What advice would you give to your younger self? Is this the same as you'd give to aspiring authors? Right now, I’m putting the finishing touches on an adult fantasy, I recently handed in my first round of edits on my second YA book, out fall 2022, and I’m starting to plot what will hopefully be my third YA fantasy. I do listen to music while working more now than I did when writing STALKING SHADOWS, and I usually go for movie soundtracks (shout-out to The Return of the King and Outlander season two soundtracks!) or Kai Engle.
I definitely can’t listen to music with lyrics. I think I’m in the minority here, but I often write in silence. When it was ready, we went on sub with it and it sold!ĭid you have a playlist or aesthetics when writing this book? It didn’t sell on sub, but while I was querying with that MS, I started writing what would become STALKING SHADOWS. It was pretty short but a bit winding! I found an agent with my first manuscript, though I rewrote that manuscript many times. Was your road to publication long and winding, short and sweet, or something in between? The creature that haunted Gévaudan often killed women and children because they were unarmed, and I wanted to imagine two girls who were not only armed, they were the ones to be feared - a beast and its controller. Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favourite fairy tales, and the original version was published in France in that century as well - before the events in Gévaudan, but it still got me thinking about the idea of a beast in your midst. I came across an article about the Beast of Gévaudan, which was a beast (no one actually knows what it was) that killed more than a 100 people in an area of France in the 18th century.
Thank you! STALKING SHADOWS is a feminist, gothic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, where Marie must select her sister’s victims to protect her, but when a child turns up dead she’s forced to break the curse or face who’s really become a monster. I wanted to create one of those worlds too, where teens could drop in a visit when they wanted or needed to-just like I used to.Ĭongrats on your debut young adult novel, Stalking Shadows! Tell us about the story and what inspired you. I was going somewhere new, for at least a while. Each time I got a book it felt full of promise, almost like a plane ticket. I was a teen long before e-readers and easy access to a digital library, so it would be special to get to make a trip to the physical or library or a bookstore. Tell us about yourself and how you came to write for teens. Ĭover design by Hana Anouk Nakamura illustrator Juliana Kolesova
We are excited to feature author Cyla Panin and her young adult novel, STALKING SHADOWS ( Amulet Books, Sept.
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