Since coming back from my course in the West Midlands I have reconnected with the continuation of my #TheMagdon series and added over 8,000 words to the story. I am well into the final scenes of the story and am still as yet undecided how I am going to end the story. I have two or three different endings planned out but I find my way of writing makes it very much a natural progression at the time.

Don’t get me wrong I still use my notebooks and jot down ideas as I go along but I never seem to “formally” plan my chapters out before I write them. I have my idea how the overarching story will progress but when I sit down to write I watch as I go and that’s how I do a big bulk of my editing.

For me, I am a heavily visual writer in the fact that I see what I am writing in my head like a miniature film. That is probably why I choose actors/actresses for my characters so I can at least pretend I am watching a real version of my story on the screen. This way helps me a lot as I am able to see what does and doesn’t work and only when I’m happy with it do I translate it into words (well at least I hope they translate to words).

For example, Chapter 34 in the sequel to Into The Dark is titled “To The Top” and I had no idea it would end up being such a pivotal scene. Being so far into the story I have had the path of certain characters set for quite some time. That said, however, when I sat down to write this chapter something happened with one character that I hadn’t planned to happen for a little bit more time. That worried me at first but as I wrote it I felt it was happening at the right time and ultimately in the right way. I suppose you could say I’m surprising myself with my own story which seems an utterly ludicrous idea when you think about it!

When I do write I love to listen to music, orchestral or film score music as I love the emotion within what I hear. Today I had Hans Zimmer’s music from Gladiator playing and that cemented the emotion of what I was trying to get across in Chapters 34 and 35.

I genuinely love my Magdon world. I know I am biased and am fed by the fact it has actually been part of my family for so long but it has evolved from a simple story for a three-year-old to an entire legacy of monster and secret societies that seems to be entertaining people around the world. That isn’t to say I love any of my other stories any less but The Magdon is oddly part of my entire family and I hold it very close because of that.

I can’t wait to release the next in the series (title and cover to be revealed in the New Year) as it has allowed me to reconnect with the legacy and add a whole new dimension.

Right, I’ve waffled enough about what I’ve been up to and suppose I should decide if I’m going to write another chapter as Mrs T.A. is on a girly night out tonight and the kids will be in bed asleep…..

If you do want to find out more you can visit my official website at http://tobeyalexander.com or else my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/tobeyalexanderauthor

I will be offering people the chance to be Beta readers for the next Magdon novel in the new year so keep your eyes peeled.

Thanks everyone

T. A.

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