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She learned how to read English through romance novels as a teen. Now, Sherry Thomas pens her own brand of historical sizzlers for fans. Today Thomas sits down for a virtual chat with Book Addict Editor Angela Wilson.

What was the first story you wrote? What do you think about it when you go back and read it today? 




The first story I wrote was actually the first version of the story that would eventually become my debut novel, Private Arrangements.  When I accidentally came across that manuscript some time in the middle of 2005, five years after I’d finished it and set it aside, I was really embarrassed at the execution, so amateurish and surface-skimming.  But I found myself still very much taken with the premise: a terrible mistake made in the name of love and its aftermath.  So I tore it down and rewrote it from scratch and well, that one took. :-)




Why historical romance? Have you thought of writing in another genre?



I’ve always meant to write science fiction romance, as science fiction was my first love in reading.  And nothing is more exciting than a love story unfolding against intergalactic danger and intrigue.  But somehow I always end up finishing historical romances while my science fiction romance manuscripts move at the speed of snails.  So after a while I had to admit that I am also a historical romance writer, that after having read so many historical romances growing up, it’s just in my blood.

You needed an English-Chinese dictionary to read Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Roger. How did reading romances encourage your love of the English language? 



I don’t think in my teenage years, which were my heaviest romance-reading and dictionary-using years, I felt any particular love for the English language.  What I felt was on the one hand frustration—was there no end to English vocabulary and why did every last little object/idea/etc have to have its own word?—and on the other hand relief, as I slowly improved my grasp of the language and was at least able to read at a similar level as what I’d been reading in Chinese.  



Love for the English language didn’t happen until my twenties, after I read Beast, my first Judith Ivory book.  That was the first book which blew me away not just with its storytelling and its characterization, but its use of language, so tactile, sensual, and delicious that for the longest time afterward I wrote in direction imitation of it.  That was when I first became viscerally aware of the beauty possible in the English language—until then, because of the difference in linguistic structures, I’d always considered English a more utilitarian language and Chinese imprecise but more elegant.  (And I think I still prefer Chinese for poetry, but I love love love English for prose.)



What was the first book you read without a dictionary?



I have to say, I can’t remember at all.  I carried a dictionary with me in my backpack for at least three years after I came to the States, until I was 16 or thereabout.  And I still had to break it out regularly even in college, to read such works as Lord of the Rings, which contained a whole lot of unusual and/or archaic words.



What is it like for you to be able to pen stories in English today? Do you ever discover funny issues with slang when you edit manuscripts? 



Lol, I’ve been living in the States for 20 years now.  So it doesn’t really strike me as anything unusual to write in English—I would be much more astonished if I could write well enough in Chinese for novels.  :-)



Historical romance, by its nature, does not contain contemporary slang. So no problems on that front.  I do struggle from time to time, however, with conditional and pluperfect tenses, as the Chinese language requires no changes to its verbs—or any class of words—to indicate the passage of time.  And I have a less-than-masterly grasp of English punctuation, a subject that is covered well before eighth grade, my first year in the States.  But the biggest struggle the first time I faced a line-edited manuscript from my editor was the proofreaders’ marks—again, something kids here learn early in elementary school.  I’d never seen many of them before and went into a minor panic not knowing why my manuscript was marked up so.



Tell us about your latest, Not Quite a Husband. 


Not Quite a Husband was originally inspired by the movie The Painted Veil, starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.  The story of The Painted Veil is that of a marriage in real trouble, a couple very much estranged who travel to the dangerous interior of China at a time of cholera outbreaks. It is one of the best romantic dramas I have ever seen—complex characters, dark emotional conflict, great sexual tension, and a gorgeous backdrop. And I ate it up until the very end when SPOILER…. the hero dies!....END SPOILER. I came out of the movie theater shellshocked, and on the spot decided that I would write my own version of the story as my next project and give it the happy ending it so deeply merited.



By the time I was finished, I had a story set in the North-West Frontier of British India, in 1897, during an uprising in the Swat Valley.  (Sounds familiar?  History does repeat itself.)  The heroine is a physician and surgeon, the hero her former husband—their marriage has been annulled.  It has been three years since she’d seen him and without warning he shows up at her doorstep: Her father is gravely ill and he has been asked to escort her back to England.  What follows is a great deal of danger—war, malaria, terrible terrain—but nothing as perilous as secrets of the heart that would now suddenly come out in the open, leading to a very emotionally intense journey.



Because it is so intense, I was somewhat apprehensive over how it would be received.  But I’ve been very happily surprised with reader responses.  All About Romance gave it a straight-out Desert Isle Keeper rating, which I’ve always coveted.  It was the featured review on RomanticTimes.com in May.  And readers have been emailing me to tell me they’ve read it three or four times already.  Now if only the New York Times bestseller list would come knocking… 



You describe your works as “Finely Wrought Romances… with an Edge.” Tell us about the edge and how your works compare to others in the genre
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I don’t really think it’s quite my place to compare myself to other authors—it’s that Chinese upbringing you know.  So I’ll just quote Lisa Kleypas, one of the bestselling and best loved authors in the genre:

“Sherry Thomas is the most powerfully original historical romance author writing today. She is a rebel, a rule-breaker, and above all, a romantic. Searing, tender and filled with passion, her writing is nothing short of a revelation.”

What does your family think about your career as a historical romance author? Do your sons ever tease you about it?

My husband is very proud—not so much because I’m a romance author, but because I persevered in pursuing my dream and it came true.  My mom is still surprised.  My sons are not quite old enough to rib me on writing romances yet, so I’m really enjoying the moment. 

You speak to writers groups about the ins and outs of publishing. What are some key lessons you have learned since your first novel, Private Arrangements, was contracted?

One, books never become easier to write.  Two, success takes ten years; overnight success takes even longer.  Three, cultivate zen, because you will need it.  Four, enjoy yourself.  Five, repeat steps three and four and don’t stop. 

How can authors contact you for speaking engagements?

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When can we expect the next Sherry Thomas novel?

Sometime in 2010, hopefully in the first half.

Where can we find you on the Web?

My website is http://www.sherrythomas.com.  My blog, Plotters & Manipulators United, which I share with the incredible Meredith Duran, is at http://www.sherrythomas.com/blog.  My twitter id is http://twitter.com/sherrythomas.  So I’m really very, very easy to find on the web. 

And may I just say that it’s a pleasure to be here.  Thank you so very much, Book Addict Blog.