Thursday, November 17, 2011

Welcome Theresa

 Please welcome my pal and yours, the wonderfully (oops, naughty adverb there) talented author, Theresa Milstein. I am privileged to be on her Fangtales blog tour.

Thanks for interviewing me, Robyn.

Tell us about your story in Fangtales:

Fangtales is a YA vampire anthology that had the criteria to be as true as possible to the rules in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  I had to do some research to see what that meant before writing my short story. 

My short story is called “Allured”.  Shalom is a new student who has been trying to snag the most popular boy in her high school.  A couple of people in her new town have been murdered, one in a graveyard.  She’s trying to convince this popular boy to visit the graveyard with her. 

That’s all I can say… 

How did you get the idea for it?


I got my idea with a sentence or two.  That’s usually how it starts.  I don’t know more than that.  Often, I don’t know the ending until I get there.  I just have this vague sense of where I’m going. 

Here’s the edited version of the beginning, which is pretty similar to my rough draft:

“I twisted a golden curl in my usual alluring way. Guys loved it when I did that. I lowered my voice, so Reid had to lean in to hear me, his elbows propped on his knees.”

After I wrote those lines, I had to figure out what she wanted and why.

How did you feel when you got the email saying they accepted it?

This was my first accepted short story, so I was thrilled.  I submitted the story last fall (just about a year ago).  The decision was supposed to be decided in the winter, but got delayed until spring.  After writing for five years, it felt good to be validated.  I wish I’d tried to write short stories sooner because I’ve gotten three of my three short stories accepted into anthologies.  If only I had that kind of success with my novels. (Note from Robyn: she will, she will!)

Tell us about your other publications.

After I submitted “Allured”, I heard about a call for stories to be included in an anthology to raise money for flood victims in Australia.  The criteria:  stories should be upbeat.  In my story “Daisy”, Debbie plucks the petals off a daisy to decide whether or not to tell her boyfriend a secret. I was worried it wasn’t upbeat enough, but it was accepted. 100 Stories for Queensland was published in May. 

The same editor who put together, 100 Stories for Queensland is the editor for Literary Mix Tapes.  She invited me to submit a story for an upcoming anthology, Tiny Dancer.  All of the stories are to be speculative fiction, inspired in some way by Elton John’s song “Tiny Dancer”.  My piece is about being a futuristic society that upholds a twisted version of the 1950s idea of domesticity.  Girls aren’t allowed to be traditionally educated and need to win beauty pageants in order to snag a good husband when they come of age.

All of my three short stories have a twist, which I hope the reader isn’t expecting.  

Thank you Theresa for stopping by today. You know I heart you, girlfriend.  People please. Go buy it! Smooch!

Linkage peeps:

Theresa's place:


Fangtales (go buy it): 





100 Stories for Queensland (go buy it too, if you haven't all ready and I know you have. Right??):


http://100storiesforqueensland.org/?page_id=22

Yay Theresa!!!!!!!!! We love you soooooooo much!



43 comments:

  1. Thank you soooooooo much, Robyn! I appreciate your support as a blogging buddy all the time. Now I appreciate your support when I have something to promote. I can't wait to return the favor someday.

    I'm doing to set up a blog link now. xo

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  2. SOOO happy to be in eMergent's anthos with you theresa!!:o)

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  3. Great interview, Theresa.
    Robyn, so nice of you to promote this book.
    I applaude the both of you!

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  4. Hello Robyn and hello lovely Theresa!! Yay for your story Allured!! Love how you got the idea for it from a sentence!! Brilliant!

    All the best Theresa! Take care
    x

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  5. Nicely done Robyn & Theresa.

    Wait Theresa, on the accepted question, you forgot to mention the part where you jumped around screamed, and threw computer-typed paper in the air.

    Or, maybe I imagined that part.

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  6. Congratulations, ladies, on the great interview! It's good to learn a little more about Theresa. :) Thanks so much for sharing with us!

