How it Began
Once upon a time I, Shannon Hale, your faithful narrator, was free. I'd just turned in the final draft of Dangerous, and for the first time in ten years I didn't have a book under contract. With four small children at home, I'd decided not to go under contract for any new books for the time being. "Maybe I'll take a break for a bit," I told my husband.
Famous last words.
Then I got a call. Little, Brown (fabulous book publisher) had an offer for me. Hm, I really didn't think I'd be interested in writing a story someone else told me to write. I was used to chasing my own stories. But I was curious, especially when my agent told me, "They won't tell me what it is. First we have to sign a non-disclosure agreement." I signed the document and got on a call with Andrew, Connie, and Erin at Little, Brown.
They told me about a project codename "Lightning." Yes, it was so super secret it even had a code name! And so I first heard about Ever After High, a boarding school for the children of famous fairy tales. I decided I probably wasn't interested. I'm known for retelling fairy tales, and I love fairy tales, but I didn't think I'd want to write in someone else's fairy tale land. I'd rather do my own stories.
But this was more than just retold fairy tales. The idea is that children of fairy tale characters grow up to relive the stories their parents made famous. Our main characters are Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen, and Apple White, daughter of Snow White. And they're roommates. That struck me as so delightfully awkward. We talked more. They sent me a 200 page story bible detailing a couple dozen characters and world details. It was all so fun. But I couldn't make myself commit. I was free! I was going to take a break!
Mattel flew me out to their headquarters in California. I got to see the workshops where designers created new Barbie dolls and action figures and Matchbox cars. I got a sneak peak of the first eight Ever After High dolls. I saw the first animated short and heard more good stuff about the world. I saw their absolute commitment to story and how excited they were to have a novel to kick off the storytelling of this huge new property. And I couldn't resist. In fact, even though I hadn't officially come on board, I'd already written 15 pages of the novel because scenes between these characters just flew into my brain.
So I slapped the conference table and said, "That's it. I'm in."
Then the whirlwind began. I read everything Mattel had already written in this world--scripts for upcoming animated shorts and stories that would come included with each doll--and educated myself on the world and characters. I couldn't contradict anything already established, but besides that, they gave me free reign to make up my own story. And since I was coming in at the beginning, I helped create some parts of this world and form the characters. The Mattel creative team was wonderful and totally open to my input. The few times I found certain elements I thought world work better a different way, they changed them. It was collaborative, supportive, and a lot of fun.
I wrote a mini-outline. I got notes from my editors and wrote a robust outline. I got notes from my editors and the Mattel team. I wrote a first draft. I got more notes and revised several times. And then we had a book. A book I'm really proud of.
It was so fun, we decided to do it again. And again. My husband Dean Hale jumped in to co-write the next four books with me, even more collaboration and support and fun. These stories are fun and playful, and we had an absolute blast creating them.
I'm not sure when I'm going to take that theoretical break. But I'm glad I didn't.