Who are you?
I'm Shannon Messenger, and I'm the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. I live in Southern California.
What do you write?
I write fantasy for kids and teens, and it's honestly the best. job. ever! I get to spend my day hanging out in imaginary worlds, filled with cool creatures and amazing foods. And bonus: I get to do all of that on a super-comfy couch while wearing frumpy sweatpants. It's a total WIN!
I didn't realize how much I loved writing until I was in college. Before that I'd been very focused on art—but I got frustrated because it never felt like my drawings matched what I was picturing in my head, no matter how hard I worked. Eventually I decided to take a break from art classes and signed up for a writing course on a whim—and discovered that the scenes I'd been imagining finally came to life on the page! I just had to use words to paint the picture.
Where do you write?
I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old, so finding a quiet spot to work was essential. In fact, I ended up building an office in my backyard so I'd have my own workspace, complete with a cozy armchair and a giant couch (I'm not a fan of writing at a desk). Every day during work hours you can find me out there with my laptop, either stretched out on the chaise part of my couch or settled into the armchair with my feet propped up on the footrest. There's always a soft blanket nearby, and a giant cup of iced tea. And that's really all I need.
When do you write?
My brain prefers to write at night (my biggest bursts of creativity tend to happen between 9pm and 3am), but now that I have kids, that's not really a sustainable schedule. So I've been training myself to write during my nanny hours—and it's definitely been an adjustment. But I've found a few tricks that really help. The biggest one is having a few author friends to do "sprints" with during the day. We have a group text where we let each other know when we're working, and then we'll set 30 minute timers and check in with each other to see how we did. I'm personally not a big fan of setting arbitrary word count goals because I tend to crank out junk just to be able to say, "see, I wrote a bunch of words!" But it's nice to focus for thirty minutes and then celebrate whatever productivity happened, whether it's, "I figured something out!" or "I finished a scene!"
Why do you write?
I've always had stories in my head. It's kind of like waking up from a super-cool dream and wanting to stay in bed and keep imagining what might've happened next. Writing gives me the freedom to keep dreaming while I'm "working." Right now, since I'm in the middle of a massive series, what's driving me are the readers who are dying to know what's going to happen next. (And hey, it doesn't hurt that I have contractual deadlines to keep up with!) I also tend to pull inspiration from my characters themselves. I've been writing them for more than a decade at this point, so they feel very real to me. Every time I write a new scene I start by thinking about everything I know about each character and everything going on for them in that moment, and then I ask, "okay, what are they going to do now?" and write what I come up with.
How do you overcome writer's block?
I don't like calling it "writer's block." It sounds too huge. Almost like it's a disease. "Oh no! I've got writer's block!" So I try to think of it as just, "I'm stuck" since that sounds much more manageable. Then I try to change something up—maybe go on a walk, or take a drive, or listen to some music. Or I'll play the "What if?" game and start tossing out random ideas—the more outlandish the better. I can't tell you how many times I've landed on the perfect solution after a few ridiculous "what ifs."
Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?
I should probably say, "spending time with my kids"—and I do love doing that. They're at such an incredible stage, where everything is new and wondrous. But keeping it real: I like to sleep. I get so little of it between deadlines and toddler sleep regressions that if I ever get a few minutes of freedom: NAPTIME! In fact, I'm done with this interview a little earlier than I expected so.... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. :)
My thanks to Shannon Messenger for today's interview.