BookView Review

Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.

Recently, we talked to Teri M. Brown about her writing and recently released historical novel Daughters of Green Mountain Gap, a poignant story of tradition, evolution, and the complexities of familial connections. (read the review here).

How often you read?

I am a voracious reader and typically read every day. This past year, I read 41 books. I already have 20 on my TBR to be completed by the first of May. Although I love reading historical fiction, I’ve recently decided to spread out into other genres, which have included memoir, medical thriller, RomCom, cozy mystery, contemporary women’s fiction, and fantasy. What I’ve discovered is that I love strong characters, and as long as a book has that, I enjoy most genres!

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Don’t wait for the right time. There will never be a right time. Start now. Learn the craft. Enjoy the process. But most of all, don’t let anyone else tell you that you aren’t good enough. You are amazing!

Do you read your book reviews? Do they please you or annoy you? Do you think you can learn a lot from reading criticism about your work?

I’ve been cautioned not to read my reviews, but I still do – every single one of them. Like anyone would be, I’m pleased with the good ones and annoyed with the ones that aren’t so good. However, I have come to realize that my books are not for everyone – and that is perfectly fine. There are many authors, many books, many genres, and many styles of writing. Not every author works for every person.

Whenever I read a review, I try to learn from it. What did the reader like and why? Is this something I was aware of? Can I recreate that ‘thing’ in the future? Is this one of my strengths? And if the review is not positive, what can I learn? Is the criticism deserved? If I could write it again, how could I do so differently to correct the issue? Is this a weakness I should focus on?

Do you Google yourself?

This question made me laugh because I just Googled myself and each one of my books yesterday! I enjoy seeing where I pop up, what graphics accompany my name, and where my website and social media is in the ranking.

What ultimately inspired you to become a writer?

I began writing nonfiction for small businesses in 2000. By 2010, I really wanted to be a fiction author, but I was living in an emotionally abusive relationship. Putting my characters out there was just too daunting given what I was dealing with at home. I just didn’t have a safe place to land if I failed.

I left that relationship in 2017 and began writing. However, my work remained unread because I was still too afraid to let others see it. I had no mentor and took no classes because of fear.

I met my now husband, Bruce, in 2018, and he became my biggest cheerleader. He also encouraged me to go on an adventure of a lifetime. We rode across the US on a tandem bicycle, 3102 miles from the coast of Oregon to Washington, DC in the summer of 2020. As we approached the Marine Corps Memorial where we would finish the ride, I realized that I had accomplished something huge – and that adventure had changed me. I now understood that I could do anything I put my mind to. It wasn’t a matter of ‘can I do it’ but a matter of ‘what do I want to do?’ I wanted to be an author. Fourteen months later, my first book, Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, launched – and I haven’t looked back!

Are you a feeler or a thinker?

I am, without a shadow of a doubt, a feeler. It’s not that I don’t think, because I do. I reason things out, make decisions based on evidence, research the facts, and more. But my go-to response is emotion. Let me give you an example.

On the ride across the US, I kept a blog every single day. If you read that blog (you can find it on my website), you will see how often I cried on the side of the road. I would ‘whoa is me’ and state definitively that I could not go any further. This was too hard. I was not capable. The tears would flow. Then, when I got the emotions out of the way, I would take a deep breath and get back on the bicycle because staying the night on the side of the road wasn’t a good option.

Tell us some more about your book.

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is a generational story about three healers, known as granny women, in the Appalachian Mountains of NC in the 1890s. Maggie, the grandmother, learned her craft from a long line of family healers but also from a Cherokee medicine man. Her daughter, Carrie Ann, though called to heal, wants to bring modern medicine to the town and shuns her mother’s way of doing things. Josie Mae, the youngest generation, is stuck between two women she loves and two methods of healing that both have merit, despite neither being enough all the time. We follow these three women as they heal themselves and others.

What inspired the premise of your book?

Believe it or not, it was a wart on the pad of my thumb. My primary care doctor would not remove it in the office stating that I would need to see a hand specialist. Instead, I got wart remover from the local pharmacy.

I complained to my brother about this, and he said, “Why didn’t you get someone to talk it off.” I had never heard of such a thing and assumed he was just trying to get me to fall for one of his tall tales. When we got off the phone, I did what I always do. I Googled it. This #researchjunkie found out that there are people who have the power to talk off warts, blow away thrush, turn breech babies, and more. As I continued to search, I learned of Granny Women, and my main character, Maggie, was born.

Which scene was most difficult to write? Why?

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but those who read the book will know what the difficult scene is. I spent two months not writing it because I kept hoping a different solution could be found. The entire manuscript came to a screeching halt, and I had no idea where to go next or how the story would finally end until I wrote that scene. When it was complete, everything opened up like a vision.

What do you hope readers will take away from this story?

I hope readers will think about things like racism and xenophobia. Why do we fear those who think differently? Is there a way to see the similarities instead? Is there a way to take what someone else holds sacred and meld it into your own beliefs? Or at least accept that they hold this thing to be true?

How did you decide on this title?

I’m terrible at titles. Awful, really! I saved the manuscript as Maggie, but never thought that would be the title. I turned it in to my editor as The Healer’s Apprentice. I was not enamoured with it. When I asked my editor, she said, “It’s okay,” which was exactly my sentiment. So, I turned to my readers. I suggested titles with healer, river, moon, granny woman, and more. The consensus was Daughters of the Mountain, but I still felt that was just okay.

Then, a reader said, “Many local mountains have names beyond Appalachian or Blue Ridge.” I looked up the names of mountains/hills around Burnsville, NC where the story is set and found Green Mountain Gap. I knew I had found the name.

What’s next for you?

The character that is speaking to me right now is significantly different from anything I’ve written before. She was born when I wondered what had happened to Margaret in Judy Blume’s “Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret.” It turns out that Margaret is now Peg. She is recently separated and is no longer dealing with puberty but instead grapples with menopause. This book is written in first-person, present tense POV and is women’s fiction humor with a side helping of romance. I hope to have it completed soon and out to readers by late spring or early summer.

***