Under Zenith Blog Tour - Author Interview!

Hey everyone! Welcome to my stop on the Under Zenith blog tour! Super excited to share with you the latest and greatest from one of my favorite authors, Shannen Crane Camp! This is her first NA, having begun with lots of awesome YA books! If you're looking for a new author to try I recommend her! Here's a little bit about her book!

UNDER ZENITH

by Shannen Crane Camp

It was the most important day of her life, and for 21-year-old Isla Edison, graduating from college with a useless degree in vocal performance was all part of her master plan. Dying in a car accident only hours later wasn't part of that plan. Yet there she was, standing over her own lifeless body and panicking about ruining the truck her parents had bought as a graduation present. Talk about a bad way to repay them. If coming to
terms with the hereafter wasn’t enough to deal with, Isla suddenly
finds herself stuck with Hayden, a gorgeous Brit with a bad attitude
and a penchant for throwing her off cliffs to keep her in line. Worst
of all, Hayden is her Guide, and until she completes six impossible
and totally random tasks to reach her mysterious Destination, she's
stuck with him. Isla's major problem, though, is that she doesn't
know what reaching her Destination actually entails, and soon the
mystery surrounding her new afterlife seems more ominous than any
purgatory she could possibly imagine. Now Isla must decide if she'll
trust her dark and brooding Guide despite his "bad boy"
act, or if she'll risk failing her tasks and facing the unknown
alone.

Sound like so much fun right? Who wouldn't want to have a hot Brit to navigate the afterlife with them? Okay the afterlife might not be the best.... But either way, here's an awesome interview that I got to do with Shannen! Way too much fun!

This
is your first NA book. What was different about your writing process
this time around? 

I
feel like I had different things to think about with this one.
Normally I’m thinking about high school and relationships in that
context. With this book I had to focus more on things like what my
main character wanted to do with her life as far as a career goes. I
had to think about a job for her, her financial situation, her
relationship with her family as an independent woman. It was
definitely a different character building process. I also had to
think about how she would relate to a roommate or an older brother
who she didn’t live with. That kind of thing.

Now
I'm guessing it's because you've always wanted to  explore the
afterlife with a hot Brit, but tell me about your inspiration for
Under Zenith?

You’re
actually pretty spot on. I wanted to write a scenario where I could
do anything I wanted to without it being out of place. I wanted this
space where literally any creature or situation could arise and my
character could stop and think it was weird, but it wasn’t
necessarily surprising. I loved the freedom that afforded. The
Afterlife just seemed like the perfect space for this odd little
dreamscape. And hey, if a hot psychotic Brit was involved, that’s
always a plus! I do love my hot psychotic Brits… I may or may not
be writing another hot psychotic Brit right now!

What's the first thing you do when you start a new story? 

I
make a folder on my computer for the book. I create one Word document
for the actual story, and one for everything else. I write out the
plot, story details, and most importantly, character descriptions.
I’ll fill the folder with pictures of people who would “play”
the characters and write out descriptions of their age, physical
appearance, weird ticks, personality details, and their likes and
dislikes. Honestly, it kind of looks like an online dating profile.
Plus I’ll make a playlist of songs to listen to throughout the day
to get me pumped to write when I get home from work. I even dress
like my characters a lot of the time. So if you ever see me in
fifties clothes, I’m probably working on a June
book :)

Are you the kind of writer who eats/drinks while she writes? If so,
what's your "writing snack"?

A
giant glass of ice water and something super salty :) I kind of live
on salt. It’s a bit of a problem.

YES! Savor is for sure my choice when it comes to reading/writing snacks!

You've already hit up a variety of genres, from Contemp to Dystopian!
What genres would you like (or are going to) to explore in the
future?

I’m
actually in the middle of writing a paranormal New Adult novel about
a bunch of ghost hunters :) So I’d say that’s definitely a genre
I want to explore lol. I’d really love to write a murder mystery
but I’m not sure I’m clever enough to do that. I think people
would guess my murderer every time! I’m also going to focus more on
YA contemporary some more. I feel like lately I’ve been drifting
away from that to do more sci-fi/fantasy type of books. As much as I
love those, it’ll be nice to get back to my roots.

I would fully support the murder mystery! I adore that genre!

About Shannen

Blog - Twitter - Goodreads - Pinterest

Shannen Crane
Camp was born and raised in Southern California, where she developed
a love of reading, writing, and anything having to do with film.
After high school, she moved to Utah to attend Brigham Young
University, where she received a degree in Media Arts and found
herself a husband in fellow California native Josh Camp. The two now
live in either California or Utah... they still can't decide.

Thanks for the fun interview Shannen! If you guys like what you see and want to look into some more of Shannen's books go here to see all the beauties! 

Now it's time for a super-duper giveaway curtesy of Shannen! You can win a signed copy of any one of her novels - it's your choice which! You know you want to so click away at that Rafflecopter to enter! Giveaway open to US residents and will end March 1st!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Thanks for visiting! To check out the rest of the tour with more interviews, guest posts, excerpts and reviews, check out the schedule here! Happy Monday! XOXO,