Melanie Tays

Author of young adult novels

About Melanie Tays

Behind the Scenes – My Writing Space

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Today, I want to give you a little peek into my day-to-day writing life. So, where does all the story writing magic take place, you ask? Well, I’ll show you (even if you didn’t ask).

Mostly I write at my desk in my home office. You might say—as my husband sometimes does from where he sits at an immaculately clean desk 3 feet away—that my desk is quite messy. And you would be correct.

Melanie's workspace

I’m not someone who claims to like the clutter. It’s really just that I think best by hand writing notes in notebooks and on post-its or other scraps of paper. I like to have these notes in sight and easy to reference. And then, once I no longer need them, it’s really easy for me to just ignore them all together, and then they just stay there. So, I’m not necessarily proud of it, but my desk is what it is, and there’s no use pretending otherwise.

And then, there’s also my snack drawer…er…I mean, reference book drawer. This is very important to allowing me to stay put and keep writing no matter what snack…er…reference book or notes I might need.

But even with snacks close at hand, I do get tired of just staying at my desk, and I like a change of venue, so I’ll often haul my laptop around the house. Hence the power cord that his coming down the front of the desk in the above picture, rather than neatly running down the back. This makes for easy getaways when I’ll be gone long enough that I need to take the power cord with me.

Lately, my writing spot of choice is on my nice comfy bed with a blanket wrapped around me.

Beyond that, writing is a quiet, solitary affair that takes place mostly in my head as I pace around the house, scribble notes in countless notebooks, and pluck away at the keyboard. That’s why I love it so much when a book is finally complete and I can invite other people into the world I’ve been living in with nothing just stacks of papers and hours of key clicks to show for it until then.

The First Novel I Ever Wrote

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I’ve been writing novels since I was about fourteen years old (maybe even earlier). In fact, before Wall of Fire, I had written five complete novels and more short stories or partial novels than I can even recall.

Just recently, I was looking through a box of keepsakes from my teenage years and found a binder with the first 5 chapters of a book I had totally forgotten about. I only vaguely remember writing it, but from what I read and can recall, it was going to be about a handful of teens across the county who discover they have some kind of hidden connection they didn’t know about and maybe some kind of super powers. I’m not sure the plot was really going anywhere, so it’s probably a good thing I abandoned it.

My novels have featured time travel/time manipulation, aliens secretly living on Earth (and planning to terraform the planet), natural disasters, and mystical creatures.

Of these unpublished works, perhaps the one I love the most and may eventually publish is entitled In an Instant. It’s quite different from my usually dystopian/Sci-Fi style, which is one obstacle to moving forward with publication. In it, Liz, a twenty-one-year old nursing student, discovers that she has leukemia. From that point on, the book follows two parallel story lines in alternating chapter: what happened, and what would have happened if she didn’t have leukemia. I describe it as Sliding Doors meets Steel Magnolias.

But my very first completed novel was a fairy tale story called The Twisted Tree. I completed the first draft when I was sixteen during the summer after my sophomore year. It was based on a short story I’d written for my English class. I pounded out the short story in a single sitting to meet a requirement for an English portfolio which was my final assignment for the class.

The Twisted Tree

I just wrote the first thing that popped in my head. The whole story was about three pages with far more questions than answers about what was going on in the fairy-filled forest where a girl had, seemingly just be betrayed into the hands of an evil dragon.

Over the course of the next summer, I kept thinking about it and soon wrote the rest of the novel. Over the next seven years, I edited, and rewrote that story more times than I can count. It was through The Twisted Tree that I learned a ton about crafting a story, world-building, character development, and so much more.

I have to pause here to credit and thank my mother who was my editor on this project and patiently read and re-read my story, offering kind but insightful ideas about how to grow and improve the story.

I did self-publish The Twisted Tree for a brief time back around 2006. That was before Kindle publishing was even a thing. I used a print-on-demand service called Lulu. This was before I knew anything about publishing or marketing, and the options were more limited. I think I sold about a dozen copies of the book before I eventually pulled it out of print.

