Interview of Teresa

Page 1 | 2 | 3

Q: It has been said that the female villains in your stories are generally more complex and interesting than the males. Do you know why that is?

Well, the most obvious reason is that they are far more interesting to me. I'm not sure about this, but I expect it's because my most interesting characters at least in part represent bits and pieces of my own personality. I identify, on some level, with my villainesses, and not so much with my villains. Why that is I cannot say. Maybe it's the kind of thing that would come out in therapy.

But I think I may have solved this problem in my next book, because in the story I'm thinking about writing the villain is actually a fallen hero—which is not so much different from a tormented hero. Tormented heroes I can do. In fact, the moment I began thinking of him in those terms, I became much more excited about him as a character than I have been about any of my villains before. I'll have to wait and see how the story works out, though.

Q: What does your family think of your writing?

Since I've been working very hard at it for most or all of their lives, I think my children just take it in stride. Every so often, it strikes them that I'm doing something a bit more unusual than what their friends' mothers do. They seem to be more amused and incredulous than anything when other people make a big thing about it. Gwyneth did once say that it was pretty neat that one of her favorite writers happened to be her own mother. Naturally, I was extremely flattered by that. (Although I can see how it would be, if true, very neat indeed.) And fortunately my husband shares my interest in fantasy and in history, and that's what brought us together in the first place. In fact, he's my research assistant when it comes to arms and armor and technical things, so he's somewhat involved in the process himself. I have spoken with a number of writers, mostly romance writers, whose spouses actively dislike what they are doing, and I am very grateful that my own situation is so different.

Q: How do you go about your writing? Do you have a study? Certain rules?

Not in a very organized way, I regret to say. This is partly due to the erratic quality of my inspiration, and partly the conditions I live under. There are a lot of people living in my house. I used to have an office of my own, but then a friend moved in with us and we no longer had a room to spare. [Teresa, this needs updating.] So I write in my bedroom, which is large but crowded, with the desk and bookcases and all. And some days I'm lucky to turn out a paragraph, and some days, when I'm going well, I can write forty or fifty pages. It all depends on so many different things, that it would be impossible to describe a typical day. There are no typical days; each one is different.

Q: How long does it take you to write a novel and do you outline it first? Do you consider yourself an instinctive gestalt writer, or an analytical writer?

Sometimes I outline before I write and sometimes I don't. If I do outline, it's very useful for generating ideas and clarifying certain points in advance, although once I've done that, I feel entirely free to make changes as needed and to stray as far from the outline as I like—which is sometimes a very, very long way. Even without an outline, I always have some idea of where the story is supposed to end up and I have to say that even with as many changes as I usually make along the way, the foreseen conclusion always materializes at the end. At least it always has so far. If the time ever comes that it doesn't materialize, I expect I'll be just as happy with the new ending. I guess I'm both analytical and gestalt, at different times on the same project. More gestalt most of the time, though.

Q: What three things do you think are most important for a new writer to understand about the business of writing?

Well, I'm afraid that I don't have anything new to say, anything that hasn't been said by other people a zillion times before, but I think it's all worth repeating.

Number one, you have to understand that it may be several years before you are able to make a living by writing—if you ever get there at all. "Don't quit your day job," is still the best advice, and maybe even more true now than it ever was before. Even if you're fairly successful, fairly early, it's unlikely that you will ever be able to support yourself in the style to which you would like to grow accustomed—or even, sad to say, the manner to which you are already accustomed, if you do quit that day job. So you better really like what you are doing, because for a long time the writing itself will probably be your only reward.

Number two, the most prolific and the most persistent writers—in terms of sending their novels and stories out again and again —are usually the most successful. This, of course, is a clear case of "do as I say, not as I do," but it's true nevertheless. Take me as a clear example of what happens to promising writers who aren't sufficiently prolific—and go and do otherwise.

Number three, learn proper manuscript mechanics and how to submit a professional-looking piece of writing in a professional manner. The market is not very welcoming at the moment, you have a lot of competition, and anything you can do to make a favorable first impression on the editor who reads your book or story is going to increase your chances of making a sale. Note that I said a favorable impression, not a big impression ... stay away from gimmicks like colored paper, or anything other attention-getting devices. Neat and professional is what you want, and then let your work sell itself.

Q: Where were you born? Where did you grow up? What events in your early life most shaped you?

I was born in Van Nuys, California, and spent the first fourteen years of my life in the San Fernando Valley. Then we bounced back and forth between Southern and Northern California for a while, which considering the physical and cultural distances involved was pretty much like living in two different states. I eventually landed in the San Francisco Bay Area and have lived there ever since. (For more on my life, see the biographical section on this website.)

I spent the early years of my life with my nose in a book the vast majority of the time, and the book was usually a historical novel of some sort. When I finally came out into the light of day, I started going to SF and Fantasy conventions and historical recreations. This is how I met my husband and practically all of the people who later became my friends. This is why I may never write a book in a contemporary setting. I'm not socialized for the twentieth century; in many ways, it's a milieu more foreign to me than any fantasy world.

| Back |