Introducing Maggie, a cracking woman whose fiery spirit brings 1940s Glasgow to life
When author JJ Scott was a child in the 80s, listening to her gran’s stories over a game of auld maid and a chocolate block, she never imagined the bombshell that would arise years later when, shortly before she died, the woman revealed that she had been proposed to four times. One of those was JJ’s grandpa, but that still left three big mysterious blanks surrounding a woman who was the best storyteller in Glasgow!
Thanks to her gran, JJ has a bank of family history to draw from and this was one big twist in the tale that allowed her debut novel, The Making of Maggie Munroe, to take root. The idea grew as the perfect way to retain the memory of this indomitable woman and, subsequently, JJ allowed some time to pass and let her imagination take hold. Who were these three men? Where did they come from? And what had they done to mess it all up? JJ freely admits that she took some inspiration from her own past relationships. Ultimately, all these questions can be summed up in a Knickerbocker Glory: with many layers to delve through, what will be Maggie’s cherry on top?
JJ worked hard to blend reality and fiction into The Making of Maggie Munroe, which is perhaps why it has taken so long to come to fruition. It began its journey in Perth, Australia, in 2009 as part of that year’s NaNoWriMo challenge – to write 50k words in a month – and developed from there. Originally it was written to capture family history and only for her mammy’s eyes. Now she is ready to share it with Scotland.
JJ is a Glasgow native and is the founder and editor of Firewords literary magazine. She has attained an LLB, PGCE and Msc from the University of Glasgow and has worked as a high school English teacher where she enjoyed spreading her love of literature and creative writing to young minds. JJ’s own writing is influenced by her experiences as a shoestring traveller but recently she has replaced air travel with campervan travel. Her writing always sees strong Scottish characters take on the world.
