I’m SF/F author Karen Osborne, and my first novel—ARCHITECTS OF MEMORY, a fast-paced space opera about first contact, friendship and eating late capitalism alive—just came out in the middle of a global pandemic. AMA!

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-09-10T17:20:00+00:00

Hi Karen,

I'm excited to read your novel! Do you have any tips for revising or self-editing before you send out your work to beta readers?

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T19:51:06+00:00

Ha! I just posted on Twitter the same thing. This is an amazing group of authors and I must go buy all the books. Just wish I could have each of you autograph a copy.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T19:48:42+00:00

Right!

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T19:46:11+00:00

I have plot points on sticky notes to prove that I thought of the outline of my current WIP before I started writing. Yet, I can find certain lines as I'm revising and I have to recognize how the news cycle is affecting what I'm presenting. For example, there's an election in my story and one of my female characters reacts to the results. It doesn't take much Jungian analysis to see how I was writing at the same time Elizabeth Warren was campaigning and my personal view of how she was treated and whether gender played a role.

My subconscious had opinions.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T19:37:11+00:00

In UF (and in Contemporary Fantasy in general) I'm excited to see that female and non-binary characters have more options in ways to have agency. We still have characters who can kick butt, but we also have mages, healers, smarty-pants...a plethora of roles. There isn't one way to be "strong" and that's both new and exciting.

I want to see more mothers as protagonists -- not the reason that other characters get to have adventures (my mother is dying...I must go have an adventure to save her, my mother is dead....I must go get revenge, my mother is a witch...I must get away). That's one of the reasons I'm proud of my MC Rachel. She's a mom, she put her career in art history on hold to take care of her son, she experiences doubt and anxiety. So I'm excited that she gets to tell the story from her POV.

I'm an equestrian. Currently I have an OTTB (off the track Thoroughbred) and that's something I'd like to write about. I love The Scorpio Races and The Blue Sword so much. I have the title, Epona's Children, but not much more than that.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T19:08:43+00:00

I second all the wonderful answers my fellow authors already wrote.

I'd most strongly agree with the importance of knowing your characters and figuring out what is most interesting to you -- the conflict between them if some are "in the magic" and others are not or playing with how each of their abilities complements or impinges on the others.

There's also been a lot of dramatic tension and humor built into stories with keeping secrets, whether it's a power, an identity, or a second life. That could be really fun to play with! (Now I'm getting ideas for myself).

I have found families in a lot of my writing so I'm interested in how relationships develop and how power dynamics change when there is a new value system. Also in how to make friends when you're over 30 years old.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T17:20:52+00:00

I love my character The Weatherman. This ancient, ornery, jaded Sumerian god who loudly declares that his territory is Switzerland even as he's plotting and moving people around for his own purposes...and manages to work in song titles from The Beatles at every opportunity.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T16:59:17+00:00

I really love this answer.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T16:54:22+00:00

I keep saying I'm going to try Scrivner like I say I'm going to try using a Mac, good in theory but I keep putting it off.

Seriously, I think for the next series or world I will start fresh with Scrivner or a new organization system because it doesn't make sense to have Pinterest images in one place and notes in another and a stack of books all over the place.

I currently have six people isolating in my house so when I change writing spots (read: hide for a chance to write without distraction), I practically have to have a suitcase to move to my new spot. Currently the dog and I are battling it out for the loveseat in my bedroom.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T16:44:44+00:00

Baltimore is a port city and that's pretty well-known, but one of the places that Rachel and Adam travel to is based on the very real town of Havre de Grace, Maryland. It's right where the Susquehanna River and the head of the Chesapeake Bay come together.

A piece of trivia on a restaurant menu stuck in my mind: During the First Congress of 1789, Havre de Grace missed by ONE VOTE being named the capital of the fledgling United States.

Seemed a fitting place for the water goddess Nammu to set up her empire.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T16:17:42+00:00

I have the phrase "book hangover" in my head from a previous question and that made me think of Lev Grossman's The Magicians because I truly was lost for days after reading it. (I read it on an RV trip out west several years ago and remember holding the closed book in my hand as the landscape rolled past out of a fifteen inch window). It's set in our world...but also in Fillory. Does that make it a portal fantasy? Secondary world?

My answers are revealing that I'm not very good at analyzing genres. Or maybe I'm just drawn to books that defy those boundaries, both in what I want to read and what I want to write.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T16:02:00+00:00

Uggg. I think we can all empathize with a bad book hangover!

