a new page for Woerld

I've been working this weekend to create something new for the website. When writers submit a novel to an editor, we are sometimes asked for something called a series sheet. While I went over my notes on Dolorosa, I have been referring back and forth to the series sheet that I created for Miserere. I needed to refresh my memory as to the rules I constructed around Woerld. As I worked through those maps and notes, I thought some of you might like to see my brief history of Woerld.

Thanks to everyone on Facebook who checked links (*waves at Andy*) and who caught pokes for spokes (*waves at Tammy*), and special thanks to Mihir for his wonderful help on checking names and titles for the Mandir and the Mosque.

Anyway, Woerld is finally live and ready for everyone to peek at. I'll be adding bastions to the page when I have time. When I've made significant changes, I'll update you all through a blog post.

picks and pans--Dolorosa

This scene will probably be like my scene with Diago and Miquel in Garden in Umber--the essence of the scene will remain the same, although the context will change as the story matures. Here is a quick peek at Miserere's sequel, Dolorosa.

“Lucian?” Rachael held her candle higher but the feeble light barely illuminated the parlor that she and Lucian shared. Coals shimmered in the hearth and blinked sparks up into the chimney. Across the wide room, the door to Lucian’s bedchamber stood open. On the nightstand beside the empty bed, a lone candle fluttered against the darkness.

The humpbacked shapes of furniture rose from the shadows, but Rachael barely noted them. Lucian stood beside the chamber’s sole window and gazed down into the courtyard, his profile etched in darkness. As her eye adjusted to the gloom, she picked out the soft white of the cotton shirt he wore beneath his robes. He leaned against the casement, his left hand clenched at his side, his cane rested against the wall within easy reach.

She discerned the reflection of his features in the frosty pane and noted the downturn of his full lips, the rigidity of his stance. If he turned his head, she knew his eyes would sparkle with fury.

The Next Big Thing ... Garden in Umber

I was originally asked to participate in this meme by the talented E. J. Swift, and while I rarely say no to these kinds of things, E. J.'s request came at a rather bad time, so I was forced to decline. Life settled down as it often does, and over the weekend, I got a second request to participate in The Next Big Thing, this time from Alex Bledsoe.

Since I was asked not once, but twice, I'm including a link to E. J. Swift's Next Big Thing and one to Alex Bledsoe's Next Big Thing, so you can see what both of them are up to.

And here is what you can expect from me next:

What is the working title of your book? The working title was The Garden, but I have since changed that to Garden in Umber. It is also the title to a poem, which bears no relation to the novel other than it has the word "garden" in the title, but the imagery of a garden dressed in shades of umber fit very nicely, so there. We'll see if I get to keep it.

Where did you get the idea for the book? I built the story around a character I imagined. His name was Guillermo and he was a werewolf. That was all I knew when I started. I've always loved Beauty and the Beast and wanted to do a story where the "beauty" was the man and the "beast" was the woman. As the story progressed, I found it was less about my beauty and beast and more about the relationship between three men.

As I researched sexuality in the Middle Ages and the attitudes toward gay men, I realized that this story was about how one man allowed societal mores to destroy his relationship with a close friend.

What genre does your book fall under? Fantasy.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? This question usually stumps me, but for Garden, I actually had some inspiration:

Javier Bardem as Guillermo--not because of his looks, but he has the personality that I always associated with Guillermo;

Gael Garcia Bernal as Diago--from his eyes down to his mannerisms, he is just perfect; and

I don't really have an actor picked out for Miquel, but Brazilian model Carlos Freire when he was 18 is right in line with my mental image for Miquel. I don't know if he can act or not. But he sure is pretty.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? It's complicated and really awesome.

No?

Okay, for real:

Guillermo, Diago, and Miquel struggle to remember their first-born lives and the secret of a song that will send the Daimon Ashmedai to the final death and free them from the mad angel Belita's ruined garden.

I hate those one-sentence synopses like the plague. Just saying ...

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Garden in Umber will be placed on submission in 2013. I'm represented by Marlene Stringer of The Stringer Literary Agency.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Once I got the story on track, it took me a little over a year to produce a rough first draft. This one felt longer, because I had a lot of research on the front end of the novel and also had to split my time between Garden and promoting Miserere.

