Ask the Author: Shannon Lee Alexander
Answered Questions (8)
Shannon Lee Alexander
Thank you! I would love to come to France one day, but right now it isn't something I can do. I'll just have to send you virtual hugs and kisses! xoxo
Shannon Lee Alexander
Read Rainbow Rowell's books. She creates beautiful, funny, quirky characters and her dialogue is priceless!
Shannon Lee Alexander
Thank you! I'm so glad you liked Charlie and Charlotte. They are very special to me. :)
Shannon Lee Alexander
Keep writing. Be tenacious.
There were times I thought I'd never get Charlie's story right. I can't count the number of versions there are of Love and Other Unknown Variables. But since my friend Em, to whom the book is dedicated, never gave up on her fight against cancer, I didn't feel right giving up on the story. I had to dig in and keep writing.
If you keep writing and stay true to that voice in your heart, eventually you'll get it right. And getting it right is worth all the work.
There were times I thought I'd never get Charlie's story right. I can't count the number of versions there are of Love and Other Unknown Variables. But since my friend Em, to whom the book is dedicated, never gave up on her fight against cancer, I didn't feel right giving up on the story. I had to dig in and keep writing.
If you keep writing and stay true to that voice in your heart, eventually you'll get it right. And getting it right is worth all the work.
Shannon Lee Alexander
While I live in Indiana now, I'm from North Carolina. Charlie lives in a suburb outside of a bigger city. It's not actually set in any one place, but more of an amalgam of all my favorite places. I've lived outside of Charlotte (taught at Quail Hollow Middle School there), outside of Raleigh/Durham, went to UNC-Chapel Hill for a bit, lived in the mountains near Boone, and in Eastern North Carolina in a town called Greenville. I took bits and pieces from each of those and smashed them together for Charlie's town.
I hope the book captured some of the feelings, sounds, and sights of the south. We don't have tall pines here like I did back home in North Carolina. I miss them terribly. Writing about them helped bring me back to my old home.
I hope the book captured some of the feelings, sounds, and sights of the south. We don't have tall pines here like I did back home in North Carolina. I miss them terribly. Writing about them helped bring me back to my old home.
Shannon Lee Alexander
Love and Other Unknown Variables became a way for me to work through my feelings after my friend died from ovarian cancer. I never intended for the story to work out that way, but it did. Sometimes the writer guides the story and sometimes the story guides the writer.
Shannon Lee Alexander
Knowing I can put all the strange voices in my head to good use.
Shannon Lee Alexander
I don't know that I've ever suffered from "writer's block." I suffer from paralyzing, self-doubting fear.
Fear of not being good enough or not being clear enough. Fear of never having the right thing to say or having nothing to say. Fear of wasting my time. Fear of wasting your time. Lots of fear.
I end up walking away from writing when the panic gets too big. Luckily, I have family and friends who are there for me, inspiring me with their own bravery, love, and talents.
That and candy. Never doubt the power of the Swedish Fish.
Fear of not being good enough or not being clear enough. Fear of never having the right thing to say or having nothing to say. Fear of wasting my time. Fear of wasting your time. Lots of fear.
I end up walking away from writing when the panic gets too big. Luckily, I have family and friends who are there for me, inspiring me with their own bravery, love, and talents.
That and candy. Never doubt the power of the Swedish Fish.
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