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| Meet writer, Faith Elizabeth Hough |
As mentioned in an earlier post, the purpose of this and future interviews is to give unagented, pre-published uber awesome writers, like Faith here, another venue in which to showcase themselves, their manuscript(s), and their writing styles.
1. Faith, what manuscript do you have out on submission now?
I'm seeking representation for my older YA historical fiction manuscript THE WITHERING VINE (50,000 words).
2. Can you give us a short pitch?
Genevieve yearns for a home; she's made her lodging in bloody butcher shops and dusty streets of Medieval France, but never known a place where she belongs. At sixteen, she is under the care of Antoine and Colette, the owners of a vineyard in the south of France, and though she seeks to make a place for herself amidst their rows of vines and within their hearts, the vines are failing and their hearts are cold. It takes the companionship of vines, the friendship of a feisty nun, the quiet love of an injured soldier—but most of all the secrets held in a mysterious hidden manuscript—to help Jenny find her place and find herself.
I must add that I have read THE WITHERING VINE and Faith's lyrical prose Blew. Me. Away. I fell in love with Genevieve's strength, gentleness, perseverance, and heart. Okay, back to our interview.
3. Speaking of, would you share the opening from THE WITHERING VINE?
Sure, here it is:
One of the disadvantages of being raised on the streets is that one's conscience develops with a sort of delay.
A normal girl of sixteen years, I suppose, would be warned by her healthy, homegrown conscience to stop and think before she falls into sin. I, on the other hand, don't merely fall, but plunge right into the depths with no alarm sounding at all.
Oooh nice. Different from the draft I read a few months back, love it. I'm hooked!!
4. Faith, how might your main character, Genevieve, describe you if you were to step into a scene in your manuscript. Give us a short scene or paragraph, please : )
I'm not sure how I translate to Medieval France! But here is how Genevieve might find me in her world:
Across the field, a woman sits hunched over—something—her hair dripping over her face. As I walk closer I see that it is a piece of paper, covered in curlicues and slashes of ink, becoming more covered as she scratches at it with a quill. I hurry towards her, hungry just for the sight of more letters and words, but am hampered, first by the muddy grass, then by two almost-as-muddy little girls. The older one, with wild brown hair, takes my hand and pulls me into a stomping and reeling dance, laughing at the startled look on my face. The small one stills and lowers her wide blue eyes, only peering at me through her eyelashes, though her shoulders sway to her sister's song.
“Girls!” the woman calls. She puts aside the paper and pulls them onto her lap, raising her own eyes to me in apology—as if apology were to be made for the first friendly gesture I have known in days. She resembles her older daughter in looks: brown hair and eyes and a wide smile. But she has the baby's reserve. She hides the pen and paper under her skirt and says, “Good day to you, miss,” in a voice so soft the wind nearly hides it. Yet when her daughter whispers something into her ear, the mother's smile grows even wider, and it is not too hard to imagine her dancing wildly in the fields when no one is looking.
This shows us well what defines you, your writing and your girls, while allowing us a hint of your true character. Beautifully done, Faith.
5. Words facinate me. What is your least and most favorite word? Use each in a sentence written in the voice of one of your characters (from any of your manuscripts).
Okay, my least and most “favoritest” (as my daughter would say) words translate to the Middle Ages even more poorly than I do. So I'll write them in the voice of Jodie, the 12-year-old protagonist of my new work-in-progress.
Cecily swings her shoulders back and stretches up to her full height—still several inches shorter than me.
“I'm older than y'all,” she says.
“You're older than me,” I clarify. “But this is my house.” And I'm bigger than you, I think, because just the thought puts confidence into my voice.
“Well,” she pouts, “Aunt Clare put me in charge irregardless. I guess that means she trusts me more.”
I roll my eyes. I don't say it aloud, but it's clear to me who would win this battle of wits if wits were all that had to do with it.
Before I can squeeze in a fitting retort, the wild tintinnabulation of noontime racket starts up: Dad's clock striking the hour, the telephone ringing with Mom checking in, Katy marching through the halls yelping, “Lunch-time! Lunch-time! Lunch-time!” at the top of her lungs.
(Okay, I sort of cheated, because it was really hard to work into a random word in just one sentence. The word I hate up there is “irregardless”...if that counts, even though it's not a real word; it just really gets on my nerves when people use it. My favorite word is “tintinnabulation.” Honestly, that's hard to fit into any sentence, but I just love the sound of it.)
Due to the degree of word-difficulty, I'll let the extra word count slide : ) Good job, Faith.
6. Would you like to share with us what you are working on while you wait?
I'm one of those people who always has to be working on a couple things at once....so the answer has two parts: I'm piling up the research for another YA historical novel, AMBER & FLAME, a cross-class romance starring Francesca Stradivari, the daughter of the legendary violin maker. (My husband is a violin maker by profession, so some of the research is quite hands-on as he lets me “fiddle” around a bit with chisel and plane. ; )
Then I'm plotting/writing a contemporary middle grade story—you met the characters in the lines above. The very tentative title is STORY SUMMER, and while I haven't polished out a pitch yet, it involves a run-down theater in central New York State, long-abandoned memories, classic cousin-rivalry, and a delicious local dish known as tomato pie. I'll have to update you when I have more than an outline and a before-the-first draft written. : )
Sheesh, you do all that AND run around after two little ones? Goodness, girl!! You rock.
7. I'm always in search of inspiration and that "AHA" moment. Is there a book you've read recently that’s been particularly inspiring? Why?
You do realize this is the hardest question you've asked? ;) I read a lot and find inspiration almost as often. But I would have to say that this year's Newbery winner, Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, was one of the rare books that changed the way I thought about life and people—and writing especially. I loved the way Clare Vanderpool, well, manifested the universal power of story and the connection between people, across time and race and generations. That's a theme that crops up from time to time in my own writing, but I didn't even realize it until thinking about this story. Now I'll probably never get away from it. ;)
Thanks, I'll put that one on my TRL.
8.What literary character do you share a good number of traits with? Which character do you wish you could be more like?
I have a lot in common with Betsy Ray from the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace...only I'm a bit shyer than Betsy is. I'm probably more like a combination of Betsy and Tacy, actually. I wish my life was more like Betsy's—if you've read the books, you're familiar with the Ray family Sunday afternoon get-togethers with games and singing and dancing and Mr. Ray's famous sandwiches... I plan on instituting something similar when my kids are a little older, complete with playing the “Merry Widow Waltz”...but without the hats of the same name, I suppose.
I can totally see you and your family playing the Merry Waltz!!
Besides the above mentioned manuscripts, Faith's fantasy manuscript THE ART OF ELSEWHERE was the winner of the Tassy Walden Award for New Voices in Children's Literature last year, and she was also a finalist in the same competition in 2007 as well as 2008.
Thanks again Faith for allowing us a peek into your worlds, real and literary. I wish you all the best in finding a home for The Withering Vine, I'm confident you will. For inspiration and a plethora of fun literary trivia, visit Faith's blog here.
If you or someone you know is interested in being spotlighted, you are a pre-published, unagented writer with a completed manuscrip - email me : )
