Make-Believe Mondays With Kelly Jamieson

Today on Make-Believe Mondays our guest is Kelly Jamieson.

Kelly first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you’re working on now.

Kelly: The manuscript I’m working on now is different for me because I’ve included elements of paranormal, which I’ve never done before. It’s about two undercover agents who end up working together, posing as a couple. The female agent, however, has her own agenda and her own special abilities which the male agent has a hard time accepting.

Debra: Ray Bradbury said, “We are cups, constantly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” How do you keep your creative cup filled?

Kelly: I don’t think I do anything consciously. I think to keep the creative cup filled you just have to open yourself to everything around you.

Debra: Absolutely!

Kelly: I read a lot (A LOT!) and I read all kinds of things. I get ideas for stories and characters from the newspaper, news magazines, Cosmo magazine(!!) and from talking to people - friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances. Having new experiences and traveling, or just people watching always spark something in my imagination.

Debra: Travel always does that for me too. :-)

For some writers, dreams play a role in creating fiction. Has this been true for you? Have you ever dreamed a scene or an image that later wound up in one of your books?

Kelly: Dreams drive me crazy! I have had dreams where I’ve had the BEST idea for a story – absolutely, incredibly ingenious. Then when I wake up I can’t remember it. Not a thing. So truthfully I don’t think I’ve ever actually incorporated anything from a dream into one of my books.

On the other hand, insomnia is my best friend and worst enemy! Many nights I can’t sleep and I don’t know whether it’s because I’m writing a story in my head, or if I’m writing a story in my head because I can’t sleep, but I have done a lot of “creating” while lying in bed wide awake in the middle of the night.

Debra: I have insomnia too, but then I'm a night owl. Many times I am up late, writing. If we could just channel our dreams onto the page that would be amazing I think. There is nothing like a ride through the imagination.

As a child did any particular book or author pull you into their imaginary world?

Kelly: I read voraciously as a child. This may date me, but I started reading Bobbsey Twins books as a young girl. Those really pulled me in because they always traveled to exotic locations, and by the time I finished grade school I felt like I’d been around the world! Another author who really pulled me in as a girl is Lucy Maud Montgomery and her Anne of Green Gables books. I loved those stories so much, and in fact the story of Anne and Gilbert was probably the first romance that drew me in!

Debra: I read those too. No, I don't think it dates you. Good fiction lasts throughout the eras.

If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Kelly: I think I’m already doing that! I don’t think about reader expectations and (this is a problem for me) I don’t think about categories when I’m writing. This leads to problems selling my books because they apparently don’t fit in to categories easily. And it’s not that I’m writing any crazy fantasy – I just like writing about real lives and real problems, and real mistakes people make, but I’m told you can’t put a married heroine into a romance, and you can’t have adultery in a romance even though those are real-life situations people have to deal with.

Debra: Well.....I put a married woman into a romance. And it sold. It's going to be a thrill to see it in print come March. Of course her husband was a cheat, a liar, a bigamist and their marriage wasn't legal. LOL So I threw a whole bunch of things into the mix, but life is like that. Not always so clear, but lots of murkiness. It drives me nuts to hear those can'ts. Makes me want to try doing it just to see if I can pull it off.

Kelly, tThank you for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers.

Please visit Kelly at
www.kellyjamieson.com
and
building-castles.com

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Debra's News/Debra is watching:

Waving to everyone from Las Vegas where I am vising my youngest son. I'll be away until the 22nd. Driving back and stopping to see the Grand Canyon on the way, as well as the Cowboy Hall of Fame. It's only a 1,600 mile drive home to Memphis. I'll be writing in my journal and taking plenty of photos. And who knows? Maybe I'll get an idea for my another western. This week I am soaking it all in, feeding that creative well.