Author

I was not really aware of the dystopian genre before I read 'The Handmaid's Tale.' Many poets as well, like John Donne and Emily Dickinson, would be the influences; I specialized in Emily Dickinson at university. Both of those poets have really interesting ways of looking at life and death.

From Samantha Shannon

I worry that people think you have to go to a university to be a good writer, which is categorically untrue. I don't think I learned how to write at Oxford. I did not go to any creative writing classes or anything.

From Samantha Shannon

I know what I want to achieve in each book and the major points, but I don't plan right down to the chapters. I think that the characters write themselves in some degree.

From Samantha Shannon

I am the first one to go to university in my family. I am the first writer as well. My dad is a retired policeman, and my mom works for a glass-processing company. She is health-and-safety manager, and my stepfather is a plumber. I have four half siblings, one from my mom's marriage and three from my dad's marriage, so we are kind of scattered.

From Samantha Shannon

Writing a novel is like knocking on a door that will never open. You are so desperate to get in, you will say or do anything. You feel: please take my novel.

From Samantha Shannon

People question what I thought of Oxford. Students used to talk about the 'Oxford bubble' because the place can make you feel cut off from the rest of the world. I would forget there were places like London that were not centred round libraries and essays.

From Samantha Shannon

It is a strange world, Oxford - quite claustrophobic. I was often glad I was only there for eight weeks at a time.

From Samantha Shannon

I am never not thinking about stories. 'The Bone Season' is 90% of my brain - 10% is interacting with the rest of the world.

From Samantha Shannon

I'm often daydreaming, and it's because I've always liked the idea of there being something more than the normal world.

From Samantha Shannon

I do take this insane pleasure in world-building. I get the world in my head, but I have to make sure everyone else gets it.

From Samantha Shannon

Samantha Shannon

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