BOOKS

Author Crush Friday with Shonna Slayton

Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our  weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.BODY-IMAGE-FOR-AUTHOR-CRUSH-FRIDAYS

We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to Shonna Slayton, author of Spindle (October 4, 2016; Entangled Teen).  Thank you for talking to us today, Shonna! We’re honored!

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GLITTER: Tell us 5 random facts about yourself.
 
SHONNA:
1. I have piles of books all over my house.
2. I want to be a gardener, but I accidentally kill most of my plants.
3. A perfect Saturday morning is: a rainy day, coffee, a good book
4. I’m married with two teenagers.
5. I’ve never colored my hair, but when it eventually goes white I’d like to add subtle blue streaks.
 

 

GLITTER: How would you describe your writing to someone who hasn’t read your work yet?  
SHONNA: A mashup of fairy tale and history with a dose of girl power. 

 

 
GLITTER: Where did the idea of Spindle come from?
 SHONNA: I had so much fun writing my Cinderella/1940s novels that I wanted to try my hand at another historical fairytale. What I did with Cinderella was revisit the fairy-tale objects years and years after the original story ended to see where they were and what was going on around them.  Imagine if the fairy tale was real and in our world?
 
Sleeping Beauty seemed a logical story to turn to next. A cursed spindle is a fairy-tale object you wouldn’t want, so it was the opposite to Cinderella’s dress and shoes.
 

 

GLITTER: In Spindle, what was your favorite chapter/scene to write and why?
SHONNA: There are a lot of nods to the original Sleeping Beauty woven into Spindle, and those were fun to include. My favorite scene is toward the end of the novel and references the kiss scene from the original Sleeping Beauty. It’s dramatic, yet quirky funny at the same time. That’s all I can say without spoiling it. It’s probably not what you think, but it was fun to write.
 

 

GLITTER: How much research went into writing Spindle?
SHONNA: Hours! The 1800s is a fascinating time period. If you have any interest in women’s suffrage, women’s rights, you would probably enjoy learning about this time period and reading the teachings of the women involved in this movement. I read lectures, essays, catalogs, magazines, and the writings of the mill girls themselves.
 

 

GLITTER: Any weird writing rituals?
SHONNA: My routine is pretty basic. I like to have a coffee or tea when I get started. If I’m at a coffee shop or the library I listen to music to block out the interesting conversations around me (I have very good hearing and eavesdropping comes naturally.)  Since I do all my writing on a laptop, I can go anywhere and write.
 
 

 

GLITTER: What advice do you have for new writers?
SHONNA: Enjoy it. If you’re not enjoying the process, you’ll end up frustrated with the business.
 

 

GLITTER: What are you working on now?
SHONNA: Another historical fairy tale—another of the “big” fairy tales. There are hints on my Pinterest board, and an announcement coming soon.
Shonna Slayton
Shonna Slayton writes historical fairy tales for Entangled TEEN. Cinderella’s Dress and Cinderella’s Shoes, set in the 1940s are out now. Spindle, a Sleeping Beauty inspired tale set in the late 1800s, released on October 4, 2016.She finds inspiration in reading vintage diaries written by teens, who despite using different slang, sound a lot like teenagers today. When not writing, Shonna enjoys amaretto lattes and spending time with her husband and children in Arizona.