SHATTERED SOULS: Interview with Mary Lindsey

Today’s author interview post is part of the Teen Book Scene Tour. Don’t forget to come back and check out my review of SHATTERED SOULS at the end of October! A complete schedule of the tour can be found here. Today, Christie from The Fiction Enthusiast also had a stop. She reviewed SHATTERED SOULS, so check it out! The next stop will be on Monday with Damaris from Good Choice Reading. Alden will be stopping by GCR for a character interview!




To find out more about Mary Lindsey, please visit her website and blog. You can also follow her on Twitter.


SHATTERED SOULS has one of the most gorgeous covers of 2011. How did you feel when you first saw it? Does it tie into the novel?

Thank you! I love it too.

Originally, I was told the cover would probably be an origami rose on a shattered mirror. I was concerned because, although it could have turned out gorgeous, it also had the potential to be ten shades of lame. When my editor emailed me to confirm the length of hair for my main character, I figured they were tinkering with something else.

How did I feel when I first saw it? Like I’d won the lotto! I had no idea the cover would turn out like it did. When my editor emailed me the original mock up of the front of the jacket, I freaked completely out. I probably screamed for ten minutes—long enough for me to lose my voice for a couple of days. After I calmed down, I forwarded it to my agent, who probably screamed for a while too.

The cover is perfect. There is nothing I would change about it. The model looks exactly like I envisioned Lenzi. Not only does the art fit the mood of the book, it fits the story as well. Lenzi’s name in her past lives was Rose. The fact she’s shattering into rose petals is brilliant.
Just thinking about it makes me want to scream and dance all over again!

How did you weave together your own mythology for SHATTERED SOULS, such as coming up with a Speaker and a Protector?

I have often wished I could feel what someone else was feeling, or show them my memories. The Speaker/Protector gig is simply an extension of that.

How cool would it be to live out the old idiom “You don’t know a man until you walk a mile in his shoes”? I mean literally walk in his shoes! Alden can do that. At first, I didn’t use the term Speaker. I called them Intercessors. Speaker fit better with Protector, so there you have it.
The entire mythology spun out of my musings over what it would be like to have someone else’s soul in your body alongside your own. The first scene I wrote was the one in which Alden soul-shares with Lenzi for the first time. It was very different than the scene as it stands now—it was much more violent and frightening.

What did you like most when writing SHATTERED SOULS?

Creating the rules for how the magic worked in the Intercessor world.

What are you working on now?

I am working on a dark gothic YA for Penguin. It is based on Edgar Allan Poe’s last poem, “Annabel Lee,” and is scheduled for release Summer, 2013.

Describe your ideal writing environment.
Quiet (nobody around) with a pot of coffee, a bowl of dark chocolate, and lots of light!


Thank you so much, Bonnie, for having me on your blog today.

Mary, thank you so much for stopping by A Backwards Story. I loved reading your responses and am looking forward to your stunning debut! :)