- Feb 7, 2023
I don't usually do much in the way of life updates on my blog, but something happened this weekend that I wanted to share with you guys.
On Sunday, I had the opportunity to meet Jeffrey Archer!
I honestly wasn't sure what to expect--Mum is more of a fan than I am (not really my genre). But he was doing a talk at a local literature festival, so we went along, and ohmygod, you guys, I was blown away!
He is a phenomenal storyteller.
(Incidentally, that was what the talk was about--how to write a bestseller.)
He had the entire audience hanging off his every word, and the best thing was that he actually turned almost the entire session into a Q&A. I love it when authors do that--it means we get to ask the questions that are important, and really engage with them. He managed it really well and told some lovely stories, too.
If any of you ever have the chance to see him live, I really highly recommend it. You'll have a great time.
Afterwards, he did a book signing, so I even got to meet him and shake his hand. He asked everyone about themselves, what they do, so I even got to tell him I was an author, which *squeals*. Might be the highlight of my author career so far (he wished me good luck!!!).
Alright, alright, I'm done fangirling. :)
During the session, he was talking about how to tell stories, and he shared his famous hundred-word story, UNIQUE, which he wrote for a challenge by the Reader's Digestl. The challenge was to tell an entire story, in just one hundred words (including the title). The story had to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and he had to finish it in 24hrs.
(Scroll down to the bottom of that page to find it.)
Yep, that's it, just a hundred words. Including the title. And it really does tell a whole story, doesn't it?
He broke down how it worked for us, explaining every single word choice and how it provided the reader with context and intrigue, and guided us through the piece. Then he challenged us to write our own.
I couldn't not give it a shot.
Here's mine (and it was, in fact, written in 24hrs, even though I'm only posting it today):
What I learnt:
A hundred words is really short. Really, really short. And when you take into account that it has to include the title... yeah. Really short.
This kind of short story is like producing a surrealist painting. Show it to a hundred people, and ninety of them either won't understand it, or won't like it. (#unpopularopinion, but yeah, there you go).
Anyway, that's it for me today. What did you think of my 100-word short story? What do you think it means? And can you write your own? I'd love to see them!
Margot
It’s a weird fact of life that you want to talk about something so badly, and when you finally have the chance to do it, you just don’t know what to say.
Publishing Wicked Magic is a bit like that for me. It’s been my whole life for so long, taking up literally hours of every day, and now I can actually talk about it and my brain has just gone blank…
…which is maybe why this post is about two weeks late.
But anyway.
I am extraordinarily proud to announce that my debut novel is now launched. Wicked Magic was first written in late 2019/early 2020. I actually wrote the whole thing in the space of about two months, including a three-week writing break over Christmas. Nathan really wanted his story to be told.
Then I sat on it for over a year.
2020 was a really bad year for all of us, I think we can all agree. It wasn’t a year of reaching for dreams for me, that’s for sure. I thought 2021 would be better, and truth be told, this year has been a kick up the behind.
But we’re reaching for it anyway.
I picked a date, edited 20,000 words out of the manuscript, cleaned it up, cried over typos, and panicked enough to give my mum grey hairs, but it is finally here.
Wicked Magic is a coming-of-age tale that combines a lot of things dear to my heart: Oxford, the place I studied and lived for many years. Paranormal fantasy, which is my first love when it comes to books. And being a teenager and navigating those tricky years when you’re trying to find your place in the world and forge a new relationship with your parents.
These are all things I love to write, and you can expect to see many more novels exploring these things (in this series and in others).
The book follows Nathan, a teenage vampire hunter, who struggles to figure out what he really wants in life… and if you want to read more about his tales, you can buy it at all major e-retailers. More information on my Books page!
Announcing… the members’ area
I’ve been working on a little something for the last few weeks. Members can now hop over to the Explore page and check it out.
I’ll be updating it regularly with deleted scenes, sneak preview, giveaways, and other freebies, so do check back often to see what’s going on. Also follow my Instagram, where I’ll be announcing new updates.
Haven’t got your password yet? Don’t worry, it’ll be in the next newsletter.
Wicked Magic 2?
In other bookish news, I am over halfway with drafting the next book. There’s always a point in the middle of writing where it feels like it’s taking forever and you’ll never get to the end, but I just have to keep reminding myself that I’ve reached the top of the hill, and now I’m on my way down again. Actually, the hardest part is done, establishing who the characters are and figuring out the plot. Any mistakes I make now will be manageable and easily fixed during the editing stage.
