Interview with Oberon Wonch

Please join me in welcoming 2013 Golden Heart Finalist, Oberon Wonch, to the Firebirds blog today.

Tell us something about you, Oberon …

My artist mother and research physicist father raised their kids on a steady diet of classics in all the arts, particularly literature and grand opera. Recognizing early on that I was never going to be a Rembrandt or musical prodigy, I studied World Literature in college with the idea of learning from the greats how to write fiction. By the time I graduated, I was weary of this line of thinking and wanted to prove myself in the business world (as well as make the big bucks, or so I believed!) For nearly twenty years, I navigated the alien world of manufacturing and software design, always planning to write novels someday. The voices in my brain were clamoring to get out, but I didn’t have a concrete idea what sort of story I would write. I knew it would involve a historical setting, since Antiquity and the Middle Ages always interested me more than anything else. I didn’t have any profound statements to make about the human condition, so literary fiction didn’t seem to be it for me. One day in an airport shop, I was just looking for something fun to read that didn’t instruct me how to set up warehousing module software and didn’t preach about good vs. evil on a cosmic level. I picked up a romance set in medieval England, and I loved it. History came alive for me, and I was right there with the people who were the object of my fascination. But it was even better than history because these people succeeded at their endeavors and lived happily ever after (unlike so many characters in real life or great literature). I decided this was what I was going to write. Thanks to my ever-supportive, college sweetheart husband, I was able to quit my job and devour every historical romance I could get my hands on. I joined RWA and studied craft. I started finishing novels. Now, eleven years later, here I am, a two-time finalist in RWA’s top unpublished competition!

You’re a 2012 Firebird, so we claim you first, but now you’ve been nominated for another Golden Heart, how do you feel?  More pressure to perform, angst over queries and new plots or are you just enjoying the moment? Talk about what went through your mind when you got the call?

I love being a Firebird! What an exciting thrill to get that first GH call last year. And getting the call this year that made me a Lucky 13? Fantastic! Really, I had no expectations this time around. I entered a manuscript I’d entered several times before without finaling, just as a what-the-heck.  Each time I entered that manuscript, I updated it with all the craft skills I’d learned up to that point, and apparently this time I’d learned enough to make the cut. When I received the call about it, I was incredulous. The same thoughts went through my head as last time: Am I hallucinating? Did they call the wrong person? And: Does this really happen to the same person more than once? Except this time, I didn’t jump around the room crying, and the disbelief faded just a tad faster. Plus, I’m much more comfortable about what’s to come, so I’m pretty much just enjoying the moment. Medieval romance has a negligible audience these days, so while I continue to seek agent representation, I’m pointing my pen, er, keyboard, toward other settings and genres I enjoy.

 

Congratulations on your honor. Obviously the readers love your work, so tell us about your Lucky13 entry.

Thank you, and thank you so much, Golden Heart judges! You connected with my writing, at least enough to put me in the final round, and I’m so grateful. My Lucky 13 entry is entitled Come to Me. It’s a twist on the Cyrano de Bergerac premise. A woman must help a man court another woman, and falls in love with him in doing so, which totally rocks her steady world. Bridget wants to get to the monastery where she can indulge in scholarly pursuits, but Count FitzHenri, the new lord of her family’s property, doesn’t speak her people’s language well, and he needs her translation skills. Plus, he needs her assistance in courting her sister, the bride-to-be chosen for him. (He’s vowed to wed only a woman who takes him willingly.) However, it’s the old “I want the one I can’t have” thing, and he falls for the woman who’s showing him how to dance and how to say all the pretty, silly things her sister wants him to say. He knows Bridget won’t come to him willingly, but he can’t help himself around her, and when he makes his interest clear, Bridget faces decisions about her lifelong dreams. But this is romance, folks, and trust in this: They both get to have it all!

 

Now that you are in the crazy days before the winners are announced, what are your plans and where do you hope it will lead?

I am actively querying agents and investigating what the digital-first houses want in our submission packages. But I’m also continuing to write new material, always seeking to improve my writing and zero in on what the reading audience wants. Ideally, I would like to find a paying audience for my completed medieval-set novels, but I am also trying out new genres and testing my voice in new settings.

 

What’s on your desk right now? Any favorite go-to items when you’re stressed?

You mean besides Facebook and email open on my computer? Those are my first narcotics for stress relief. Aside from that, I have an open issue of Renaissance Magazine, the periodical for Ren Faire enthusiasts. I love this magazine because it features all sorts of articles on archaeological finds and history primarily before the 18th century. There’s always an article about how to cut and sew an authentic piece of a medieval or renaissance costume, too, and reviews of books, both fiction and nonfiction, and movies and software all related to historical interests. The magazine is a good escape tool for me. Beneath that on my desk, I also have the last issue of Archaeology Magazine, which I’ve already finished cover to cover, and an issue of Indiana Gardening. Gardening, whether pruning, tidying, planting or watering, is my very favorite stress-reliever.  Oh, and on my desk, I also have an ARC for fellow Firebird Terri Osburn’s, Meant to Be , which I won in a drawing and which I turn to when I have a few free moments. I’m loving this book!

 

If we’re sitting here a year from now celebrating a great year for you, what did you achieve?

Wow, what a terrific question! A stellar year for me would be completing another novel-length manuscript or several short stories/novellas, plus signing with an agent who knows of a publisher anxiously seeking medieval romances to inject into the market and who wants me to launch a new generation of historical romances. It would be like I’m a “breakout author” who’s resurrecting an old favorite genre but with 21st century themes and sensibilities.  What? That’s not in the cards? Why not? Oh, and something else that would be worth celebrating would be identifying an untapped niche in the readership and being able to fill that niche and make big, big waves. Wouldn’t that be cool?

 

Now that Oberon has survived the challenging questions, I’ve saved the best for last. What’s your favorite dessert?

OMG! I’m a huge lover of sweets. Don’t get me started! I had a spectacular tiramisu last night at a neighborhood Italian restaurant in Chicago, but I also enjoy Haagen Daz Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream as well as pecan pie. I could go on, but I’ll restrain myself. I don’t want to bring on everyone’s cravings.

 

Thanks so much, Oberon, for sharing with us today. Now Oberon has a question for us….What sort of stories would you like to read that you don’t see currently available?