Tamora Pierce

BIO

Tamora Pierce is a bestselling author of fantasy books for teenagers. Her books, known for their teenaged girl warriors and wizards, have received critical acclaim and a strong fanbase.

Tamora was drawn to books from a young age. Raised in rural Pennsylvania, the child of a "long, proud line of hillbillies," her family never had much. "We were poor, but I didn't know it then. We had a garden where my folks grew fruit and vegetables and our water came from a well," she explains. But one thing they did have was plenty of books. So Tamora read.

A self-proclaimed "geek," she devoured fantasy and science fiction novels, and by the age of 12 was mimicking her literary idols and writing her own action-packed stories. It was thanks to her father that Tamora began writing. "He heard me telling myself stories as I did dishes, and he suggested that I try to write some of them down," Pierce says.

But Tamora's novels had one major difference: unlike the books she was reading, her stories featured teenaged girl warriors. "I couldn't understand this lapse of attention on the part of the writers I loved, so until I could talk them into correcting this small problem, I wrote about those girls, the fearless, bold, athletic creatures that I was not, but wanted so badly to be."

Seventeen years later, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, a brief career in teen social work and some time spent writing for radio, Tamora Pierce held true to her childhood crusade, and published ALANNA: The First Adventure, the first in a quartet about a valiant, young, female warrior. Pierce's heroine struck a chord with readers across the country and quickly earned her a loyal following.

Pierce is now a #1 New York Times bestselling author and has written twenty-four books, including her newest, BEKA COOPER #1: Terrier. "It's a pretty good life, if I do say so myself. Struggling along as a kid and even through my twenties, it's the kind of life I dreamed of but never believed I would get. Yet here I am, after a lot of work, a lot of worry, a lot of care for details, and a massive chunk of luck, the kind that brought me such strong friends and readers. Pretty good for a hillbilly, yes? And I never take it for granted," she says.

Pierce lives in upstate New York with her husband Tim and their three cats and two birds.

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INTERVIEW

November 8, 2005

Young adult novelist Tamora Pierce has penned a number of successful fantasy series such as The Song of the Lioness, Protector of the Small, and The Immortals. In this interview she talks with Teenreads.com reviewer Joy Held about THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS, which reunites the four mages from The Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens quartets. Pierce discusses the various influences that have shaped these characters and the direction in which they may be headed in future adventures. She also explains the impact that readers have had on her writing and details what an ordinary day is like in the life of Tamora Pierce.

Teenreads.com: Your new book THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS includes a bonus CD.  Should readers listen to the CD before or after reading the book?

Tamora Pierce: The CD is an added treat for fans, since it's basically my reading of material from the first chapter. They'll get to hear my voice and my interpretation of how that text and dialogue should sound. It can be listened to any time.

TRC: Of the four mages (Sandry, Tris, Briar and Daja), who do you most identify with, and why? Are they modeled after anyone in particular?

TP: Tris is the only character I've created who's blatantly based on me, from glasses to roundness to bad attitude. I can't do the lightning thing, though that doesn't mean I haven't tried, and I loathe dresses. And I wasn't subjected to the steady emotional and physical abuse, or being passed from relative to relative, that she was as a child, either. But I do love books and animals.

Sandry is based on four of my fans, and in many ways she embodies the best of what I see in my fans: idealism, passion and pride. (Of course, these qualities can get out of hand.) Daja and Briar were based on two very striking photographs I had in my file, two of the rare characters who began simply as the right photo with the right name, but they quickly became three-dimensional people in my mind with my understanding of the Trader culture and Briar's life on the streets.

Also, if I create any characters who are more than walk-on parts, there's a little of me in them. There has to be, or I never would have thought them up.

TRC: What is the one message you want readers to take from THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS?

TP: I hadn't really thought of that. I try to let readers draw from my books what they need, not what I want to foist on them. I'm very much of the Samuel Goldwyn (filmmaker) "If you want to send a message, call Western Union" school.

TRC: Your fans are very important to you and you travel a great deal. Did your readers influence THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS in any way?

