friends, for example, you may have to pan out to get everyone in the shot. When you’re writing a scene, panning out might mean describing more of the surrounding detail. Better still, describe how your characters interact with the expanded view.

Roving Camera

When the camera is roving, think of it resting on your shoulder taking in the view as you walk around. Inside a house, you might walk from the living room to the kitchen. What sights, sounds and scents might you experience on the walk? If your characters are moving from inside to outside, are they blinded by the sun? Does the temperature or humidity change?

Where to Set Up

Where will you set up your camera (scene setting)? If your characters are coming into town, do you follow behind them with the camera? Your protagonist might overhear snippets of conversation from the rear. Is the camera on the shoulder of your protagonist? Your protagonist could spot a sniper from that vantage point. Perhaps it’s more effective to have the camera already in the town watching the characters as they arrive. You could describe the tension in the town as they approach, or the indifference if that suits.

Using camera shots for scene development is a great way to think about how to most effectively set your scene.

The Pacific West Coast is the setting for The Gift Legacy books. You can read about the books here.

Photo by pawel szvmanski on Unsplash

How Did You Get Your Start?

February 4, 2013 By JPMcLean 5 Comments

When I’m asked how I got my start as a writer, I think back to the winter I began writing. All west coast winters are long and wet, but that winter was the first I’d experienced after being away for four warm sunny winters in Tucson and the Baja. Cooped up inside on endless dark dreary days left me restless.

I filled my evenings reading. A lot. It was an escape. My favourite escapes were book series binge reads. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books.

I became curious.

What was it I liked about those particular books? The answer for me was that those books engaged me so thoroughly that I lost track of my surroundings and all sense of time. It also occurred to me the books I enjoyed most were written from just one person’s point of view.

Curious to know more, I read about the writers whose work I enjoyed and the writing process itself. One author’s process caught my attention. Stephenie Meyer, author of the successful Twilight books, explained that the series sprung from a single scene that she dreamed about.

It got me thinking.

Could a dream, a kernel of an idea, an edge of a thought, be the seed of a captivating story?

I immediately thought of a recurring dream I’ve had since my childhood. It’s not an unusual or unique dream. (Many of the people who’ve read my first book tell me they’ve had similar dreams.) But was it enough for an interesting story?

All that winter I plunked away on my laptop. I fleshed out my tiny idea using the first person perspective. Writing from just one character’s point of view seemed the safest route for a novice writer. I dusted off my university Handbook for Writers, a five-pound Oxford dictionary, and bookmarked a good on-line thesaurus.

As chapter after chapter came together, I convinced myself that not only could I do it, but that it was a captivating story. I studied Strunk and White’s, The Elements of Style, Stephen Wilbers’ Keys to Great Writing, and Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel. But don’t let that fool you into thinking I’ve managed to incorporate all that collective wisdom. It is, however, a lofty goal.

I’m three books in now and still loving the process. There’s always something new to discover and no end of great books to read and learn from. I feel very lucky to have found something so uplifting and interesting to do on dreary winter days.

Of course, nowadays, every day I’m not writing is a dreary day.