Chances are, a lot of 10-year-olds think the same thing. And, like Hale, most of them realize at some later point that it's probably not going to happen. Saying "I want to be a writer" was like "I want to be a princess," Hale says now. "It's one of those things people just don't do."

So she hid her passion from the world, claiming in college at the University of Utah that she was an English major because she wanted to become a teacher. "I felt foolish. I didn't talk about it," Hale said. "You'd have to be crazy not to think you're crazy to want to be a writer."

But she kept reading. And writing.

The Goose Girl, Hale's first novel, came out of a pact she made with a fellow fantasy lover in grad school. They agreed to each write a novel between their first and second years of the program. Neither succeeded, but Hale came up with the idea to write a book based on her favorite fairy tale from childhood.

The traditional story, about a princess who uses her ability to speak to nature to reclaim her stolen heritage, felt "incomplete" to Hale. It had the structure of a novel, but much was left out. She fleshed the narrative into a vivid retelling of nearly 400 pages.

Several years and many drafts later, she finally found an agent and got it published. She was living in her hometown of Salt Lake City with husband Dean, and had not yet turned 30.

The book went on to win 2003 Utah Book Awards for children's and speculative fiction as well as praise from major book reviewers. School Library Journal said, "Hale's retelling is a wonderfully rich one, full of eloquent description and lovely imagery, and with a complex plot, a large cast of characters, and a strong female protagonist." The New York Times Book Review wrote, "In layer upon layer of detail a beautiful coming-of-age story emerges, a tale about learning to rescue yourself rather than falling accidentally into happily-ever-after."

Her second book, Enna Burning, about a character from the first novel, was just released. Enna Burning is very different from Goose Girl, darker and more dramatic; Hale said this is a natural result of writing about a different character.

"I'm not so much worried because it's dark but because it's different," said Hale. She hopes readers aren't expecting another story about Ani, her original heroine. And despite the fact that there's a bit more violence in the second book - people get burned alive, for example - "I don't think it's too dark for younger kids. A younger person won't see the darker elements, or won't dwell on them."

Now Hale, the mother of an 8-month-old boy, is putting the finishing touches on a third book.

Hale first admitted to the world her writerly aspirations when she gave in and applied to creative writing graduate programs, letting the world know she intended to give it a shot.

During her MFA program at the University of Montana, she wrote every day for two years, focusing on literary fiction. But something in her had always wanted to write fantasy, something "you cannot admit to in a literary fiction program," Hale said.

Like most teenagers, Hale, who attended West High School, was passionate about fantasy novels in her teen years, drawn to such authors as Robin McKinley, Anne McCaffrey and Lloyd Alexander. Later, she found herself drawn to the genre as she worked her way through graduate school.

"Everything I was reading felt the same, because everyone was trying to write New Yorker stories," she said. "They all ended with helplessness. Ultimately, everyone fails."

Hale didn't set out to write young adult fiction, but with the help of her agent, she realized that was the perfect target audience. Fantasy especially appeals to teenagers, who, like the characters in fantasy books, often feel alienated and don't quite know where they fit in. Hale was no exception. "I was very misunderstood and not appreciated," she says with a laugh.

"You can deal with themes in fantasy that you can't deal with in regular fiction," Hale said, noting that fantasy books often include deaths of family members, forced expulsion from one's homeland and other tragedies. "If you stuck that in a high school setting, it would feel really silly. Nevertheless, that's how people feel in high school."

Hale also says fantasy "makes everything new again. . . . It's a way to make the world feel as new and vibrant and interesting as it was when we first learned about it. Possibilities that aren't there make the possibilities that are there much more fun."

What's with the Pig?

Hale's brief biography at the back of The Goose Girl reads: "She now makes her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her superhuman husband and their pet, a small plastic pig."

Readers might wonder about the mental state of someone who dotes on a piece of porcine plastic, but Hale says it's a case of a joke getting out of hand.

Authors are often asked to write short biographies for book jackets, and Hale submitted several, one of which included the pig line. Why? Reading other authors' biographies for inspiration, Hale realized "All of them mentioned their pets. They always have to mention their pets." Hale doesn't have any pets, but her husband's nickname for her is "squeeter pig," and he occasionally gives her pig-shaped trinkets as a little joke. "We just picked a pig and decided that would be our pet."

Hale was mortified when she saw the book cover bio, pig line intact, and even more so when it was included in international editions of the book.

See Shannon

Shannon Hale will read from and sign copies of her books at The King's English bookstore, 1511 S. 1500 East in Salt Lake City, on Saturday at 6 p.m. Call 801-484-9100 for information.