1) Who was your favorite childhood author?
A. A. Milne. I still have my collection of books my mother bought for me when I was a little girl, and my stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh — although he’s minus ears thanks to the family dog.
2) What genre of books do you like to read? Do you limit yourself to only the genre that you write yourself?
I don’t discriminate. I like variety in both fiction and nonfiction, so no, I don’t limit myself to only historical fiction. What I don’t read enough of these days, sadly, is poetry.
3) How long have you been writing?
About 15 years.
4) What made you fall in love with writing?
The freedom of it. That I can play around with language and break rules that I couldn’t get away with in high school English.
5) Were you always good at writing?
I don’t think I’ve ever thought ‘hey, I’m really good at this,’ only that, for the most part, I get pleasure from the process and am constantly working at making my writing better. In spite of having a novel published, I still have to convince myself that what I have to say is worthy.
6) What’s your inspiration or who is?
That’s a list that continues to grow. The writers I feel most drawn to include Steinbeck, Hemingway, Erich Maria Remarque, and Herman Wouk. Of course, I don’t write like any of them, but sure wish I did.
7) Did you ever think you’d become an author?
No way, no how. I thought to be an author you had to have a large vocabulary and a lot of initials after your name.
8) What is your favorite theme or element in writing?
Dialogue is probably the element that comes most naturally for me. Usually a phrase or a word will pop into my head, and that’s what tends to help get me into a scene.
9) What do you think makes good writing?
Clarity.
10) What do you think people search for in a book?
Well, it depends on the individual and the book. In general, I’d say readers are looking to make sense of the world around them, to better understand the human condition, or something that may give them a wholly different outlook on a situation they’re dealing with. For me, I’m often looking for some sort of hopefulness. I like to come away from a story that, even if it ends tragically, contains a hint or question of a promise. But, I guess that’s me wearing rose-colored glasses.
11) What advice would you give people who “run out of creativity” when writing?
I don’t believe creativity ever really “runs out.” I know a lot of writers go through bouts of being excruciatingly unsure of what they’re doing or trying to say, myself included. Those are the times we should allow ourselves to just sit and look and listen and take notes. Even engage in another form of creativity, like gourmet cooking, taking an art class, studying music, going to a museum—or any type of activity you wouldn’t normally do. I can’t tell you the number of times that I thought I’d never write another word except for making up a grocery list. And I don’t understand how the creative process works, but when I’ve felt the most desperate to return to a project, something eventually “shakes loose” and I start to feel that fire in my fingers again. As wrenching as a dry spell can be, I’m learning to appreciate that aspect of creating. I’m especially grateful to the makers of Sculpey clay.
12) What’s your favorite character archetype of literature?
Ah, my heart belongs to The Fool! Any time I get invited to look at my own silliness is a reward.
13) What is your favorite novel?
Unequivocally, The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk. I have multiple copies. I even married my own Willie Keith.
14) Any recent works you admire?
I’ve been focusing mostly on research for a new book and haven’t read much contemporary work lately. There’s one novel, though, that has stayed with me for a long time that I highly recommend — Jose Saramago’s Baltasar & Blimunda. It’s exquisite.
ABOUT HER NOVEL 'On Account of Conspicuous Women'
1) How long did it take to write?
Around 7 years.
2) Who are your target readers?
Me. Early on, I didn’t have any type of reader in mind at all. It really was a story I was writing for myself, kind of an exercise, partly to see if I could even accomplish. I wanted to write the type of literature that I was hungry to read. And I’d never had a book published before, so the idea of ever being published was, well, let’s just say I was pessimistic that anybody else but me would want to read it.
3) How did you conceive your plot ideas?
I’m flattered if you think there’s a plot. That’s something I’m still trying to master. I tend to be drawn to stories that are more character-driven, so as a writer I struggle a great deal with plot. I did have certain plans for the characters in the beginning — what their destination might likely be— but as the story evolved some of those ideas that I had started with, or had imagined would happen, changed.
4) Where did you get most of your ideas?
Hmm, that’s a hard thing to pinpoint. Partly I’ve been influenced by old family photographs and stories I’ve heard over the years, and a desire to make up my own version. I’m a huge fan of old movies, so I spent a lot of time studying silent films to try to get a feel for the era. But I also relied on old newspapers and periodicals. I just wanted to bring 1920s Roxboro to life.
5) Do you use your own experiences?
Sometimes, but usually by the time it makes it onto paper, the experience has taken on a whole other light and doesn’t resemble the original.
6) How did you decide on the names for your characters?
Most of the family names, like Clayton, are common to that area of Person County, and I wanted the story to be as authentic as possible. As for the nicknames, just about everyone I know who grew up in Roxboro has one that will follow them to the grave. I have a cousin named Cottoneye and if you asked me his birth name it would take me a minute.
7) Who are your favorite characters?
I’m rather smitten with Colon, if you must know.
8) Any characters you would just hate if you met them in real life?
I would likely cross to the other side of the street if I encountered Brud Daye.
9) How did you come up with your characters Doodle, Colon, Bertie, and Miss McGhee (who is a very minor character but amusing none the less)?
Bertie, the suffragette, is loosely based on my paternal grandmother who died when I was a baby. My father used to tell wonderful stories about her spiritedness when I was growing up. Others who knew her reinforced and added more. The other characters are purely made up, although some of my kinfolk might tell you otherwise.
10) Any scene in your novel that has made you chuckle the most?
The scene with Colon and Doodle after they leave Guerine’s Halloween party. He’s driving the motorcycle and Doodle is in the sidecar. They can’t talk because the wind is rushing past, so there’s no dialogue. But what tickles me most is how they keep looking over at one another and nodding, as if they each understand what the other is thinking.
11) Were there moments when you thought you’d never finish your novel?
Good grief yes. Too many times it felt like more than I was capable of. I’m just glad I stuck with it.
12) Are you planning on writing a sequel?
No. I like thinking about the characters, though, and imagining what they might’ve gone on to do.
13) How did you develop the story? How did you get inspired for it?
The inspiration for the novel is an old photograph of my paternal grandmother with three of her female friends, circa 1920. Since I never had the pleasure of getting to know my grandmother, that photo has fascinated me since I was little. I wanted to know who those women were and to learn more about the 1920s. Eventually, it’s what prompted me to explore a story told from multiple points of view in sort of day-in-the-life vignettes.
14) How long did it take you to publish your first novel, after you started trying?
It actually happened pretty fast. I’m very fortunate to have writer friends who recommended the book to their agents. I got a few rejections for various reasons—they didn’t think they could sell it or it didn’t fit in with the type of literature they represent—but it finally landed with an agent and an editor who loved historical fiction.
Here are the websites to purchase her beautifully written novel:
http://www.amazon.com/Account-Conspicuous-Women-Dawn-Shamp-ebook/dp/B006LPQQII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458675546&sr=8-1&keywords=Dawn+Shamp
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/on-account-of-conspicuous-women-dawn-shamp/1012288784
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