Back when I first started to write…..

Classes, Competitions and Writing Opportunities Round Up #26 »

Back when I first started to write…..

February 24, 2012 by Donna Newton

: Picture from http://ineligibleforgreatness.com

We’re all writers, right?

And every story starts with a beginning. So I thought I’d share the beginning of my writing journey with you.

Like 95% of writers, I have always loved writing. Back in the eighties, 1985 on a Friday night if memory serves, I used to video tape (remember those)?, a TV cop show called Dempsey and Makepeace. Then on the Saturday morning I’d get up at the crack of dawn, before anyone else, and watch, write, and rewind the show until I’d written the whole script. Makes me laugh now, knowing how easy it is today to find scripts on that revolutionary tool called the internet. But, back in ’85, I had to make do with a VCR, writing pad, and my trusty biro.

The crime stopping duo

So what was my reason for doing this?

Why, to adapt the episode into a novel of course.

And my passion for writing never dwindled. Well, I misplaced it for a few years while I went to college, worked in a chartered accountants, slogged my guts out at OK! Magazine, and wrote a car off while at Essex Police.

Then, a few years ago I began writing articles for magazines and my passion returned.

So, how did I get to where I am now? Well, I have two different stories.

The first involves a lady you all know very well; the fabulous Kristen Lamb. By sheer luck, she came across a chapter I’d written on the internet, and through sheer generosity, she emailed me some critism. And, there began my novel writing career and my friendship with a true hero.

Up until that point, I’d only written one novel; a romantic thriller called ‘The Stalker’. Friends had read it and loved it and naturally I thought, “Hey, I’m onto a winner here.”

I worked hard with Kristen as she bomboozeled me with plotting, character profiling, the three act structure, conflict, ARC’s, inciting incidents, antagonists, protagonists, minions, Big Boss Trouble-makers and, oh yeah, pulling me out of my comfort zone, I realised what a load of rubbish I’d actually written. The story was okay but the characters were so boring and one dimentional – worse, they had no flaws!

Of course, now I’m a fully fledged psychotic nutter and there’s no switching off my imagination. In fact, my tag line “I could write for Days of our Lives” as seen in my banner, is Kristen’s description of me.

So began my second novel. Only this one I was writing the Warrior Writers Boot Camp (WWBC) way. After months of researching, character profiling, plotting, and re-plotting, I was ready to start writing another thriller……

Only Jason Statham could play my villain

And then I met Natalie Hamilton-Duggan. She’d just finished film school in London, wanted to write a paranormal screenplay, and asked if I’d like to help. At first I was a little apprehensive. I am not a massive YA paranormal fan. Sure I like The Vampire Diaries and True Blood, and Supernatural is one of my favorites, but I’d had enough of vampires. They’d been done to death. After a full five minutes deliberating, I agree to become a co-writer. I knew nothing about script writing but what the hell. There was one condition though….. No Vampires!

So, together we began to plot out a story. Kristen’s WWBC training became invaluable and I applied it to screenwriting the same as I had my novel.

Now I was working on two different stories in two different formats at the same time.

It was during this time that Kristen invited me out to Texas to attend the DFW Writing Convention. I thought, why not? I could pitch my novel to an agent and see what they thought.

Also, Natalie and I had finished the script to the now titled “Legend”, and decided to take the plunge and stop in L.A. first, you know, to see if we could get a bite out there. We emailed hundreds of queries and waited.

Wayne Alexander, an entertainment lawyer, read it and promptly emailed it across to Amy Schiffman, a manager and literary agent colleague of his at IPG. She loved the script and wanted to meet us.

So out go Natalie and I, wet behind the ears, totally out of our depth, and expecting the whole experience to swallow us whole. We couldn’t have been more wrong. We loved Wayne and Amy, and they seemed to love us. Amy became our manager, gave us a ton of ideas to start work on, and asked if I would adapt the script into a novel.

After three whirlwind days in L.A., Natalie and I flew to Texas; where I pitched an idea for a book I hadn’t even thought of writing two days previously. Luckily the agent loved the idea and asked to see a chapter or two when I’d written them. Oh yeah, as if that wasn’t amazing enough, Kristen gave me a fabulous stetson and took me shooting, and I brought a wicked pair of cowboy boots.

That’s me in the centre

Since then Natalie and I have written two TV pilots and I’m half way through writing ‘Legend’ (the novel version). I’ve two agents in the UK who are also waiting to read it.

With regards to WWBC, I now help Kristen teach other writers, along with my WWBC team mates and writing buddies, Piper Bayard, Nigel Blackwell, Kerry Meacham, and Xandra James. I just hope I can help them as much as Kristen has helped me.