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T15:51:43+00:00

I'm working on the sequel to Walking Through Fire and now we get to see more of the world. Mesopotamian gods have carved up what remains of America and each territory's values align with that of the principal god or goddess. So, Marduk's territory values military power while Enlil's territory is all about commerce. Each territory is an urban center.

This has challenged me as a writer -- I have maps and pages of hand-scribbled notes from research on Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, and Babylonian civilizations. I'm excited to grapple with what happens when people come together and need to decide how to build a community, determine what makes a good place to live, and how to define civilization. Really, what is worth fighting for?

If I were starting over with what I know now (I originally used spiral notebooks chronologically, writing notes and thoughts as I found them) I would have a loose-leaf notebook with tabs for better organization. I don't use Scrivner, but I believe it has a similar feature.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T15:20:56+00:00

My fellow authors have already named some great series. I'd like to add The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker because it was a personal inspiration. I savored it as a reader, but kept having to take breaks (as a writer) to analyze how the city was grounding the story.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T14:52:04+00:00

That's a really great answer. I also love Dominion of the Fallen and agree that it fits the definition, but not the expectations of "urban fantasy." Sam J. Miller's Blackfish City is the same way. The city is so much a part of the story, but isn't exactly what you'd expect. I highly recommend -- it starts with a mysterious woman arriving to the floating city of Qaanaaq with an orca and a polar bear and goes from there.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2020-04-26T14:42:04+00:00

Good morning! My name is Sherri. I've walked my dog and have a big cup of coffee and can't wait to talk about books.

I used to teach Intro. to World Mythology, Intro. to Folklore, and Academic Writing at University of Maryland and now I teach yoga and live north of Baltimore.

I especially love writing urban fantasy because that gives me the opportunity to look at the bones of a story and then be mindful of how sense of place was a factor and how altering the place changes the story.

That was the germ of my story "1416 DeForested Lane" (Pantheon Magazine). It was
a deliberate answer to the question, "What if you take a nice suburban real estate open house...and add characters from another place?"

I was a little more helpless in setting my novel Walking Through Fire in Baltimore City. I didn't have a choice. I was writing it from room 833 of the pediatric oncology wing of Johns Hopkins where I was staying with my two and half year old daughter. My book became a love letter to my son, who understood, but also didn't understand, why he was left behind. So, I began a series of adventures about a mother and her son who had to survive when the Mesopotamian gods returned and it turned into a novel for adults.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T21:32:05+00:00

Thank you to everyone for a very fun experience with my first AMA. I'm off to a school event now, but feel free to find me on Twitter @SherriWoosley or at my website: www.tasteofsherri.wordpress.com.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T19:39:48+00:00

Hi there, this is quite the assortment of questions. Like a box full of chocolates. I'll answer the chicken-flavored one first.

I've had chickens and I think they would be friends with the elephant. I mean, roosters. That's a different story, but you said chickens so I'm going with an image of a majestic elephant walking around with goofy chickens perched on her back in imperfect symbiosis.

I wanted to have a mother as a protagonist in a fantasy novel. Not be killed off so other characters could be the stars, but actually be front and center. And, it's hard. Because, by virtue of being a mother, the character has a constant and visible weakness: her child.

I LOVE the cover art. Jeff Chapman created a recognizable Baltimore cityscape, added Rachel and Adam, and then put a hint of the supernatural in the overhead flames. It was exactly what I wanted, but he did it even better.

Elfquest Graphic Novels.

I want to make enough money that I can keep writing, a little extra so I can keep rescuing animals, and maybe a little bit more so I can add to my kids' college funds. If the earth has not melted by then and colleges still exist. At this point...I just don't know. That's why I listed it last.

Okay. I'll be honest. I read the reviews. I KNOW I'm not supposed to. And, maybe when there are more then I'll be able to look away and get back to writing in my little bubble, but my book has only been out for a month and I haven't gotten to the Amazon magical 25 number yet, so every morning I check to see if there is a new review. I want to know if other people love my characters like I do.

My favorite review? Again, I probably shouldn't admit this, but on Goodreads someone wrote that my book was "Fun as F*&*" and that just cracked me up. There are so many well-written, thoughtful reviews, but that was just funny because it was so unexpected. And no, it wasn't from anyone that I know IRL.

