Thermopolis-born author published

Hitting bookstores next month in the United Kingdom will be "Lord of Secrets," written by Breanna Teintze.

Born in Thermopolis, Teintze lived here until she was about 11 to 12 years old. The area still feels like home, she said, and the red dirt and sagebrush settings tends to show up in her writing. When she was younger, she explained, her father's job moved and so did she. Also, her husband works for a cement plant and tends to move around.

Writing is "just kind of something I've done my whole life," Teintze said. "I love stories and storytelling, and when I was eight years old my mom bought me a typewriter at a garage sale here in town and told me she would buy it if I learned to type with all my fingers."

The first product of Teintze's from that typewriter she described as a "knockoff" Nancy Drew story set here, called "The Milkweed Mystery."

She sticks mainly with the fantasy genre as she enjoys it and is good at, though she tends to "mash" genres together. For example, "Lord of Secrets" has a fair amount of mystery and some have described it as an adventure story. Among her favorite authors that inspire her are Roger Zelazny, Ursula Le Guin, V.E. Schwab and N.K. Jemisin.

Though this is the first book published for Teintze, she has written seven or eight, not counting The Milkweed Mystery. "I think you need to write a certain number of bad ones before you can write a good one. It's apprenticing, like any other job where you have to get experience. It's not all that different than being a mechanic, where you have to learn it by doing it. Writers like to pretend it's high falutin', but it really isn't."

For aspiring writers she advises they read a lot from every genre, including non-fiction, and not just the genre they hope to write. "Read as much as you can, and then write as much as you can." Also, she said, find a group of people that will give feedback. "Probably after writing itself the most important skill is listening to feedback, knowing what to take and what to not."

Also in regard to feedback, she said it's important to not be overly sensitive about your writing. If a few people think a paragraph is boring, it probably is and needs re-worked. "What I see stop people the most is that they can't take editing and change what they're doing. It is difficult, because you wrote it and you're attached to it, and it can feel like they're telling you you're boring, when it's really just the paragraph."

Teintze is under contract for two books at the moment, and there could be a contract for two more depending on sales. She's also working on a manuscript for another book outside the Lord of Secrets series, and is always planning two or three books beyond what's being published.

As for her ideas, Teintze said, "They just kind of show up. I think a lot of it comes from non-fiction reading. I think a lot of it comes from being frustrated with gaps in other storytelling." For example, where others might write about magic having no consequences, Teintze's concept is that it's more like radiation, harming the user more and more over time.

"I wanted there to be sharp limits on my people," she said, "and make it cost something."

Lord of Secrets will be available in the United Kingdom on Aug. 8, but can also be ordered online. The publisher is working on partnering with a U.S. publisher, though it will likely be next year before it appears in bookstores.