I also tried to produce a polished first draft and wasted a lot of time trying to fit the story into my idea of what the story should be, rather than letting the themes emerge. I hope not to make that mistake a second time.

I've found for me, it's great to start with a firm synopsis, then write the first draft from beginning to end. Once written, it's easy to polish, edit, add, bend, fold, staple, and mutilate ...

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? None. I set trends, I don't follow them.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? I think one thing that inspired this tale to take shape the way it did was my research. I read about men who were accused of homosexuality and how they were burned at the stake along with their papers and personal effects. I read another case about two young men who went to the stake together and professed their love for one another right up until the end--their behavior totally baffled the priests, but I admired their courage. All of these stories had a deep effect on me, and I tried to imagine living in such an atmosphere of hate and fear, not because someone was a bad person, but simply because of who they chose to love.

I also wanted to write a novel about the intimacy that men often share with one another, whether they are heterosexual or homosexual. It's not so much about fathers and sons as it is about how we often find our closest brothers and sisters are those who stand outside our blood lines.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? The angels and daimons in Garden aren't the Biblical good vs. evil sort like I had in Miserere. In Garden, I wanted to toy with the idea that angels and daimons (old gods) were different species of beings and what would happen if these different species mated with mortals.

And they had a war.

And the Nephilim could change into lynxes and wolves.

And you could work magic with a song.

And lots of other cool shit.

Reincarnation also intrigues me and I use that theme in Garden. I wound the men's past lives into their present lives, so we can see how Ithiel, Asaph, and Benaiah were in their first-born lives, then we see how some aspects of their personalities remain the same, yet other aspects are completely different, when they are reborn as Guillermo, Diago, and Miquel.

And if you just followed that sentence, you're going to love this book.

Next up, I've tagged five authors to participate and tell you about their Next Big Things:

Leah Raeder -- who is just too cool for words and is currently shopping her novel, The Feral. She is the Borges to my Garcia Lorca and is an all around interesting person to boot. That and we share a passionate love for our boy, Carlos.

Lindsay Smith -- who has been see hanging out with Leah Raeder and myself (please don't hold that against her) is the author of Sekret, which is coming from Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Children’s in Winter 2014.

Kendra Highley -- author of Matt Archer: Monster Hunter. Kendra and I go back to my days at the Online Writing Workshop where we bonded and still mete out the occasional crit. Check in and say hi to see her talk about her newest novel.

Gabi Stevens -- is a new agency-mate of mine at Stringer Lit. Gabi is an award winning author, who is working on the publication of the backlist that she wrote as Gabriella Anderson. Her latest work is The Falcon and the Wolf.

Wende Dikec -- Wende is also a new agency-mate of mine, and she writes YA with a science fiction edge. Her next big thing is a novel called So Pretty. Head over to see what she has to say about it.

And since being tagged by Alex, I got tagged again by my friends Barbara Friend Ish and Helen Lowe, so pop over and see what their Next Big Things are going to be too.

And THAT ... is all the big things for now.

i write the grimdark ...

I finished my line-edits on The Garden over the weekend. I'm reading the manuscript one final time from beginning to end.

This story has been exacting for many reasons. I think it still reads like an American writing about another culture and I hate that. My voice isn't Spanish, it never will be, because I'm not from that culture. I wish I could effortlessly translate all the beauty that I've found in Spanish and Latin American literature to you, but I'm not that skilled of an author yet. So I'll submit this story with humility and hope that it reaches the public nonetheless.

The Garden is about relationships, how we grow apart; how loving someone is not always about understanding the other person, but more often about accepting them--as they are, not as you wish for them to be. It's about the lengths we will go to in order to protect the people we love--friendship and loyalty.

Oh, yeah, and I put a bunch of angels and Daimons and flash and glamour into the story, because I like those things too, but don't lose sight of the fact that the magic is merely window-dressing. The true story is with the men who walk through this tale.

There is a romance here too, between two men whose love has endured the centuries, because I love romance. I think our loves define us, make us better people, teach us to think beyond ourselves.

The novel begins in Jerusalem and ends in Andalucía. There are approximately 116,000 words, forty-one chapters, seven of which are set in Jerusalem and are known as the Ithiel-chapters, the rest of the novel is set in the Garden. This story is nothing like I intended it to be, the tale marched away from early on and, when I quit fighting it, a new theme emerged. I went with it. I'm glad I did. The story that grew from that twist became deeper and more vibrant.

The Garden is not a Young Adult novel by any stretch of the imagination, and I hope that people will realize that from the first chapters--move on if you don't grown-up tales. I write the grimdark, but I write it with light. This story is only for the brave. Now you've been warned.

Bienvenido ...

Your Character is Your Story's World at Muse, Rant, Rave

It's always cool to meet new local writers, and I love how Melinda tells of our first meeting--at her great-grandmother's wake (a beautiful woman, by the way, and an avid reader).

I was just thrilled when Melinda invited me to write a guest post for her blog. It's up today: Your Character is Your Story's World. While you're there, check out Melinda's link round-ups and other great posts. Melinda is a great lady descended from a long line of strong women.

Now go say hi, and tell her I sent you.

An interview at the dynamic Bookworm Blues

I'm interviewed at Bookworm Blues by the dynamic Sarah! We talk about Miserere, The Garden, world-building, religion, and a host of other topics--pop over and say hi if you have minute. We'd love to see you there.

Reddit AMA--The VERY Big AMA

Tonight, you can Ask Me Anything at the VERY Big AMA on Reddit. The fun starts at 7:00 p.m. CST; 8:00 p.m. EST.

I will join authors Mark Lawrence, Kameron Hurley, Elspeth Cooper, Courtney Schafer, Stina Leicht, Mazarkis Williams, Bradley Beaulieu, Anne Lyle, and Doug Hulick for the Reddit event of the summer.

Meanwhile, don't forget the great Debut Authorpalooza is still going on over at Staffer's Book Reviews. Guest posts, never-before-seen excerpts, and prizes.

a progress report ...

I'm really excited to be on the downward side of my rewrites for The Garden. I have one more chapter that will take some serious tweaks, then the next two are filling in and brushing up what is already there. Some information will move around to make the story flow easier for the reader, but the overall context will remain the same.

It's exciting to have worked so hard on this book and finally see the story come together.

This novel has been such a learning experience for me on so many levels. The story is told in first person:

A night bird cried a sublime song in the garden beyond my window. In the distance, a guard called the watch. Otherwise, the palace slept while I, Solomon, third king of all Israel, lay dying with only an angel at my side.

And third person:

Vicente’s hand lashed out, his palm struck Guillermo’s cheek as if he was an errant child. Guillermo didn’t think about the ramifications of his actions. He swung the bottle. It cracked against the royal señor’s helm. A satisfying jolt traveled up his arm. The stunned expression on Vicente’s face and the roar of the approval from the surrounding men drowned Guillermo’s doubts. Damn the consequences.

The plot isn't complicated, but it is intricate, more so than I've ever attempted to write. Last week it all came together very nicely.

So I'm off to work again. Stay tuned, there are some exciting events coming up these last two weeks of July. I'll keep you posted.

Do we assume all women write YA fantasy; Or what’s in a name?

The first six months after Miserere was published, I felt that I made a mistake publishing under my real name. I am, after all, a woman—a woman who writes fantasy. I think a lot of genre fans made an automatic assumption that a woman who writes fantasy is either writing: a) young adult fantasy; or b) paranormal romance.

I say this for a couple of reasons. My first clue that assumptions were being made came from my initial reviewers. Many of the prominent genre fiction reviewers understood Miserere was an adult novel. However, there were several reviewers that obviously entered the novel fully expecting a Middle Grade or YA fantasy. I believe this little gem of a review encapsulates the confusion nicely:

“I had trouble relating too or liking any of them [the characters]. It left me a bit confused about what age group this book is aimed at. Lindsay is a pre-teen, yet there is too much torture, violence and sex for this to be a middle grade or YA book. Rachael and Lucian appear to be older, in their forties or fifties maybe? Their older age and frame of mind made it harder to relate with them as characters either.”

