Your newest book, Shadow in the Sea is a follow-up to the
mermaid novel, Forbidden Sea,
published by Scholastic Press. Do you have to read Forbidden Sea first in order to enjoy Shadow in the Sea?
Shadow in the Sea is more of a companion novel rather
than a true sequel to Forbidden Sea. I knew this book would be the first time
visiting Windwaithe Island for many readers—so I wrote Shadow in the Sea as a stand-alone. If readers decide they like Shadow in the Sea, they can always go
back and read Forbidden Sea to find
out what happened before.
Why mermaids? Or should I say,
mermaids and mermen—since one of the
main characters in Shadow in the Sea
is a handsome merprince.
I was first
introduced to Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale, The Little Mermaid,
as a child. My family had an illustrated version of the story and I used to
look at the pictures in it again and again. I hated the whole
lose-the-guy-and-turn-into-sea-foam-ending—so I would imagine my own mermaid
stories to go along with the pictures. Ones with much better endings.
After I
became a children’s librarian, I noticed that many girls who came in asked for
mermaid books. We didn’t have a lot of them so the kids left looking very
disappointed. I thought to myself, Someone needs to write more mermaid stories.
That’s when I realized that person could be me. When I finally got around
to writing my mermaid stories, I found myself revisiting some of the things I’d
first imagined about mermaids back in my elementary school days.
Do you think there are real mermaids
out there in the ocean somewhere?
You would
be surprised how often I get asked that question. I, myself, am a complete
skeptic, though, nothing would make me happier than to be proven wrong. I will
say this—while doing my research for Shadow
in the Sea I discovered there are a lot of people who strongly believe in
mermaids—both in present day and historically.
In fact, the Orkney Islands have an extensive history when it comes to
mermaid sightings. (Try Googling “Deerness Mermaid” sometime and see what you
find!)
What part of Shadow in the Sea did you enjoy writing most?
The Sea
Prince, Araedyn, was the most complicated (and enjoyable) character to write in
Shadow in the Sea. Because he speaks
only merlanguage, I had to find other ways to communicate his story and
personality to the main character, and the reader. As an author, I know a great
many private details about my characters. Some of this information can’t be fit
into the final story. In the first book, Forbidden
Sea, I didn’t have time to flesh out Prince Araedyn the way I wanted to. Shadow in the Sea finally gave me a
chance to bring the mysterious merprince front and center, the way I’d been
dying to from the start.
Are any of your characters based on
real people?
An author
writes what she knows, so bits and pieces of real people do sneak in here and
there. However, there is only one character in Shadow in the Sea who is completely based on reality. Dartemore,
the horse. My grandfather owned an animal just like him while I was growing up.
He was a one man horse who adored my grandpa and hated everyone else. If he
could have slept at the end of my grandfather’s bed like a dog, he would have.
When grandpa rode the horse, he lifted up his feet and let his tail fly high.
When I got on him he tried to kill me. Every. Single. Time.
Fictional characters often find
themselves in situations they’re not sure they can get out of. Have you ever
found yourself in a situation like that? What did you do?
I almost
drowned when I was young. I was swimming in a lake all alone. (A really stupid
thing to do!) I felt something swim
into my legs under the water—either a good sized fish or a water snake—I ‘m not
sure which. I panicked, started thrashing around, and quickly went under. I
remember looking down through the water and realizing that I couldn’t see the
bottom because it was so dark and deep. Luckily, I was able to calm down enough
to stop flailing and float back up to the surface before it was too late. I’ve
had a phobia of fish and deep water ever since.
This made writing about merfolk who live fathoms beneath the surface of
the ocean an interesting experience. There were times I had to take a break
from writing because I would start to feel like I couldn’t breathe.
You are a children’s librarian as
well as an author. Do you find this affects your writing in any way?
Children
want to share their joy when it comes to reading. I’ve had the plots of far too
many novels spoiled for me by eager young library patrons who just wanted to
tell me everything about their favorite book. I don’t mind one bit. This has
given me a unique understanding of what kids do and don’t like when reading a
book. Sometimes, I find myself thinking, What
would the kids at the library like to see happen in this chapter? then I
write the scene accordingly. Kids love fun little details that don’t
necessarily have anything to do with the book’s main plot. The game of Quiddich
is a great example of this. In Shadow in
the Sea, the Sea Prince has eyes that change color based on his emotions
and moods. I recently had a young fan write me an email to ask if I could please make a list of every eye color
and its corresponding emotion and send it to her as quickly as possible.
There is
one other perk to being a librarian author. Kids will sometimes come to the
reference desk and ask me for one of my own books—never realizing I’m the one
who wrote it.
Have
you written a book you love that you have not been able to get published?
A couple of years ago, I wrote a
paranormal romance story about a haunted doll museum. It was much scarier and
darker than anything else I’ve ever written.
It was so creepy one member of my writer’s group decided they didn’t
want to finish it. That book is one of my favorites despite the fact that it may
never be published.
What would Sadelyn, Shadow in the Sea’s protagonist, think
about you if she could meet you?
After
everything I put her through in this story--she would probably refuse to even
speak to me. Sade would forgive me in time, but then find some sneaky way to
let me know she didn’t approve of my methods of entertaining readers at her
expense.
Book & Author Details:
Shadow in the Sea by Sheila A. Nielson
Publication date: July 15th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publication date: July 15th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Synopsis:
When sixteen-year-old Sadelyn Hanson
washes up on the shores of Windwaithe Island, her beauty and the strange marks
on her wrist make superstitious locals suspect she is a mermaid. Feigning
amnesia, Sade hides a far worse secret: she was sailing to her own murder trial
when she was thrown overboard by the real killer, the cunning and cruel Captain
Westwood.
Sade’s quiet effort to rebuild her
life on the island is threatened when she meets an actual young merman. Unable
to speak his language, Sade still longs for the warm companionship he offers,
despite the locals’ dire legends about merfolk and their dark magic. But her
confused feelings for the impossible boy become the least of her problems when
Captain Westwood’s ship docks at Windwaithe. With nowhere to escape, Sade must
trust in the one person who doesn’t fear the merfolk. A woman who had dealings
with them herself—years ago.
Purchase:
Amazon (Paperback and Kindle): http://amzn.to/1Nnu2ad
Barnes and Noble (Paperback and Nook): http://bit.ly/1Mx6kt1
Barnes and Noble (Paperback and Nook): http://bit.ly/1Mx6kt1
eBook Mall (ePub version): http://bit.ly/1TOb1CR
AUTHOR
BIO:
Sheila never did figure out what she wanted to be when she
grew up. She graduated from college with a BFA in illustration, has worked
as a children's librarian for over eighteen years, and would
eventually like to be a full-time author. Why pick one career when you can
have many? Sheila lives with her two pets, a goffin cockatoo and a
tiny toy poodle. She was born and raised in California but has come to
also love her adopted home in Utah where she currently resides.
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