Episode 4
Writing with Aphantasia & the Benefits of Beta Readers w/ Maggie Giles
Maggie Giles is a positive, outgoing person who enjoys creating new connections and experiencing new opportunities. She is a Canadian author whose debut novel - The Things We Lost - published in April 2022. The Things We Lost began as a story about what if. It started when Maggie had her own what if questions about the turns her life had taken. What started as a therapeutic project, turned into a relatable story that has a woman wondering if the grass is truly greener.
Maggie is an active member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association where she has volunteered as their Social Media Director since June 2014. If she’s not writing, Maggie is usually bogged down with some other creative project. She has a love for knitting and sewing as well as cooking up a storm. She also has an irrational obsession with Shawn Spencer.
With two more novels scheduled for publication, Maggie's next books follow a detective as he uncovers the gritter side of Toronto and Ottawa, and investigates a mysterious prescription drug.
You can learn more about her on her website, www.maggiegiles.com and sign up for her newsletter. If you want to keep up to date with her writing projects, check her out on instagram at www.instagram.com/maggiegiles_
A little about today's host-
Shawna Rodrigues left her award-winning career in the public sector in 2019 to consult and publish her first novel Beyond the Pear Blossoms. Her desire to connect and help others led to the launch of her podcast The Grit Show shortly thereafter. When she learned women host only 27% of podcasts, her skills and passion led to the founding of the Authentic Connections Network. She now helps mission-driven entrepreneurs better connect with their audiences by providing full-service podcast production and through a community for Entrepreneurs & Podcasters – EPAC. Podcasting is her primary focus, so she continues to support the writing community through this podcast, and her writing time is mostly focused on anthologies.
She offers a free 7 Steps to Perfect Your Podcast Title to anyone interested in launching a podcast. You can also follow her on Instagram-@ShawnaPodcasts, and learn more about the network and community at https://linktr.ee/37by27.
Be sure to follow or subscribe to Author Express wherever you listen to podcasts and to follow us on Instagram @AuthorExpressPodcast
Learn more about our hosts, the guests we've had, and their books -
Transcript
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[:[00:00:09] Shawna: Maggie Giles is a Canadian author who is usually daydreaming about fictional characters, always looking for a new creative outlet. Maggie dove into writing a novel headfirst. She's been a member of the Women's Fiction Writing Association since 2014, where she works as their social media director. The Things We Lost is her debut novel with Rising Action Publishing Collective, and we will get to talk to her more about that today.
[:[00:00:35] Maggie: Thank you for having me.
[:[00:00:41] Maggie: Alright. I am from what we call Ontario Ski Country. So it's a really, really interesting town cuz it's very tourist based. Ah, but it's kind of goes from skiing in the winter to tons of breweries and vineyards in the summertime. We're lakefront, so it really is kind of an all seasons playground.
[:[00:01:07] Maggie: It's called Collingwood Ontario.
[:[00:01:18] Maggie: It's a lot of breweries.
[:[00:01:23] Maggie: So I live there now. I grew up there in a way because, every single weekend in the wintertime we'd be up skiing, so
[:[00:01:31] Maggie: It was always an area that we spent a lot of time.
[:[00:01:40] Shawna: What is something about you that other people find hard to believe?
[:[00:02:03] Shawna: There's actually a word for that?
[:[00:02:21] Maggie: So it's been more and more coming out. There's actually an aphantasia network that's based in Ontario.
[:[00:02:27] Maggie: Yeah. spends its time kind of trying to bring awareness to it and really show that there are different ways that minds process things. So really kind of encourage education to approach, that type of, uh, mindset a little bit differently.
[:[00:03:11] Maggie: Yeah. So it's like, basically it's the idea of like, Fantasia Yes. And the A Fantasia is the absence of it. Yes. And then there's also the other spectrum, which is hyper Fantasia. So those are the people that have like movies that play through their head.
[:[00:03:29] Maggie: It's so fascinating.
[:[00:03:45] Shawna: Mm-hmm. , to help you better understand that like this is why we're not connecting. Cuz we're completely different in this way. That's amazing. This is so valuable. I love it. Well, that is a unique thing. I like it . I love the things we're uncovering. So when you were writing your novel, which of the characters did you root for while you were writing?
