By Christina Radish

Most authors know that they want to be write books from a very early age. That was not the case for Shannon K. Butcher. Going to college to pursue a career as an industrial engineer, Butcher never considered another path for herself. Watching her husband, fantasy and sci-fi author Jim Butcher, pursue his dream to become a published author, the Independence, Missouri resident learned to write in an effort to help him improve his work. She soon discovered that writing was more a learned skill than a natural talent, and knew that she had to give it a try. Having become hooked on romances from the moment she picked up her first one in 1998, Butcher decided to tell stories about how two people come to love each other.

Shannon K. Butcher (www.shannonkbutcher.com)  recently spoke with MediaBlvd Magazine about how much she enjoys writing romantic suspense, and how she will soon be branching out into paranormal for her next book series.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How did you get into writing?

Shannon K. Butcher> I was an engineer, for nearly a decade. Jim was working on his writing career, and I was doing the engineering thing. I wanted to be able to help him by reading his books when he was done, so I could help him make them better. Being an engineer, I needed a way to do that because it was all subjective. I was like, “I can’t really help you because I don’t know what I’m doing. And, he said, “Well, let me teach you what I’m doing.” He took classes at the University of Oklahoma, so he taught me some of the craft stuff that he learned, and I thought, “This is kinda cool. This is something that even an engineer can do.” And so, I thought about it for awhile, and then, when I quit doing engineering, I thought, “Man, I’m going to try this.” So, I tried it and it worked, and it was fun. That’s how I got started.

MediaBlvd> How long have you been writing now, and did you end up getting any formal training, once you decided on the change in career?

Shannon> I started writing in 2003. I didn’t get formal training, but Jim got formal training and taught me. So, it was second-hand formal training.

MediaBlvd> Do you feel that your writing has been influenced, in any way, by your background?

Shannon> Oh, absolutely. The heroine for the first book that I sold is this brainy chick who uses her brains to figure out where a bunch of stolen nuclear weapons have been put. She’s a linguist/cryptologist/mathematician, and I wouldn’t have been able to figure out the code-breaking stuff, if it hadn’t been for all those statistics classes and linear algebra, and all of that. That definitely helped.

MediaBlvd> When you started, were you serious enough about writing that you always had the goal of getting published, or did that develop later?

Shannon> For me, it was something that was just fun. Obviously, I knew that it was a possibility, but I also knew that it was a very slim possibility. I’d seen Jim struggle to break into the market, and it wasn’t something where, if I never got published, I was going to die. But, once I got to a point where I thought my writing was pretty good, I said, “I’m going to give this a shot and see what happens.” I had sent my stuff to Deidre Knight’s agency, the Knight Agency, and I worked back and forth with them. They said, “Why don’t you fix this, and we’ll look at it?” So, I fixed it. Then, I fixed it again. I did it a third time, and we were driving to a convention when I told Jim, “This whole back and forth thing is just not very much fun at all and, if this doesn’t work out, I’m just not going to worry about the whole publishing part.” And, that next week, they signed me on. Nephele Tempest is my agent and, once she sent my book out, it was sold within a matter of days, so it worked out really well. But, it wasn’t something I had some childhood dream of, or anything.

MediaBlvd> How did you end up writing romantic suspense? Had you been a fan of romance, or were you purposely trying to make sure that your work was very different from your husband’s?

Shannon> I’m a romance fan. I used to read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, and I always scoffed at romance. I was one of those people who thought it was smut and chick porn. My mom read them, my sister read them and everyone around me read them, but I just never read them. In 1998, my sister-in-law said, “Okay, just read this one book and, if you don’t like it, I swear I’ll never ask you to read another thing again.” I read it and it was awesome, and I thought, “This is the coolest thing ever!” So, I started reading them and, by the time I thought about writing, I was a big romance fan, so naturally that was what I wanted to write. I still enjoy reading some science fiction and fantasy, but not nearly as much as the romance.

MediaBlvd> Were there any specific romance writers or books that were an influence on you?

Shannon> There are certain authors that I love, like Linda Howard and Elizabeth Lowell. I love Lori Foster. I don’t write anything like her, but her stuff always makes me smile. Those are the kinds of books I want to read, when it’s time for me to write. If I’m not reading something that’s exciting and good, then I just don’t seem to have the motivation to sit down at the keyboard.

