Hi, I'm Shayna!
Most of my personality can be traced back to fictional characters I got way too attached to as a kid, and honestly, not much has changed. I’m usually carrying a book (just in case), daydreaming about fictional characters, or pretending fanfiction isn’t the longest relationship I’ve ever had. When I’m not reading or writing, I’m probably drinking an iced strawberry matcha on my way to pilates, analyzing my birth chart, or taking unnecessarily long drives just to listen to music and stare dramatically out the window.
Shayna's Story
Shayna Douglas started writing stories about her favourite fictional characters falling in love as a teenager and never really stopped. More Than All the Miles Combined was born from her desire to write a sapphic love story that not only felt real, but one in which she could see herself. She wanted to capture what sapphic love in your twenties truly looks like: the uncertainty, the longing, and the way friendship and love blur together.
In many ways, this book is a love letter to her own past. Growing up, her family made the drive from Ontario to Newfoundland more times than she can count—a journey that became just as much a part of her as the places themselves. Writing this novel allowed her to weave that nostalgia into a love story while making sense of her own experiences with coming out and growing up. As a 26-year-old Canadian lesbian, she spent years searching for stories where she could see herself. In the end, she wrote the book her younger self had been looking for.
Shayna's Writing History
Writing fanfiction has been a huge part of Shayna's journey as a writer. Under the pen name embersofapril, Archive of Our Own has been her space to perfect the agony of a good slow burn, write characters who refuse to admit they’re in love, and balance plot with just the right amount of smut. Her work has resonated with thousands of readers, with The Stars Above Us amassing over 290,000 hits and Reputation reaching over 216,000.
It is also through fanfiction that Shayna grew her social media following. Her BookTok account @shaynaslibrary currently has 35.6k followers & her bookstagram account has 13k. She has begun posting about her novel writing process on both of these accounts.
Contact
Shayna is currently querying her sapphic contemporary romance novel, More Than All The Miles Combined. Please contact her if you are interested in reading her manuscript.