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Therese Walsh Interview 10/6/2009 6:39:37 AM
An in-depth interview with debut novelist Therese Walsh! In my ongoing quest to bring attention to the works of talented authors, today, I am showcasing accomplished writer, Therese Walsh. I was first introduced to this gifted author through the Writer Unboxed website. Here, Therese is one of the co-founders and contributors of this website that has the wonderful distinction of being rated as one of the top 101 writers’ websites three years in a row by Writers Digest.
I’d like to begin with you sharing a little information about yourself with our readers.
TW: First of all, thanks for having me, Lorna! Let’s see, a little about me…
I’m married with two kiddos, and I have a great dog and one very plump cat. I had a whacky career path—starting out in school as a music major, then eventually settling into psychological research. I was intrigued with sleep research in particular, but my grad school program wasn’t what I’d expected, and so that dream (hah, no pun intended) died. With a general psych research background; I was hired as a features researcher for Prevention Magazine. I’d long loved to write, though I hadn’t considered it as a career until my stint with Prevention. Opportunities were born, and I took them. And when my daughter was born, I left my in-house job to become a freelance health researcher and writer.
Fiction became a part of the everyday at that point – reading to my daughter, then my son. And because I liked to write, one thing led to another; I started writing children’s stories. None were published, but that didn’t matter; Pandora’s Box had been opened.
LS: With introductions aside, let’s jump right in and discuss your debut novel, ‘The Last Will of Moira Leahy’ to be released Oct. 13, 2009 by Random House. As a follower of Writer Unboxed, I know about the story, but please tell the readers about your novel and the inspiration behind the creation of your main character and this story of love and loss.
TW: One thing I learned while writing children’s stories was that I loved a good juicy sentence, so I thought I should try my hand at adult fiction. I chose characters I thought appealing – an antique’s dealer with an accent and a woman who knew just about every language in existence – and set the first scene in an auction house, in the middle of an auction. Now what were these two friends trying to win? I scanned the list of items I’d virtually gathered for the antique dealer’s shop and chose something that looked interesting: a wavy sword. I threw it in the scene. When I gave my scene to a girlfriend later—“What do you think? Is it good?”—she said, “I like it. Is that sword going to be important in the rest of the book?” It sounded like a good idea, so I did what I did best—I researched. And I discovered some very interesting things about the sword, a Javanese keris.
Though I continued to write what I’d intended to be a love story, the discovery draft kept wiggling into uncharted territory. Hmm, there was not only an interesting keris, there was a twin sister. The twin had died, but she was still very present in the tale—at the root of, well, everything.
You can probably see the problem. This wasn’t a focused love story. After about two years of work, finishing the story and collecting my share of professional rejections, I threw everything out and started over with a clearer vision. This was a story about two women, and their individual journeys. It would take me another 2-3 years to fully unravel and explore each of them.
LS: In its creation, I can tell a lot of thought and attention went into the writing of this novel. The Last Will of Moira Leahy has been described as a cross-genre novel. Care to define this for the readers? And being categorized as such; was it difficult for your agent to sell it to a publisher?
TW: If Last Will were a person, I’d say she has a women’s fiction heart but raided several genre closets. She snagged the ripped denims of mystery, muddy boots of family tragedy, a cloak of suspense, an eye patch of adventure, a little suede hat of romantic drama, and a sprinkling of mythical realism glitter.
I love the unpredictable nature of rangy stories, but I worried mine would never sell. My agent didn’t share my concerns—or at least never told me, if she did. After Elisabeth Weed and I connected, we took about a month to tighten Last Will, and then she submitted the manuscript. She sold it within a few days in a preemptive two-book deal to Random House (Shaye Areheart imprint).
***Because of the length of this interview and addition of photos, to read about Therese’s rocky road to publication and eventual success, the reviews for he debut novel and where to buy the book, please go to my official website at http://web.me.com/imagobooks