The question that nagged me after I read that review was simply this: Why did she automatically assume this was a Middle Grade or YA novel?

Although Lindsay does have a significant role in the novel, she isn’t a main character. She is not mentioned in the blurb, nor is she pictured in the cover art. That was Night Shade Books’ decision and I thought it a wise one. As a matter of fact, Night Shade Books did not market Miserere as a YA fantasy at all.

Nor did I. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I enjoy reading and writing fantasy for adults. Middle Grade and Young Adult fantasies are wonderful and I occasionally indulge, but not often. I enjoy the complexity of adult themes. So I remained baffled as to why some readers continued to assess Miserere as if it was a YA novel.

At some point in all this, I read one angsty review too many and snapped. Frankly, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often with debut authors. We’re under a tremendous amount of stress and every review influences the overall perception of our novels. Authors are told to say nothing. In some authors this “say nothing” rule creates a powder-keg effect, and mine erupted in the manifesto, “I write dark fantasy.”

Shortly after that blog post, people started taking me seriously as an adult fiction author. Suddenly, I noticed a 180 degree change in attitude regarding Miserere. People viewed the story differently.

Hmmmm, said my brain.

I became curious and looked at reviews for male authors such as George RR Martin, Joe Abercrombie, Doug Hulick, Mark Lawrence. No one mistook their novels for YA or Middle Grade. Stina Leicht took some heat because her urban fantasy Of Blood and Honey was very dark and didn’t meet the hunky urban fantasy romance prototype, but no one banged Alex Bledsoe for doing the same type of dark urban fantasy with The Hum and the Shiver.

Hmmmm, said my brain. (My brain says that a lot.)

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that a strong possibility existed that people automatically equated Miserere as being a YA novel because I am a woman. The reason I infer a “strong possibility” is simply because I have no data with which to support this hypothesis; all I have is circumstantial evidence. However, the more I evaluate the situation across the board, the more I realize it’s entirely possible.

I’m also quite cognizant of the fact there is an overall assumption by non-genre readers that all fantasy novels are written for young adults. However, the reviews and confusion about Miserere came from people who read genre fiction on a regular basis.

So. The unanswered question, of course, is: If I had published under the name T. Frohock, would people still have made the YA assumption about Miserere? I don’t know. The thought has haunted me from time to time over the last year, and it has certainly made me more aware of my initial assumptions when I see an author’s name.

Me?

I’m going to publish under Teresa Frohock. I’ve had that name for quite some time and I’ve grown rather fond of it. I will change your mind about how you perceive my work. I love a challenge.

And please allow me to clarify once more, so there is no confusion:

I write dark fantasy.

For adults.

You know the drill. *winks*

Tell me if you make assumptions about an author’s work simply by looking at his or her name. I’m in interested in what you think.

I'm giving away books & a salute to book bloggers

Miserere is almost one year old!

I am really grateful for the awesome reviews Miserere has received from book bloggers all over the Internet. I'm also extremely grateful for all the help from other authors and bloggers in getting the word out about Miserere.

I'm celebrating the anniversary of Miserere's debut with a Goodreads Giveaway! Three autographed copies of Miserere are up for grabs for the UK, US, Canada, and Australia. You can go drop your name in the hat by clicking here.

Stay tuned for more interesting stuff that will be happening through the month of June. [Just trust me. I'm making this up as I go along.]

That is the giveaway part. Now to the salute:

I talked with other authors on Twitter one day, and we all felt that we should stay off of book review blogs. However, as someone who has written (and still writes) book reviews, I know how much time and effort goes into writing a review. I also know very few of you are getting paid for your time. Most of you write your reviews out of love for the genre.

I want to thank you for your time, your beautiful blogs, your wit, and your knowledge. Whether you've reviewed Miserere or not isn't what this is about. I've seen the amount of work that you people put into your blogs, the special series that you run to educate and entertain, and your love of genre fiction.

Thank you for providing such a valuable service to the readers.