Q&A with Danika Stone
A few days ago I had the pleasure of contacting Danika Stone after reading her YA book, All the Feels. Stone was extremely generous in being able to help me with this post by answering my questions and helping me to create this post. I hope you enjoy it. I am including Danika's bio at the end of this post.
1. Why did you want to write this story?
I’ve been involved in MANY fandoms over the years but for most of that time, being a fangirl was something I rarely (if ever!) shared with my RL friends or family. There was a particularly negative view of fangirling, a perception that it was immature to love something with a passion. That idea rankled me since there are many mainstream fandoms. (Really? What is football except a sports fandom where people cosplay when they attend a ‘performance’?) I wanted to find books that really celebrated that idea, but the choices were pretty limited.
With this in mind, the idea behind All the Feels came to be. The rest is history!
2. In the book, Liv deals with both good and bad experiences at a convention.
Have you had any experiences, good or bad, that are close to hers?
The story of the Mad Hatter is based on fact. Yes. That actually happened to me (and he really was dressed as a Mad Hatter. Ha ha!) But for the most part, my con experiences have been absolutely AMAZING. I really love conventions – both big and small. There’s such joy in the participants, and this ownership of what we love. I would go every to con weekend if time (and money) allowed!
By the way, if you are attending Comic Con (SDCC) this summer, I’ll be there. I can’t WAIT!
3. Was it fun to think up the world of Starveil and was it difficult to think up the storylines of Starveil and the scenes/background you added into All The Feels?
Inventing Starveil was the BEST kind of fun! It wasn’t particularly difficult simply because it’s the alt!verse of many of my FAVORITE space dramas: Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly and Battlestar Galactica. In a number of those universes, there’s a fight against a larger power, often led by a charismatic, but troubled, rebel. I picked and chose the parts I loved and rewove Starveil into something new. Soon enough, it started feeling “real” to me, especially once the SparTek ship came into play.
4. Would you ever want to write a sequel detailing Liv’s life in her internship and beyond?
I would LOVE to write it, especially since it would allow me to revisit two AMAZING characters! I just need to wait for the right idea to spark my interest.
5. Who was your favorite character to write?
Xander, hands down. He is my boo. He is SO flamboyant and that makes him utterly wonderful to write. Whenever I start a story, I begin with a bit of pre-writing and see what characters want to be heard. I expected Liv’s voice would show up first, but Xander was there loud and clear. It was such fun!
6. Did you feel that Liv’s life in and out of fandom mirrored any experiences that you have had in a fandom?
I hope that All the Feels gives readers both the good side of fandom (friends, companionship, shared joy) and the occasional negative side (obsession). While I definitely think there’s FAR more good to fandom than bad, I have experienced both and I wanted to be honest about it.
Liv’s life in All the Feels mirrored mine in that a lot of people I knew in RL had no idea why I was involved in fandom. (Many of them, even now, are scratching their heads over why I wrote a book over it. Ha ha!) But that’s the joy of actually connecting with people online. They are YOUR people. They “get” you. <3
7. Which character, major or minor, did you relate to the most in your book and why?
Although Xander is my favorite character to write, Liv is definitely much more the type of person I was a few years back. Her stresses are similar to those I experienced, and her frustration that other people in RL just don’t get her interest in Starveil, are also me. It was very cathartic to write about her. It’s also been wonderful to see how other people connected to Liv’s story!
8. What made you decide to have Liv’s favorite actor be upset with her for the #SaveSpartan campaign?
Unlike Xander, I don’t think actors are just there for the audience. I think they’re people, like everyone else. And I can imagine that if you’ve been involved in a tremendously successful franchise that has defined your career, there must be some moment where you start wondering if you’ll ever play another character in your life. That was Tom Grander to me.
Story-wise, it also made sense that Liv comes to a realization that Grander is not actually Spartan. (And if you check throughout the book, there’s a slow shift in the language she uses. At the beginning, it’s all Spartan. At the end, it’s all Grander.) It felt right to the story to have him experiencing his own storyline which is quite different than hers. It also gave a ‘reason’ why they’d kill off his character in the film.
9. Have you ever been a part of any campaigns for shows or seen anything like what Liv and Xander able to do take place?
OMG YESSSSS!!! All the Feels is dedicated to my amazing friend and the very BEST fangirl I know: @coulsonlives. She is – quite literally – the reason that Agents of Shield exists. And if anyone showed me that a single fan could change canon within a universe, it’s her.
Here’s a picture of the two of us at Dragon Con this summer. (I am the giant.)
10. Liv is very active in the Starveil fandom. What kind of fandoms have you been deeply involved in?
My fandom involvement tends to go in waves. I’m a multi-shipper in almost all of them. (Which, if you ask me, just makes life happier!) I also tend to shift fandoms by television seasons.
My very first fandoms were The X-Files, Twin Peaks, Star Trek and Dr. Who. Currently, I’m obsessed with The 100, the entire Marvel universe, The Walking Dead (though that’s mainly for Darryl and Carol) and The Star Wars franchise (especially The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and any storyline that includes a young Leia Organa). I’m sure if I sat here for another ten minutes I could come up with twenty more, but for now, those are the ones that pop to mind.
Biography:
Danika Stone is an author, artist, and educator who discovered a passion for writing fiction while in the throes of her Masters thesis. A self-declared bibliophile, Danika now writes novels for both adults (Edge of Wild, The Intaglio Series and Ctrl Z) and teens (All the Feels). When not writing, Danika can be found hiking in the Rockies, planning grand adventures, and spending far too much time online. She lives with her husband, three sons, and a houseful of imaginary characters in a windy corner of Alberta, Canada.
Ms. Stone is represented by Morty Mint of Mint Literary Agency.
For more information about Danika Stone please visit here websites here!
