‘Daydreams’ Become Classic Stories for Young Adults

Author Megan Shepherd has created worlds filled with fantastical and otherworldly characters by seeking inspiration from horror tales of an earlier age.

Shepherd grew up in a bookstore—her parents owned Highland Books in Brevard, North Carolina, for 40 years—so the idea of actually creating stories for entertainment wasn’t that far of a stretch. However, “I didn’t think, growing up, that daydreaming could be a career,” she recently told SML.

Her first novel, The Madman’s Daughter, was inspired by the classic H.G. Wells’ tale The Island of Doctor Moreau. It received a starred review from School Library Journal, and ended up part one in a trilogy that tells the story of a young woman uncovering the truth about her diabolical mad-scientist father.

She followed it up with Her Dark Curiosity and A Cold Legacy, which drew comparisons to storylines by Robert Louis Stevenson and Mary Shelley.

Defined as works for young adults, Shepherd’s books are nonetheless popular with readers of all ages. Librarians say her modern tales have caused young readers to ask about how they can get copies of the classics to which Shepherd’s stories pay homage.

“I started out thinking I wanted to write for younger kids, but I just realized I needed a little bit more drama and romance” in the stories she envisioned, Shepherd said.

Her latest, Midnight Beauties, closes the tale on a world of witchcraft and one young woman’s place in it.

It is the bookend to Grim Lovelies, which introduced the young woman, Anouk, and a cast of others who had been wild animals until they were enchanted into being human to perform tasks for a Parisian witch.

Shepherd said she has always wondered about “the stories of all the forgotten characters in fairy tales; in this case it’s the idea of animals that have been turned into human servants. They’re always sort of in the background in Grimm’s fairy tales, like in Cinderella, so I got really interested in thinking about, really, what it was like for them,” she said. “It’s sort of the story of the forgotten kids, from the fairy tales.”

The Kirkus review for Grim Lovelies was glowing: “This story is about family, discovery, and redefining yourself: Through her trials, Anouk transforms from a helpless servant to an empowered leader who discovers the true origins of the existence of beasties,” which is the term for animals-become-human.

Publisher’s Weekly was equally infatuated, saying Grim Lovelies “overflows with intricately imagined characters in a contemporary world flavored with hints of Alice in Wonderland–style action.”

Shepherd said the story of Anouk concludes in the latest book, so there is no follow-up in the works. “I ended the story I intended,” she said.

“In the first book, it’s a race against the clock for their lives. In the second book. it’s a race against the clock for their world,” she said.

‘It Totally Clicked for me’

Shepherd, 37, says despite her childhood in a bookstore, her attitude initially was that literature was “not something a normal person could produce.”

After college she enrolled in the Peace Corps, and while in Senegal she worked on a literacy project in which the people shared traditionally-held stories and tales. “That is when I started to realize that normal people can tell stories,” she said.

Once that idea gelled, writing was fairly easy. “Once I took writing serious … it totally clicked for me,” she said.

Unlike some writers, she doesn’t set aside certain hours every day for her craft.

“I tend to write in big chunks, then I take a few weeks off,” she said.

Though she adores the rural farm she and her husband bought near Brevard, she said she is known to “go rent a cabin in the woods” when it is time to write. “It usually takes me about six months to do the rough draft of the book,” she said. Six more months are spent working with her editor and polishing the storyline, then the book is done, she said.

The Story belongs to the reader

Kirkus said Midnight Beauties offers “a satisfying conclusion” to Anouk’s story, while Publisher’s Weekly put the book on its list of Noteworthy Novel Sequels.

In an online review, reader Anna Beth Tyler wrote: “Megan’s writing style is absolutely beautiful … I don’t quite know how to describe it … it’s not elegant, but it’s majestic.”

Shepherd knows her main audience is the teen market, though “the beautiful thing about young adult literature is, it’s not solely for young adults. Probably over half my readers are in their 20s, 30s, 40s or 50s,” she said.

Like most writers, Shepherd knows the story belongs to the reader. In school appearances, she said students will want to know more about the characters, or will share their thoughts about the rest of the characters’ lives. “Kids will not just ask me what happens to the characters afterwards, but they’ll continue it,” writing and sharing offshoot tales that are based on her original work. “I don’t see them as being mine anymore,” she said. 

While much of the action in Grim Lovelies and Midnight Beauties occurs in or around Paris, Shepherd said she made no trips to Paris solely to research locations for the plot.

“It’s amazing what you can do with Google maps these days; you can see exactly, block-by-block, what Paris looks like. So much of my research can be done online.”

However, it does help having spent years traveling the world, she said. 

Asked if today’s teens are that much into reading, Shepherd was quick to say they love literature. “I go to several dozen schools per year. These kids are very excited by books, graphic novels, comics; to me it’s all literature. They’re interested in writing; they’re interested in writing poetry,” she said. 

Shepherd said her stories now have international appeal. “Most of my books have been translated into many languages, and I’ve been flown to other countries to speak to students,” she said. Using the internet she’s appeared before student groups in the Philippines, Brazil, and in Ukraine.

She said the best young adult books help the reader determine their personal beliefs and morality.

“They often say that sci-fi is not about the future, it’s actually about the present. Fantasy is the same. We’re speaking in metaphors. We’re speaking about injustice and abuse of power,” she said.

Regardless, she said she strives to not inject ‘lessons’ into her books. “I don’t want kids to think I’m preaching,” she said, so the stories are “open to interpretation.” She does try to present young readers with situations that can expand their personal understanding. She shines light on “the power of individuals, especially the power of women, and the responsibility of youth in shaping a better world,” she said.