J.A. Campbell - Guest Blog - The Journey

Today I'd delighted to welcome back J.A. Campbell (aka Julie) whose fab YA book

Senior Year Bites 

came out last week. Julie's guest blog is about the journey of writing a book.

Thanks for being here, Julie, and take it away!


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The Journey – Part 2 (Part 1 is here)

Suzanne thank you so much for having me here.

It begins, sometimes with an idea, sometimes with a word or a phrase, or a flash of a beautiful smile. It sets out with a letter on a page. Just one, single, solitary letter. Then another letter, and another until there is a word. Then many words, then paragraphs that lead to pages and chapters then finally to a completed story.

But that’s just the beginning of the Journey.

As part of my blog tour to celebrate the release of my first Young Adult novel, Senior Year Bites, I’m going to do a series on my perceptions of the adventure of writing a novel. Obviously there are many different ways to get inspiration and write a novel. It has happened to me in many different ways. This is just one way. Here’s part two. If you’d like to read other blog posts in this series, links are on my blog tour page here.

As in part 1, our would-be novelist’s name is Kira. Kira’s idea has turned into about ten thousand words. She’s super excited about her idea but now she needs to do a little background work. Some people outline, let’s just say that Kira (and myself) consider the word outline to be a dirty word. Instead she builds character sheets and background notes on the world (she’s a fantasy author so she needs to set the rules down). The character sheets have the character’s physical description and any important notes. For example, Alexander’s character sheet in Senior Year Bites has notes on his parentage. It’s important to keep small details straight, and unless you have an uber memory, writing down the little things makes it easier when you get further into the series. World notes include rules on magic, politics, land layout, anything that might be important. Then Kira writes down notes on what happens in each chapter she’s written so far to use as a reference. To some this would be an outline, but since outline is a dirty word, she calls it a chapter reference. She also creates a synopsis about what she thinks will happen in the novel. Synopsis is also a dirty word to many, but she finds it to be a useful reference tool.

Then she goes back to the fun part, writing the novel. She’s still in the early stages when the idea is fresh and new and exciting.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the beginning stages of writing. What do you do that is helpful for you?

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Thanks so much for stopping by, Julie!

Bio: Julie writes fantasy novels. When she’s not out riding her horse, she can usually be found sitting in front of her computer with a cat on her lap and her dog at her side.

Senior Year Bites

Fight supernatural crime, it’s what superheros do. Only I’m a vampire, not a superhero. That hasn’t deterred my best friend Steph though, so while I’m trying to survive my last year of high school as a blood-sucking non-hero, she’s dragging me and our other friend around looking for crime. Only there isn’t any, at least not until the murders start.

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