MediaBlvd> What was your initial inspiration for your first book, No Regrets? Did you draw on any personal aspects of yourself, or anyone you knew, for any of the characters?

Shannon> The actual code itself came to my head first. I’d seen a show on the History Channel about code breaking, and I was just thinking about it. It was one of those times when you’re not quite asleep, but not quite aware. I was just getting to sleep, and I had this idea for this neat code that I thought hadn’t been used before. It probably has been used, but I thought, “This is kind of cool.” That’s where that story started, and it expanded from there. I wanted to explore forgiveness, but not in the normal sense, where someone forgives someone else. I wanted it to be someone forgiving themself. So, thematically, that was also important to the story. It didn’t start out as a romantic suspense. It just started out as a contemporary romance and, by the time I got through all of the revisions with Deidre Knight and Nephele, it ended up being a romantic suspense because that’s a lot more marketable than a straight contemporary. Since the goal was to sell this book, we added in some more action and some more suspense, and I really think it made it a stronger story that was certainly more exciting. As far as inspiration for the characters, there was certainly none of myself. I took some of the things that I learned in college and put them in my character’s head, but those were things that anyone with a Bachelor or Master of Science degree would know. It’s a story that I think is emotionally captivating, on top of just being a romantic suspense. It deals with some real human issues. It’s certainly non light-hearted.

MediaBlvd> What is No Control about, and how does it continue the story from the first book?

Shannon> No Control is Caleb’s story. He was one of the sidekicks from the first book. He makes what he sees as a mistake and it comes back to haunt him, in the form of another job that he’s got to take care of. He’s sent to try to figure out why these guys are after this woman, who apparently knows something that she’s not telling. He gets there, to find out there’s a lot more involved than any of them thought. The heroine of the book, Lana, is just barely hanging on. She’s been through some really rough stuff and she’s got a fingernail hold on her life. When Caleb shows up, she feels like she’s going to shatter into a million pieces because she just can’t handle one more thing, and he’s one more thing. They build a very interesting relationship. 

MediaBlvd> Without giving anything away, what can you say about No Escape?

Shannon> No Escape is Grant’s book, which I’ve been looking forward to writing for a while now. He goes back to his old stomping grounds only to find out that all is not well. People are dying, and the one thing that connects them all is a part of his past he’d rather not revisit.

Shannon K. Butcher with husband Jim Butcher at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention Book Fair held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston, Texas on April 28, 2007.

Shannon> I have different gears in my head, when I’m writing a female character versus when I’m writing a male character. With the women, there’s a lot more emotional stuff spoken. With the guys, there’s a lot more understatement and things that are left unsaid. I don’t know that one is easier than the other, but they’re certainly different. I have two guys -- my husband and son -- in the house, so I’m privy to the whole guyspeak thing. I get a little bit of that to help out.

MediaBlvd> When it came to writing sex scenes, was it easier or harder than you expected it to be?

Shannon> It was easy to write them until I decided that someone else was going to see them. I wrote that first book for myself, so when it came time to review it with an eye toward sharing it with an agent, then I felt a little squicked out. But, I’ve written so many of those scenes now. I have to do it by myself. I don’t like to have the kid running around or anything, while I’m writing them. It’s not as difficult as it was, when I first started doing it. Because Jim is also a public figure, I always feel like I have to be careful what I say because it doesn’t just portray me and what people think I might do. It also portrays him and what people think he might do.

MediaBlvd> Once you started writing with an eye toward getting published, how long did it take for you to actually achieve that goal?

Shannon> I wrote that first book in 2003. I played with it for awhile, and then Jim looked at it, and I revised it and sent it out. And then, it went through several more revisions. It was right around Thanksgiving of 2005 that Nephele agreed to represent me. After I did her revisions, she sent it out to a handful of editors, and got offers back from two of them. It didn’t take very long. Once the book was revised to what she thought was a good level, it didn’t take very long, at all, for her to sell it. She was very swift. Her input and advice on revisions was worth a million bucks. To have that professional input from the outside, that you can’t get from family or friends, was worth a lot.

MediaBlvd> What do you hope readers will get out of your books?

