Raquel Vasquez Gilliland: It’s Okay to Relax Before Drafting the Next Book
Raquel Vasquez Gilliland is a Pura Belpré Award-winning Mexican American poet, novelist, and painter. She received her BA in cultural anthropology from the University of West Florida and her MFA in poetry from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Raquel is most inspired by folklore and seeds and the lineages of all things.
When not writing, Raquel tells stories to her plants, and they tell her stories back. Witch of Wild Things is her third novel. Follow her on Instagram.
In this post, Raquel shares how her most recent novel rose from the ashes of a failed draft, why it’s okay to relax before drafting the next book (after a finished manuscript), and more.
Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Name: Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Literary agent: Elizabeth Bewley
Book title: Witch of Wild Things
Publisher: Berkley / Penguin Random House
Release date: September 12, 2023
Genre/category: Fantasy Romance/Magical Realism Romance
Previous titles: Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything; How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love With the Universe (both from Simon & Schuster)
Elevator pitch for the book: A Latinx Practical Magic. (This pitch was on Twitter and got the attention of the editor who ended up buying the book!)
(WD uses affiliate links.)
What prompted you to write this book?
I had spent 15 months trying to get a different manuscript to work through what felt like endless revisions. Finally I realized that I didn’t love or even like that book anymore.
I took the only elements I did love—a concept of wild magic, a tattooed love interest, and a flawed elder maternal character—and started over again. The end result of that project is Witch of Wild Things.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
Well, as mentioned, this was a complete rewrite from a previous book that I couldn’t revise properly. But once I started Witch of Wild Things, I felt as though I couldn’t stop. It took about a month and a half to get the first draft out, and another month and a half before it sold to Berkley.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
My first novel, Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything, was sold to Simon & Schuster after about two weeks of submissions in an auction. By comparison, waiting over a month for Witch of Wild Things to sell felt lengthy, even though I knew it wasn’t. I had to learn how to be patient and distract myself with books and gardening and chocolates.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I spent three months outlining the plot and characters, so there wasn’t a ton of surprises. However, there are these superhuman spirits in the book that are known as “the old gods.” They kept surprising me, even though they are truly nebulous and unknowable and unfathomable figures.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I want them to feel absolutely lovely about themselves and more connected to nature, as well as the general warm fuzziness that comes from reading a great romance novel.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
A lot of people say, “Write the next thing,” after a big project. I have learned this advice simply does not work for me. I cannot produce good work when I am exhausted and depleted.
So my advice is, if writing the next thing sounds impossible, it’s okay to wait, it’s okay to relax, it’s okay to decompress and figure things out and read and drink tea and start seeds before drafting the next book.