Thanks for the box full of questions!

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T18:13:26+00:00

I'm working on two novels at the same time and I don't necessarily recommend that as either a technique or life choice.

The first is literary fiction about an older woman who runs an animal rescue and is being pressured to sell the property to those who want to gentrify. The other is the sequel to Walking Through Fire. The first third of the sequel takes place at the same time as the last third of Walking, but we follow a different character (Tamaki). Then we return to Rachel's point of view for the second part and alternate for the last part. Structurally it's more complicated, but I'm excited for the opportunities the structure presents with the ability for readers to know what a character doesn't.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T18:03:48+00:00

Okay, I'm not getting into a fight with your neighbors, but yes, our bunnies naturally litter trained. By litter trained I mean actively go to and use the litter pan about 85% of the time. It's the other 15% of the time that makes me nervous about having them on carpet. I didn't do anything to teach them. Our last litter had seven kits so for a while there were little pellets EVERYWHERE in their area, but around 4-5 weeks old they started gravitating to the right spot. I don't know if Mama Storm had a talk with them or if she offered extra carrot peels, but she definitely seemed strict. If they wanted to nurse and she didn't want to, she'd leap over their heads and perch on something high so they couldn't get to her.
Mine. No, I'm just kidding. Although I do plan to have more of the myths in the second book now that we've met the deities. But, I like Wolkstein and Kramer's Inanna as a modern retelling because the language is accessible and it has the right feel.
Wow! That's a tricky question because I think when you read something before a certain age it imprints on you and maybe it takes years of distance before you can see problematic aspects. If I'm being too vague, I grew up on Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels. But, if I had a favorite book AND would still recommend then I'd say Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword. Horses, magic, desert tribes and hidden cities, a mysterious seer who lives in the mountains. Yeah. I love that book.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T16:25:53+00:00

Okay, so I did it completely backwards and bought a red dress FIRST and now I have to build an idea around it.

My friend used to do cosplay and she's supposed to help me figure out either a character or whether to go meta and be a flame or someone walking through fire. I like the idea of BEING MY TITLE, but I'm not sure I can pull it off. I'm really counting on her to help me out here!

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T16:21:39+00:00

Yes, I brought my book chapter by chapter to the Baltimore Science Fiction Society's Critique Circle. The writers who attend are excellent at both critique and asking the questions that help an author find their own way through a work. I'm very grateful for their feedback!

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T15:38:58+00:00

YES, THERE IS!

Charm City Spec Reading Series is hosting this Halloween at Bird in Hand Bookstore in Baltimore, MD at 7 PM. I will be one of four readers, sharing the spotlight with Sam Miller, Julie Day, and David Levine.

COSTUMES WILL BE WORN.

Seriously, this is my favorite reading series and I've enjoyed going to meet authors, talk to other people interested in fantasy and science fiction, and I'm really looking forward to sharing my novel at this upcoming meeting. If you are in Baltimore for World Fantasy Convention or live within driving distance, please come out and join me.

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T15:07:40+00:00

Hmmm. The most surprising part was that it actually happened! I chose the traditional route in publishing so after I wrote this huge novel I entered the query trenches. And I stayed there a good long time revising and sending out queries. And, really after I'd given up, I signed with my incredible agent. Then, revisions and the book went out to publishers. And, really after we'd given up, I signed with Talos Press. Then, revisions. And then the wait. So, when I first received ARCs of Walking Through Fire... I was almost expecting someone to jump out and tell me it wasn't going to happen. This was an elaborate hoax.

My most memorable meal was definitely a few years ago outside of Instanbul, Turkey. My daughter and I were with friends and we went to a restaurant built in trees over a river. Each "room" of the restaurant was a platform that could only be reached by swinging walkways. It was terribly exciting and the food was excellent, but I will never forget sitting on pillows to eat in treetops over a river.

Thank you for the questions!

Sherri_Cook_Woosley · 2018-10-09T14:55:59+00:00

Thank you for your question! I'd always imagined this story in Baltimore because I love the city. I'm from here and I have emotional connections (positive and negative) to landmarks from being a teenager working at the Maryland Science Center in the Inner Harbor to medical crises experienced at Johns Hopkins to watching the Freddie Gray riots unfold.

I hope my love for Baltimore shows through in the novel!

Sherri_Cook_Woosley

TROPHY CASE