Shannon> I hope they have a good time. I just want people to enjoy them. I want readers to put the book down and say that they’d like to read another one, just like it.

MediaBlvd> Were you nervous about letting your husband read your first book, once you’d finished it? Had you let him look at any of it while you were writing it, or did you want to wait until you were done to show it to him?

Shannon> When I first started learning to write, I would write the first two or three chapters of a book and show it to him, and he would say, “Okay, you did good on this and this, but you need to do better on this. Here’s a new lesson that you obviously need to know because you crapped this up.” So, he’d give me advice, and then I’d write. I’d get frustrated with that story and think, “Well, I’ve got another one, anyway,” and I’d start a new one. No Regrets was the 36^th book I’d started, but they weren’t all finished. He didn’t read that one until it was completely finished. He gave me a little bit of input. I can’t remember what it was, but he gave me some advice. At that point, I didn’t feel hopefully when he would say, “Oh, you need to do this.” I said, “I know how to fix that. I can do that.” I wasn’t very nervous showing him my stuff because he’d been so gentle. I look back at some of that stuff and think, “Wow, he so did not tell me everything that was wrong with it because, if he had, I would have quit.” We’ve been together since we were kids, so I wasn’t too nervous.

MediaBlvd> Do you have any desire to go back and finish any of those other 35 novels that you started?

Shannon> No, I don’t think I do. I finished some of them. There are a couple that might be salvageable. But, I really hate doing revisions. I would much rather start from scratch and write a new book, then go back and do major surgery on an old one.

MediaBlvd> Do you think that your husband’s success as a writer helped because people were more willing to pay attention to your work, or do you think that it was a hindrance because there was a certain expectation?

Shannon> I absolutely think it helped me get in the door. I think it helped me get an agent. I think it helped me sell a book. I think that the publishers were happy that the name Butcher is on the cover because Jim is a New York Times bestseller, which doesn’t hurt. Personally, those are some big shoes to fill. I’m constantly getting emails from people saying, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re writing because the Harry Dresden books are so great, and the Furies books are so great, and Jim just doesn’t write them fast enough, so we need more.” And, I’m like, “But, I don’t write like Jim. I write romance books, and I’m not as good as he is.” There’s a lot of really high expectations, and there’s going to be a lot of people who are disappointed that I’m not Jim and I don’t write like him. But, I definitely think that he helped me get in the door and get the first book sold.

MediaBlvd> Is there any competition between you both, now that you are both publishing novels, or are you able to be supportive of each other?

Shannon> No, we’re not very competitive at all. It would be like trying to compete with your parent, in that sense, because he’s taught me all this stuff. So, that’s not really an issue. Besides that, I’m not a very competitive person, anyway, so even if he was competing, I probably wouldn’t notice.

MediaBlvd> Was the fact that you got such a positive response to your first published novel surprising to you? Did it make you nervous about being able to do it again with the next book?

Shannon> I got a lot of positive feedback, but I also got a lot of suggestions on how to make it better. Although this book came out in a fairly polished form, the first version of it was vastly different. That process was shorter the second time around, and I needed a lot less input. I’m learning stuff all the time, and am trying to make the books better, from the get go. I don’t like to revise, so I’d rather have a perfect book with draft one, which is impossible. As a first book out on the market, I thought it was a great book, but I think I can do a lot better now. Someone who picks up the first book, and then picks up the second book, will say, “Wow, she’s gotten better,” which is always a good thing.

MediaBlvd> What is your writing process like? Do you like to plot everything out, or do you prefer to see where the story and the characters take you?

Shannon> I’m definitely a plotter. It’s that whole left-brain, logical side thing. I go through several phases of outlining that I use in character development. And, for the paranormal stuff, world-building falls in there, too. It usually takes me two or three weeks to get through that process, and then I sit down and write. I write the first draft of a book pretty quick, and then the revision process takes awhile.

MediaBlvd> Do you have any specific writing habits, like a particular location or time of day that you prefer to write in?

