Time with Shelena Shorts (an Interview and Giveaway)

Hello my fellow readers,

I’m here to introduce you to a great writer and a wonderful and exciting series. I stumbled upon this series through an author friend of mine and the minute I started her first book; “The Pace” I was both hooked to the characters and their world.  Before I begin the interview with her, here’s a summary of the first book in the series:

                                              

Summary: Weston Wilson is not immortal and he is of this world. But, aging is not part of his existence, and eighteen-year-old Sophie Slone is determined to find out why. In doing so, she could also uncover something about her own life expectancy that she may not want to know. Suddenly, immortality will mean everything and nothing all at the same time.

The Other books in the series is “The Broken Lake”, “The Iron Quill” and the last book in the series and soon to be published later this year “The Hour of Dreams”

Shelena Shorts is sweet and a very talented writer, and through the interview I got to know her even more and I hope you too as a reader will take a chance on this amazing series and be introduced to some amazing characters. And to add more spice to this interview there will be a giveaway along with it, as soon as you finish reading the interview look at the details of the giveaway at the bottom.

The Interview:

Me: What inspired you to start writing the “Pace” series?

Shelena: I love to read and watch any movie where there’s a relationship worth rooting for. At the time, I was having difficulty finding one that stuck with me in books, so I started imagining my own and then realized it was worth writing.

Me: What was one of the hardest things to overcome when you first started the series?

Shelena: The beginning! I had a story in my head, but no idea how to start it, so that was the hardest part for me. I actually started in the middle and went back to it. If I stayed trying to write from the beginning, I’d still be there!

Me: What came easiest to you during the process of writing the first book “The Pace”?

Shelena: I think writing Sophie and Wes, so they felt real came pretty easy. I saw them as real people, so I made sure they acted like it all the time.  

Me: Out of the three books, which one did you enjoy the most writing?

Shelena: The Iron Quill. So many things I was rooting for along the way in book 1 and 2 happened in that one.

Me: How do you come up with names of your characters?

Shelena: Well somehow Sophie’s name just popped up easily. For Weston, I needed him to have a traditional, but also modern, English name, so I went to baby name websites and searched. I got all the way to the W’s before the perfect name for him popped out!

Me: Who is your greatest fan?

Shelena: I’d have to say Rebecca from The Netherlands! She chose The Pace for a huge literary project she needed to do for school and she still sends me awesome messages all the time. She’s definitely a fan of The Pace Series, and I appreciate her very much.

Me: When you write do you prefer silence or noise?

Shelena: It depends. If I know exactly what I plan to write, then I like silence. If I need a bit of inspiration to think and feel a certain way, then I like to listen to music and it gets me going!

Me: The Pace series is so unique, to me it seems like it would take ages to write, how long on average has it taken you to write a book?

Shelena: I don’t get hung up on the editing part while writing, so I usually just focus on the storyline itself first. That way it takes me about 3-4 months to write the book, but then another 3 months to go back and do a few rounds of editing, because it usually doesn’t flow very well at first!

Me: Do any of your characters “speak” to you? (Do they help control what happens?)

Shelena: Absolutely! They speak to me all the time and they do control what happens. In order for them to feel like real people, I have to believe I’m letting them control what happens, even if it makes me sad or upset.

Me: What is your favorite beverage while writing?

Shelena: Coffee!

Me: Do you do an outline before writing? Or do you just go with it?

Shelena: I do a general big picture outline so I don’t forget key scenes when they go through my mind, and then I go with the in-between from there.

Me: If there was one piece of advice you could give aspiring writers what would it be?

Shelena: Just write for the story first and don’t get hung up on the editing even if it sounds terrible when you go back and reread. Once you have the story finished, it is so much easier to go back and make what’s there sound and read better. To me, writing is more enjoyable that way.

Me: How did you create your characters? Did you ever remove them from their world to tweak them?

Shelena: I just saw them interacting and sharing a certain conversation and then I asked myself where they were, why they felt that way and where they were going? The world built itself around those answers!

Me: Is writing the ending to the series hard for you? Is it going to be hard to let the characters go?

Shelena: It is extremely hard. Especially for this series, since I want to keep it real and plausible. Their conflict is almost impossible to resolve, so I find myself hesitant to finish for fear of where it will take me.

Me: Would you ever consider doing a prequel to this series?

Shelena: Yes. I have had a few people ask and ever since then, images have been popping up, so maybe. In the meantime, I think we will all get a peak of the past in the last book, The Hour of Dreams :)

Thanks for the interview Shelena! It was an honor for you to take the time to introduce us into your world as well as your characters world!

I hope you were able to get an insight into the mastermind behind this series, and to help connect those who haven’t read this series we’re hosting a giveaway!!

Prizes: Grand Prize: Autographed copies of “The Pace”, “The Broken Lake” and “The Iron Quill” 

Second Winner: any book out of the series per the winner’s choosing

Duration: January 9, 2012- January 23, 2012

Requirements: Must be a US or Canada Resident (Sorry!)

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