I’m Samantha Shannon, author of an 800 page book about dragons, out today. Yes, you read that page count correctly. AMA!

[u/Sshannonauthor]

Hey, Reddit. I’m Samantha Shannon, author of the New York Times bestselling Bone Season series. My newest book is THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE, an epic fantasy inspired by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that re-imagines the legend of George and the Dragon. I’ve never posted on Reddit, so I’m excited to be here. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram at @say_shannon. Ask me anything . . .Links: - http://samantha-shannon.blogspot.com/ - http://hyperurl.co/prioryProof: /img/zxwm2y0yhti21.jpg

[u/BenjayWest96]

Hiya, how many manuscripts had you completed before you snagged your first agent?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Sshannonauthor → u/[deleted]]

1. I tend to work an eight-hour day at least. It can push seventeen hours on a tight deadline. My schedule is nothing special – I get up about 7, do a bit of social media, then get to work about 8. I used to be a night owl when I was writing at university, but now I try to stick to day hours. Sometimes I’ll want to shake up my environment and write at a library or café, in which case I’ll start at about 10. ‘Work’ isn’t always just writing – it’s thinking, it’s plotting, it’s figuring out character arcs, it’s going back and editing a chapter.

2. A bit of both. In terms of worldbuilding, I mix the FBU (From the Bottom Up) and the FTD (From the Top Down) techniques. With FBU you start with small details and work your way up to the large-scale things like cosmology and politics; with FTD it’s the other way around. I like to build at least a skeletal world before I plunge in – enough for me to know what’s possible in this world and what isn’t – but I don’t over-plan at the beginning. Only once I’ve got a character in the world does it really begin to come together. They become the engine of the worldbuilding, and they tell me what I need to research. If my character is about to put on a pair of boots, for example, that’s when I can start to think about what those boots might be made from. As they walk down a street, I can start to think about what they might be hearing and smelling and seeing. It helps me to choose avenues of research wisely.

3. It was always a standalone. My other series is a septology and couldn’t commit to a second long series at that point. I should clarify that when I call PRIORY a standalone, I mean that it’s self-contained and CAN stand on its own. I’d love to write more books set in the same world.

[u/Samwise_the_Tall → u/Sshannonauthor]

Loving your detailed response. As someone who is starting to build a world in which I want to write about, these techniques are very interesting.

[u/KR1127]

Hi! Where did you start with the world building? What methods and research did you use to make the world so authentic? Thank you!

[u/warlordyuneebi98]

How did you come to the idea to include handmaidens in Priory it’s one of my favorite parts of the story!

[u/STD4]

Which fictional world with Dragons do you like the most?

Also which fictional world do you think need Dragons?

[u/starknjarvis]

Hi Samantha! Did you get to do any fun/interesting research for this epic book?

[u/loccyh]

How laborious was the editing process for an 800 page book? Was it all done by yourself?

[u/gzuffel]

What's the book about and how many pages does it have?

[u/DS_H]

What kind of note taking system or organization do you use to keep ideas/continuity together, especially working on side novels away from the Bone Season series?

[u/purrlywites]

I just placed a hold for it at the library! Have you read Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke? It was my favorite book as a kid, I was obsessed with dragons and bought it at the Scolastic Book Fair.