Shannon> I have a certain spot in my living room that I like to sit in with my laptop. I bought a new recliner and rearranged the furniture, so that the recliner could sit in that spot. That way, I’m looking at the same wall, and I’m not distracted by all the things around me. As far as times of day, I’m an obsessive writer. In the past, what I’ve done is work long, 16-hour days, for 10, 15, 20, 30 days, and then I’m done with the book. I’m trying not to do that now because I burn out so bad, and then I don’t want to write for a couple of months. Now, I’m trying to limit myself to only about four hours of writing a day. That way, I get a book done every couple of months. After I do about four hours of writing, there is a ton of stuff that I have to do, on the business end of things, for both me and Jim, because I deal with the booking, when he’s doing speaking engagements, or whatever. I try to write 2,000 to 3,000 words a day, on any given story, if I’m in the first draft phase. I’m in in the outlining phase, then I sit down for three or four hours a day to work on the outline, or character development, or whatever.

MediaBlvd> What inspires you, creatively?

Shannon> Other good books. Not necessarily what’s in them, but just the way they make me feel. When I’m reading a good book, I look at the world differently. When I’m in that creative zone, I look at the world differently than I do when I’m not in that creative process of writing another book. When I’m in that creative zone, anything can spark an idea, like a song or a TV commercial or something I see the kids doing in the yard. There’s so much that inspires you, when your brain is set up that way.

MediaBlvd> Where is the strangest place you were ever struck with an idea for a book or character?

Shannon> It would have to be either in the shower, or falling asleep. That’s usually where my best ideas come from. It’s so relaxing. Things loosen up and the ideas can flow.

Shannon K. Butcher at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention Book Fair held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston, Texas on April 28, 2007.

Shannon> I did a little bit of research on cryptology and the history code breaking. But, the actual science and math part of it, I just pulled from the way too many hours of classes that I had in college.

MediaBlvd> Have you ever had an editor want you to make changes that you didn’t agree with?

Shannon> I look at writing as a job, and my editor is my boss. As long as it’s not something I find morally objectionable, then I go ahead and make the changes because they know the market and they’re paying me to do this. That’s the way I view it. But, I also come from the corporate world where I often practice malicious obedience because, when your boss tells you to do something, even though you know it’s the wrong thing to do, and you tell him it’s the wrong thing to do, they don’t want to listen. So, you’re like, “Okay, I’ll do it, but this is maliciously obedient because I know this is wrong.” It’s one of those things where I just suck it up and do it because it’s probably the right thing to do, in the end.

MediaBlvd> How do you balance being a full-time writer with being a full-time parent?

Shannon> It’s not hard because our kid is very independent. And, he’s a teenager, so as long as there’s food in the fridge and there’s a microwave, he’s good.

MediaBlvd> Do you have any idea what you’ll be doing next, as far as your writing goes? Are you currently working on anything now?

Shannon> I’m working on my next romantic suspense for Grand Central Publishing, which is something entirely new, as well as a new paranormal romance series I recently sold to NAL. The paranormals are a new twist on some old ideas, like vampires and werewolves. The first three books revolve around a race called the Theronai, who were created to stand guard against the snarling beasties, trying to fight their way onto another world. Earth is the only way to get there and it has become a battleground, causing countless human casualties. Unfortunately, after centuries of fighting, the Theronai are dying off, being slowly killed by the magical powers they possess, but cannot access. If they fail, Earth will be overrun by these Synestryn demons and the human race will become nothing more than a source of food. Everything changes, one summer night, when a group of Theronai warriors come across a woman who might be able to save them. She’s tossed into a world where magic is real, and sexy, and sword-wielding men battle monsters most people don’t even know exist. The first book is tentatively scheduled to come out in May 2009.

MediaBlvd> What accomplishment, either personal or professional, are you most proud of, thus far?

Shannon> Publishing a book is very neat and exciting. I was very proud of myself for graduating from college with honors, with an engineering degree, because we had a kid and no one thought we’d make it. We put ourselves through college, so that was a big accomplishment.

MediaBlvd> What kind of advice can you give to aspiring writers who are not only looking to get published, but who also want to have a long-term career?

Shannon> As far as writing a book goes, it’s important to try to learn some craft. I couldn’t have done it without those rules and guidelines. It’s hard work. You’ve got to spend hundreds of hours, sitting your butt in a chair, in front of a keyboard, writing. For someone who’s already done that put, and they’ve put in their research, I am a really big fan of agents. I cannot stress enough how much it’s important to have a good agent these days.