Interview of Teresa

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Q: Why have you chosen to write exclusively in the fantasy field?

It wasn't a matter of choice. Or to put it another way, fantasy seems to have chosen me. The ideas I have always seem to generate stories in the fantasy genre. Although, if you look at it another way, most of my books could be classified as science fiction—the only thing is, all the science is between two and six centuries out of date. And certainly my books have elements of social comedy and romance, along with the magic and adventure we associate with fantasy.

Q: Where and when do your Green Lion books and their sequels take place?

You might say that they take place in a parallel universe, though not in the same way that the Goblin Moon books do. What I did was create an island kingdom with a Celtic population, and I located it in the Atlantic ocean west of Ireland, but significantly farther from Ireland than Ireland is from England. In some ways, the history of Ynys Celydonn does show some slight resemblence to that of the British Isles, but in far more ways the history of Celydonn is unique.

Q: How important to you is historical accuracy?

Though I never write about real people, places, or events, I do try very hard to make the small details of everyday period life correct. When I read a book, I like to find a really concrete sense of time and place—how things taste and smell, what people eat and wear, and what things are really called (like some of my wizardly characters, I'm very interested in the proper naming of things)—so of course that is also the kind of book that I try to write. Tad Williams once said that I have "an alchemist's obsession with how things work," and I think there's a great deal of truth in that. It is an obsession. The more I know, the more I want to know, and research always leads to more research. The Queen's Necklace is very heavily researched. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were really a fascinating period, full of oddities and whimsies—in many ways far more fantastical than the medieval period—and I wasn't able to do as much research on the period as I would have liked when I was writing Goblin Moon and The Gnome's Engine, but I certainly made up for that when I was writing The Queen's Necklace!

But another function of research is that it really helps me to generate ideas. I do love a plot that arises out of the setting and the characters, not a plot that has just been grafted on, or worse still, transplanted from another book. And the more I know about a setting, the more likely it is to suggest unexpected but (I hope) entirely plausible plot twists.

Q: Why is religion of some type so important in all of your novels?

I'd have to say that it's all part of my desire to make the setting as concrete and complete as possible. Religion is pervasive in real life, though I'm afraid that it either gets ignored or mishandled in a lot of fantasy. Religion seems to make an awfully convenient whipping boy for whatever is supposed to be wrong with a particular society, and never a word about how the cult in question came into power in the first place, or what consolation it offers to those who believe. On the other hand, there are the books that seem too heavily slanted toward a certain New Age/Pagan viewpoint. I try to offer a more balanced view, but no doubt my own beliefs influence me in more ways than I realize.

Another reason that I include religion is that rituals of all sorts fascinate me. Still, I'm afraid that I concentrate more on the rituals and the outward trappings of religion than on the deeper theological questions, which is probably a weakness. On the other hand, I don't feel particularly qualified to comment on the deeper theological questions, and it's probably just as well that I leave them alone.

Q: Your characters are known for their severe internal conflicts, in addition to the external conflicts they must face and overcome. Why do you like writing this way?

Because I find that internal conflicts engage me emotionally, and because, for me at least, the internal conflicts involved make the physical challenges more complex and interesting, too. A person in emotional turmoil is just inherently fascinating; and somehow I don't identify as much with people who face physical challenges. Most of all, I think that adding in lots of internal conflict is the most effective way of turning up the intensity.

On the other hand, it is definitely possible to overdo the internal conflict in a story. Mishandled, it can divide the tension rather than turn it up a notch. To be really interesting, a character needs to be caught between an over-mastering desire and an overwhelming situation. If the desire is anything less than over-powering, the conflict becomes far less dynamic.

Q: What part does inspiration play in your writing?

I write better when I'm feeling "inspired," but I'm not sure how to explain what that is or how it happens. I think that maybe this happens when I'm writing a scene or a chapter where I've already done quite a bit of the work on a subconscious level, and that the biggest problems occur when I'm trying to write something before I've done enough subconscious work on it. I do know that my subconscious mind is a better writer in many ways, because I frequently go back through something I wrote months or years ago and find all sorts of complexities and correspondences all neatly woven together which until that moment I never so much as suspected were there. I wish it was possible to get my subconscious collaborator to do all of the work, all of the time.

Although, if that did happen, the writing process would not feel like work at all. Wouldn't that be nice?