    Have a fabulous weekend,
    Karen

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  7. Thanks ladies, and congratulations Theresa. Interesting how the story idea began. I love doing that, taking a single scene, and having the rest of the story be the ramifications of that scene.

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  8. I enjoyed Theresa's interview and it provided an interesting insight to a non writer like me.
    I always like the way you writers support each other and give plugs to each others work. It's one of the best aspects of the blogging world.

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  9. Theresa is the nicest vampire mistress of the interwebs. I say that because once she locks her gaze on you...you cannot ignore her. But she never bites.

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  10. Wow, I love the concept for your Tiny Dancer story. Great interview, Theresa and Robyn. :)

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  11. Great interview.
    That's often the way of it. Once you get one story accepted others soon follow. It's getting that one story accepted that's the hardest part. And again, Congrats, Theresa :)

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  12. Sounds like a great story! I've just started reading some books with short stories for the first time. I'm really enjoying them. Interesting interview!

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  13. What a great interview! Theresa's awesome and the stories all sound fantastic!

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  14. That's wonderful, Theresa!
    Writing short stories is an art-form in itself.

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  15. Story sounds very compelling! :)

    I love short stories...

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  16. Great interview!

    I love it when short stories come with a twist. :)

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  17. Thanks everyone who commented.

    Jessica, I'm happy to be in the same anthology with you too.

    Slamdunk, that may be your special memory!

    Michael, I have a new on-line title: nicest vampire mistress of the interwebs

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  18. It's great to be getting all that writing out there in publications.
    Congratulations Theresa!


    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  19. All three of these sound like stories I would love to read :-)

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  20. Its nice to meet you, Theresa. Your story sounds great. Have a lovely weekend, Robyn and Theresa.

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  21. Awesome, Theresa (and congrats)!!! And I like those two lines that started the ball rolling! *cheers*

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  22. And oops, I forgot to say hi to Robin *waves*

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  23. This is on my TBRs and will get it asap :)

    Thank you, Robyn and Theresa!

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  24. Congrats Theresa! And *hi five* to Robyn. Best wishes!

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  25. I'm so excited for Theresa! Congratulations!!!

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  26. So happy for Theresa! Congratulations! Sounds like a really cool story!

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  27. I'd love to read Theresa's story and the rest of Fangtales.

    I'm thrilled for her. May she have many more stories published. :)

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  28. All three of the stories sounded interesting. As does your way of finding story ideas. :-)

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  29. Good for Theresa! I'm amazed how many writers are successful with short stories.

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  30. Congratulations, Theresa on your recent publications. How exciting. Your stories sound really interesting.

    Thanks for interviewing her, Robyn!

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  31. Congratulations Theresa!

    Great interview, Robyn, so nice of you to promote Theresa and her book.

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  32. Great interview, Theresa and Robyn!

    Congratulations Theresa!

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  33. Thanks for interviewing Theresa, Robyn. I really enjoyed this.

    Theresa, the beginning of Allured is a great hook! That's so interesting that you wrote those sentences and then came up with the story idea. Very cool. Congratulations on Fang Tales and your other two short stories. You're on a roll. Keep going!

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  34. Another great interview, Theresa and Robyn! Thanks so much for sharing. Good luck with the sales, Theresa!

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  35. I'm so happy to see comments are still rolling in. You guys are awesome!

    You too, Robyn.

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  36. Fabulous interview, Robyn and Theresa! I loved hearing about the idea behind the story.

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  37. Many Many Congratulations, Theresa! Your success is well deserved!

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  38. Great interview! And interesting to see what sparked off the beginning of the story. I've had a beginning appear in my head before, and then had to wonder what was happening and how the characters got into that situation.

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  39. Hi Theresa and Robyn .. great to read - and so good you're getting your short stories published .. those novels will happen I'm sure ..

    Looking forward to reading them and supporting the anthologies .. Happy Thanks giving to you both with your families and friends .. cheers Hilary

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  40. A very interesting interview Robyn. Well done :) Happy to meet Theresa here. Sounds like a great book.

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