Today Shannon Duffy has stopped by to talk about her new book, SPECTRAL.
Convinced she’s a part of the witness protection program, sixteen-year-old Jewel Rose is shuffled around the globe with her family like a pack of traveling gypsies. After arriving at lucky home twenty-seven, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy with magical powers claiming to be her guardian . . . and warning of imminent danger. Despite the obvious sparks between them, Jewel discovers a relationship is forbidden, and the more she learns about dark, brooding Roman, she begins to question who she can even believe — the family who raised her, or the supposed sworn protector who claims they’ve been lying to her all along.
As she struggles to uncover who her family has really been running from, she is forced to hide her birthmark that reveals who she is. With new realities surfacing, unexplained powers appearing, and two tempting boys vying for her heart, Jewel battles to learn who she can trust in an ever growing sea of lies, hoping she’ll make it through her seventeenth birthday alive.
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Thanks for inviting me to spend a little
time on your blog, Shelli. You’ve asked about my journey to publication for my
new YA Paranormal Romance, SPECTRAL, so here it is:
On a dark and stormy night… okay, no
really, Spectral all came about with an idea for the book over Christmas of
2010. I couldn’t sleep one night, which is a great time to come up with story
ideas—at least for me—and an idea came to me for Jewel’s story. It was the
basics of the storyline, but one that got me pumped up. The next day I spilled
my story idea to my husband and visiting family members, tumbling over my words
at rapid speed and excitement.
I started writing Spectral in January 2011.
Two of my amazing critique partners, Rachel Harris and Trisha Wolfe both
critiqued chapter by chapter being the rock stars they are. When I got their
notes back, I’d incorporate any changes that made sense—which they usually
did—because as mentioned, they are truly rock star writers. It took me about
seven months to write Spectral…I know I won’t get any speed awards for that. Some
authors can cough out books every couple months—I’m just not one of them.
Once I finally typed the proverbial THE END,
I sent it off to a great freelance editor (Enter Georgia McBride), for
edits/critique. And then, I revised some more. After that, I sent Spectral to my
fantabulous agent, Lauren Hammond. I was relieved when she loved it, and after
a few more edits from her, ta da! It was time to send it out on submissions to
publishers. Eeks! I was excited and nervous all wrapped up into one. Sending my
story out into the world for the first time to be judged was surreal. I prayed
someone would love it enough to want to publish it, and not hate it so much
that they’d laugh. J
I was very lucky with Spectral as it wasn’t
out on submission too long when I got an offer for publication from the amazing
Tribute Books! (Insert happy dance here) It was one of those…Where were you when moments. I happened
to be in San Francisco on the way home from a writer’s retreat in Big Sur,
California. Lauren called me with the fab news in my hotel room and after a
moment, of OMG and seriously? ...I began calling everyone close to me while
pacing my room and panting the good news into the phone. I can’t tell you how
good it felt to tell my loved ones, and in particular, my parents, who believed
in me from day one. *Sigh.*
After “meeting” Nicole at Tribute, I was
even happier that I’d have someone sweet and down to earth to work with. Then
the fun began with the cover design, book trailer, and finding out the release
date. All moments of excitement and worry, hoping those things would turn out
just right.
Then finally, after a few more
edit/revisions (Yup, they keep on coming), my little story was ready to meet
the world. (Insert moment of panic.) I can only hope people will enjoy the
story…and maybe even fall in love with my characters along the way.
Special thanks to everyone who shared in my
journey to publication, and thank you, Shelli for having me here today.
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Shannon Duffy's Bio
Shannon Duffy writes young adult and middle grade fiction. She grew up on the beautiful east coast of Canada and now lives in Ontario, Canada. She is the mom of one boy, Gabriel, her angel. She loves writing, reading, working out, soccer, and the sport of champions-shopping. She is the author of the young adult paranormal romance, SPECTRAL. Her upcoming middle grade fantasy novel, GABRIEL STONE AND THE DIVINITY OF VALTA is scheduled for a January 2013 release.
Find Shannon online
- Spectral web site
- Spectral Twitter hashtag: #Spectral
- Spectral GoodReads page
- Shannon Duffy's Facebook
- Shannon Duffy's Twitter
- Shannon Duffy's Website
- Shannon Duffy's Blog
- Shannon Duffy's GoodReads
Tribute Books
- Tribute Books website
- Tribute Books Facebook
- Tribute Books Twitter
- Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook
Purchase Links
- Kindle buy link - $2.99
- Nook buy link - $4.95
- iBookstore buy link - $4.99
- Google buy link - $3.79
- Smashwords buy link - $4.99
- PDF buy link - $4.95
4 comments:
Shelli, thanks again for hosting Shannon today. What an insightful look into the publication process from a debut author who is simply a class act in every way. :)
Great post! It's always interesting to see how authors reach their goal. The book sounds great - off to check it out! :)
Great post! Shannon's awesome, and I can't wait to read this book. :)
Beautiful cover! Thank you for sharing your story, Shannon. Can't wait to read Spectral!
Thanks, Shelli!
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