Interview with Shannon Hale
   Austenland, Melted Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Highlights
   Shannon is the author of Austenland, a Bloomsbury USA book.









What are 3 words that sum up your book, Austenland?
Men in breeches.

When did you start writing Austenland and where were you in your writing career at that point?
I first had the idea 10 years ago as a lowly English major. I began to write it in 2000 between drafts of The Goose Girl, which eventually became my first published novel. I love working on two projects at once, very different projects. I think it keeps my writing fresh. So for Austenland I used a different narrator than Goose Girl, used a contemporary setting, and just had fun. I had no expectations that it would ever see print. I wrote it as a writing exercise, and I wrote it because the story just would not leave me alone.

A favorite question from our audience...if Austenland was made into a motion picture, who would you want to play the main characters and why?
Funny you should ask…this is the first book I’ve actually been able to cast in my mind (though not until after I was finished writing, of course, or the idea of the actors would interfere with the characters). Here’s a list I wrote up: