Today I’ve brought along fellow Crooked Cat author, Teresa
Cutler-Broyles, to put in the interview firing line. If you don’t know
Teresa, yet, here’s your chance to learn a little bit about her.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Ws3-vxyL_8/UG06DuPsMVI/AAAAAAAACVE/JmrsCaBGc6Q/s200/teresa.jpg)
Teresa has a Master’s Degree in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, and is a PhD candidate in American Cultural Studies with a focus on American / Middle East involvement, Film Studies and Performance Studies. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, in the heart of the American Southwest where she teaches Film and American Cultural Studies classes at the University of New Mexico. Through her small company InkWell International LLC / TLC Cultural Writing Tours she organizes and successfully runs writing workshops in Italy and Turkey; this allows her to travel as often as her family – husband Robin, step-children Marshall, Kenny and Leslie, and dog Emma – will allow her to be gone.
Follow Teresa:
http://political-dance.blogspot.com/
http://tlc-travels.blogspot.com
And now for those promised answers:
I believe you’ve had
a few books published already in different genres? Can you tell us what they
are?
I had one book of travel essays about Italy published in 2007, and have
published some short fiction and many travel articles.
My Young Adult novel will be published through Crooked Cat
in just a few days, and I’m quite excited about that!
That’s quite a spread
of genres. Do you have a favourite at the moment?
I very much enjoy writing young adult novels, especially
because I remember how much I enjoyed reading them. And, I like writing
Westerns; they allow me to indulge my love of horses and history, and relive
much of my own horse-related adventures.
I am enjoying my current writing project – a kind of
historical fiction set in Italy
with overtones of fantasy and time travel. I’m not sure that’s a real genre,
though I have a few more similarly-multi-genre ideas that will be developed in
the future.
You clearly love the
challenges of different styles. If you decided to try to write a new genre, or
sub-genre, what might you have a go at next?
I’m kind of all over the map already, but I think I would
try fantastical fiction in the vein of Neil Gaimon… though that might be what
mine are. Hmmm. My first novels were Mysteries with two main detective
characters. They were never published so maybe I’d go back and revive them.
Where would you set a
new novel?
Three novels are waiting after the current project, and they
are set 1) in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, 2) under the Mediterranean Sea, and
3) Istanbul, Turkey.
I love the researching,
writing and editing of my work, though I’m no so stirred up about the necessary
marketing. What about you?
I love the first draft. I don’t do outlines; instead I start
with a scene that comes to me when I visit a place, and then I get an ending,
and from those two elements I let the characters show me their stories. Therefore
I never know where they’ll take me, never really know what they’ll say or do…
it’s very exciting.
What’s the name of
the book that’s soon to be released from Crooked[Cat}Publishing?
One Eyed Jack
Okay. Imagine it goes
all the way to a film. Which actors would you choose to portray the main
characters?
I think Abigail Breslin would be great in the movie version
of the book. She has a great essence about her, at once strong and a little bit
vulnerable. For her best friend, there’s a great young actress named Brooklynn
Proulx who I think would be excellent. And for my main character’s potential
new boyfriend, a younger Thomas Brodie-Sangster, the kid from Love Actually. He’s too old now but
would have been perfect. When Hollywood
comes knocking I’ll look for a younger actor.
Do the names for
characters just pop into your head as soon as you start a book?
Yes, they name themselves. I don’t have to do much other
than start writing and the names are there.
How much research did
you have to do?
For this current YA novel I did very little research other
than live my life. It’s about a girl and her one-eyed horse; I owned and worked
with horses for more than 25 years, one of whom had only one eye. For the
Historical Fiction / Italy
/ Time Travel novel I am currently writing I have done extensive research. It’s
all part of the process, and for me the research is just as exciting as the
writing.
You’ve an invitation
to a stay in a fabulously expensive hotel- all luxuries available in an exotic
hot setting. Which of your characters, or a character in a novel you’ve
recently read, would you ask to accompany you?
Oh, that’s a fun question. I think it would have to be
Repairman Jack, (from a great series by F. Paul Wilson). Jack would be able to
handle any contingency, real or supernatural, as well as be fun to hang with
and watch movies. If he was too busy to go, I’d take Eve Dallas from J.D.
Robb’s In Death series. (Seems to be
a theme here… my fictional companions are both characters who are hard-core
self-reliant protective types. I wonder what that says about my perceptions of
this luxurious hotel setting….)
Do you ever have days
when you think maybe I’ll not bother doing any more writing? And if the answer
is yes, can you tell us why?
Not anymore. I quit writing for a year once (1990), to see
what it would be like, and found that it felt closed off and strangely
isolating. Odd when in reality the writing process can be isolating in itself,
I suppose, but as soon as I broke out the computer and sat down to start a new
project I felt a huge sense of ‘coming home,’ and a great deal of excitement.
That taught me that there’s no ignoring this part of who I am.
In what ways has your
life changed since you’ve become a published author?
After my first published piece, an article for an
international magazine in 1992, the boost in my confidence surprised me. I
suddenly felt that anything was possible, that any writing project was doable.
So in reality what changed wasn’t my life so much, but the way I approached it.
‘Graduating’ from articles to books, first with the book of travel essays and
now with this YA novel, has given me another boost, and I am at full throttle
now on a number of other projects that I feel great about.
What’s your writing
goal for 2013?
My husband would want me to say my PhD dissertation… and
that is an important goal in the academic realm. In the fiction world, I will
write Mountain Jack, Book Two of the
YA series, and will finish the rewrite of the Historical Fiction / Italy
/ Time Travel novel.
One Eyed Jack blurb:
When 12-year old Lauren Miller buys a young Thoroughbred
hunter/jumper on impulse to save him from being put down, she has no
idea just what’s in store for her and her first horse. Jack, a bright
red sorrel, has lost his right eye in a tragic accident, and Lauren is
determined to help him adjust and then enter him in the Trail class at
the end-of-summer show. But the path is fraught with challenges. Will he
ever overcome the loss of his eye? Will she ever be able to trust him?
Will he jump again, even just the small fences required in the Trail
class?
Lauren and
Jack’s summer soon becomes one she will never forget as his fears put
her life in danger, and as she continues to believe – despite the
mounting evidence to the contrary – that he will get over the loss of
his eye and be the horse of her dreams. That belief is put to the test
when her best friend Christie is thrown from a horse and lies unmoving
on a trail far from home. Lauren and Jack must go for help, and there’s
no time for hesitation.
Will Jack rise to the task?
Follow Lauren and Jack as they find out just how far trust will take them.
Thank you for visiting today, Teresa. I've enjoyed reading your answers, and wish you all the best for your book launch.
Slainthe!
Fab post and interview, ladies. Sounds like a fab adventure read!
ReplyDeleteOh, and historical fiction / time travel in Italy sounds intriguing.
Good luck with One Eyed Jack!
Nice to meet you, Teresa. I was born in Colorado, love horses and have a friend who lives in Albuquerque ~ it's a small world. Best wishes for success with your books.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone, and a beautiful sunny morning it really is. Thank you for popping in to 'meet' Teresa. I think the time-travel in Italy sounds fascinating too. Who knows which era Teresa is writing in? Maybe you could tell us, Teresa-just a tiny hint?
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy and Teresa, lovely interview and One Eyed Jack sounds great. I like the way you structure your book, starting with one scene, going to the end and then filling it in. Sounds like the way I work, although I have tried to deny it and instead do a plan. But it feels so prosaic. Anyway, I'm rambling! Good to meet you both. Congratulations for tomorrow :).
ReplyDelete