On Nov. 4, the Library Leaders Club at Liberty invited a local author to discuss the writing, publishing and drafting process of creating a novel. Tatiana Schlote-Bonne, (she/her), is the author of “Such Lovely Skin”, a horror story depicting a teenage girl and her demonic dopplegänger whose unknown actions start to ruin her friendships.
“Such Lovely Skin” is Schlote-Bonne’s debut novel, published in Sep. of this year. During the meeting, students were able to interact with her and ask questions about the lengthy process of publishing the book.
“This (“Such Lovely Skin”) was a three-year process. I came up with the idea in 2021, then drafted it within a few months [and] started to go back and forth with my agent. We went on submission, and then it’s about two years after you signed the contract that it takes for the book to come out,” expressed Schlote-Bonne.
Depending on the publisher, publishing a book can take months or even years. The genre, writing style and age group of the novels greatly affect the time span of the process. Schlote-Bonne said it took multiple tries with different businesses to get her debut book accepted, but she was able to successfully find a publisher after three months.
“The books [also] have to undergo development edits, line edits, copy edits [and] they have to design the cover. There’s a big marketing push, [and] all that takes about two years,” stated Schlote-Bonne.
The students also got insight on personal aspects of her life and how that contributed to who she is today. Schlote-Bonne currently lives in the Iowa City area and teaches professional writing at the University of Iowa, where she attended college for creative writing. She came to the University for its prestigious writing programs, as she was born in San Diego, California, and later moved to Nevada.
“When I started taking classes at Iowa, I took creative writing classes, and I felt more invigorated by writing for [that] class than I’d felt doing anything else. It didn’t feel dreadful to have to write something,” stated Schlote-Bonne. “I was very excited by it and always drawn to plotlines from video games or movies… I always wanted to be a part of that world.”
Schlote-Bonne said that those movies and video games inspired much of her current and future works. She tends to stick to the horror genre in her writing, as she grew up watching movies like “13 Ghosts”, “The Ring” and “Through My Fingers”.
“I like that, the thrill, like there’s something fun about being on edge watching a horror movie. And horror is also such a broad genre with what it can do,” expressed Schlote-Bonne. “It can be scary, but it can also be sad [and] funny. Other genres, I feel, can be a little limited, like you have your fantasy, you have your sci-fi, and they feel a little more stringent to me. Whereas horror can easily dip and move into other realms.”
The horror theme follows into her next book, “The Mean Ones”, which is currently going through the publishing process. “The Mean Ones”, though, consists of a different kind of horror compared to “Such Lovely Skin”.
“The Mean Ones” is about a girl who escaped cult sacrifices as a child when she was at a summer camp, creating her phobia of the woods. In the present day, she has to go camping with her boyfriend and their friends, and in the woods, her past comes back and chaos ensues.
“It’s (“The Mean Ones”) very inspired by “Midsommar” and “The Ritual”. [It is] classic horror in the woods, and very different from this one (“Such Lovely Skin”), where it is a modern tech horror,” expressed Schlote-Bonne.
Besides “Such Lovely Skin” and “The Mean Ones”, Schlote-Bonne stated that she has a third book drafted. She says that this book will be a Young Adult (YA) horror-fantasy, which tends to be a more competitive genre when it comes to finding a publisher.
Schlote-Bonne also stated that she may possibly be coming back to Liberty this school year (2024-25) as a visiting author. She would be able to speak to all Liberty students about her life, books, profession, etc. like Tiffany D. Jackson did two years ago.
Along with Schlote-Bonne, Liberty will also be getting a second visiting author this school year: Samira Ahmed. Ahmed has written “Hollow Fires”, “This Book Won’t Burn” and “Internment”, which some students have read in their English 9 classes.
Getting to meet an author and discuss their stories with them is an exciting way to learn what goes into creating the stories that people cherish most.