TP: Well, the reason we're seeing this book first instead of the one that details the adventures of Briar, Rosethorn and Evvy in Yanjing (which takes place in time before this book) is because from the moment MAGIC STEPS came out, the fans have been clamoring to see the four back together again! I was fairly sure that if the first post-Circle Opens book didn't bring them together again, I was going to be in the doghouse! I also heard a great many requests for some romance to take place.  People were beginning to accuse me of having something against romance.

More quietly, I learned from fans during appearances that they had picked up from the tiniest of hints in earlier books that I was accepting of gay sexuality. I had always known that one of the four was gay, but had been waffling about showing it. Having people thank me for those tiny crumbs of knowledge made me feel ashamed of my fears and made me resolve that, despite my nervousness about possible critical reaction, I would not flinch at showing this character's love life.

TRC: Now that Sandry, Tris, Briar and Daja are a circle again, do you think there will be another book about them? If so, can you divulge any details about it?

TP: As I mentioned above, there is a book that takes place in time after STREET MAGIC and before EMPRESS, which involves just Briar, Rosethorn and Evvy. That's next, to be published in 2007 or 2008. After that, the book that takes place in time after EMPRESS will be about Tris, who enters the university at Lightsbridge under an assumed name. We'll see the other three, but that book will be primarily about Tris, who has to learn that she can never pass as an ordinary mage. Beyond that, who knows? I have learned to expect the unexpected with these kids!

TRC: You're co-editing a new book of short stories. When is it due out and can you tell us anything about it?

TP: I co-edited YOUNG WARRIORS with Josepha Sherman for Random House; our in-house editor was Mallory Loehr, who is my editor at Random House. It's in stores in hardcover now. The stories are about teenagers who are warriors in all kinds of senses of that word, whether because they are forced to be, because they refuse to be, because they fight in very unconventional ways, or because their wars end far differently than they wished. About half of our list includes young adult writers like Margaret Mahy, Holly Black, Pamela Service, Brent Hartinger, and me, while the other half includes the like of Mike Resnick, Bruce Holland Rogers, S. M. and Jan Stirling, and Esther Friesner. It's my first editing experience, and the reviews have been very good, which is only right, because the stories are very good!

TRC: What is a typical writer's day for you?

TP: I do business correspondence in the morning, as well as errands. In the late morning and early afternoon I do appointments, exercise, and check in with SheroesCentral, the discussion board I co-founded and am still a member of. I like to post in different areas like books, television, and sometimes even current events. Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon I get to work. I try to write a certain number of pages a day, and I have to finish them before I can watch television. When my deadline's nice and far away, I start at seven pages per day. The closer my deadline gets, the higher the page count, until I'm 14-15 pages a day.

Usually I read what I wrote the day before, revising and cutting, to get myself into the story. As I near the end of the draft, I print it out and hand correct it, then enter the changes. Sometimes, if I have time, I'll read the manuscript aloud, which gives me another level of corrections. With all that entered, it becomes one draft. Generally I only need two such drafts unless I'm starting a new series with a new setting.

TRC: Are you working on anything else at the moment that readers should be on the lookout for?

TP: I'm always working on something else! I'm nearly finished with the first draft of a Circle book featuring Rosethorn and Evvy, which will be published as an audio book by Full Cast Audio; we tape that in May, 2006. And I am writing TERRIER, my next Tortall book, for Random House to be published next fall. It's the first book of a trilogy about Beka Cooper, who is a Provost's Guard, or Dog (a cop), 200 years before ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTURE. TERRIER is about her rookie, or puppy, year, where she earns a name as someone who will not let go of a case. The wonderful irony is that her 7+something grandson is George Cooper, who rose to become the King of the Thieves in Alanna's time. She also has a cat who bears a suspicious resemblance to a god-like cat who lived with Alanna during her training years.

It's going to be fun. And if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to it. I've been away for the last week, and just before I left, a robber's associate had just knocked Beka into a pile of fish entrails. I think she would like me to get her cleaned off!

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