How do writers decide what to write about?

by | Feb 14, 2020 | Guest post, Writing life

A guest post by Jennifer Macaire

Here is a question a reader posed to Tom, who tossed it over to me, and I gladly caught it because it was exactly what I was trying to decide at that moment. The question was, “How do writers decide what to write about?” Serendipity, really, because I’ve always been a writer of daily happenings, circumstances, and daydreams.

Writing is a lonely business. I never minded, because I’ve never been uncomfortable alone with my thoughts. I’m afraid I day-dreamed most of my time in school – and I still tend to do that – I’m lost in thought as I take the train (one of the reasons I love trains!), as I walk or bike to work, and as I lie in bed waiting to fall asleep. And my mind is always making up stories. “What if?” is a favorite game I play with myself – and I can go on for hours. For my Alexander series, it started as a “What if someone went back in time to interview someone famous – let’s say Alexander the Great?” and seven books later, I ended the saga! On science blog, I came across a smilodon skull, and the fact that scientists are not sure how smilodons (sabre-toothed tigers) killed their prey. From that photo, and that idea, I wrote a book (which will be out in August 2020) set in the paleolithic, with smilodons, people from the future, and a lethal virus! 

Smilodon at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits
Dallas Krentzel [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

My books come from “What if?” games, from a photo and blog article about a skull – and one came from a dream. My YA book, “Horse Passages”, came from a very vivid dream that just wouldn’t leave me alone until I’d finished the book.  My latest book is set in the Middle Ages during the ill-fated 8th Crusade. The idea behind the book came from a visit I made to the Saint Chapel in Paris, which had been built by St. Louis to house the crown of thorns.

That got me interested in St Louis, his life and times, and I ended up thinking the 8th Crusade would make an interesting background for a story. And so “A Crown in Time” was born. The heroine, Isobel, is a woman from the future sent back to save a young man who has embarked on the Crusade and whose actions have drastically changed the course of time. As a Corrector, Isobel is sent on a one-way trip back – basically a death sentence – but she accepts, because she was already in prison and doesn’t have anything left to lose.

One writer I know gets her ideas from he headlines in the press. Another writer uses photos or paintings for inspiration, and yet another uses objects for her stories: an old watch, a ring, or a teacup, for example. I admit that when I write a historical novel it is very helpful for me to actually see objects used during the time period I’m writing about, which is why you can find me peering at displays in museums and poring over old maps. We have a nymphorium nearby and when I pass by I often stop and visit – the ancient Roman temple dedicated to a nymph has been rebuilt to what it must have looked like over two thousand years ago, and I love trying to see past the mists of time to imagine people leaving offerings to the nymph – what did they pray for? What did they leave? What were they like?

Once an idea has taken hold and the story begun, it’s just a matter of writing – one word after the other. Ideas are easy to come by. The hard part is writing it all down. It’s a lonely job, often without reward, but it’s one I love with all my heart! Thank you, Tom, for giving me a chance to write about how I find my ideas – I hope this is helpful to aspiring writers! Try the “What if?” game, and see what you can come up with! But above all – have fun!

A Crown in Time

Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
(paperback copy)
ISBN: 9781786157768

(kindle)
ASIN: B07ZF4QWNP

Universal link for my kindle book: getbook.at/Crown

#ACrowninTime

Jennifer Macaire

Jennifer is an American living in Paris. She likes to read, eat chocolate, and plays a mean game of golf. She grew up in upstate New York, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. She graduated from St Peter and Paul High School in St Thomas and moved to NYC where she modelled for five years for Elite. She went to France and met her husband at the polo club. All that is true. But she mostly likes to make up stories.

Jennifer’s website: https://authorjennifermacaire.wordpress.com/

Blog: https://jennifermacaire.blogspot.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TimeforAlexander/

Instagram (for those who like pretty pictures): https://www.instagram.com/jennifermacaire/

twitter: @jennifermacaire

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jennifer-macaire

A good week

by | Nov 1, 2019 | Writing life

It’s been an interesting and eventful week – and not just in the British Parliament.

Last weekend was the second Malvern Festival of Military History. I wasn’t speaking this year, but there was some interesting stuff on so I decided to drag my long-suffering beloved to go to it anyway.

We combined the weekend with another trip to Wales. The countryside in October can be particularly magical with incredibly rich colours.

We were lucky with the weather when we arrived. (The sky really was that blue.) But by Friday morning it was getting seriously misty – though still beautiful.

Soon, though, the rain began to fall … and fall … and fall.

By Saturday morning, when we were to drive toMalvern, the Met Office was warning of extreme weather and roads were closed by floods. It was, to put it mildly, an interesting trip. We made it safely in the end (though it really was touch and go in some narrow lanes that were under several inches of water.)

It was definitely worth it. The Malvern Festival of Military History attracts some big names and there was a range of fascinating subjects from the propaganda war against Napoleon to Britain’s war in Iraq. The opportunity to listen to Cedric Delves and Danny West chatting together about their experiences with the SAS in the Falklands was a bit special.

We stayed on in Malvern on the Monday to take the opportunity to walk again on the Malvern Hills. It had finally stopped raining, though this photo, showing a considerably swollen River Severn in the distance, gives you some idea of how bad the flooding had been.

The Malvern Hills are a quite spectacular formation. If you haven’t been and you ever get the chance, I do recommend them. Even on a dull day, like Monday, the views are impressive.

We had just time before we left to visit the priory. It’s a very early Norman building where work started in 1085. Its antiquity is clearly reflected in the massive Norman pillars of the nave.

There’s an unusual amount of mediaeval glass as well. I nearly said “stained glass” but medieval glass is generally painted rather than stained and has an entirely different character to the Victorian windows we are familiar with. The priory church (once attached to a priory that was a victim of Henry VIII’s Reformation) is architecturally fascinating as well as very beautiful. In most places, I would expect it to be very crowded but in Malvern, on a chilly October Monday, we had the place to ourselves.

Back to London, detouring round roads that were still flooded and impassable to traffic, we were home on Monday night. The rest of the week was quiet except for the little matter of my book launch on Halloween. We didn’t have a party or anything (I think there is a convention that novellas don’t rate a party) but Thursday was still a bit special as far as I’m concerned. No Top Ten status, but lots of support and enough sales to make #68 in Amazon’s ‘Humorous Dark Comedy’ listing. (On a side-note, does this mean Amazon has a ‘Not-at-all-funny Dark Comedy’ listing?)

Dark Magic is a bit of a difficult book to classify. It’s about a troupe of magicians who discover that another conjuring troupe are using Black Magic in their act and set out to use their own skills to stop them. I have a rather dark sense of humour, so the results are occasionally funny (or so I’ve been told). It’s not a laugh a minute on account of all the Black Magic and death, but, yes, it does belong in that listing.

Anyway it’s out there on Kindle (mybook.to/DarkMagic if you want to buy it) with a print edition coming soon. So that’s been my week. I’ve had fun. I hope your week was good too.