Shannon Hitchcock
Hello Readers & Writers,
I’m so happy to welcome Shannon Hitchcock back to Teazur’s Blog! This time, we’re celebrating Wild Mountain Ivy, a story rooted in history and the echoes between past and present. In this interview, we learn about her writing process, her connection to the Asheville area, and the sparks behind her newest book—her answers reminded me just how much writing is a mix of persistence, listening, curiosity, and giving voice to characters who won’t let go.
If you'd like to read her previous interview, click here: Dancing in the Story. I highly recommend it!
Shannon, you've previously been on Teazur's Blogspot to talk about Dancing in the Story. Now you're back with Wild Mountain Ivy. Did anything about the writing process challenge you in a new way? Were there any surprises?
You've lived and written in the Asheville area for years. Where do you go in these beautiful mountains or towns that help spark story ideas for you? What would you recommend for visitors who are also writers?
I get a lot of my ideas by reading local history and attending local events. For instance, I have a picture book biography under contract about George Masa. Masa was a Japanese immigrant who made his home in Asheville and was instrumental in mapping the Appalachian Trail and in the movement to establish the Great Smoky Mountains as a National Park. I got the idea for writing about Masa by watching a documentary by Paul Bonesteel, one of our local filmmakers. I also attended the launch of Paul Bonesteel and Janet McCue’s book about Masa called George Masa: A Life Reimagined, and they became mentors as I told Masa’s story for children.
As an awesome multi-published author, what role do critique groups play in helping your growth as a writer? What would you tell readers who want to become authors about critique groups?
Writing is such a solitary profession that I need time to commune with other writers, and critique groups give me that. I also think reading and critiquing other people’s work helps me grow as a writer. Both reading the work of people who are further along in the writing journey than I am and reading the work of people just starting out. One thing I would tell people who want to become authors is that critique partners offer opinions that may or may not jell with your vision for the manuscript.
Take what resonates and leave the rest.
You recently traveled to Italy for the Winter Olympics—what were the most unforgettable moment? Will any of it make it into a new book?
The most memorable moment was also the most heartbreaking. I was in the audience when Ilya Malanin fell during the men’s figure skating long program. I don’t have plans to put that in a book, but you never know.
Lots of things in my life
make their way into my writing.
Speaking of new books….You just had a book birthday for Wild Mountain Ivy—March 3rd!!! Yahoo!!!
How have you been celebrating your newest book? When newbie authors have their first book birthday, what would you recommend they do?
I was just on our local radio station, 103.3 FM, talking about Wild Mountain Ivy, and I had a launch at Malaprop’s on March 18th. In addition, I will be presenting at the North Carolina Reading Association Conference and the South Carolina Association of School Librarians Conference. One of my writer friends, Joyce Sweeney (who is now an agent at the Seymour Agency), once said to me,
“You don’t know 10,000 people
to buy your book,
so do the promotions you enjoy
and forget the rest.”
I didn’t listen to Joyce for my first book. I spent more money promoting that book than it will ever make in revenue, but she was right. Another piece of advice: start your promotion locally and grow from there.
Wild Mountain Ivy blends illness and history—how did this story come to you? What was the initial spark?
The Ballad of Jessie Pearl ends without a neat resolution as to Jessie’s future, and lots of readers asked about a sequel. That said, I had no interest in writing one until the Covid shutdown. During that time, I started thinking about the parallels between the tuberculosis pandemic from Ballad and the Covid pandemic I was currently living through. The parallels were the initial spark.
The Everly House, in your book, was previously a tuberculosis sanatorium—so interesting. What fascinated you about that period of medical history? How did you come across this information?
I first became interested in tuberculosis in the 1920s, back in 2008. My son was given an eighth-grade history project to interview family members and collect ten family stories. Each story had to take place during a different decade. He then had to research what was happening in the U.S. during that decade and also the larger world. One of the stories he collected was of my grandmother (his great-grandmother), who had to grow up fast when tuberculosis struck our family. Her oldest sister went away to a sanatorium, and the sister closest to her in age died at home, leaving behind a ten-month-old baby and a letter planning her own funeral. That bit of family history became The Ballad of Jessie Pearl.
I love stories where the past and present collide—Ivy starts to dream about a girl who was a TB patient 100 years ago… How did you come up with this idea? How did you research this character? What do you suggest to writers if they want to write a past/present story?
I came up with the idea by rereading my favorite book from childhood, Requiem for a Princess by Ruth M. Arthur. In Requiem, a girl is staying in a Cornish inn for the summer when a girl who had lived there in the 16th century starts to haunt her dreams. I used Requiem as a mentor text. I outlined that book and thought about how Jessie’s story from Ballad would fit into that structure.
My advice is to find a good mentor text
whenever you want to try writing
in a new genre.
What is your process for uncovering pieces of history that kids will want to read about?
I love history, and so I’m always reading it and immersing myself in it. I figure that if I read something I’m passionate enough to spend the next couple of years of my life researching, writing, and revising, then that passion will come across to kids.
What do you hope kids will take away from this book – from Ivy's journey?
That history repeats itself. Because I had researched and written about the TB pandemic, I had a good knowledge base for navigating the Covid pandemic.
If Ivy could stand on a Blue Ridge Mountain top with a megaphone and the whole world would listen - what one sentence or word would she shout?
You can still have a happy life,
even when things don’t go the way
you’d planned.
There are two. First, my picture book biography, Of Words & Water—The Story of Wilma Dykeman, Writer, Historian, Environmentalist, was named an Outstanding Science Trade Book by the National Science Teaching Association, and my novel, Dancing In the Storm, was nominated for the Kentucky Bluegrass Award.
Three Cheers for Shannon!
What a great interview. I especially love how stories can grow from family history, places, moments that seem to pass quietly until a researching writer gives them a voice. I've been asked by aspiring writers, "Where do you get your ideas from?" Your answers will help them as they find their way into their stories.
I'm excited for Wild Mountain Ivy, thanks for bringing your newest book out on Teazurs Blog!
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And a big thank you for reading Teazurs Blog!
If you would like to be interviewed....just reach out.
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