Samantha Shannon
Samantha Shannon
Samantha Shannonis a British writer of dystopian and paranormal fiction...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth8 November 1991
creating world fantasy
I always felt that sci-fi and fantasy were my thing. Bit of a geek, Im afraid. But I like creating worlds, and I felt it was a genre that gave me more freedom. It just seemed like I belonged there.
experience maybe
I've never had a supernatural experience. I've been tempted to maybe have a tarot-card reading, but I don't know if I'd necessarily want to know.
alongside bone drama essays girl indoor mostly music sports students work
I was mostly an indoor girl at university. Where other students did drama or music or sport alongside their degrees, I wrote. I used to work on essays and classwork during the day and 'The Bone Season' in the evenings.
appeal associated girls loads women
I wanted to write a sci-fi story that would appeal to young women. Loads of girls like sci-fi, but it's more culturally associated with guys.
convert mentally versions
I often look at places and kind of mentally convert them to fantasy versions of themselves.
I'm not going to give it the big 'I am' now that I'm a New York Times bestseller.
I was born in 1991, and 'Harry Potter' came out in '97, so, you know, I was really obsessed. I used to read them in one night.
I was always more interested in my books and my writing than going out. It's OK to say I'm a nerd. That's me.
bone
I am never not thinking about stories. 'The Bone Season' is 90% of my brain - 10% is interacting with the rest of the world.
success
For me, just being published feels like success.
aspire bone built humor intricate love luminous readers writers wrote
Rowling is a luminous storyteller. I love her sense of humor and the intricate wizarding world she built around Hogwarts. I think all writers aspire to be like her, to capture readers like she does. But I didn't think about 'Harry Potter' when I wrote 'The Bone Season.'
admire books created favourite next
J. K. Rowling is one of my favourite authors, and I really admire how she created this big wizarding world. But I think our books are very, very different, and I don't think there can be a next J. K. Rowling. She is one of a kind.
edgar english gave high influenced introduced john left middle novel teachers
My English teachers gave me a copy of Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' when I left high school, which has always been very special to me - it was the novel that introduced me to dystopian fiction. I'm also influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, Dickens, John Wyndham and Middle English dream-visions.
attended leaving lived private school since sixteen work year
I had lived in that part of London that used to be called Islington since I was eight. I attended a private school for girls, leaving at sixteen to work. That was in the year 2056. AS 127, if you use the Scion calendar.