A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth | Debut Friday
Hey everyone! Welcome to Debut Friday!
For today’s feature, I chatted with Ashley Shuttleworth, the author of "A Dark and Hollow Star", the first book in a new YA Urban Fantasy duology that will be released on February 23, 2021.
Read ahead to see what Ashley has to say about their publishing journey, their debut novel and their best advice for aspiring debut authors!
1. First off, congratulations on being published! How does it feel to be in the final steps of becoming a published author?
Ashley: Thank you! Honestly, it such a relief to have made it to the final stage of editing/prepping A Dark and Hollow Star for publication. I’ve been working on this story for about 4 years now, the finish line has always felt so far away, but it’s so close now and I’m so excited to get to share this story with people soon! I will say though that this also a little intimidating, in a good way. Since this is my debut, there’s a whole lot about this process I’m learning as I go, and I’m certainly not lacking for things to keep me busy!
2. From what I've heard, the publishing process was not an easy journey. What was the hardest part of the process for you and what did you learn from it?
Ashley: I think the hardest part of the publishing process for me has been the multiple revisions I’ve had to do to get this story in shape. I definitely don’t regret any of them, but a few have been quite intense, and it’s always seemed to go that these particularly in-depth revisions, where I’ve had to reconstruct characters and add in addition POVs and expand on worldbuilding, happen the same time my personal life hits the proverbial fan. But that’s just the way things go. Stuff happens. I’ve been really fortunate to have such an amazing agent and editor behind me who have been really understanding.
3. Did you have any finished manuscripts before you started on "A Dark and Hollow Star"?
Ashley: I did actually write a story to completion prior to A Dark and Hollow Star! I queried it and everything, but it didn’t go anywhere, which was sad at the time but it’s the story I gutted and extracted characters from (like Nausicaä) so I’m still glad I wrote it! Plus, writing it helped me learn so much about the craft, gave me the first bit of practice at revising that I’d really need for later. No words are wasted words, like farming EXP in a video game, it all counts towards levelling up.
4. What's the one thing you wished you knew about the publishing process?
Ashley: Again, because this is my debut book a lot about this process is a giant question mark to me, I sort of just learn as I go. I think, though, if I could give past me some advice it would be how to write a query letter because I was AWFUL at that back when I first started seeking agent representation, and I couldn’t seem to find anything to guide me through it. I had no idea what it was supposed to look like, the format, how personal you were supposed to be, what you were even supposed to put into the letter! It was a bit of a mess. I learned quickly but I remember that being a huge stress for me at the time.
5. Let’s talk about your debut novel! What was the main inspiration behind "A Dark and Hollow Star"?
Ashley: I don’t know if there’s any one main inspiration behind A Dark and Hollow Star. I know it was really heavily influenced by Fullmetal Alchemist, and City of Bones, and the Final Fantasy games I play. Not to mention all the Ancient History and Classics courses I took in university. A lot of Greek myth went into helping me shape this story, and there’s a lot of themes from Milton’s Paradise Lost that helped me formulate ADAHS’ world/laws of magic. If I had to pick one thing though I’d say the biggest inspiration behind this story is my flare for dramatics—hence why it got so big.
6. How did the title "A Dark and Hollow Star" came along?
Ashley: Well, you’ll find out when you read the book what this title means exactly, but destiny/fate is a key theme throughout the story and the Shakespeare quote, “It is not in the starts to hold our destiny but in ourselves” sort of nudged along the phrasing.
7. Describe "A Dark and Hollow Star" in 5 words in one sentence.
Ashley: It’s long because I’m dramatic.
8. Alongside your debut novel. what other 2021 YA debut novels you're most excited for?
Ashley: Oh gosh, there’s so many amazing books on the way in 2021! Adrienne Tooley’s Sweet & Bitter Magic and Liselle Sambury’s Blood Like Magic are both witchy books by authors under the same editor as I’m with, and I can’t wait to get my hands on their stories. I had the IMMENSE pleasure of reading an advance copy of Sweet & Bitter Magic and let me tell you, the sweetest sapphic couple ever, I ADORED that book. Louisa Onomé—a fellow Canadian author/Final Fantasy fan—also has a book coming out next year, Like Home, which is a YA fiction mix of On My Block and Angie Thomas and I’m so excited to read that too. Plus, the conclusion of the Crown of Feathers trilogy by Nicki Pau Preto. It’s not a debut but I devoured the first two and I’m DYING for the third.
9. As a debut author, what is your best advice to those who wants to become a published author someday?
Ashley: I think the best advice I can give someone looking to become a published author one day is to just keep writing. It doesn’t matter what you write! Journal entries, fanfiction, sweeping epics, quiet shorts, poems—anything, if you love writing, do it. Every bit of practice counts, every word hones your craft. There’s the saying “it takes ten thousand hours to become a master in something” and that’s honestly it. The people who get published off the first novel they ever write are very, very few. For the majority of us, it takes a while. You really just have to keep at it.
10. And my last question! For the readers who are still hesitating to pick up "A Dark and Hollow Star", why do you think they should give it a go?
Ashley: Nausicaä. I may be biased towards my sword lesbian Fury, but I really did my best to give the fictional world a girl who was just as sarcastically charming as Jace from City of Bones, just as flippantly badass as Deadpool, and with all the A+ character growth that went into Zuko from Avatar.
Thank you so much for reading for reading today's feature!
A huge shout-out to Ashley for being a part of Debut Friday!
You can follow them on their Instagram (@paper.ashley).
And don't forget to add "A Dark and Hollow Star" to your Goodreads!
You can click here to add it.