About Jeff Beamish:
Jeff Beamish is a fiction writer, former journalist and author of the new award-winning novel, No, You’re Crazy. His first novel, Sneaker Wave, was shortlisted in 2014 for a national fiction award in Canada. He has had short fiction published in four literary journals, The Nonconformist Magazine, Consequence Forum, Litbreak Magazine and Free Radicals Magazine. His second novel, No, You’re Crazy, is the 2023 Beach Book Festival general fiction runner-up.
What inspires you to write?
Each novel I have written comes from a single question: What if? And with those two words, the ground begins to shift and open up. What gets exposed is usually something magical. Something grounded and yet reaching for the heavens. For my novel Sneaker Wave, I was riding a bus into Vancouver early one morning and reading the newspaper I worked for, the Vancouver Sun, when I saw an article about a code of silence involving some teens who had fatally beaten a neighbor who was trying to break up a house party. I started thinking. What if one of those teens had a conscience? And what if he was pressured to keep silent for years? That would make a great novel. And it did. For No, You’re Crazy, the concept presented itself one evening when I was in my home office reading an online story about a strange disease called Cotard’s Syndrome, where the sufferer believes she’s dead. Anyway, I’ve always been interested in identity. Who we think we are, how we see ourselves, and how other people see us. But, more than that, how we see the world we live in. I am especially fascinated by how our minds can warp our perception of reality, maybe to protect us from danger, to protect us from ourselves, or to give us happiness. So I was fascinated to hear that there are some people living their lives while believing they are dead. And I began plotting a story.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
I have always liked David Mitchell. He’s got an insanely creative mind. So Cloud Atlas and Number Nine Dream are two of my favorite novels. I also admire Jennifer Egan. A Visit from the Goon Squad is one of my favorites. I always enjoy a non-linear story and authors who mess with the timeline.
Tell us about your writing process.
I usually let an idea for a novel percolate in my head until it's ready to explode out. Then I write an outline, using a program like Plottr. Then I start writing. I will try to write the first draft all at once, usually in the span of a month or two. That means writing three- or four-thousand words a day. I plow through day after day until the story has gone from my head into my computer. No editing is done during the first draft. I don't even read over what I wrote the day before. Once I have the first draft, the real work begins: rewriting. This will go on for months and three or four more drafts, each one a little more refined than the one before. So I am either writing a first draft or rewriting it.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
My characters definitely interact with me. Sometimes they take issue with how they have been portrayed. Some writers claim that novels, once brought into the light, are living, breathing entities separate from the writer. I think they are right. Because one character in my novel, No, You're Crazy, began to demand changes. Big changes. It had started out as a story about a man who has this crazy teenager thrust upon him, forcing changes in his dead-end life. But more and more, the crazy teenager began to assert herself and become the story. This teenager, a 16-year-old girl named Ashlee, also began to push back at her Cotard’s Syndrome diagnosis. And her medication. She began to ask whether she was really sick or if she was simply coping the best she could with the traumatic world she was shoved into. Ashlee also began to suggest that perhaps we are the crazy ones for expecting everyone else to conform to our reality. Suddenly I had a novel where neurodiversity had emerged, all on its own, as a major theme. And one where Ashlee was the main character.
What advice would you give other writers?
There are no shortcuts. Keep getting better. Keep writing. You do need to be persistent. You need to every day make your story a little stronger. It’s so easy to quit. To tell yourself the world isn’t fair, and you will never get published. It’s much harder to keep working, but that’s what you need to do.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
It always surprises me just how difficult it is getting the attention of publishers and agents. I have two novels traditionally published, but that doesn't mean it's easy trying to sell a third. You figure good writing and a good story will be enough. But sometimes agents and publishers want more. They want guaranteed sales. It’s funny. The author is often trying to create art, a piece of work that can connect with people and show them something about life. And those calling the shots are looking for something that can make money. Sometimes it feels like we’re not on the same page.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
It does scare me a little that publishers seem to have entrenched themselves with authors who have a proven record of sales, meaning fewer chances are taken on new writers.
What genres do you write?: Contemporary Fiction, Science Fiction
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Jeff Beamish Home Page Link
Link To Jeff Beamish Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
