Owl's Eye View #5 - Meet Sharon Cameron!

Welcome to the September edition of Owl's Eye View.  We have come to the 5th month of the feature and I am happy to say that it is going well.  Today I am proud to feature another YA author who hails from my home state of Tennessee.  You'll have seen her on Starting the Next Chapter often as of late, and with good reason.  Her debut book, The Dark Unwinding (released September 1), made me very happy during an epic blogging and reading slump, thus succeeding where so many other books haven't lately.  I am, of course, talking about Sharon Cameron.  I hope you all will enjoy this interview as much as I did administering it.  Without further ado, please welcome...

Sharon Cameron

Photo by Rusty Russell

Marla: Good day, Sharon! Welcome to Starting the Next Chapter! It's always wonderful to meet a writer from my own state.  My first question is: What is a fun fact about yourself that you would like people to know?

Sharon: The desk in my office has an action figure of Jane Austen (to watch over me), a magnifying glass (for sleuthing needs), and a little book called Nancy Drew’s Guide to Life, a compilation of the most useful advice from Nancy, which pretty much tells me everything I need to know.

Marla:  You're speaking my language here!  Anyone who loves Jane Austen is pretty darn cool in my book.  

I'm discovering a lot about myself when it comes to developing story ideas. I'm always interested in how authors go through the process, as well. Where did you find the inspiration for The Dark Unwinding?

Sharon: The house that became Stranwyne Keep in The Dark Unwinding is a real place in Nottinghamshire, England called Welbeck Abbey. I came across Welbeck by accident, and couldn’t stop reading about its reclusive owner in the Victorian area. The sheer excessiveness of iron and glass horse stables, marble-floored cowsheds, a private gasworks, the underground ballroom where the family roller skated, and a village of 1500 men to support the extravagant building projects, all tickled my imagination. Was the Duke insane, or was his support of all these families –families who would have otherwise lived and died in abject poverty– just incredibly benevolent? Or was it maybe a little bit of both? The question was a fascinating one, and begged to be the setting of a novel.

Marla: And here I thought tales of the infamous 2nd Earl of Rochester were the strangest tales of the English nobility I had ever heard!  I must read more about Welbeck Abbey.

There's a certain magic in an author who can enchant you with their words and inspire you to write in turn. Who are your biggest literary influences?

Sharon: It’s too hard to choose! But if you’re forcing me, Marla, then I’d have to say Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier was maybe the biggest influence on my writing for The Dark Unwinding. The language in the book is beautiful, the tone gloomy and melancholic, steeped in atmosphere, and it has an amazing, twisty plot that is psychological and action thriller all at once. And of course there’s Bronte (I’m team Charlotte) and Austen. Where would I be without them?

Marla: Okay, you just mentioned the second member of my personal authorial holy trinity (Charlotte Bronte).  You're making my day, Sharon!

Sometimes, atmosphere is everything. Do you have a favorite place to settle in to write?

Sharon: Atmosphere is always everything! But my favorite place to write is anywhere that I can be left alone and completely to my imagination. No responsibilities, no distractions. I go to a fellow writing friend’s cabin a lot, where I can be by myself, or to a Panera Bread nowhere near my house (so I won’t run in to anyone I know), or sometimes I literally hide out in the front seat of my car.

Marla: At this point, even writing in the car sounds heavenly, as I rarely if ever get the chance to write uninterrupted.

I've recently fallen in love with the new bookstore in my town. Where is your favorite bookish place to visit?

Sharon: Oh, the library, hands down. Smorgasbord! My favorite is the one I used to visit as a kid. It has a wood burning fireplace that they still crank up on cold days in the winter. Loved that.

Marla: That sounds a lot like the library my husband frequented as a child.  It's a beautiful library!

It's always fun to hear what authors have to say about their own characters. What is your favorite thing about your protagonist, Katherine?

Sharon: I think my favorite thing about Katharine is that she has an inner life that is completely different from her outward persona. What Katharine shows to the world is a person that is intensely practical, logical, and with a certain amount of bravado. Inwardly she is passionate, unsure, and very imaginative. Like most of us Katharine has hidden depths. As a writer it was super fun to help her keep her real self well and truly buried until it was time for that outer shell to crack.

Marla: I loved all of the little ways in which Katherine is like her uncle, who is such a sweet man and a great character.  That was such a great facet to discover.

We've come to the last question, which I always try to make a little fun. What would you do if you were to inherit a huge estate and discover that there are unusual things happening?

Sharon: What? You mean other than assuming I’d died and gone to heaven? Well, let’s see, first there would have to be major a exploration, including the tapping of walls, investigation of bookshelves (you know one of them opens!), and close scrutiny of all decorative woodwork. Then, when all the hidden spaces, passages, doorways, and tunnels had been discovered, I would shut them all up again, NEVER TELL A SOUL, and go about my days writing letters in the morning room, arranging flowers, riding my horse across the moor, and researching the history of my ancient and interesting house. Oh, and did you say unusual happenings? Well, in that case, I’m sure my Nancy Drew guide would tell me exactly what to do.

Thanks so much, Sharon! It's great to have you on StNC today. Congratulations on The Dark Unwinding's release!

About Sharon

Photo by Rusty Russell (2011)

Sharon Cameron was awarded the 2009 Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for her debut novel, The Dark Unwinding. When not writing Sharon can be found thumbing dusty tomes, shooting her longbow, or indulging in her lifelong search for secret passages.

Find Sharon on:

Her website / Facebook /Twitter / Goodreads

About The Dark Unwinding

The Dark Unwinding begins when seventeen year old Katharine Tulman is sent to her uncle’s remote and bizarre estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, she finds a child-like, genius inventor with his own set of rules, employing a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London. Katharine is torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving her uncle’s peculiar world that she has come to care for deeply, a choice made even more complicated by a gray-eyed apprentice, and the strange visions and nightmares that have her secretly fearing for her own sanity.