1. When did you start writing?

My dad’s battle with Parkinson’s disease inspired my first unpublished novel, Chorus of Crows. I started writing when the emotions became overwhelming. The genuinely bizarre occurrences he experienced needed an outlet, and the story spewed out. A brain with Parkinson’s can inhabit a world of hallucinations worse than a horror movie. Real life really is stranger than fiction, and I lived it alongside my dad. Eventually, I purged everything, even my mom’s death, and wrote my first novel. In Chorus of Crows, a retired farmer and his difficult daughter confront mysterious and malevolent visitors that may or may not be real.

2. What was your journey toward becoming an author like?

I was an artist, not a writer. But the intuition that I could write lived somewhere inside me. I think it always had. One day, I opened my laptop and began. Many writers will say the same thing: somebody or something whispered every word into my ear, and I wrote it down. I’ve never taken a writing class, but I approached the empty pages like a canvas. I tried to make the pages beautiful. Learning how to arrange the words was hard and took years to master, but my best teachers made it more accessible. Thank you, Isabel Allende, Silvia Moreno Garcia, Stephen King, Benjamin Percy, and on and on. I still read and learn every day.

3. What can you tell me about your latest book? (Feel free to include an excerpt.)

Back Jacket Copy for The Levitation Game: Aspiring magician Esme Wright has a secret: She can levitate objects as effortlessly as humming a tune—no tricks required. But when she lands her first big break on The Morning Show: Live!, defying gravity goes horribly and embarrassingly awry.

After the show, she returns to her New York hotel room a sniveling mess until a mysterious reunion with her childhood friend, Joseph Estrada, instigates a vortex of levitation, both frightening and bizarre. It turns out Joseph has powerful secrets, too. He’s terrified that Diablo possesses him, and after the tornado of toiletries in Esme’s hotel room, he can almost feel the fire consuming his toes.

Esme and Joseph disperse to their old lives, but strange and erratic signs soon draw them deeper into a sinister and supernatural puzzle.

The duo must uncover the truth before a catastrophic levitation mishap leaves them injured or, worse, dead. Esme and Joseph embark on a jungle odyssey to unearth the secrets of their past, reuniting with their archaeologist fathers and following the path of jaguars. They discover that the levitation game might be impossible to win—or survive—without answers from the stars.

Here are two short excerpts ripped from the pages:

Esme felt like a house cat locked out in the rain. Her clothes stuck to her body like a soggy tortilla, and her tennis shoes vomited mud with each step. They were approximately fifteen minutes down the trail from where they had left Roberto, most of the supplies, and Jefe, the dead mule. Now, Esme followed Alex and Michael on foot, and Joseph rode Jaco. Somewhere along the line, Alex had given her his headlamp and walking stick; the latter she squeezed between pruned fingers like an exoskeleton.

       …“Hello, Esme. Yes, it’s really me! I saw you on television,” said Joseph, splaying his arms while his eyes followed something behind Esme’s back. She turned. Joseph watched; his breath caught in his throat.

Beyond Esme, an empty plastic water bottle lifted and circled the room. The television remote, the restaurant menu, loose clothes, underwear, and flip-flops followed. After a few frantic seconds, Esme’s purse heaved up, entering a growing whirlpool over the bed. Joseph’s eyes wandered to the left, watching a hairbrush, a toothbrush, and toothpaste fly into the stream. Soon, jars of face cream, plastic eye makeup discs, and Q-tips flew from the bathroom. The ice bucket entered next. A breaking tug followed, and the alarm clock entered the fray with its cord flailing wildly. Esme’s dinner plates with leftover French fries soon flew around the room like little twigs caught in a tornado. Toilet paper unraveled, circling in the stream like a long-tailed bird. The duo watched, feet planted wide, hips swiveling, eyes wide and glassy.

Suddenly, the television shuddered in its stand, causing a mutual gasp.

Joseph grabbed Esme’s arm, then her hand. There was a humming vibration inside his ears as more items flew from the bathroom: towels, soap, shampoos, and cotton balls floating like little clouds.

