{"id":3871,"date":"2007-05-29T08:40:37","date_gmt":"2007-05-29T13:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=3871"},"modified":"2009-12-12T15:20:52","modified_gmt":"2009-12-12T20:20:52","slug":"mws-shannon-hale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2007\/05\/mws-shannon-hale\/","title":{"rendered":"MWS: Shannon Hale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shannon Hale is a Newbery Honor-winning, New York Times bestseller-listed author of youth and fantasy fiction, most particularly Goose Girl<\/em> and Princess Academy<\/em>. This week sees the release of her latest novel Austenland<\/em>, her first adult fiction novel. She is a returned missionary and lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two under-three-years-old children.<\/p>\n

[Interview questions by Melissa Fox]<\/p>\n

How does your religion affect how you are perceived as a writer? Do people in the industry think of you as a “Mormon writer”?<\/em><\/p>\n

Not really. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think many people know what Mormons are or what to think about it. Sometimes people are just plain rude about it, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare. For the most part, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think readers think two things about it.<\/p>\n

Do you consider yourself a Mormon writer?<\/em><\/p>\n

Not really. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a writer, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m LDS, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a mom. I feel like lots of things. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like my religion dictates who I am or what I write.<\/p>\n

Have you ever been pressured to do something\/write something that’s against your standards? How did you deal with it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Never. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been pressured to write anything at all, from either my publisher or from my church. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in the wonderful position to get to write what I want.<\/p>\n

For a contemporary adult romance, I was surprised to find that there was no sex and very little swearing in Austenland. Why did you decide to keep the book so clean?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Bloomsbury [the publisher of Austenland<\/em>] was never concerned about lack of sex or gratuitous language. I don’t know if other publishers would have been. I didn’t think the story needed it. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no sex in [Jane] Austen novels, and I wanted to feel transplanted [to that world]. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more of a challenge, more rewarding to make something sexy without sex. Besides, I find it belittling to readers. I think smart readers want a story, first and foremost. Swearing is often a cop-out, too. The challenge is finding a better word. In one scene, I originally had the main character spray paint the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153asshole\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on the car of a guy who’d been a real jerk. In a later draft, I changed that to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153she-male.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I think you’ll agree, the latter was a much better choice.<\/p>\n

Do you write about supernatural as a metaphor for divine (like C.S. Lewis), or are you just trying to make a good story? You also seem avoid any mention of a higher power (besides the earth in general). Is this because you are trying to appeal to a wider audience or because you are pressured by publishers, or some other reason?<\/em><\/p>\n

I would argue that C.S. Lewis didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t write about supernatural as a metaphor for divine. He wrote stories, and what he believed naturally came through those stories. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think he intended to write allegory. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that allegory ever works as a good form of storytelling. I try to find what a story needs, and in the Bayern books I really felt that adding awareness of a higher power or organized religion would detract from the story and not add. There was no reason for religion in Austenland<\/em>. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mention of a creator god and priests in Princess Academy<\/em>. The main character in my new novel Book of a Thousand Days<\/em> is very religious. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m currently writing a contemporary book for adults with an LDS main character. It all depends on the story.<\/p>\n

It seems to me that the LDS authors who aren’t writing for the Deseret Book\/explicitly LDS crowd seem to gravitate towards science fiction\/fantasy. Why do you think that is? What draws you to the genre?<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve often thought about this and I think there must be many reasons. One reason might be that fantasy and fairy tales universalize stories. Anyone is welcome in fantasy land.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give LDS authors writing for the national market, or what do you wish you had known when you were just starting out?<\/em><\/p>\n

Hmm. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that the advice would be any different than for any other writer. I think it helps to know what you believe and be genuine in all you do. Stories forced to carry messages get heavy and die. Just find the best story for your storyteller self, tell it the truest way possible, and the reader will get what he or she needs out of it.<\/p>\n

Do you read much LDS fiction? If not, why not? if so, do you have any particular favorites?<\/em> <\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a slow reader and have thousands of books waiting for me! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wonderful and frustrating. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t read much fiction geared specifically toward an LDS market, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read many books by other LDS authors. There are so many talented writers out there, especially in the children and young adult literature. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d name names, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m afraid I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d forget someone important!<\/p>\n

Where do the unexplored countries lie, as far as LDS writing and writers? What could we be doing better, as a people?<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not prescriptive generally, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I can answer that. As an individual, I hope to be aware of other people, to listen to the Spirit, to be a good mom.<\/p>\n

Most of your books have female protagonists (except River Secrets, but even in that there are strong female characters). Do you consciously try to write stories with strong woman\/girl characters? Why or why not?<\/em><\/p>\n

I hope I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cause offense when I say that I find that question so strange. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been asked that question many times, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been asked \u00e2\u20ac\u0153do you consciously try to write strong male characters?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It makes me wonder how this world views girls and women\u00c2\u00admuch differently than I do, I guess. I only seek to write realistic characters, both male and female.<\/p>\n

How do you juggle the demands of being a mother with the demands of being a writer?<\/em><\/p>\n

Good one! That made me laugh. Oh\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6you were serious? I guess the best answer would be: my house is messy. Really, I try to put my kids and husband first and hope and pray that everything else works out.<\/p>\n

Have you ever felt any disapproval from within the LDS community with your choice to become a full-time writer?<\/em><\/p>\n

Never. Only immense support and admiration. It takes my breath away. Such wonderful people, such kindness! Though honestly, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t claim to be a full-time writer. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a full time mama and I write on the side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shannon Hale is a Newbery Honor-winning, New York Times bestseller-listed author of youth and fantasy fiction, most particularly Goose Girl and Princess Academy. This week sees the release of her latest novel Austenland, her first adult fiction novel. She is a returned missionary and lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two under-three-years-old children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12-questions","category-creative"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10549,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions\/10549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}