Dreams Come True: A Guest Post by Shannon J. Spann

In a world where the coveted Players are granted immortality and worshipped by others, one girl strikes a deal to save herself from succumbing to a curse in this dark fantasy. Read on for an exclusive essay from Shannon J. Spann on writing A Stage Set for Villains.

“Where on earth did you come up with this?”

That’s the question my publisher asked me at acquisition for A STAGE SET FOR VILLAINS, one that has since been echoed often by readers in my inbox. The truth is, everything I’m about to say is going to sound ridiculous.

The first “book spark” I recall came in the form of a whisper. “The theatre is not a place one merely visits,” it said—a woman’s voice, rich and dark in tone. “In fact, some of us never left.” Still wandering that bizarre bridge between sleep and consciousness, I startled awake and looked around, finding myself alone. Obviously, I’d dreamed the voice, though the warm breath I swore lingered in my ear left me with an eerie sense of confusion. I wrote the words down in my Notes app and forgot about them.

The second inkling followed soon after—one that inspired an entirely different section of the book. The words “And so are you” floated across my mind and curled around my spine. In my head, an idea took shape. That idea has since been referred to as “the twist” of A STAGE SET FOR VILLAINS, but to me, it’s still endearingly “the bane of my existence.” I made a few pathetic attempts at drafting before throwing my hands up and deciding the idea had found the wrong author.

The third nudge didn’t occur until years later. I’d long since given up on the idea in favor of other projects—until I stumbled across a piece of music. While listening, a dam broke in my head, and strange images flashed across it like a movie: shattered stained glass, blood smeared on a white marble stage, golden fire, two people walking into an arena, and a coin tossed on their fate.

While earlier iterations were written with boards full of sticky notes connected by red string, ninety pages of ideas, and a headache, this final attempt was not. Instead, I found myself excitedly sitting at my laptop every morning at 6 a.m. like I was about to watch an episode of my favorite TV show, and I wrote. That final attempt was written with no outline, in a document called “one last try.” Each day, Riven and Jude strode onto the page like it was their own personal stage (and it was) and told me something new. Sometimes, I like to joke with myself that the Playhouse had closed its golden gates behind me and intended to keep me in that gilded labyrinth until its story was told.

I’m not saying real magic exists, but if it does, I think stories are the closest I’ve experienced to it. While drafting A STAGE SET FOR VILLAINS was comically whimsical, in the end, it taught me a lesson I hope can encourage someone else: if an idea won’t leave you alone, you should probably write it down. It might make your wildest dreams come true.