Each year, I spend the month of February teaching writing in Tucson, AZ, and each year I learn about authors fostered by the ongoing program at Pima Community College. The following interview is with an author who credits the Wednesday night writing class she took at Pima while her kids were preschoolers for the start of her writing career.

Word of Laura Fitzgerald’s novel Veil of Roses, published in January 2007, has spread quickly on the Internet and through the media.  Almost as soon as I returned home from Tucson last February, I noticed a review of Veil of Roses in US magazine. Although that publication labeled Veil of Roses Chix Lit, the novel is an appealing read for a much wider audience. In addition to being a love story, Veil of Roses evokes the family life of those who have come to the US because of repression in their home countries, and it captures the sense of delight and fear people experience when their surroundings are new to them and the culture is different than the one they are used to.  The book reinforces the idea that people can communicate across cultures and trust and support one another.

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Sheila
Since you are not Iranian, why did you decide to write a novel in which the protagonist is a young woman from Iran living in Tucson?

Laura
Two reasons, really: First, my husband is from Iran, and over the years I’ve seen several women move from Iran to the US, and each time, I’ve been very moved by their experiences. I knew readers would be as well.

Second, I wanted to write a funny book, because I’d been working on a very serious book about a very serious topic (incest) for a long time. I began Veil of Roses as a way to take a break. I realized along the way that a “fish out of water” story, which is what this story is, is the easiest way to successfully write humor. My book club had, at the time, been reading so many serious novels and we were looking for something that made us laugh, but that was still ABOUT something — we wanted some humor with our heft — and we were having a hard time finding it. I knew this was a story that could incorporate both.

Sheila
What kinds of research did you have to do to understand your main character’s plight and her family’s outlook?

 Laura
During the first draft, my research entailed mostly lots of reflection and lots of observation, as well as lots of comparisons about what I could do in my daily life that women from Iran are unable to do. Jogging with my girlfriend in the early morning, drinking a cold beer on a hot summer night–those sorts of things. I spent a few hours on Fourth Avenue one evening and just took notes the whole time. Everything I saw — from gay couples holding hands, to tattoos, to a shirtless guitarist — none of those things would be tolerated in Iran. I started to take note of freedom in all its small forms, just like Tami does in the book.

After completing the first draft, I read numerous books about Iran and read blogs of Iranian women and made sure I wasn’t too far off in the things Tami was experiencing and feeling.

I’ve also observed women from Iran come to the US for the first time, and I’ve heard their thoughts and their opinions and I’ve gone with them to shopping malls and restaurants here. Tami’s voice–her particular way of speaking English — came very easily to me.

It’s been quite rewarding to hear from Iranian women who’ve read the book and say, “That’s just like my family!”

Sheila
Are you familiar with ESL classes in Tucson? The scenes in class are so well drawn, I feel like I am in class with Tami Joon and the others.

Laura
I used to tutor a Chinese couple who had recently moved to the US. We met for coffee once a week and had both formal lessons and casual conversations to practice English and exchange information about our respective cultures.

Also, some of my Iranian relatives took ESL classes when they first moved to the US, and the members of their class were the first friends they made here and the bonds ran deep, since they were all experiencing the same thing at the same time, even coming from so many different countries. I think I captured the spirit pretty well.

Sheila
Did you realize before you started to write just how much Tucson itself would be a “character” in the story?

Laura
I didn’t, to be honest. All I was trying to do was be visual. I wanted readers to see what Tami saw and feel what Tami felt. The actual house she lived in is based on my favorite house in El Encanto Estates, which I jog by regularly. Her route from that house to the downtown library is a route I’m extremely familiar with because I jog it and drive it all the time. Sabino Canyon is one of my favorite places in Tucson, and it was important for me to have a scene from there.

Sheila
Was the romance between the Tami Joon and Ike based on particular romances familiar to you?

Laura
Ah, Tami and Ike. Such a nice love story. It wasn’t based on one I’m familiar with. But I had a perfect image in my head for every scene in which they were together — how they’d look at each other, tease each other, and be careful not to cross the line that was always between them even though it usually remained unspoken. I knew she would never tell him about her dilemma. I also now know more about Tami and Ike because Tami’s sister Maryam has made a cameo appearance in my next book.

Sheila
I like Maryam as a character. What a surprise it was for me at the end of Veil of Roses when Tami’s older sister who seems always to restrict her comes through for others Tami cares about. When in the writing did it occur to you that she would rise above expectations?

Laura
I knew this on the very first draft. It was important to me that while Maryam was the novel’s antagonist, she was not the bad guy. She was 100% devoted to her sister. All she did, she did out of love. I’ve been asked about her arc–everyone seems so sure she changes during the novel, but I don’t think she does. They’re under a tight deadline, and she doesn’t want Tami to go back to Iran. She doesn’t have the luxury of relaxing her efforts. At the start of the book, Tami certainly is not capable of making a marriage happen on her own.

I read somewhere that the best antagonists in a story are the ones who love the character the most. And that’s truly the case in this situation. Maryam is Tami’s greatest ally, even though it doesn’t seem that way. All she’s doing is what she honestly believes is best for Tami. I knew she’d help Nadia because I knew I wanted the reader to come around and see a different side to her. She’s actually a lovely person.

Sheila
What is the most satisfying part of the story for you?

