Skip to main content

Author Interview: Laura Shank


Tell us a little about yourself:
I'm a writer from Raleigh, North Carolina, and am currently working on my third young adult fantasy novel. I've been writing seriously for about four years now, and I am hoping this is the first book I can polish and sell! I've had two of my plays produced onstage, and have been publishing short stories on Reddit - Fantasy Writers when I can. For over a year now I have written every single day, including over holidays and while on vacation!

What authors do you draw inspiration from and why:
Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite writers and authors, the fact that he puts out amazing books while also giving back so much to the community is something I aspire to do.

Tell us about your book/works:
My current project is a story about a girl named Jordan who runs away with a magic circus.

How long did it take you to write it? What were some of the challenges:
I've been working on this novel for about a year and a half. I'm usually pretty quick with finishing the first draft due to my daily writing habit. Editing is more difficult for me, luckily I have a great critique group for feedback. I just started my third draft and I'm redoing a major plot point. It requires heavy edits. I set a deadline of 6 weeks to redraft the entire book, which is an intense goal for me, but once I have it done I'm hoping I can send it to my writing group again and have a solid story that just needs tweaking.

What is a unique or interesting bit of lore or background detail about your world(s):
The story is about a magic pirate ship that sails through the lakes and rivers of the United States, and it's been doing that for decades, so not only does my main character get to go on it, but she's heard stories about it from her Grandfather.

What do you enjoy developing the most – characters, plot, or your world – and why:
I love creating characters and building their relationships in my writing. I have an acting background, which I think helps me develop realistic characters that the reader connects with. Honestly, the reason characters are the best is because they're the main way to play with the reader's emotions. If I can get you attached to my characters, then when bad things inevitably happen to them, I know you're feeling pain as well! That's what I love as a reader myself - a story with characters that tug your heartstrings, maybe even makes you cry. If I can make people cry, I feel very successful.

Book price and where it can be found:
I am currently unpublished, but working hard to get this book finished so I can shop it around!

What’s your next project: Either the sequel to my current novel, or a story about two princesses that have to win their castle back after a revolution - think Anastacia in the jungle.

Your contact information:
You can find me on r/fantasywriters subreddit, I check in every Wednesday, u/LauravsLaura
My website is under construction, but it's there! LauraRShank.com
Instagram: lauraRshank

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Beneath a Brass Sky Spotlight: Caravansaries

  In  Beneath a Brass Sky , near the edge of the Brasslands, Ulfric and the wayfarers seek shelter in a holdover - a caravansary. There, they meet a guide that promises to see them over the Splitspines. To me, reaching the caravansary is an important moment in the story, because it represents Ulfric triumphing over the harshness of the Brasslands. Up to this point, arguably, the antagonist is the environment itself. But that's another post. Today, I want to talk about caravansaries. A caravansary is a roadside inn where travelers (caravaners) could rest and recover from a journey. They supported the flow of both commerce and information across the trade routes the sprawled across Asia, MENA, and SE Europe - especially the Silk Road, according to Wikipedia . When you arrive, expect to find markets, and farriers or smiths, and alehouses and cookshops, and perhaps gambling dens and other means of separating a traveler from their coins.  In short, Caravansaries were the fortified roads

Beneath a Brass Sky (Fantasy Fiction) - Is Out!

Beneath a Brass Sky (BaBS), my new fantasy novel, is now on Amazon for 99 cents! Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LZQJNCC/ First, the Blurb: Ulfric Halehorn is a sellsword that believes in the sanctity of the contract. He’s also rekindled an old grudge, incited a riot, and landed himself in jail on enough counts to see himself hung twice. In the midst of this, he somehow managed to win a lucrative contract to transport a mysterious crate across the Brasslands to Kush.  He’d be better off if he hadn’t. Days into the journey, Ulfric learns that the job is more than it seems, and that he carries with him the spark that may touch off a revolution that could burn across a city, and perhaps an entire region. Knowing this, Ulfric sees a chance to atone for breaking another contract nearly a decade ago — one that cost another city its freedom and its people their lives; an act that still haunts him to this day. But the Brasslands is a vast land, filled with fugitives, and wild beasts, and na

Wednesday Art - Medieval Interlude, N. Bouvier