[:[00:04:06] Maggie: So I think the, well, my favorite character personally is Declan, who is my MC's younger brother, Uhhuh. The storyline follows sort of two different timelines of her life. One her current, uh, timeline and then she actually ends up going back in time and kind of getting to do a redo.
[:[00:04:41] Shawna: Well, good. Well good. So you were rooting for Declan, and that's a great name. I love that name. That's a good name.
[:[00:04:47] Shawna: Yes. Does that have, do you give like names to characters you don't like, do you give 'em names you don't like? Or are you, you know,
[:[00:05:34] Maggie: And she's like, oh my God, I'm so excited to read this now. So I try to stay away from names that I know if it's gonna be a negative character, but I have to say that one, I didn't think twice about.
[:[00:05:54] Maggie: Exactly.
[:[00:06:02] Maggie: And it's like, didn't even think about it until his wife messaged me to be like, we ordered it. And I'm like, oh no, I hope they're not offended.
[:[00:06:24] Maggie: So it went through quite a transition.
[:[00:06:31] Shawna: Mm-hmm.
[:[00:06:36] Shawna: Oh wow.
[:[00:06:52] Maggie: And so, oh, I was like, that's a great idea, but I have written an entire novel of one timeline, and now I have to start interspersing these new chapters. So my book went from 90,000 words to 120,000 words, and I'm like, I don't know what to cut. I, I think it all matters. So thankfully, I had four really wonderful beta readers.
[:[00:07:39] Maggie: So that was probably the tough part, the pairing it down. And getting rid of, you know, what I thought was valuable to the story, but ultimately, you know, was just fluff.
[:[00:08:08] Maggie: It is. And it's just, it is so interesting because you don't really think about the writing process when you're reading a novel, but you, once you kind of write your own and you see the parts that you write. And then suddenly, you know, even in the one I'm editing right now, I'm pulling out full chapters because I've, I've changed subplot lines. Yeah. And so now I'm like, oh wait, no, that chapter doesn't work anymore. It's fit anymore. Yeah. So it's gotta go and I've gotta rewrite a whole new chapter for it.
[:[00:08:41] Maggie: I think the part that brings me the most joy is just when I get that twist that I know is just like so brilliant and I hope it's gonna really catch people off guard.
[:[00:09:09] Maggie: That's definitely what makes me the most excited.
[:[00:09:20] Maggie: So I think it's like a little bit of both.
[:[00:09:42] Maggie: Cause I know how much work I have to do. So finally I'm going through it now because I kind of, after going through notes, after letting it simmer for a couple years, I was able to like, oh, now I know I need to click this in place. I need to change this storyline to this I and it. And it really is just an ongoing process cuz even now,
[:[00:10:12] Shawna: Nice. Good stuff. The good stuff starts coming in. So what is the best place for people who are all excited? And I can tell you cuz I, I don't get to read most of the people who come on to the show, but I've definitely read your book.
[:[00:10:33] Maggie: So you can find me at my website, which is just www.maggiegiles.com, and it's spelled G I L E S. . I always have to spell it out for people.
[:[00:10:50] Shawna: underscore. You got it. Underscore that. So we know exactly where to find you Now, what book or story inspires you the most?
[:[00:11:06] Maggie: Mm-hmm. and a huge historical fiction reader really. And that's actually my first book was historical fiction, Uhhuh , and Phillipa Gregory writes, English history, which is my love. And um, and the Tudors, which was the era that was my favorite. So I would say that although I do have so many authors and books that inspire me day to day and so many great thriller authors out there, she was the original inspiration to make me start writing.
[:[00:11:41] Shawna: Not sure. You have some novels tucked in there. You have your debut and, and when you're working on, and when is your next one coming out?
[:[00:11:53] Maggie: And it is actually a psychological thriller called Twisted and it follows a detective, a madam, and an heiress who are all kind of, uh, twisted in this very convoluted crime that involves a, uh, , mysterious prescription medication.
[:[00:12:17] Maggie: It is, yeah.
[:[00:12:19] Maggie: Yeah. It's also set in Toronto. So it's uh, in
[:[00:12:23] Maggie: Explores the grittier side of the city.
[:[00:12:38] Maggie: Don't make it sound too magical.
[:[00:12:52] Maggie: Yes, we do.
[:[00:13:00] Maggie: Not much. Just, if you get a chance to read any of my books, I love to hear from my readers, so please feel free to shoot me an email, reach out by my website or my social media and thank you so much for having me.
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