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NTRWA January 2006 Spotlight
On...
ROSEMARY
CLEMENT-MOORE
by
Gina Nelson
Our January 2006 Spotlight features Rosemary Clement-Moore. Last
month Rosemary sold her first novel, PROM DATES FROM HELL to Delacorte
in a two-book deal. This month I prodded the vivacious author with the big smile
to share a little about her writing and her new book.
Rosemary, I think you recently moved back to the Metroplex. Where were
you and what brought you back?
I moved back to
the Metroplex from South Texas. I grew up in Arlington, went to school
at TCU and then at UT Dallas for my master's degree. My husband and I
relocated to Corpus Christi after I graduated, then shortly moved to my
family's ranch a little bit north of there, in Refugio County. We
returned to Arlington last year. We're happy to be back near our
families, though the suburbs feel strange after years with no neighbors
but the cows. It’s a trade off, because I'm really liking curbside trash
pick up and not having to go out to fix the well pump when it breaks in
the middle of the night (because it's always the middle of the night).
A ranch sounds like a great place to write. When did the writing bug
bite you?I've
written stories since I could hold a pen. I think my mom still has one I
wrote about a girl who wakes up one night to find a spaceship landing in
her yard, carrying an enormous alien that has the body of a dinosaur and
the head of a parrot (I'd just seen At the Earth’s Core), and she has to
fight it off with ordinary household items and save the world. I also
wrote a lot of Battlestar Galactica stories, because in the
original series there were no girl fighter pilots, so I made up my own. (She always got together with the cute guy.) So I guess I was destined
to write fantasy and science fiction with a touch of romance.
Have you always written for Young Adults?
I never set out to
write Young Adult, exactly. A lot of what is shelved as YA now was just
considered Sci-Fi and Fantasy when I was growing up. My plays were
written to be performed by young people, but I always tried to work on
multiple levels, so that there is something in there for everyone. I
think my book (PROM DATES FROM HELL) is like that. I hope it is.
Mostly I just write the story I want to tell, but I think my favorite
themes lend themselves well to YA.
I happen to know you went to RWA Nationals last year at the last minute
to meet an agent. How did that turn out?
When I realized I
was going to finish the book before Nationals, I got my act together and
took it on the road to Reno. My friend Candy Havens introduced me to her
(super) agent, and despite the petrified incoherence of my pitch, she
agreed to look at the partial. But I didn't rely on just that. I went
home, more certain than ever that I wanted an agent.
First, I did my
research, because I wanted an agent who would best represent the full
range of what I want to write (Romance and straight Fantasy as well). I
used the
RWA® list of agents, and I went to the bookshelves and looked in
the acknowledgments of the books that I thought were in the "spirit" of
my work. A bunch of those agents weren't accepting new authors. I also
did a lot of online research. I checked
Publisher's Marketplace and
Predators and
Editors. I made a list, and I started at the top of it,
no matter how "unworthy" I felt. I sent out six query letters: I got
two requests for the partial; two requests for the full, one rejection,
and one no response.
My agent,
Lucienne
Diver, was one who requested the full. Three weeks after I put the ms in
the mail she called and said she'd like to represent me. She gave me
some comments on the book, I turned around a revision in a week, and one
month from the day she called that first time, she called again to say
we had an offer.
So, what were you doing when you got THE CALL?
Would you believe
I was scooping up dog poop out of the backyard? I had the windows
open, so I heard the phone ring. I was going to let the machine get it,
but then I heard my agent's voice and did the ten yard dash (with dog
hurtles) to get to the phone.
Details, details!
My agent had been
playing phone tag with the Delacorte editor, so we had a couple of bids
already on the table when Krista Marino finally got the manuscript. I
would have been thrilled to go with any of the publishers. I mean,
really! But I was so excited when Delacorte made an offer. I love their
books, love their authors and I'm pretty sure I'm going to love my
editor.
Confess. Who was your “Prom Date from Hell?”
Ha! Great
question. Unfortunately I cannot answer this without, um, incriminating
details.
Oh, fine! Well, how did you come up with the idea and catchy title?
I had been working
on another novel when the first scene of PROM DATES FROM HELL popped
into my head. It was the middle of the night and I wrote it all down on
a notebook I keep upstairs. I didn't even have my glasses on, so in the
morning, I could barely read what I wrote. But I'd preserved the gist of
it. I'd had the protagonist, Maggie Quinn, in mind for some time, as
kind of a Brenda Starr meets Kolchek the Nightstalker character.
Normally I agonize over titles, but this one was easy. The book begins
with Maggie being asked to the Prom by a dweeb of the first order, and
ends with demon hordes attacking the Marriot. I haven't heard yet
whether they're going to let me keep the title, but the sequel is called
HELL WEEK. (Think positive!)
What do you struggle with in your writing?
I struggle with
the ability to commit to the course of the project or plot and not start
second guessing myself. Too many times that inner critic says, "this is
crap" or "this other idea would be so much better" and I'll end up
starting over or worse, stalling completely, in the grip of
indecision. I have a hard time trusting my natural instincts.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I'm too
superstitious to answer that question. I think that in the arts, even
more than other professions, success can hang on so many things that the
artist has no control over. So yes, I have goals, but I can't make
myself speak them aloud. I can say that I will still be writing,
editing and submitting. Anything other than that... well, touch wood and
turn around three times.
So, last question. What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I'm proud of this
book. It’s a good book, though it probably won't change anyone's life
but mine. But it represents all the classes and workshops, the
unfinished manuscripts discarded from a lack of courage or conviction,
the life events that put me in a position to write it, and, finally,
finding the faith in myself to actually surrender it to the mailman.
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