Tessa Gratton – Writers Need Adventure As Fuel
Tessa Gratton has this to say about herself:
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a wizard. Or a palaeontologist. Maybe both.
I’m neither now, but magic and monsters are still my favourite things.
The daughter of a navy father, Tessa moved around during her childhood and grew up developing a love of writing and theatre. The author of “Blood Magic”, she now lives in Kansas with her partner, two cats, and a mutant mutt named Grendel.
Darrell - What's a typical day of writing like for you?
Tessa - I wake up around 6am, brew coffee, and while I drink it I read emails and blogs, check twitter. When I settle down to write, it can last anywhere from an hour to 8 hours. Sometimes I break to exercise, and there are always little moments for tweeting or more emails, like between scenes or when I’m thinking about the next line of a conversation. I chat with my critique partner, too. And eat a lot of cold cereal.
Darrell - Paranormal and mystery books seem to be an enormous hit right now. Why do you think this is?
Tessa - I don’t know about mystery novels – and my understanding of paranormal trends only extends through the young adult genre. I think there’s a lot of room to play in paranormal stories – they mostly take place in the real world, but work in an element or two of magic. It’s fun to imagine what it would be like to run into goblins in an alley of your town, or a vampire at the grocery store – that’s what paranormal taps into for me at least. The connections between the magical and the mundane.
Darrell - How did you find a publisher?
Tessa - I got an agent, and she put together a list of editors at publishing houses she thought it might appeal to, then pitched the book to them. She’s worth her weight in gold!
Darrell - What marketing tools do you use to promote yourself e.g. magazine advertising, Facebook, direct email?
Tessa - I only use social networking such as my blog, Twitter, and Facebook. I don’t do direct marketing, but instead just try to entertain people. I hope that makes them seek out my books – but if not, I’m still having a good time!
Darrell - I notice you have a number of publishers and countries listed on your website for Foreign language rights. How does all that work?
Tessa - We sold Random House Children’s Books the world rights to BLOOD MAGIC, which means that their subrights team sells translation rights to publishers around the world. I have nothing to do with it, other than cheering them along! And they have been fabulous for me! The book was taken out early, to last year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and several of the sales have come out of that.
Darrell - What would be the main advice you would give to new writers?
Tessa - Go out and have adventures! You need to live life to be able to write about it!
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