Juice with Shana Norris

I recently interviewed author Shana Norris, author of Troy High and Boyfriend Thief. 

You can read her blog here.

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was about 10 or 11. That's when I realized that writers were just ordinary people who liked to write, just like I did. I had always thought they were special magical creatures before then and that I could never be one!

2. What was your first novel that you wrote? Can you describe the experience of writing a full length book for the first time?

I wrote stories all through my childhood. At first, I wrote really short picture books, but when I was twelve, I started writing longer books, around the same length as Sweet Valley Twins and The Baby-Sitters Club. I had my own series that I wrote for my friends, about identical triplets and their friends. It was so much fun writing those books! When I was a little older, in my late teens, I started writing books about the same length as what I write now, young adult and adult books. I learned a lot about plotting and character development, and also how to stick with a project for a longer time! I was really proud of myself when I finished a full novel. I was also writing by hand at this time, so that was a lot of paper and handwriting!

3. What do you love most about writing?

I love meeting new characters and figuring out what their lives are like. I also love when I'm able to make a connection in my writing to real life, helping me to understand people or events better.

4. What do you do when you're not writing?

I read a lot! I also like to go kayaking and hiking.

5. Above all, what do you think makes a good story?

Characters you can relate to, events that can make you think about things in your own life, a lot of action, and a good romance. I always love a romance!

6. Where do you get the motivation to write a novel?

Most of my motivation comes from the fact that I just can't stop thinking about a story until it's written! I'll have characters or plots that get stuck in my head and they won't go away until I write the book.

7. When there is a lack of motivation, how do you deal with writer's block?

I take a break when I need to. If I'm really stuck and just can't figure out what to write next, sometimes that's my brain's way of saying it needs to rest and relax for a few days or so. I'll still keep thinking about the story while I'm doing other things and usually the solution I need will pop into my head when I least expect it.

8. Everyone has a wring process. Some wing it. Others plan out their novel to the layout of their main character's bedroom before they actually begin to write. What is your process?

My process is a little bit of plotting, but a lot of winging it. I try to plot a little bit before I start writing, but I really can't figure out what will happen in the story until I'm actually writing it. I will make notes of all the big events that I know will happen, but the rest I usually figure out as I go.

9. Have you ever gotten any criticism for your stories? How do you handle it?

YES!! I've gotten tons of bad reviews. I've had someone email me and tell me I'm a terrible writer and a terrible person and my books are damaging to girls because they involve kissing. (I think that guy was just crazy, so I chose not to answer him.) You're always going to get bad reviews. Not everyone will like every book ever written. When I get a bad review that makes me sad, I remind myself that even my favorite books get bad reviews. Then I go to Amazon and look at the one star reviews for books that I loved. That always makes me feel better! Really, you just have to accept that it's part of the job and don't let it get to you too much. Don't read all of your reviews. That's a big one for me. For the most part, I stay away from my reviews and I focus on the readers who write to me to tell me what they thought of my book.

10. What is one of your pet peeves when it comes to writing?

I guess writer's block in general. I wish the right words would just pop into my head all the time and I'd never get stuck.

11. What made you interested in writing teen fiction?

I love reading teen fiction. I like that age group because it's the time in your life when you're experiencing a lot of really big firsts: first love, first decisions that move you into adulthood, first experiences that can change who you are, first times that you depend more on yourself rather than your parents.

12. Where do you get your ideas for stories from? Where did you get the idea for "Troy High" from? Or your wattpad story, "Surfacing"?

Troy High is a modern day retelling of the Trojan War. I've always loved Greek mythology and wanted to write a retelling of a story from ancient Greece. I thought that the Trojan War would make a good story with high school football instead of a war.
Surfacing was inspired by my love of Ocracoke, North Carolina. It's pretty isolated, though not as much as Swans Landing is, and it's small and quiet. I visited it one year before tourist season and it made me wonder what kinds of secrets the residents there knew that the tourists didn't get to see? A story about mermaids fit right into the setting, so I started writing the book to see where it would go.

13. What made you decide to try to publish? Can you describe the experience?

I wanted to share my stories with other people, so that's why I decided to publish them. My experience with getting published with a publisher in New York took a long time and a lot of patience and persistence. I tried for six years to get published before I finally got an agent and a book deal. I wanted to give up so many times! But I kept telling myself that if I gave up, I would never know if I really could have gotten published and I would always wonder. So I had to keep trying, even when it was really hard.

14. What is your favorite story that you read? What is your favorite story that you yourself wrote?

My favorite story I've ever read is Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery. I've read it so many times, and it inspired me so much when I was a kid and was dreaming of becoming a writer one day.

My favorite book that I wrote changes each time I write a book! Right now, I really love my last book, The Rules of You and Me, because I fell in love with the characters. But then I'm sure that when I write a new book, I'll say that one is my favorite!

15. What is one thing that a story can't survive without?

Characters that you can relate to. If readers can't connect in some way with the characters, they're not going to want to stick around for 200-300 pages. Even if the characters are different from them, there needs to be something that makes them seem real and makes the reader understand why they do the things they do.

16. Do you have any advice for amateur writers out there? If so, what is it?

Don't give up! Keep writing, keep experimenting in your writing, and keep trying. You get better by writing more. And then you get published by being persistent.

17. What would you like to improve on Wattpad?

I can't think of anything I'd like to improve. It's been a lot of fun using Wattpad!

18. And the all-important question: Coffee or Tea?

Will you hate me if I say neither? lol! I've never liked coffee or tea of any flavor. I'd much rather have juice or a glass of chocolate milk!