Interview with Victoria Strauss
[victoriaphoto] Victoria Strauss is the author of six fantasy novels, including The Arm of the Stone, The Garden of the Stone and her most recent, The Burning Land, just out from HarperCollins Eos. She's a regular book reviewer for the online journal SF Site, and her articles on writing have appeared in Writer's Digest and elsewhere. She's an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, where she serves as vice-Chair of the Writing Scams Committee and maintains the Writer Beware literary scams warning website (http://www.writerbeware.com). She welcomes visitors to her own website: http://www.victoriastrauss.com.
Debbie Ledesma: First of all, what led you to become a writer? Was it hard getting published?
Victoria Strauss: I wasn't one of those people who always knew they'd be a writer. As a child and a teenager, I did do some writing, but not seriously, and certainly not with an eye to a career, even though my mother is a published novelist.
My first novel happened more or less by accident. I wanted to take a year off between high school and college to live abroad with my family; my parents were willing to let me do it, but told me I'd have to come up with some sort of educational or creative project to keep me busy for the year. I'd just taken an English class that required me to write several short stories, and I'd enjoyed it, so I thought: "Hey, why not try and write a novel?" I wasn't serious, or at least I didn't think I was--I was mostly trying to placate my parents. I didn't actually expect to finish it. But a few chapters in I was hooked, and by the time I was halfway through I'd decided that writing was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
I began submitting the book to publishers (this was back in the 1970's, when publishers were still willing to look at unagented manuscripts), and then, totally by accident, got an offer of representation from a brand-new agent. She diligently sent the manuscript around, but got no takers, and after a while stopped actively submitting. She never forgot about my book, though, and whenever she thought there was someone who might be interested she sent it out. Eventually, she did get me an offer. I had to completely rewrite the book to make it publishable, which was an interesting lesson in swallowing my authorial pride. But I learned a huge amount from doing it. To this day, I'm grateful to the editor who bought it for taking a chance on a very unready writer, and for being so generous with her guidance and support.
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