Ask the Author: Milly Johnson
Answered Questions (11)
Milly Johnson
I don't consciously write to help, I'm just writing the story but plenty of people do take guidance from how the characters deal with the situation. I think especially with men in abusive relationships, they find it harder to reach out too. And I've had people write to me who didn't realise they were in abusive relationships until they read one of my books and recognised themselves and their lives staring at them from the page
Milly Johnson
I have (at last) an American deal and we are just getting the contracts sorted - no date yet but it's on its way x
Milly Johnson
ideas are all around. I take inspiration from people and newspaper articles and stories I've heard and things that have happened to me. Some stand out as having the potential to make into a story.
Yes I start a new book as soon as the other one is finished and usually not before. At the moment though I do have three stories on the go as an experiment.
I don't keep a black book of my characters - only in my head which manages to keep them very well - but I did start a glossary of characters, it was just too much work to carry on with at the time but something I plan to revisit.
Yes I start a new book as soon as the other one is finished and usually not before. At the moment though I do have three stories on the go as an experiment.
I don't keep a black book of my characters - only in my head which manages to keep them very well - but I did start a glossary of characters, it was just too much work to carry on with at the time but something I plan to revisit.
Milly Johnson
Thank you that is so kind. Most of my characters are from my imagination though some begin based one details of people. However, as they develop, by the end they are 'their own person' and bear little resemblance to any person they might have been initially based on. This is healthy and ideal as I don't want to get sued by anyone who might recognise themselves in the book - ha!
Milly Johnson
What my ex-husband spent thousands and thousands of pounds upon with nothing to show for it!! Never did get to the bottom of that one.
Milly Johnson
There are few days when I can't get into the groove. Sometimes, when I can't write a scene, I'll skip over it, make myself a note to come back to it, and carry on working over it. I find that doing a boring job like ironing, where my head is free to wander, often helps as if my brain is working out in the background a way to solve my problem. Listening to the lyrics of music full blast through headphones can also give me inspiration. Sometimes, though, I invent WB as an excuse to go shopping online...
Milly Johnson
I'm always amazed at what my brain can dredge up from nothing - the creative process fascinates me and I love to see what I'm capable of. It's as if my brain is a separate entity to the rest of me. I'm also my own boss, master of my ship, and I'm being paid to do my favourite hobby.
Milly Johnson
The only way the book will get written is to write it, one word after another 90,000 times. It's as easy and as hard as that. I have collated quite a few bits of writing advice and put them on my website so do check them out www.millyjohnson.co.uk
Milly Johnson
#ChristmasEveryDay is coming out in a few weeks so I'm planning all the marketing for that and I've just started book 19. Eeek!
Milly Johnson
You have to work at getting inspired sometimes. When you don't feel like it, you have to warm up to it, just like you'd warm up to doing big weights in the gym with smaller ones. I sit at my desk, answer some emails and then ease into writing my book. Sometimes you just have to swim around in the words before you hit a rich seam of inspiration. It's pretty inspiring to realise that if you don't write, that book doesn't get written - and you don't get paid.
Milly Johnson
I've had the title 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day' in my head for years. So in this case I got the title before the story and wound a plot around those eight words. It's a much changed book to the one I originally planned - timing is everything. I wrote it just after the death of my father so it's a very emotional book, but also one of my jolliest. I had finished it by the time that the pandemic hit otherwise I might have avoided the scenario of six people being locked down with nowhere to go!
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