Barbara Shoup on Books, Brontës, and Breaking the Rules
Indie Author Insights Featured Author Series
Barbara “Barb” Shoup was born and raised in Hammond, Indiana, headed for IU Bloomington in 1965, married the boy she met on her first day on campus in 1967, and moved to Indianapolis in 1968, where they’ve been ever since. Barb has two daughters, two grandchildren, and a “crazed” border collie mix named Lewis.
Barb’s YA novels have been honored by The PEN Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, the American Library Association, the Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books, the Voice of Young America (VOYA), and the International Reading Association. She is the recipient of the 2012 Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Regional Award. Currently, she is the Writer-in-Residence at the Indiana Writers Center, a faculty member at Art Workshop International and host of Book Pilgrim, on Substack.
Barb has published nine novels, six for young adults and three for adults, three books about writing, and one about experimental education. She says, “Like unlaunched children, four completed novels are still looking for their place in the universe.”
Her latest book, About Grace, is a young adult (YA) novel about Grace Lowery, a seventeen-year-old middle-class girl incarcerated at a state juvenile correctional facility. The story concerns not only Grace’s time at the facility, but also the events that landed her there and the history of abuse that shaped her childhood.
Barb says the book grew from a series of writing workshops she did with young women at the Indiana Juvenile Correctional Facility. “What they wrote was often smart, funny, perceptive—and heartbreaking. I kept thinking that if these kids weren't poor, they’d be in therapy—they wouldn't be here. It made me wonder what would happen if a middle-class girl ended up in a place like that.”
Barb hopes readers will come away from her book with compassion for young women whose options are limited through no fault of their own and who often get caught up in a justice system that isn’t really about justice for them. “And, with all of my YA novels, I want readers to feel the perils of adolescence, how difficult it is no matter who you are, and how easily young lives can go astray.”
Barb tried the traditional publishing route, querying agents. Several were interested but turned down the project for marketing reasons—i.e, in these days of book banning, the subject matter was too controversial. She had the same experience with several independent presses. When Querencia Press said yes, Barb was grateful to the small independent publisher for taking a chance on her book.
Barb loves good fiction in all forms, especially contemporary fiction, crime fiction and historical fiction. Keep reading to discover her insights as a writer and author…
What is your writing routine, and any specific habits or rituals that have helped you stay productive?
I don’t achieve writing daily and I don’t beat myself up about it like I used to, but I know that the more often I come to my work the more likely I am to be able to engage fairly quickly. When I can’t or don’t write for a while, for whatever reason, it’s way harder.
I don’t have any rituals but I do have a little easel on my desk with a message to remind me that writing provides an essential balance in my life: YOU FEEL EVEN WORSE WHEN YOU DON’T.
How do you handle writer's block or moments when you feel creatively stuck?
Sometimes I freewrite, sometimes I stop and take a walk and hope something will pop into my mind. Sometimes it does. Sometimes I type on a new document: Who are you and what are you doing in my story—and the character answers. Or: Would you please tell me what happens in the next scene? Sometimes I switch to left brain mode and create (or work on) a spreadsheet that helps me track characters, get a fix on pace and threads and other aspects, which generates ideas and reveals things that show me what to do next. I love revision. It’s my favorite part of the process.
What are you working on next?
A novel about Anne Brontë, the little appreciated Brontë sister.
As a big fan of the Brontë sisters, I’m excited to hear more about this book!
If you could do a book signing anywhere in the world, where would it be?
At the Scribner Bookstore that used to be on Fifth Avenue in New York. I remember going there when I visited the city as an aspiring writer and dreaming of seeing my book there. I’d have settled for that, though a signing would have been sublime.
What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Love the process, let go of what you can’t control about your work in the world (which is pretty much everything).
What do you love about being an author?
I love being a writer more than being an author because being an author takes me away from the alternate worlds I live in as a writer into the world of publishing and marketing, which I’m not good at and don’t enjoy. What I do love about being an author is the opportunity to talk to readers and aspiring writers about my work at book clubs, library talks, conferences, classroom visits—and anything else that comes up.
Once, after a spirited classroom discussion about whether the teenage sex in Stranded in Harmony—in which the main character feared his girlfriend was pregnant—was proper, a girl who hadn’t said a word raised her hand at the end of the class. In a barely audible voice, she said, “I just want to say that I’m pregnant and when I read this book, I understood why my boyfriend acted like he did when I told him.” The bell rang. She was gone. I was overwhelmed by gratitude for what my book had given her.
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned on your journey as an author that you wish you had known before you started?
Flaubert said it best, “Talent is a long patience and originality an effort of will and intense observation.”
What is your favorite quote?
“I live, I live with an absolutely continuous sense of failure. I am always defeated, always. Every book is the wreck of a perfect idea. The years pass and one has only one life. If one has a thing to do at all, one must do it and keep on and on and on trying to do it better.” Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince.
I know. It seems so depressing, but it doesn’t feel that way to me. It makes me remember what I know to be true about writing and reassures me that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing in this life.
Where can we find you?
https://www.facebook.com/barbara.shoup
https://www.instagram.com/barbshop/?hl=en
Is there anything else you want to share?
If you want to mix writing and travel, I teach “Writing for Young Adults” and “Jump Start Your Writing Project” for Art Workshop International in Assisi, Italy each summer. Why not join me! https://www.artworkshopintl.com/Home/Index2
There’s an early bird discount until April 15. Questions? Email barbshoup@gmail.com
Barb will also be leading a YA Zoom Class, Wednesday, April 23, 2025 from 7-8:30 p.m. EST. Participants will learn about writing young adult novels and receive a copy of About Grace! Register at Lafayette Writers’ Studio.
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Barb is a wonderful writer! I am reading About Grace right now. Brava Barb!