# Empress Theresa is here.



## empresstheresa (Oct 25, 2012)

Hello.  I just discovered this forum an hour ago and registered.

I've been working on a Young Adult novel called Empress Theresa for many years and will try to find out what people think of it. 
It's already finished and has 96,000 words, about the maximum you could put in a YA, I think.  I've rejected a hundred ideas over the years, leaving in only what I think were the best.

I'll be posting in the correct section soon.

See ya.   :icon_cheesygrin:


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## tepelus (Oct 25, 2012)

Hello, and welcome!


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## Nickie (Oct 26, 2012)

Hello there, and welcome to the forums.


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## Dunluchyn (Oct 26, 2012)

Hi...what is your style? Given the working title I'm seeing a Fantasy novel..yes? No ?


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## bazz cargo (Oct 26, 2012)

M' Liege Lady. Welcome to our 'umble abode. Sheets are changed Tuesdays and Thursdays. Curry on Friday and no eating toast in bed. Enjoy!


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## empresstheresa (Oct 27, 2012)

Dunluchyn said:


> Hi...what is your style? Given the working title I'm seeing a Fantasy novel..yes? No ?



Sorry I couldn't get back earlier.  My GOOGLE CHROME couldn't connect to WritersForum.  I don't know why.

Some people might call Empress Theresa sci/fi, but I call it Young Adult.  The Hunger Games also has some sci/fi elements in it but is called YA.

Some lifeless, natural entity merges with Theresa when she is ten years old.  It does nothing to her.  This is not "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or any hokie stuff like that.
When Theresa is eighteen, she learns how to control this entity which she calls HAL.   HAL moves matter.  Any amount.  Any where.  Theresa acquires limitless power, not in the political arena, but over the Earth's surface itself.

It is the British Prime Minister who coins the phrase "Empress Theresa" because of her awesome power, and the term sticks.
Theresa is a good girl.  Most people with her kind of power would try to tell people what to do.  Theresa does not.  "People know best what to do with their lives" she says.

Naturally,  I provide her with difficult problems, even "impossible problems" as they're called in the story.  The fun for the reader is to try to figure out how Theresa will solve these "impossible" problems before they read about it.  :razz:

But never mind the action sequences.  My real interest was in Theresa's character, or personality if you prefer.  I hope that the reader will get to understand was makes her tick as well as if she were a sister.  I intended this to be a character driven story.


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## Dunluchyn (Oct 27, 2012)

Get writing...I want to read it, sounds like a fun and interesting book you have inside you


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## empresstheresa (Oct 27, 2012)

Dunluchyn said:


> Get writing...I want to read it, sounds like a fun and interesting book you have inside you



Get writing?  :confusion:  It's already finished!   :icon_cheesygrin:

Actually, I have three versions on my computer: a 142,000 word version with a bewildering number of characters and scenes completed two years ago, a shorter 119,000 word version, and the final 96,000 word YA version completed last Spring told in Theresa's own first person voice which sacrifices some discussions going on between the British Prime Minister and President Stinson, as well the earlier Presidents Gardner and Martin, but since Theresa was always "on screen" even in the larger earlier versions the YA doesn't sacrifice anything important.

The March 2012 edition of AARP had an article called "60 going on 16" about how older people such as retired English teachers were enjoying YA books more than adult books because of the nostalgic effect.  They remembered how it was when they were young.  Even established authors such as John Grisham and James Baldacci are experimenting with YA.
Soon after, I read all three of The Hunger Games books and realized Empress Theresa screamed to be a YA novel.  The kids will love "watching" her prevail over incredible obstacles.   Older readers will enjoy the political and philosophical themes hidden between the lines.


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## HKayG (Oct 31, 2012)

Welcome, welcome! I look forward to seeing your work.


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## empresstheresa (Oct 31, 2012)

> Welcome, welcome! I look forward to seeing your work.




Thanks.   :grin:

It certainly is a different kind of Young Adult novel !

Not just worried about the high school prom, eighteen year old Theresa ( one year at Boston College ) gets embroiled in world problems.  
She survives an assassination attempt by President Martin, talks with the British Prime Minister in London on live television with four billion viewers, hears the President of France say a thousand assassins will be after her, ( *** )   takes on OPEC singlehanded,  helps Israel evacuate, and liberates the North Korean people.  Among other things.    :sentimental:


( *** )  "You can kill me if you want.  HAL will just move to somebody else.  It could be anybody. HAL wouldn't know the difference between Joan of Arc and Adolf Hitler.  Want to try your luck?"


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## empresstheresa (Nov 4, 2012)

I started a thread in the Fiction / Child & Young Adult section called:
*"Empress Theresa - what to you do with unlimited power?"  * :read:  :joyous:

It gives several opening pages, right up to when the U.S. government becomes aware of Theresa. 
"How did they know about me?" she wonders.


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