Young writer working on two new books
<p>Kalispell native Alexa Schnee held a book signing April 28 at Womrath Bookstore in Bronxville, N.Y. Her debut novel, "Shakespeare's Lady," was published last month.</p>
<p>Schnee is shown during a 2011 trip to Venice with Flathead Valley Community College. The trip included a tour of Cassanova's house and prison cell, which inspired Schnee to write a novel about the famous womanizer.</p>
<p>Schnee's novel, "Shakespeare's Lady," is a fictional account of Emilia Bassano, whom some have speculated was the inspiration for several of the bard's most passionate sonnets.</p>
Alexa Schnee is a typical college junior.
She’s in the throes of end-of-semester studying at Sarah Lawrence College. She’s a copy editor for the school literary review. She’s a member of the ukulele club.
She drinks too much coffee, spends her free time exploring her new home in New York City and is passionate about Jane Austen.
And last month, the Kalispell native celebrated the release of her first novel, “Shakespeare’s Lady.”
“It feels crazy,” Schnee said in a recent phone interview. “I’ve been waiting for it to come out for a long time. It’s a good feeling, relieving in a way, to have it out there and have people reading it out there.”
“Shakespeare’s Lady,” a fictional account of Emilia Bassano, whom some have speculated was the inspiration for several of the bard’s most passionate sonnets, is the fulfillment of a dream that began years ago.
Schnee has been writing for as long as she can remember, but first grew serious about the craft after joining a writing club for home-schooled students led by author Tricia Goyer. After about two years in the group, Schnee began writing the novel that eventually became “Shakespeare’s Lady.”
Schnee told the Inter Lake in 2010 that the inspiration for the story happened by accident. While working on a school report about William Shakespeare, Schnee became fascinated by the mysterious “Dark Lady” to whom he addressed so many sonnets.
“I don’t know what the point [of the research] was, but it turned into a story,” she said in 2010.
When the first draft was finished, Schnee, at Goyer’s prompting, attended her first writers conference. Then 17, Schnee gained valuable experience and was named the Most Promising Writer, the youngest person ever to win the award at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference.
She also met a literary agent and publishing company representative at the conference. She sent them both copies of her novel when she got home.
A few months later, the publishing company representative called to tell Schnee that Guideposts wanted to publish “Shakespeare’s Lady.”
It took a little more than two years and a few rounds of edits, but the book finally hit virtual and actual bookstore shelves in April.
It is available online at retailers such as Barnes and Noble and Amazon (where it is available in paperback and as an e-book). Locally, “Shakespeare’s Lady” is available at both Bookworks locations and at the Bookshelf.
Schnee already is in the middle of writing her next two books, which also will be works of historical fiction. This summer she plans to start pitching “Burning Troy,” which takes place during the Trojan War, to publishing houses.
She is also working on a book about Casanova, about whom she learned while studying abroad in Italy through Flathead Valley Community College.
While in Venice, Schnee had the opportunity to visit Casanova’s house and stand in the cell where history’s most famous charmer was imprisoned.
“It was all very cool in a very nerdy-type way,” she said.
“It really helped me to go to Venice and be a part of it,” she added. “It’s so much more interesting to see a place rather than just reading about it in a history book.”
Learning about Casanova in a real-life fashion started the wheels turning in Schnee’s writer’s brain.
“I really wanted to write about him: He was a genius in his own way,” she said. “He was a spy. He played multiple instruments, spoke multiple languages. He was a very charming person, a very interesting person in general.
“He’s been labeled as a womanizer, but there was a lot more to him than that.”
Schnee said she works on her novels when she can, but school keeps her busy. She is studying creative writing, literature and art history at Sarah Lawrence, all of which keeps her buried under a mountain of books to read and papers to write. It can be hectic, she admitted, but Schnee is thriving under her full course load.
“It’s been nice. I have a lot of different interests; it’s fun to get to study different things,” she said.
While Schnee doesn’t yet have a definite post-graduation game plan, she does know words will be part of her future.
“I know I want to keep writing,” she said. “I want to keep sending my books out there and getting them published.”
Follow Schnee on her blog, alexinksit.com.
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.