Tracy Deebs is the author of the Tempest books — “Tempest Rising,” “Tempest Unleashed” and “Tempest Unveiled” (forthcoming). Below is a complete transcript of her interview with Cracking the Cover.
Background — Have you always wanted to write? Why?
I have always wanted to write—pretty much from the time I understood that letters made words. I remember being in second grade when I wrote my first short story—it was written in aqua marker and was a paranormal romance, though I didn’t know to call it that at the time 😉 From the moment I created my first characters for that story, I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.
Why write for young readers?
Because I’m hopelessly immature J I spent a number of years teaching junior high and high school before moving to teaching college freshmen and sophomores, and I love the age—the humor, the attitude, the fun. From 12-20 you experience a lot of firsts and as a writer, there’s nothing more exciting than writing about those firsts. First loves, first hurts, first responsibilities. There are also a lot of heavy duty choices—not necessarily between human and mermaid as Tempest must decide, but still, a lot of decisions that are both thrilling and frightening. I can’t imagine not writing for young readers, to be honest with you
Do you have any rituals? Do you write all day?
I don’t have any rituals, to be honest. I write all day when an encroaching deadline is close—and since I write 7 books a year, that’s more often than not. At the same time, I still teach one or two classes a semester plus have three very active sons and I’m constantly trying to strike a balance between family life and writing time.
Why mermaids?
I love mermaids, and have since my mom brought home a VHS tape of the Hans Christian Anderson version of The Little Mermaid when I was five. This is the darker version, where she turns into sea foam, and I fell in love with it—and Ariel. I watched it every day for eighteen months and my mom swears she can still quote the movie verbatim …
How many Tempest books are planned? Did you know it was going to be a series from the beginning?
Tempest is a trilogy—and yes, I’d always planned on it being a trilogy. Originally, my publisher bought only the first book but since I have such fabulous readers and you guys have been so vocal and awesome about your support for Tempest, I got to write the other two books. Tempest Unleashed hits the shelves on Tuesday and I’ve just started work on the final book, Tempest Revealed.
How has your writing evolved from when you first started until now?
I think your writing changes a little more with every book you write—hopefully you learn something from each book and take it with you to the next. Every once in a while you write a book that really stretches you (and by this I mean makes you scream and cry and tear your hair out because it’s so hard) and everything you write after that is better for it. The book that did that for me most recently is Doomed, my January 2013 YA Dystopian novel. It’s a modern day Pandora story, except she opens a box instead of an attachment and hearkens technological Armageddon. I basically end the world as we know it in seven days. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever written, but the five books I’ve written since have all been better because of it. It changed how I looked at character and conflict and plot, and because it was massive originally—170,000 words, it taught me how to tighten until there is absolutely nothing left that isn’t essential.
What were the challenges working on “Tempest Unleashed”? The highlights?
Part of the challenge was writing it so fast—Doomed took longer than I thought (i.e. too much screaming, crying and hair pulling) and I ended up having to do Tempest Unleashed in only a couple of weeks. But I love writing Tempest. She’s my favorite heroine to date because she isn’t close to perfect—she’s flawed and confused and torn. She really doesn’t know what to do to reconcile the two halves of herself and her life. Yet she never gives up, and I really appreciate that. The highlights were really getting to explore her relationships with Mark, Kona and her family more than I could in Tempest Rising. I love character dynamics and I did a lot more of that in Tempest Unleashed than I did in Rising.
Was writing its follow-up easier or harder than “Tempest Rising”?
Both. Easier, because I already knew and loved the world I built in Tempest Rising. Harder because I knew I was making choices that some of my readers would love and others would hate. That’s always difficult because I love my readers and want them all to love everything about Tempest. But , as I mentioned, she’s a confused, torn seventeen-year-old girl and she’s going to make some mistakes.
What makes “Tempest Unleashed” stand out from other books in its genre?
I’m a dark writer—Tera Lynn Childs, who writes amazing, fun mermaid books always says were Yin and Yang. The Tempest books are dark, filled with difficult choices, blood, death, fear, and often painful relationships. And yet I’ve been told by my readers that I’ve created a really vivid, believable underwater world and I hope that’s the case– I worked really hard on doing just that
If you had the choice between living on land or in the sea, which would you choose?
Oh, I don’t know. The beach seems the perfect halfway point—which is why I made Tempest a surfer. She gets the best of both worlds that way … But if I had to choose, I’d say land. It’s hard to do a lot of the things I love to do underwater.
What are you working on now?
Two things—I am finishing up my first Tracy Deebs Romantic Suspense Urban Fantasy. It’s part of what will be called the Xandra Morgan series and is about a witch from central Texas who has always been latent despite her powerful family, but whose powers have suddenly started kicking in with a vengeance—which is a problem, since her main power is to see death. In the first book, Soulbound, she is dealing with her meddling mother (who poisons her with belladonna in an effort to jumpstart her magic), a powerful dark warlock named Declan who she is Soulbound to, a serial killer who is murdering women who look an awful lot like her, a Witch Council that is out to get both Declan and her, and a homicide detective who can’t decide if he’s in love with her or if he thinks she’s a murderer. I’m also working on Tempest Revealed, the third and final book in the Tempest trilogy
Why do you think your books resonate with readers?
Oh, I hope they resonate with readers! I think that, despite the fact that Tempest is a mermaid, she could be any of us. A girl on the brink of major life choices, torn between two different directions, not sure which one to choose. I think that’s something we all go through at one point or another, isn’t it? And then, once we make a decision, we hope it’s the right one and are afraid that it isn’t.
What do you hope readers bring away from your book?
I hope readers take away the idea that it’s okay if it takes time to figure out who you are—you aren’t supposed to have all the answers right away. Also, it’s important to be strong and stand up for what you believe and who you are. In the end, you’re the only one living your life. You need to make it count.
Did you have a favorite book or book that really resonated with you as a young reader?
I love J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. The character of Holden Caulfield really resonated with me when I was in high school— the fact that though he was a screw-up in so many people’s eyes, he also had an immutable sense of right and wrong. His value system might not be what everyone else’s was, but he had rules that he lived by and he never violated them. He’s one of the strongest characters I’ve ever read.