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That’s all from me for now.
If you want to buy Wicked Magic, all of the details are here.
And for a cheeky sneak preview to book 2 (and maybe some deleted scenes from Wicked Magic), subscribe to my newsletter and keep an eye out for the next issue, which will give you access to the new members only area!
Ciao,
Margot
- Jun 13, 2021
Welcome to my new blog: all things magic.
I’ve been obsessed with magic more or less my entire life. As a child, I binge-read books like The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, The Magician’s House, and the Septimus Heap saga. (Full disclosure: I still reread all of those occasionally, even as an adult.) In recent years, I’ve graduated to writing my own books about magic—the culmination of which will be published on 21 July 2021. This has meant an awful lot of research into magic: what is magic and where did the idea come from?
When I write, I love including titbits from actual history, real beliefs in magic which have existed throughout civilisation. In this blog, I’ll share some of my learnings and experimentation with you, along with tips for writing about magic, and a few fun projects to bring more magic into your own life.
I hope you enjoy, and please do leave a comment! I love talking to people.
Without further ado, let’s jump right in.
THE ETYMOLOGY OF "MAGIC"
Magic can mean different things to different people, but at its core it describes the process of harnessing supernatural forces in order to manipulate events, things, or people. This definition encompasses a vast variety of practices, depending on culture and historical context, including divination, curses, protective enchantments, and many others.
The concept of magic goes back as far as human civilisation. It developed alongside religion and science as a mode of understanding and explaining the world around us. (Magic, variously, has been used to explain everything from the spread of diseases, to medicine, to early alchemical experiments.) Depending on the civilisation in question, magic plays a lesser or greater role in human consciousness. In fact, it is often impossible to define strict lines where magic ends and religion or science take over.
There are a myriad of terms to describe magic and the practice thereof in English: magic, witchcraft, wizardry, sorcery, thaumaturgy, and enchantment, to name just a few. Practitioners of magic are variously called magicians, mages, witches, wizards, warlocks, and sorcerers. Merely the profusion of terms associated with the craft indicates how prevalent the belief in it must have been.
The English word “magic” comes from the French “magique”, which in turn comes from the Latin terms “magica” and “magicos”. These originate from the Greek “magos”, meaning “member of the learned or priestly class”. The term “magic” displaced existing forms in English which derived from Germanic: “gaeldorcræft” (“enchantment”), “wiccecræft” (“witchcraft”), and “drycræft” (“dry-” meaning “magician”, from the Irish “drui” (“priest”), which is the source of the word “druid”). The existence of these terms in all languages, going back thousands of years, demonstrates that magic has always been an integral concept in human consciousness. It also reveals a close association with both learning and priesthood.
Magic has had mixed connotations over the years. In fact, much of the early Greco-Roman and Judo-Christian traditions relating to magic concerned the need to protect oneself against sorcery. This carried over into the Christian tradition, which associated magic with demons. The notion of magic as something evil spread as the rest of Europe converted to Christianity. The extant Germanic, Celtic, and Scandinavian religious beliefs were strongly associated with magic, and the Church labelled these beliefs “pagan” in order to condemn them. This struggle continued throughout the medieval period, and eventually culminated in the witch hunts.
In spite of this widespread persecution, a proliferation of magic-related texts from the medieval period, the use of magic as a theme in literature, and the continuation of magical beliefs up to the modern day, demonstrate that magical beliefs did not diminish with the spread of Christianity. They continued to hold sway in Europe as a mode of rationality (term coined by Jacob Neusner to mean a method of explaining natural phenomena) up until the Age of Enlightenment, when science began to win out as the preferred method. In other cultures around the world, magic continues to play an important role in belief systems.
Magic has been critical to the development of modern-day societies around the world and continues to hold importance in the human consciousness: one only has to look at children’s books and fairy tales to see that magic is still an integral part of our upbringing and an important stage in the development of our individual psyches.
This blog will explore what magic really means to modern-day society: real-world examples of how the belief in magic has manifested, how different magic systems are represented in literature, the importance of magic to our consciousness, and how each of us can bring a little bit of magic back into our lives. I look forward to taking this journey with you.
Until next time,
Margot
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