I have the good fortune to present the amazing writer and physician, and someone I call friend, Dr. Rita Woods. She is the author of two fantasy novels Remembrance which was released in January 2020 and The Last Dreamwalker in September 2022 by Forge Books.
Rita's first book Remembrance was picked up by Tor/Forge in 2018
Spanning
three centuries, Remembrance is the story of four women connected both by their
individual powers and tragedy. They are linked across the centuries through
Mother Abigail, a voodoo priestess who uses her powers to create Remembrance, a
parallel universe that is a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Remembrance was a long road to publication. Rita met Joanna Volpe at a conference in 2009. It would take many revisions and submission rounds before the story was sold.
How
did you handle the requests that you significantly change Remembrance?
“I struggled with their requests at first. Not all of the suggestions were problematic. Many of the questions surrounding the story regarding arc, character development, etc. required some deep diving into areas that initially had not seemed central to the story. In the back and forth (which was quite a bit) the story continued to evolve. There is also the element of being a debut author and not feeling confident to question some things. Early on, acquisition editors wanted to know more about the adult characters. Then they asked for a contemporary character. So the character Gaelle was added. The story went from young adult fantasy to Black & African American Historical Fiction and Black & African American Women's Fiction. I feel more confident now about standing up for a story and saying no if I think a change will hurt it.”
How did the acquisition process work and how does the advance payment work?
"Remembrance went through several rounds of submissions before it found a home at Forge Books. The first half of the advance is paid upon delivery of finished manuscript. The second half is paid when final edits are completed and approved. You have to earn back your advance before you earn royalties, which Remembrance has done. I received my first royalty check with my first advance for the second book. I received a five figure advance, but still work as a full-time physician. After the book is submitted, the editor sends notes, usually one to five pages of suggestions and issues. My editor is all about motivation. Why does this happen? Why does the character do that? Then the pages are returned for thoughts. Next are extensive line edits.These are painful. Every character and locale is given a sheet to track continuity, arc, etc. In Remembrance, the level of detail included notations that streets have a period after them and avenues do not and discussions as to what exact year St. Louis Cathedral became a cathedral and stopped being referred to as a church and what the exact GPS coordinates of the Atchaflaya Basin were relative to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Final copy edits and ARCs are then done and approved. The second advance check is cut. We are now in the process of interviewing voice actors for the audible version of Remembrance. Not all authors have this much input into the audible version and cover design but this was both contractual and a function of the collaborative team at Forge."
"I really enjoyed traveling around the country for live events. I thrived on hearing from readers about the way the book inspired them and what they took from it. Every reader is unique and comes to a story with a different viewpoint. I would fly to destinations once or twice a week, often fielding texts about the next book. I still attend events and interviews a couple of times a week, occasionally twice in a day. Speaker fees run $50 to $1000 for a first time author. When the shutdown happened, everything went to Zoom. Then Zoom conferences started getting hacked and we had to switch to Comcast. I miss the audiences. I have been interviewed by well-known writers such as Veronica Roth, TJ Klune, Hank Phillipi Ryan, and Joshilyn Jackson.You are expected to continually post on social media. There is also the expectation that you will write multiple essays (I think I ended up writing close to a dozen) for inclusion in different magazines and papers, blog posts, even a short story, prior to launch. So it has been really exciting, but also very busy."
Remembrance earned you an additional two book deal. How is that going?
"Before you finish the first book, they are asking for pages for the next book and the process starts all over again. The next book to be released is titled The Last Dreamwalkers and is due to be published in Spring of 2022. The first draft of the third book, which is still in the concept phase, is due May of 2022."
How did the pandemic affect you?
"There were days when I wondered, 'Why does this matter?' I know people are looking to art and literature for comfort and escape but when the whole world feels like it is on fire, you ask yourself, 'What is the point?' I have editors with goals for me to hit, though. So I persist."
Rita
went on to release The Last Dreamwalker in September 2022. In the wake of her mother's passing,
Layla Hurley unexpectedly reconnects with her mother's sisters, women she
hasn't been allowed to speak to, or of, in years. Her aunts reveal to Layla
that a Gullah-Geechee island off the shore of South Carolina now belongs to
her. As Layla digs deeper into her mother’s past and the mysterious island’s
history, she discovers that the terrifying nightmares that have plagued her
throughout her life and tainted her relationship with her mother and all of her
family, is actually a power passed down through generations of her Gullah
ancestors. She is a Dreamwalker, able to inhabit the dreams of others—and to
manipulate them. As Layla uncovers increasingly dark secrets about her family's past, she finds
herself thrust into the center of a potentially deadly, decades-old feud fought
in the dark corridor of dreams. The Last Dreamwalker is a gripping, contemporary read about power and
agency; family and legacy; and the ways trauma, secrets, and magic take shape
across generations.
Since the pandemic has waned, Rita is back on the road, promoting and attending writing panels and events. She is hard at work on her third book.
Any final words of wisdom for aspiring writers?
"I read somewhere recently: Writing is art. Publishing is a business. And I think that is the truest way to capture it. If you want to write then write. It is incredibly important to find a tribe. People who will give you support, honest feedback and keep you on task. Writers are some of the most generous people I have ever met. But writing is hard work."
Thank you for the gift of your work and a glimpse inside the life of a traditionally published author.
I thoroughly enjoyed Remembrance and highly recommend it. I loved The Last Dreamwalker more. I critiqued some of the first draft and was thrilled to see it realized in print. I cannot wait for her next book.
Rita is, in my humble opinion, one of the best wordsmiths of our age. Even her first drafts are magical. Members of the Ladyscribes are lucky to have found one another. Having a supportive and knowledgeable critique group is invaluable.
https://www.facebook.com/rita.woods.14
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