So, what’s your story? How did you start writing? How long have you been writing? Do you have an agent? Have you been published? How did you feel seeing your book in print? Have you even just taken a chance and come up trumps?

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Posted in Other Stuff, Writing | Tagged Amy Schiffman, author, BBT, Donna Collins, Donna Newton, fiction, Kerry Meacham, kristen lamb, Literary Agent, Natalie Hamilton-Duggan, Nigel Blackwell, OK! Magazine, paranormal, piper bayard, script, thriller, Warrior Writer, Wayne Alexander, writer, writing, wwbc, Xandra James | 32 Comments

32 Responses

on February 24, 2012 at 11:00 | Reply Veronica

Hey Donna,

I wanted to say congratulations on the amazing writing journey you have been on. And I’m really glad that you were able to go back to writing. I think writing helps us discover who we are inside and it’s hard to let go of writing once we’ve been bitten by the writing bug. 🙂

But writing can really be hard work too. And sometimes we can feel like we’re sloshing around, going nowhere. Especially when people–searching for writers on Craigslist etc..– pay writers very little or nothing at all.

But the feeling I get when writing is incredibly. Each idea, each world I create in my head, is like my own child. So this process is so very necessary, even with the ups and downs that can come with writing. 🙂

I thank you for sharing your wonderful journey with us. And someday, if I keep at it, I hope to experience the joy of a successful book or screenplay. To see my name on a New York Best Seller list or in big letters on the movie screen would be a dream come true. 🙂

Congratulations again and thank you for all the tips, and writing opportunities you send to our emails each week.

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- on February 25, 2012 at 11:18 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Thanks Veronia.
  
  Writing is an amazing release for me. I love living a different life and having the chance to do stuff through my characters that I wouldn’t do in ‘real’ life.
  
  Thanks for you kind words 🙂
  
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on February 24, 2012 at 11:52 | Reply Chrissy

Amazing journey! Congratulations.

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- on February 25, 2012 at 11:18 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Thanks, Chrissy. Do you have a ‘story’?
  
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  - on February 27, 2012 at 15:41 Chrissy
    
    Don’t we all have a story? I write because I love it and I’ve self-published two books. I sent out my latest novel and I’m crossing my fingers.
    
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  - on February 28, 2012 at 10:08 Donna Newton
    
    Oh, good luck! I’ll keep my fingers crossed too! Let me know when you hear something. It’s so exciting, isn’t it 🙂
    
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  - on February 28, 2012 at 11:55 Chrissy
    
    Yes it is!! Thanks for following!! I love your blog even though I’m from Canada.
    
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on February 24, 2012 at 12:11 | Reply donnagalanti

Donna, loved your story – your story is a movie! Screenplay? Oh, I laugh too as I wrote my first book (without knowing anything) and then jumped into learning about fiction and was like POV? Story arc? head hopping? tension in dialogue? whaaaat? And had to go back and fix a gazillion things. Starting a new novel I feel so much better prepared to write a book better from the start – so hopefully less fixing later on! Dont get me wrong – I love fixin’s but only on the side with fried chicken! Thanks for sharing your awesome journey 🙂

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- on February 25, 2012 at 11:20 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Lol, not quite sure it would pull in the crowd if made into a film! Well, there’d be you there so I guess I’d have one sold ticket 🙂
  
  And, tell me about it. Everytime Kristen mentioned something to me: Arc, passive and active, POV, I’d rush to my laptop and Google it, lol.
  
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on February 24, 2012 at 14:28 | Reply K.B. Owen

What a great journey, Donna! Thanks for sharing it, and for working with us WWBC newbies. It helps a lot. Good luck with the projects!

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- on February 25, 2012 at 11:21 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Hey, Kathy. We’ve all been a newbie. Sometimes, I still feel like one, lol.
  
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on February 24, 2012 at 15:41 | Reply Jillian Dodd - Glitter, Bliss and Perfect Chaos

It’s very cool to hear your story! Congrats on all your success! And it’s amazing how so many of us have been affected by Kristen through WWBC and WANA. I hope you’re coming to DFWcon again this year! It would be great to meet you in person!

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- on February 25, 2012 at 11:22 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Jillian, I am going! Are you going? That would be so super cool. I can’t wait!
  
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  - on February 25, 2012 at 23:33 Jillian Dodd - Glitter, Bliss and Perfect Chaos
    
    Yes!! I live in the Dallas area, so will definitely be there. Hoping to get Tiffany to come stay with me. Decided to get a hotel, so we could enjoy the nightlife!! Should be fun!
    
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on February 24, 2012 at 19:36 | Reply Natalie Hartford

Wow – ahhhmazing story and inspires me to me push forward! Love it Donna and congrats on all the wonderful success so far…and to come! Woot woot!!

