Fangtastic Books

Welcome to Shannon Delany's Start Your Day with Serial Tour!

Shannon's debut novel (and first in her YA paranormal series) 13 to Life started as a winning cell phone novel written in serial segments.

During the tour you can read bits of the book in order. Miss a day? Hop to Shannon's blog http://13toLife.us/blog and check the link to the blog tour calendar in her sidebar.

There will also be a contest that will close at the end of the tour. Winners get a bunch of stuff. Shannon's hosting several contests during the Start Your Day with Serial Tour.

The big contest will award one lucky winner with a royal amber pendant, pietersite jeweled bookmark, stuffed wolf, 13 to Life mousepad, pen, tote, signed poster, personalized copy of 13 to Life and both of the 13 to Life pins. All you need to do is comment at 13 of the blogs hosting Shannon during her 30 day tour. Everyone who does so will be entered into a random drawing. Winner may be international.

So onto the interview with Shannon:

Q: Welcome Shannon. Thank you for joining us today. To start out can you tell the readers a little about yourself?

A:Thanks! I'm a mom, a wife, an author still improving her craft and a farmer raising heritage livestock on a small farm in upstate New York. Before having my son I was a teacher in Florida.

Q: Tell us about how 13 to Life came about with the cell phone competition?

A: 13 to Life developed in a strange, organic way. I was curious about the Textnovel.com site and decided to throw out an idea or two. My husband was pretty strict--he didn't want me to put anything in public that I'd been working on for a long time--nothing I was too invested in. So I started from scratch with 13 to Life and never knew exactly where it was headed as I wrote it. I let the characters grow and lead me into their world. I also allowed readers to vote in polls regarding character and plot at a couple points throughout the contest (talk about writing by the seat of my pants!). When I won I was blown away! Then we were contacted by a movie producer and publisher and things just went from there. It's been a crazy ride!

Q: Why YA and not adult fiction?

A: Great question! I do have some ideas that are aimed at a more adult audience but, in this case, the voices were definitely teen. And when teenagers want your attention they'll find a way to get it. ;-) Just like werewolves.

Q: Why werewolves?

A: I didn't feel I had anything to add to the vampire mythos and my fallen angel concept from about ten years ago is a bit controversial and my science fiction ideas (nearly complete novels themselves) just didn't feel like they were supposed to be part of my little Textnovel adventure--they weren't anything like a cell phone novel should be.

Q: Did you research a lot of werewolf myth and legend to write this series?

A: Yes, mainly to make sure I wasn't doing anything too familiar. I also spent quite a bit of time revisiting research I'd done years back into parapsychology and the Cold War (which folds into the origin of my werewolves). There's also symbolism I incorporated that required additional research.

Q: How many books do you have planned for the series?

A: At this point I'm scheduled for three books in the 13 to Life series, but I'm open to a couple more (they've been taking up space in my head for a while now, too). Book two is scheduled to hit shelves February 2011 with book 3 about 6 months later.

Q: If you could offer one tidbit of information for new writers, what would it be?

A:Information like advice? Read a lot and write even more.

Q: What can you tell us about your current work in progress?

A: I have several YA novels in progress right now--all very different from 13 to Life. Some are darker, some are lighter... Wow. Thinking about them right now they are all vastly different.

Q: Name one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you.

A: That some of my best ideas for 13 to Life came from brief moments spent in a hay tent or driving between farms.

Q: What are some of your hobbies besides writing?

A: I enjoy art--used to do quite a bit of scherenschnitte and messenschnitte (papercutting) of high fantasy themes and characters. I also enjoy gardening and traveling. Definitely traveling. I have an adventurous spirit.

Q: In closing, tell us a bit about your latest release. Feel free to share an excerpt.

A: 13 to Life is a tale of teenage love, loss and--oh, yeah--werewolves.

Following the Start Your Day with Serial Tour will give your readers a great jump on reading the actual book--just make sure you start at the beginning!