Laura
The ending!

I rewrote it so many times looking for a way for it to be happy and not entirely cliché. I didn’t get it right until I figured out for once and for all what the premise of the story was — what it is I as a writer was trying to say, which is: Happiness is a choice, and it takes courage to be happy. If you have the courage do that which is difficult in your quest for happiness, then you will be rewarded. If you don’t, you won’t.

Once I figured that out, the ending came easily. Tami could have just married Ike and moved in with him, but that would have been settling. She wanted to live alone–it was her biggest secret, that desire. It was not something she’d even contemplated before coming to the US, that such a thing was possible. But once the desire hit her, she couldn’t stop thinking of it. Half of what she admired so much about Rose is that she lived alone.

I’m also satisfied by the reaction to the novel. Not many books about the Middle East are uplifting, so it was important for me to pull that off, and I think I succeeded. I’m also pleased with how I incorporated humor and heartache. The story is a nice blend of funny moments coupled with seriousness. I know it’s one of the things readers have found most appealing.

Sheila
What was your journey to publication: How long did you work on the book?

Laura
I actually wrote this book very quickly. I was working on another novel before this off and on for about six years, and the problem was that the story was much better than my skills as a storyteller were at the time. I couldn’t give the story what it needed because I didn’t know what that was.

This is 100% different than that book, and it came easily. The gods of writing decided to go easy on me for a change.

A friend provided an introduction to her agent, and she’s the one I signed with (Stephanie Kip Rostan of Levine Greenberg). She sent the manuscript around to probably eight different publishers.  In the end, it became clear that Bantam Dell had the most enthusiasm for the book. At Bantam Dell, the book was orphaned a few times as editors left the company, but thankfully each editor who came along offered something new that made the book even better. It got richer and more complex thanks to their editorial suggestions.

Sheila
Did you work with a writing group or otherwise get feedback along the way?

Laura
I took writing classes at Pima Community College for a few years while my kids were preschool age. I’d left my job and become a full-time, stay-at-home parent, so my Wednesday night writing classes were my one time during the week to connect with other writers I wrote very early in the morning because it was the only time I knew I wouldn’t be interrupted.

I’m not in a writing group right now; I’ve come to be very protective of my first drafts. I’ve made the mistake before (and regularly continue to make it) of not separating the pure writing process from the editing process, and my stories always suffer as a result.

Sheila
Do you mean that when you listen to others their voices impinge on your writing in a way that short-circuits your ultimate process?

Laura
Right, anything that seems like a shortcut for me actually turns out to be a long cut. The minute I show first drafts to someone, I lose momentum. I don’t want to short-change myself — first drafts are the process of discovery. Some of my favorite writing is work that no one else has yet seen. I do Nanowrimo every year (where you try to write an entire novel in 30 days), and I have this suspicion that a novel I wrote a couple years ago will turn out to be my shock-and-awe novel, if I’m ever going to have one.

My agent provides incredibly helpful feedback. I trust that she won’t anything that’s not ready go out into the world, and I think everyone needs a gatekeeper like that. I like to try wild things, which means I’ll have some wild failures along the way. Structure is my biggest weakness, how to tell the story most effectively.

Sheila
Is the book being nicely supported?

Laura
It has been very nicely supported, although I definitely have found that the most important thing an author can do is make the decision from the get-go that she owns her own career. I own the marketing of this book, and I own my career, which I hope will span 10-20 years. I’m very cognizant of making decisions that will keep me happy over the long haul.

Sheila
What is the most fun you are having promoting it?

Laura
I have loved every interaction I’ve had with readers, whether it’s a bookstore reading, book festivals, public speeches or visits to book clubs. I set a goal for myself that I would personally speak with a thousand people over the first year of publication of this book, and I’m almost there. A writer’s life is lonely by choice. We need time to reflect. But it’s important to get out with people and see what’s on their minds, what they’re struggling with, how important their relationships with other women are.

I’ve also loved how it’s brought lots of people from my past back into my life, friends from grade school and college. Just the other day I got an email from my college roommate who I’d lost touch with. Also, being an author has allowed me to meet so many wonderful and interesting people–other writers and people who support them (readers, bookstore owners, librarians). Writing a novel is so private, until it’s done. Then, it becomes incredibly social, if you choose to make it so. For me, the social aspect of connecting with other readers and writers makes me want to do it
again and again.

Sheila
What is your next project?

Laura
Here’s a link to an early chapter from my next project:

This is the book that has almost killed me, and I can only hope that once it’s out in the world, it does me proud. It’s another example of the story being better than the writer who’s telling it.

Sheila
Any advice for others who want to write a particular story because they feel intrigued by or passionate about a subject?

Laura
Just go for it. Write for yourself first and foremost. Write as a gift to yourself. You will be a better person simply by engaging in the process of writing.

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I really enjoyed reading Veil of Roses, and as others report, I, too, couldn’t put it down. I got hooked on being in Tucson with Tami and her dilemma and believed all the scenes with the men she had to meet from the Iranian exile community in the hopes of one marrying her so she could stay in the US. Her concerns were so real.

Bantam has put the first two chapters of Veil of Roses as well as a bit of the third chapter on this website:

Read the excerpt and you’ll want to finish the book!

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An additional interview with Laura Fitzgerald appears on The Written Word.