He stood rooted to the doorway, not knowing if he should step deeper into the room or step out and run. Esme pulled him inside. The door shut behind them with a loud slam. They stood side by side, watching, breathing audibly in unison, mouths open.

4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?

I plan a behind-the-scenes writing career without many book signings, podcasts, speaking engagements, or anything that would strain my sensitive nerves. Instead, as soon as my publisher created a digital ARC or Advanced Reader Copy, I sent it to early readers like Dawn Colclasure! Then, I listed it with Netgalley, BookSirens, and Goodreads, where I launched a giveaway of 100 books. During the Goodreads giveaway, over 1,000 readers marked my book as want to read, so I was thrilled.

I reached out to book bloggers and snagged a few. Afterward, I secured book reviews from various outlets and kindly asked authors for book blurbs. My endgame is to find contests, bookstores, and newspaper coverage. I created my first YouTube video and posted it just for fun.

Marketing is ongoing. It always will be.

5. Where do you get your ideas for stories?

You already know what inspired my unpublished novel. Unlike my first novel, I love the origin story of The Levitation Game. I was touring Sedona, Arizona, researching Chorus of Crows. One night, I dreamt of levitating over my bed with increasing fear and dread. As my fear intensified, I levitated higher until an enormous pop erupted around me. Sedona’s power grid failed in my dream, sending the town into near blackness. At the same time, I fell into my sheets. Bad dream, right?

I traveled home. But I kept dreaming about levitation until I listened to the universe and started writing The Levitation Game. I never dreamt of levitation again.

6. What are you working on right now?

While researching modern-day witchcraft for my upcoming supernatural novel, I found a Wiccan rede (a moral code) that stuck with me, “Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: An ye harm none, do what you will.”

I wish the world could coexist like this.

My novel follows a coven of earth-focused green witches. Green

witches are nature lovers who are in tune with the universe. They heal with herbs and embrace the energy of nature and animals. I tried to create real-life witches, not movie cliches. Even so, I swept up plenty of magic!

Readers meet Owletta, the coven’s serious-minded supreme in The Savannah Book of Spells. She has large owl-like eyes that see paranormal visions. Her power of clairvoyance influences the coven in peculiar and impractical ways.

Nettle, the coven’s dark and prickly member, has the power of clairgustance. The ability of supernatural taste ensures that Nettle is a talented herbalist, concocting spells that may or may not align with the covens’ moral code.

Wren, the coven’s youngest member, and merry sweet waif, has clairaudience. She hears a relentless supernatural soundtrack that might guide the coven into the light or lead them into danger.

Sensual and seductive, Willow has the power of clear touching or clairtangency, a power that can be an inspiration or a mighty curse.

The Book begins with a terrifying incident that will cause an intergenerational curse. After an untimely death, the coven relocates to Savannah, Georgia, settling into Owletta’s ancestral home. Soon, they expanded their online store Global Witchery, opening a brick-and-mortar location on Bull Street. Things simmer like sweet herbal tea until an uninvited guest stirs up a cauldron of irregularities, forcing the coven to fight for more than their lives, possibly their mortal souls.

You can read an excerpt from The Savannah Book of Spells in The Levitation Game!

7. Any advice for other authors?

Read and persevere! Be kind and collect writing friends. That’s all you can do.

To get in the right frame of mind, I read from my literary stack resembling the mattresses from The Princess and the Pea.

Reading is the best inspiration. I’ve never found real peas in my books, but chocolate would be nice. Motivation can be as shy as a skittish spider or as available as the nearest Subway restaurant. But you can’t count on it, so you must plant your butt firmly in a chair and write.

ABOUT SHARON:

Sharon Wagner is a supernatural author, inexhaustible travel blogger, and illustrator of children’s books, including Maya Monkey. When she’s not traveling the jungles of Central America, she lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two cats. Discover more at https://sharonwagnerbooks.com/