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- on February 28, 2012 at 10:02 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Thanks Natalie. It is hard work and very time consuming, but you have to look ahead and imagine light at the end of the tunnel, lol.
  
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on February 24, 2012 at 20:48 | Reply Piper Bayard

Love hearing your story, Donna. I’ve been wondering what the heck you’ve been up to. 🙂

I started writing when a friend offered to get me into the life insurance business. I knew it would be practical with my law degree, that they would pay for my licensing, and that I would have flexible hours. But I also knew if I put in the time to make it work, I would never write a book. I can die happy without selling insurance, but I could never die happy if I hadn’t written a book, and I wasn’t getting any younger. So I started writing. Since then, every time I feel like I would rather watch the dog catch flies than face the tyranny of the page, I remember that I could be selling insurance, and I clock in at my computer. 🙂

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- on February 25, 2012 at 11:23 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Lol, Piper. Only you could have life insurance as your way in to writing!
  
  I’m glad you dumped that and turned to novel writing – otherwise we would never have met. You are my rock, girl!
  
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on February 24, 2012 at 23:28 | Reply UnrestrainedFancy

What a coincidence. I just started Kristen’s book, “Are You There Blog? It’s Me, Writer” and read about her finding your work online. What a great journey you’ve had. Congratulations on the way your hard work has been paying off for you. Thanks for sharing your story!

Laura

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- on February 27, 2012 at 09:42 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Lol, I know. I’m famous! ha ha ha.
  
  Laura, many thanks for all your kind words….and stick with Kristen’s way. It works. I’m living proof of that 🙂
  
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on February 25, 2012 at 00:36 | Reply Karen McFarland

I am so happy for you Donna! All your hard work coming to fruition! You deserve it! But what I want to know is, what are you doing working with me!?!? LOL! 🙂

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- on February 25, 2012 at 11:24 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  Karen, I see me in you. 🙂
  
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on February 25, 2012 at 00:50 | Reply Nigel Blackwell

Hi Donna.

Great story and one day you’ll be a star … ok, a bigger star 🙂

I used to want to write, but writing on paper just drove me nuts, so I never did it. I started a few years ago when I was recovering from hospital and had to stay in bed for a week. A week? I mean, I could write a book in that time! And by the end of the first week I had started four of them. Four! Started! In one week! This is going to be so easy.

Fast-forwarding to today and I live by your phrase from DFW, “that’s crap, try again.”

Looking forward to seeing you and everyone else at DFW again this year.

Cheers.

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on February 25, 2012 at 11:27 | Reply Donna Newton

I use the “That’s crap, do it again” phrase all the time. I loved it when Kristen first said it to me. Actually, maybe that should be my ‘line’ in the banner, lol.

I can’t believe you only began writing a couple of years ago. You are so good! I like writing via my laptop, but still love the feeling of a pen in my hand and a note pad on my lap. Ah, the memories of the aching wrist………from writing.

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- on February 29, 2012 at 03:15 | Reply Nigel Blackwell
  
  … Writing. Yeah, what else would I be thinking!
  
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on February 27, 2012 at 03:17 | Reply Tameri Etherton

What a cool look into your writing journey. I always like to know where writers started, or got the idea to do whatever it is they are doing ~ for you screenwriting and novels. The next time you’re in Los Angeles, let me know, I’d love to hang out with you!

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- on February 27, 2012 at 09:43 | Reply Donna Newton
  
  I will let you know, Tameri. It will be fabulous to grab some lunch. Are you heading over to Texas in May for the DFW Conference?
  
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  - on February 27, 2012 at 18:49 Tameri Etherton
    
    I so want to! But alas, it isn’t in the cards for me this year. Next year, though.
    
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  - on February 28, 2012 at 09:59 Donna Newton
    
    Oh what a shame. Well, next year is a MUST! 🙂
    
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on March 2, 2012 at 09:59 | Reply So, You Want To Be An Author? Part One – Why? « Donna Newton's Blog

[…] last week’s post Back When I First Started To Write, I gave a very edited version of my path into writing. So this week I thought I’d expand on […]

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on March 3, 2012 at 13:46 | Reply Blog Treasures 3-3 | Gene Lempp's Blog

[…] Donna Newton about the writer’s journey and defining your path: Back When I First Started to Write & So, You Want to be an Author? Part One – Why? And no, I didn’t forget, also from […]

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on October 31, 2017 at 09:24 | Reply So, You Want To Be An Author? Part One – Why? | Donna Collins

[…] last week’s post Back When I First Started To Write, I gave a very edited version of my path into writing. So this week I thought I’d expand on it […]

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