"The Kiss Test" Interview!
Something special on the blog today! I'm interviewing Shannon McKelden, author of The Kiss Test, a new, Chick Lit flavored romantic comedy from Carina Press. I'm thrilled to see contemporary romantic comedy coming back, and Shannon is one of my favorite people (after meeting her eight years ago at an Emerald City Writers Conference, she convinced me to move up to the Seattle area — yes, Shannon, I'm blaming you.)
So now the interview…
How did you start writing? How long have you been writing?
I'm not sure how I started writing really. My earliest memory of realizing I liked writing was in 6th grade, when my teacher provided writing prompts and we had to write short stories. I found that I loved it and my teacher gave a lot of praise, so I wanted to keep going. A cousin and I spent years around that time creating long elaborate sagas in which we were teenage girls who were the girlfriends of Shawn Cassidy and Parker Stevenson (aka., The Hardy Boys). I still have all of those stories in a file at home!
What inspired you to write THE KISS TEST?
The Kiss Test was borne from the song Miss Independent by Kelly Clarkson. It brought to mind a character who was so independent she couldn't conceive of giving up her independence to fall in love because she was terrified of losing herself. The idea took off from there, of course, morphing and changing as I wrote.
Elvis plays a big part in THE KISS TEST. Did you listen to a lot of him while writing it? Do you generally write with a play list?
The idea for making the main character an Elvis fan came from a funky plastic Elvis statue I found in NYC. I kept the statue on my desk for inspiration. The idea to incorporate Elvis song titles as chapter titles came along later, and then I did listen to a LOT of Elvis songs. I hadn't really realized how prolific he was, having recorded over 700 songs! I didn't so much listen to him while writing it, but in between writing sessions to get ideas for chapters or to find titles that fit the chapters I had already written.
As for writing to a playlist? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. If I run across just the right songs for the book I'm working on, I'll put them together in a playlist, but I don't often work too hard at creating a list of songs to write to…it would be too easy to procrastinate from the actual writing.
For The Kiss Test, though, I did listen to a playlist consistently. It included the Kelly Clarkson song, as well as some less well-known Celine Dion songs….no idea why these spoke to me for this book, but they did. I have since lost the playlist, which is disappointing, because I really would have liked to listen to it again to see if it evoked the same feelings it did when I was writing the book.
I love that it's a romantic comedy. What are some of your favorite rom com novels?
Hands down, Susan Elizabeth Phillips is my favorite romantic comedy writer! I adore everything she writes. She can take the most unlovable character and turn them into someone you root for with all your might! Ain't She Sweet is my favorite SEP novel, and I've read it over and over again. Other favorites include just about anything from Jennifer Crusie, Susan Andersen, and Rachel Gibson. Anyone who can make me smile and laugh and provide me with a happy ending, too, gets my vote!
Your first two novels, VENUS ENVY and VENUS GUY TRAP, were great, funny paranormal Chick Lit that you published through Tor Books. This is your first novel with Carina Press. What's your favorite part of going digital? Do you have an ereader of your own? What kind?
My very favorite part of going digital is how fast it is! My first two novels took nearly 2 years between sale and publication. That's a really long time to wait! However, the whole process for digital books goes much faster. The most time-consuming part of the process is the editing portion. But since there's no waiting for printing, etc., The Kiss Test took only 7 months from sale to publication. I loved that part!
I do have an e-reader of my own…now. I didn't have one until a few months after selling The Kiss Test, when I realized that if I was going to be an e-book author, I needed to be an e-book reader, too. Now I'm hooked! I have a Sony Touch and I'm completely in love with it. I'll never give up reading printed books entirely, but the convenience of an e-reader is just fantastic. Hundreds of books at the press of a button, plus the ability to download digital books from the library without the drive, is what makes the whole e-book thing the most fun for me.
If someone doesn't have an e-reader, how can they still get their hands on THE KISS TEST?
Absolutely! I think a lot of people don't realize that e-books usually also come in the PDF format, which is able to be read on any computer. PDF books are formatted just like real books and look great! They can also be read on many phones, which makes it convenient to pull out and read while standing in line at the grocery store or the DMV. J
What are you working on next?
Right now I'm working on a women's fiction novel…something a little more emotional than I've written before. I love the challenge of something new and different! I'm also working on a motivational project for writers that I hope to launch around the first of the year. There's so much exciting going on, I almost don't know what to do next!
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Can't wait to see Shannon's next projects. She's definitely an author to watch! 
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