Q: You've said you're a very non-violent person, and yet there is a certain amount of violence in your books. In your opinion, what is the place of violence in literature?

Scenes of violent action seem well adapted to showing what people are really made of; they can be quite revealing in terms of character. And I have to admit that I do put in a certain amount of violence and bloodshed for no better reason than because that's what readers seem to want. For some reason, our culture seems to think anything that involves violence and pain and ugliness is somehow more authentic and important—as if (which I don't believe at all) joyous and beautiful and life-affirming events are somehow false and shoddy. Since I don't agree with this, it bothers me sometimes that my writing may give the impression that I do, and I'm uncomfortable attempting to justify that, because I'm not altogether certain that I can. Or, for that matter, that I even want to.

But I do make an effort not to glorify the violence, or present violent actions as particularly admirable. And I don't think that my heroes (the sane ones, anyway) ever choose violence over more peaceful solutions, when the peaceful solutions would be effective. Francis Skelbrooke is probably the exception here, but he is pretty clearly demented. Ceilyn spends the first book and a half of the trilogy feeling restless and dissatisfied because his training as a fighting man is going to waste, but when he finally ends up killing someone, he's horrified by what he has done. As for Tryffin, he frequently finds himself in situations where he has to meet violence with violence in order to survive, but afterwards he always feels a sense of failure, is convinced that if he had used more forethought or behaved more wisely that situation might have been avoided. He doesn't spend much time agonizing over that, because he's a practical sort of person, he gets on with his life, but there is always that moment or two where he questions what he has done.

Q: There seems to be some element of romance in all of your books. Are you aware of that, and is there some reason for it?

As with practically everything else that is in my books, romance is there for the very simple reason that it interests me. But of course I also hope it will be of interest to my readers. And I think that it is. Not everyone finds their life's mate, and I certainly know many single people who live happy and fulfilling lives—but I don't know anyone, not any adult anyone, who has never at any time been looking for someone to share their life. The search for love is something I think that everyone can identify with. After all, everyone has been in love or at least infatuated with someone at some point in their lives—but not everyone has, say, picked up a sword and fought a troll. Not even in the circles I travel in, where you would think it would be relatively common.

Back in the old days, when I was reading Tarot cards professionally, there came a time in each reading where I allowed my customer three questions. Almost without exception, the first question they asked had something to do with love. Everyone wants it. Not everyone needs it, or is the better for having it, but that's a different thing. Of course, if it always worked out, it wouldn't be very interesting to write about, would it?

Q: What do you think of women writers who promote a feminist agenda in their novels?

The same thing that I think about any writer who promotes an agenda of any sort and sets out to grind an axe rather than tell a good story: it promotes sloppy and improbable plotting, plays havoc with character development, and just generally leads to bad writing and boring books. I am equally offended by any piece of writing that shows hatred and contempt for women. In its way, that kind of thing is far more insidious, because it's all so familiar that it can pass right by unnoticed. I hope that the women in my books are as powerful, each in her own particular way, as any of the men. But I don't feel that a woman (or a man either, for that matter) has to pick up a sword or otherwise imitate what it is generally regarded as the masculine role in order to prove her worth. Which is not to say that women can't compete in any of those areas, because many of them can and do. But there are other kinds of strength, other kinds of heroism, and I want to give those other kinds of strength their due. Which rather sounds like I have a point or two of my own to prove, but I hope I never let that interfere with my plots or the plausibility of my characters.

Q: Will there be any more books in the Green Lion series? Will there be any more books in the Goblin Moon series?

None are planned at this time, though I do have plenty of ideas and would like to return to both worlds some time or the other. I do expect that there will be more short stories about Francis Skelbrooke, and perhaps some of my other characters as well. In the meantime, anyone who wants a Skelbrooke fix can read the unpublished novel fragment we have posted on this website.

Q: Tell us something about The Queen's Necklace.

It is undoubtedly the strangest of all my books. The setting is somewhat similar to that of Goblin Moon and The Gnome's Engine, but even more fantastic, I think. There is romance, of course, and adventure, and a great struggle between Men and Goblins for control of the entire world. There are plenty of bizarre gadgets and curious devices of all sorts along the way. I hope and believe that it will be a really fun book to read, though it definitely has its more serious moments as well. I think that Will Blackheart will go down as one of my most memorable heroes, and that the passionate and most decidedly sinister Valentine Solange will be regarded as one of my greatest villainesses.

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