Thursday, July 15, 2010

Caught red-handed and Kidnapped

To keep up with all things interview related I've asked the lovely and talented Tamara Heiner to join us in all the fun!!!! Below is the interview I hope you enjoy!!!

1.Your book Perilous is due to release in fall 2010, could you tell us a little bit about it?

Let’s see, Perilous! In brief, it follows the story of four teenage girls who witness a crime, and in a desperate gamble to silence them (and make a little money), the criminal kidnaps them, dragging them thousands of miles from home across the Canadian border. However, they manage to escape, and spend the majority of the book trying to get back to their families, all with the kidnapper hot on their trail. It doesn’t end with the first book either! There is some resolution, but the kidnapper isn’t caught. That remains for the second book. And in true YA-style, there is, of course, romance (sigh), complete with a love triangle. (I did have to really tone down the love triangle, though, and keep the novel more of a thriller. Sad!)

2. Do you have a critique group, online, in your neighborhood?

Yes. Online only, I’m afraid. I’d love to have a neighborhood one, but we seem remarkably short on local authors.

3. How did you decide what agencies to query through?

I knew I wasn’t going to query agents with this novel. I felt it was a starter novel, kind of like a starter home, and therefore I decided only to query small presses. At the time I thought it was going to be a Christian, religious novel (which it is not now—everything’s been edited out until the novel is mainstream, for the sake of a larger audience), so I limited my queries to small Christian presses. Did you use certain websites to help decide who was best? In particular I found the LDS Storymakers publishing website very helpful. I didn’t realize how many small presses there were! (So many!)

4. How many queries did you send out? How long before you heard from a publisher?

I sent out 8 queries, I think. It took two months to get my first rejection. I actually only got one rejection. I might have gotten others if they had had the chance to reject me (one had my query for 8 months and still hadn’t made a decision), but I was offered a contract by one of the companies before they could. It was a very fun feeling to reject them!

8 . Do you have any other works in progress? Of course! Care to give a few details?

Oh, sure, I love to talk about my books! I have the sequel to Perilous (working
title: Altercation) in second draft form. I’ll finish it after Perilous goes to press, that way I know there are no more changes I need to make. I have a completely
revised novel that I’m currently querying, called White as Snow. It’s a fairy-tale retelling, the story of Snow White, with equal parts historical and fantasy woven in. I’ve started the ‘sequel’ to that one, currently untitled, but it’s a fairy-tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast. At the moment I’m working on a stand alone YA novel called Inevitable. It’s about a teenage girl who is psychic, but only around certain people. She spends her whole life avoiding these people because she only sees negative things. And then she meets a boy that she knows (psychically) will break her heart. Yet nothing she does can keep them apart.

Fun and Random Questions
Favorite restaurant: Tucanos
Favorite book: A Rustle in the Grass
Favorite writing spot: The corner of the couch, propped up by pillows.
Chocolate or Gummy Bears: Depends on my mood. Usually gummy bears.
Favorite writing snack: I don’t really eat while I write…
Favorite book series: Harry Potter
Favorite movie: Lord of the Rings

Isn't she awesome!!!! Be sure to check out her blog and support her in her writing dream!!!

Tamara Heiner at Chasing Dreams

33 comments:

TerryLynnJohnson said...

Way to go Tamara. Sounds wonderful!

Diana Mieczan said...

That book sounds very interesting:) Great!!!
I usually go with chocolate but I love gummy bears too:)( my fav: red) hahaha
Kisses darling

Anonymous said...

GREAT interview! Book sounds brilliant!

JE said...

Congrats on getting published! That's wonderful!

Great interview, Jen!

~JD

Christina Lee said...

Wow so interesting to hear about the samll press route!! Way to go!!

Vicki Rocho said...

(muttering to self: white as snow, white as snow)

I love fairy tale retellings! Not sure I'd ever let my daughter out of my sight if I read about kidnappings!

Candyland said...

Interesting interview. Love to see things in different forms (i.e. the Christian-esque market). Very cool.

Karen Lange said...

Good interview! Glad you shared it with us:) I like the Fun and Random questions; I may have to borrow that idea sometime if you don't mind.
Have a great weekend,
Karen

Moll said...

Congrats Tamara! I can't eat while I write either. Probably the only activity I engage in where that is the case!

Joanne said...

Thanks Tamara and Jen for a great interview. Kudos to you for submitting to the small presses, they offer such a wonderful opportunity to writers. Best wishes with your book :)

Krysten @ Why Girls Are Weird said...

Wow this was SO interesting! As a bugging author myself I really enjoyed reading about this process.

Laura S. said...

Tamara's novels sound terrific! And good for her for querying small presses. She's inspiring!

Patti said...

The small press idea was very interesting. It just goes to show that there are a lot of different ways to get published. Great interview.

Talli Roland said...

Great interview, guys!

But TAMARA! How can you not eat when you write?! You have my undying admiration. I must snack to get me through.

Best of luck with 'Perilous'!

Amy Saia said...

Love this! And I love the insight of the querying and editing. Really great to read this. Thanks again Jen and Tamara!

Jillian said...

Wow another fabulous interview. Thanks so much for sharing about the small presses rather than agents, for some reason that never occurred to me.

Aubrie said...

Great interview! I love working with small presses. Sometimes that's the way to go!

Southpaw said...

Great interview. The book sounds intriguing.

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Thanks so much for this, Jen! You are totally awesome! And thanks to everyone who commented and noticed me!

Lenny Lee said...

wow that was fun to read. i like the sound of that book. i like scary stuff and adventure stories so i think i could like this book lots. i love all these interview.

...smiles from leny

Terry Stonecrop said...

Great interview and I love the Perilous plot.

The small presses interested me too. Very helpful to think about. Thanks! :)

Carolyn V. said...

Jen such great interview! Tamara it's so cool that you got your first book out! How awesome is that? And I'm impressed that you don't eat when you write. I have such a hard time not. =)

DL Hammons said...

And she's an Arkansas girl!! Yay us! :)


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Lori W. said...

Cool interview. Thank you both. I love hearing people's stories re: writing and the road to publication. I went back and read some of your other recent posts, too. Thank you for stopping by my blog. I'm happy to discover yours!

Crystal Cook said...

Another great interview Jen! I love the sound of her books, so cool. And wow only eight querries and the second one said yes!! That's awesome and encouraging :)

Woo hooo for Harry!!!

RaShelle Workman said...

Great Tamara!!!! Sounds like you have a lot going on. =D

The Words Crafter said...

Sounds like a really exciting read, thanks for the interview and post!

kbrebes said...

I was thinking of the book THE GO GETTER just this morning, and I thought of you. You are a Go-Getter! Inevitable sounds interesting, as do all your books! Go gettem girl!

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

8 queries...that is remarkable! Congratulations on your upcoming book, Tamara!

Thanks, Jennifer. :)

Saumya said...

Wow; this is awesome!!! Great post and blog!

karen yuan said...

Awesome interview! I can't wait to read Tamara's book- it sounds really unique :D

Danyelle Ferguson said...

Yeah, Tamara! I enjoyed learning more about you. Can't wait for your book to come out!

Kathryn Magendie said...

I'm here from Tamara's place to support her and cheer for her and give her a bit WHahooo!