by Tanessa Dillard
Managing Editor
When Carol W. Fetty, instructor of English, decided she wanted to be a movie magazine writer, she let the publications know. She sent out letters and writing samples to every magazine she could think of. She told them what they were missing out on by not hiring her. Three publications wrote back, and none of them knew she was just 15.
Today, Fetty maintains her professional career. She recently completed her first novel, “In Joshua’s House,” a women’s centered fiction story, set in turn of the century Southern California. The story is a romance about a girl who thinks she is about to die. She wrote such romance stories while a student at the University of La Verne, but this is the first to be completed as a book.
“I got involved in the story and thought it needed further explanation,” she said.
The novel is currently being sent out to publishers. Fetty believes that since there is currently a large market for women’s centered fiction, her novel will be among those published.
Women’s centered fiction is the new title used to replace the misleading title of “romance” novels. According to Fetty, there is more to the books than romance. They often contain historical elements as well as social commentary and intrigue.
“The genre is changing and consequently, the writers are having to keep up with that change,” she explained. “The women writing these novels are far more educated than one might assume.”
Also on the verge of publication is an anthology called “Why Women Really Read Romance: Topical Changes Amid Enduring Themes,” which Fetty is contributing an essay to.
She was asked to contribute to the anthology last March at the Romance Writers’ Conference in Omaha, Neb. The anthology will be completed sometime in 1995.
Fetty has been teaching at ULV since 1978. She is currently the adviser of the Circle K club and the campus literary magazine, Prism.
Her ties to the University are stronger than her teaching or alumna status. Besides being a former student, she has been a classified and administrative staff member as well as a faculty member. She is also a parent of a graduate, a major donor and a friend of the University.
Although she was just a teenager when she was first hired, Fetty realized her love for writing at an even earlier age. When she was 6, she wrote a play called “The Bride’s Veil,” about a girl who was getting married.
“That’s why I started so early, because this is something I always wanted to do,” she said.
Fetty showed her teacher the play she had written. The only reaction she received, however, was that she had spelled “veal” instead of “veil.”
“From that point on, I decided that the only people who could review my work were the ones who could understand it,” Fetty said.
Even though she has dealt with rejection, Fetty said everything she has written has eventually been published. Her past assignments include work for the California Historical Society (she is a native Californian) and ghostwriting for politicians. She has been published under about 12 pen names. In the past she has joked that she is saving her real name for a Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. In reality, she is a fairly private person.
Fetty is currently working on the life story of former long-time ULV football coach Roland Ortmayer. They hope the story will be made into a screenplay.
She is also writing another women’s centered fiction novel as well as a contemporary novel on academia.
Tanessa Dillard
