Empress Theresa

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A red herring is when a person responds to an argument by bringing up a semi-related topic in an effort to divert the flow of logic into a realm where the person feels more comfortable. Conflicting accounts have been given by Norman Boutin about how much time he spent on Empress Theresa. At one point, he claimed to have "spent 19 years writing" the book, [1] while at another time he said it was "over a twenty year period." [2] On Facebook, he said that he began writing it in 1974. [3] Elsewhere, Norman said that eighteen years ago he had "the kernel of an idea" for the book in 1994, [4] but he "actually started writing it" three years ago. [5] This would put the starting year of writing Empress Theresa around 2009. This is (purportedly) an adult man attempting to write in the voice of a young girl. It reads like an adult man trying to write in the voice of a young girl. Evidently he thinks ten year old girls speak in short, choppy, awkward, irritating sentences. Nothing about this first person narration rings true.

Title Drop: Theresa directly refers to herself as "Empress Theresa" when she and Steve finally leave the Parker family nearly a year after their arrival. She is also mentioned by her epithet of "World Empress" in the epigraph. Whatever you choose to do, don't become one of those people who thinks their own individual look through has completed the editing process, and never become one of those people who thinks "their crap don't stink." Get a second opinion, a third opinion, a fourth opinion, etc. Join a writer's group. Become involved in the indie writing scene. Get to know other authors - especially those who have made a name for themselves. You will grow, and so will your craft.

In light of the first anniversary of her falling out of the plane, a stuntman wants to break Theresa’s record of falling eleven miles and living. Theresa makes a short video first describing how she fell and secondly saying how the world is idiotic for watching this spectacle. She let it happen because, if she stopped it, others would secretly attempt to do it, causing more damage. When the stuntman eventually does it, he dies on the scene. Theresa explains that, depending on how you fall on the wave, you’ll either live or die, and you shouldn’t try. The chapter ends with Theresa pondering prejudice and calling the dead stuntman stupid.

I've noticed that on lists of books assigned to high school English classes, lists collected by academic services, among the books read in class are such stories as George Orwell's 1984, Orwell's Animal Farm, and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. A 16 year old high school girl a few miles from here read 1984 in her school. Really? I'm astonished! How infinitely more interesting and entertaining the students would have found Empress Theresa. [11] http://www.writingforums.com/threads/133885-Empress-Theresa-is-here?s=fce8481fe38b0b020ca3f55b44bad07d&p=1571172&viewfull=1#post1571172

All of this is especially interesting given that Norman admitted in an interview that he did barely any research in writing the book: Hope Bringer: Somehow manages to be this and The Dreaded considering how often she strikes fear into the hearts of government leaders.