Saturday, February 12, 2011

Shanda Sharlow Interview




Bio - Shanda Sharlow began writing short stories from the time she could hold a pencil. Through the years, she's scribbled down thousands of pages of random stories and unfinished novels that were eventually abandoned or forgotten about. In 2005, she set down to finish a full fantasy novel in the form of the Psyonic, which she managed in a few months. For awhile, she shelved the book without any way to get it realistically published. After Amazon Kindle came out, she found the opportunity to release the Psyonic to the public, and is now working on another full novel. Currently, she lives in Vancouver WA with her father and brother, and edits novels for other people when she's not writing.


Synopsis - 
Hale lived his entire life in hiding, traveling through slums and nondescript villages, never staying anywhere long enough for the people there to recognize his face. Never staying long enough for anyone to ferret out his secret.

When he comes across a woman who recognizes him, he becomes the confidante of a Princess. Yet the halls of the palace hold far more danger than that of the streets, for within its shadows lurk dark mysteries and murderous intent. Desperate to remain hidden from those who hunt him, Hale must unravel the hidden machinations of the gathered royal families before it's too late, or it will be more than his life that he loses.

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write? I find the later in the day, the easier it is for me to write. Earlier in the day I always have all sorts of things that I need to do first, and the long list tends to disrupt any creativity I might have for writing. Later on in the day I'll be more relaxed and ready to write.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer? I write my novel-length stories on paper because it doesn't feel right on the computer.

3: What do you draw inspiration from? Things that I watch or read, things that I listen to, random conversation, dreams, random snatches of overheard conversation, a particular cloud shape in the sky, or random musings. Anything at all, really. I've been inspired for one thing or another by just about everything.

4: Do you set yourself goals when you sit down to write such as word count? In the case of writing on paper, I set a goal of writing ten pages per chapter, and tend to want to write an entire chapter every time I sit down, but when writing on the computer, I tend to just write whatever I write.

5: Being a self published author how do you come up with your cover art? I find stock art that I like and that has something relevant to the content of the story, and put the cover art together myself in graphic editing programs.

6: What drives you to chose the career of being a writer? The creativity and freedom involved in writing. There's nothing else I'd rather do than write.

7: Do you own an ebook reading devise? No, I don't, though I do have the PC edition of the Kindle.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now? C.S. Lewis, Robert Jordan, and Terry Brooks come to mind as favorite authors, with Robert Jordan certainly in the lead as my enduring favorite. What I'm reading currently, however, are the original Sherlock Holmes stories. I find them quite entertaining.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?  I like them, though I find them very difficult to make interesting. I don't have any trailers as it stands, but I've considered making them before. Maybe some day.

10: What are you working on now that you can talk about? Well, currently I'm about three-quarters of the way through a novel called Jenni, which is about a woman who suddenly finds the world around her changing over and over in drastic ways, without any conceivable reason why...and she seems to be the only person who notices the changes. I'm also working on a sci-fi/paranormal romance book that I haven't decided whether it will be a novella or a full novel yet, and a modern day Fantasy story with a bit of a different take on Elves.



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