Jacqui Jacoby | Inspiration in Unlikely Places

By 2001, I was starting to read paranormal exclusively when my writing partner pointed out there might be a market for it. “Naw,” I told her. “I write spy thrillers, not ghost stories. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

It was about this same time my kids began home schooling. We ate in front of the television for our “recess” every day, watching a B grade detective show that we ate up with a spoon. In it, a detective had an eccentric father who not only drove him nuts but also was usually right about whatever came up.

This was the first thread of MAGIC MAN, a title my husband came up with when I finally, after two more years, outlined this new plot. Yes, still a detective, yes an eccentric father…and that was about it for the similarities between the show and the book. Changing the venue to a Celtic Myth, finding the history to back up the claim while investigating a modern day murder horror. I kept the good- looking detective who wants to strangle his father at times and pulled a heroine out of my brainstorming who could stand up not only to Peter, but to a world where everything she knows is no more and she stands strong stating “You’re wrong.”

The creation of MAGIC MAN, that little seed of an idea did come from a pretty bad TV show that we loved. Combined with those nights when sleep was just a little too far away, I was able to think “Well, what would happen if they…” “Okay, and it’s her birthday and he is going to…”

It took several years and several more thousands of these types of questions, combined with a massive amount of research that took me from my home to Los Angeles and Hollywood and it was worth the trip.

In the end, though one judge told me to give it up: “You’re never going to make it as a writer.” Another suggested I lose points for the mere fact the title didn’t match the story. This book won seven awards, almost all of them first place; and it went on to final in the 2009 Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart contest. It did not win, but in reality I didn’t want it to. No one believed me, of course, but I didn’t. More stress and the nomination was fun enough. I got to buy the dress after all. ^,,^

All because we decided to home school our kids and took lunch with a couple of cops in a bad show. Pretty cool how that works, huh?

About Jacqui Jacoby

Award-winning author, Jacqui Jacoby lives and writes in the beauty of Northern Arizona. She is the owner of Body Count Productions, Inc, which keeps her career moving. Currently adjusting to being an empty nester with her first grandchild to draw her pictures, Jacqui is a self-defense hobbyist. Having studied martial arts for numerous years, she retired in 2006 from the sport, yet still brings the strength she learned from the discipline to her characters. She is a working writer, whose career includes writing books, teaching online and live workshops and penning short nonfiction.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | Blog

About MAGIC MAN

Detective Peter Mackenzie knew crime and knew his job. With The Cemetery Man schedule to leave the next body on the next grave Peter doesn’t have time for the puzzling Alexandra Madison. Her wild stories of a stolen life and family and friends who don’t remember her. Her last resort, she tells him is him and the relationship they shared. Peter doesn’t need this nonsense and his eccentric father walking in only irritates him more. Until his father utters the name everyone forgot, giving hope to Alexandra for the first time.

Time is their enemy as the weekend grows closer and on Sunday, Peter knows another body will be waiting.

What he doesn’t know, what he couldn’t know, even with Alexandra delving deeper into his father’s past, the victims are not random. They are chosen with reason and the monster who takes them is not done. She is coming for one of them.