City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster

I made that thing.” It’s very gratifying.ĪM: “City” isn’t like any other fantasy I’ve ever read. Sometimes I sit and look at my little pile of author copies on the shelf and think. It’s been over six years since I started writing City of a Thousand Dolls. You also get a little less attached to the books themselves which helps the rejections feel less personal, and you become a better writer which improves your chances. It doesn’t make it hurt any less, but helps keep you from falling into despair. Combine that with repeated rejections and the whole thing can become a closed circle of discouragement and despair, because this is all you have.īut after finishing two or three books, you start to relax a little, at least I did. If you’ve only got one book, the idea of writing another is intensely daunting. I think hope is important when you’re a writer. I wrote four books in between rounds of revising and querying City of a Thousand Dolls. The biggest thing that helped was that I kept writing. Will you talk about how you got past the disappointment of repeated rejections?

I like the term “debut novel” much better than “first novel.” There’s less confusion.ĪM: Aspiring writers always hear we’ll get lots of rejections and that we shouldn’t let them stop us, but it’s not as common to hear someone talk honestly about discouragement as you do on your blog. The first novel I wrote was one that I started in high school and while its always got a place in my heart, I’ve got no plans to try and sell it at this time. Wait, what do you mean?” and then flail a lot.Ĭity of a Thousand Dolls is actually my second book. It’s more disconcerting when people ask me “Is this your first book?” I always say “Yes! And no. Is this at all a surreal feeling, hearing “City” referred to as your “first novel”? I think this is the case for so many debut authors. Half murder mystery, half fantastical adventure, this book introduces readers to an empire, a caste system, and a city where unwanted girls are groomed as healers, wives, courtesans, entertainers, and guards for the wealthy.” -Laura “Wally” Johnston, Rediscovered Books, Boise, IDįorster and I relied on good old-fashioned email for our interview, and she answered my questions with wonderful candor and humor.ĪM: I know from reading your excellent blog that City of a Thousand Dolls isn’t the first novel you’ve written. “City of a Thousand Dolls invokes the colors, flavor and mood of Southeast Asia, while being a lushly sculpted world of Forster’s own playful mind.

City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster