TEA ROOM TALKS: TABITHA O’CONNELL
Note: This Tea Room Talk was originally published in July 2022.
Welcome back to Tea Room Talks!
My guest today is Tabitha O’Connell, a queer fiction author who focuses on fantasy, romance, and contemporary genres in the form of novellas and short stories. A few of eir works have been published in anthologies and magazines, all of which you can find on eir website. Eir second novella, Structural Strain, is the sequel to Structural Integrity and just launched yesterday (June 30th), so go check it out!
My tea of choice today: Chesser Roe’s Assam Satrupa Estate, a mild and malty black tea.
HARPER: My first question is an obvious one... I know you're a tea drinker, so I've gotta know: tea of choice? And are there any you prefer specifically for writing, or just whatever you're in the mood for?
O’CONNELL: Yunnan noir tea has been my favorite ever since I discovered it! I tested out a few black teas when I decided to upgrade to loose leaf, and that one was my top choice hands down. Consequently, it's just about the only tea I drink these days…
HARPER: Ooh, I don't think I've had the pleasure of trying that one yet. Do you typically pair it with milk, or nah?
O’CONNELL: Yep! A little oat milk and a little sugar.
HARPER: Excellent choice!
SO, I suppose the biggest news for you: you've got a sequel coming out next week! How are you feeling? Do you have most of your duckies in a row?
O’CONNELL: At this point I do! I had a four-day weekend last week and I spent quite a bit of it working on getting everything ready. I've always been a last-minute kind of person and need deadlines to motivate me, so once I publicly announced the release date I was able to really kick myself into gear and get the necessary pre-pub steps taken care of. I have a bit of pre-release anxiety/jitters but am also very excited to have this novella out there!
HARPER: That's definitely a smart way to go about it; can't really procrastinate when you've set the date, ha.
Having recently read Structural Integrity, I was a bit surprised to find that the primary relationship is already well-established even on the first few pages. I can't say I've stumbled across many books like that. What made you decide that was the route you wanted to go?
O’CONNELL: So much romance-focused media ends when the characters get together, but I've always been interested in what comes after that; getting together can often be the easy part compared to growing and maintaining the relationship. I actually first conceived of this idea as "someone realizes their relationship is unhealthy and decides to leave," so the original happy ending was going to be them breaking up, but then of course that didn't happen (haha). But from that initial idea it evolved into examining why they were struggling and what they each needed to do to start to fix that. I enjoy fiction focused on relationships (romantic and otherwise), so that was the kind of thing I wanted to write, and having the relationship already established at the beginning gave me more to work with.
HARPER: That...is an incredibly valid point. I'm not a wide romance reader (I like it as a subplot more than primary plot), so I'm unfamiliar with most of the common themes and tropes in romance, but I've definitely noticed that, as well...even in subplots. Pretty clever of you to focus on what comes after!
In a similar vein: so far, I notice you've mostly been a purveyor of shorter works, e.g. novellas and short stories. Do you think you'll keep it this way, or do you have plans for longer works, too?
O’CONNELL: So far, I don't seem to be able to write anything longer than about 50,000 words—and my one 50k book, from NaNoWriMo 2014, is currently shelved indefinitely. My brain just seems to prefer to work on shorter, more tightly-focused things (ADHD may have something to do with that). But usually I have no idea how long something will be when I start it, so who knows what'll happen in the future! I'm definitely open to writing a full-length novel if I ever get an idea that works for one.
HARPER: Completely fair. Personally, I think shorter works are great to balance with longer ones, anyway. Like a supplemental meal, or as I like to call them, midnight snacks (ha).
Something I'm always curious about: do you—or have you—included any hobbies, interests, or fascinations in your work?
O’CONNELL: 100%. My day job is in the field of historic preservation, and I'm a major nerd when it comes to history and architecture, as well as related things like mapping and city planning. So the entire city government aspect of Structural Integrity and the threat to the old theater building were completely driven by my interest in those areas. I also love animals, so animal-loving characters and animal friends are a staple of my work, as well.
HARPER: I KNEW IT. I saw your profession and thought, "That's way too cool a job to not include in eir works." Oh, I love that. Mad respect to the nerds!
Are there any feelings, emotions, motifs, aesthetics, etc., that you want readers to associate with you and your work?
O’CONNELL: It is such a great job, I love it so much. And yes! Some general vibes that I typically aim for are low stakes, character-focused, a mixture of angst and sweetness, coziness, hope, and lots of queer characters. ❤
HARPER: Honestly, considering the state of the world right now, those vibes are surely needed in force...
Just a few more questions for today! First, how often do you write, and how disciplined are you about your writing?
O’CONNELL: I very much follow my whims; if I'm into a project, I will work on it pretty obsessively, but if I get stuck then I'll take however much time I need away from it until I'm ready to go back. Those breaks have gotten shorter over time, though; finding online writing communities has definitely helped me better sustain the spark! But yeah, I don't set word count goals or try to write every day, because for me, those kinds of things are just setting myself up for failure when I end up too tired or busy to fulfill them.
HARPER: Sounds like the wisest course of action, for sure. I'm with you on the word count goals. I do aim to write every day, but I never set any goal involving numbers; it's too limiting/daunting otherwise...especially when you know you're working on a chunkier project.
What is an unexpected event or element, good or bad, that has come up in your writing/publishing journey in the last year?
O’CONNELL: It's going to sound really sappy, but honestly I've been blown away just by having people read and enjoy my work. I've been writing almost all my life, but I was always super shy about sharing anything up until a few years ago. So now that I have put my work out there, every time I get a positive reaction it still bowls me over a little.
HARPER: That's not sappy at all! It's one of the best feelings we can experience as authors. It's mind-boggling to think that our work is actually out in other people's hands...all across the damn globe! How wild is that?
One final question for you today: what are your future writing plans, goals, or ambitions?
O’CONNELL: Publish more things! More specifically, I have a few novellas drafted that just need a little more polishing before they're ready to see the light; they've been on the back burner for a bit, but I'd like to get them out before too long. But I think my first priority is going to be drafting and publishing the next Structural Integrity story, so that I can finish out that series before I start releasing new things!
HARPER: Oh, exciting! How many Structural Integrity stories will there be? Will it be a trilogy?
O’CONNELL: Yes, that is the plan for right now! I'll see if I'm inspired to write more in the future, but for now I only have one more planned.
HARPER: Awesome! Happy to hear you've got a lot in the works!
Thank you again for your time today, and happy early book hatching to Structural Strain! Hope the rest of the process goes smoothly for you...
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