Honestly, that’s a good thing. Even though I worked very hard on the book, and I’ll always love it for what it is, if I’m being honest, The Twisted Tree isn’t that great. I re-read it about a year ago and one of the things that struck me was what big words and complicated sentence structures I used throughout the book. It’s funny that one of the hallmarks of a good writer is that they learn to use simpler language. That’s not to say that big words and flowery language don’t have their place in novels. They definitely do. The key is to make sure they stay in their place.

My philosophy now is to strive to write in such a way that the words don’t get in the way of the story. I want my writing to give just the right meaning and feeling, and to flow so easily that it’s easy to get lost in the story and forget you’re actually reading. That’s my goal, at least. I suppose it will be up to each reader to determine whether I’ve succeeded with Wall of Fire.

I won’t be sharing the entire novel of The Twisted Tree, but here’s an except for those of you curious about the story and my writing. This is basically what the original short story entailed. I only ask that you not hold the amateurish writing against me.

Excerpt Page 2

The Book That Started It All

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I consider myself an avid reader, but I don’t always have a book I’m reading. I guess I could best describe myself as a yo-yo reader (It’s like a yo-yo dieter, but just with books instead of food). I’ll read twelve books in two months, and then nothing for the next three. But even so, I read a lot and I enjoy it.

My favorite genre is young adult dystopian. That probably doesn’t surprise anyone who has read my books. The book that started it all for me was The Giver by Lois Lowery. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it.

I was eleven or twelve the first time I read it. It was my first introduction to the whole concept of dystopian societies, and it fascinated me. The entire idea of how humanity’s attempts to manufacture perfection brings about the exact opposite was both startling, chilling, and profound.

I feel like every dystopia I read makes me seriously think about what it means to be free, to be safe, to be good, and even to be human.

Maybe that’s why I couldn’t help writing my own YA dystopian series to examine what it really means to be human and how those characteristics are fostered, dismantlement, or regained.

What do you think the ideal society would look like? What problems would it have to overcome? What problems could it inadvertently create?

When you really start to dive into the subject, it’s like trying to unravel a knot of a thousand threads. Solving one problem just leads to new ones, and finding the “perfect” solution to all of society’s ills is a lot harrier problem than we initially imagine.

What would your dystopia look like, and how would it have come to be?

My Favorite Books

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Before I started writing, I loved reading, and that has not changed. I probably read an average of a book a week. My all time favorite genre is young adult dystopias, but I read all kinds of books, both fiction and non-fiction—so my favorites span a lot of genres, topics, and age-ranges.

Here’s a list of just some of my all-time favorites (in no particular order).

Fiction

Non-Fiction

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me

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  • Melanie Tays is actually my maiden name. Since 2004, when I married my husband, Chris, my name is Melanie James. I write under my maiden name because it’s unique.
  • I had a few detours in my early adulthood before finally deciding to pursue writing as a career. I started out as a registered nurse. On the first day of my critical care rotation, my professor asked us all what we would have wanted to do if we could do absolutely anything and couldn’t be a nurse. I said I would be an author. When I told her I would write fiction because I hate research, I don’t think I impressed her very much (oops). I lucked out, though, and got to do both: seven years as a nurse (mostly working in home healthcare) and now I spend my days weaving stories to share with you.
  • I am the designer of the card game Launch Pad, published by Stratus Games. I came up with the game in a single night, and 90% of it never changed through all our play testing. I think more than a few fights have started over the strong take-that factor in the game. It turns out some people are a lot more serious about their game play than I am (oops again).
  • I love to play board games and card games. My husband and I own over 650 games. Of course, this is also because we are the creators of Casual Game Revolution and Casual Game Insider Magazine, so it’s not all fun and games—pun intended.
  • I’m incredibly entrepreneurial. Just for fun, I like to think of ideas for new start-ups or how to market a business. It sometimes drives my husband a little crazy (“Why can’t we just go to Disney Land without spending half our time there discussing the logistics of starting a theme park?”) So, as I’m sure you can imagine, I’m super fun at parties.

So that’s me. Now I would love to hear about you. What’s something quirky and interesting about you? What do you like to read? Send me a message, or leave a comment and let me know.