Divine Inspiration

Lawyer pens and publishes morality-based thriller

Jerome Teel

A native of Marshall County, Miss., Teel said his aim was to tell an entertaining story about something he knew while weaving a redemptive message through the story’s threads.

Name him the “John Grisham of gospel,” and Teel doesn’t mind the comparison to one of the state’s most renowned living authors. He actually credits Grisham, who is a fellow UM School of Law alum, with inspiring him to become an author.
“When I was in law school at Ole Miss, he [Grisham] spoke in one of my classes,” Teel said. “As I listened to him speak, a seed was planted in me. I set a goal to write a novel one day.”

After graduating from law school, Teel worked at a law firm in Oxford as an associate attorney before taking a job as an associate with a law firm in Jackson. The following year, he and several other lawyers formed their own partnership. That law firm, which evolved into Teel, McCormack & Maroney, PLC, opened in 1995.

Even then, the dream of writing a novel endured, in part, due to Teel’s passion for the written word.

“I’ve always enjoyed reading; I guess it comes from my mother, who instilled in me a desire to read everything I could get my hands on,” Teel said.

Teel started the novel in 2000 while on vacation and finished the rough draft in 2001. However, he discovered writing was the easy part. Convincing a publisher to offer him a contract proved to be one of the most difficult things Teel has ever done.

“I have rejection letters and e-mails to prove it,” Teel said. “There were times when I decided simply to give up on this dream, but I just couldn’t let it go.”

W. Terry Whalin, fiction-acquisitions editor at Howard Books, said that it is always a challenge for first-time novelists to get published. First, he said, authors need a completed manuscript, which means they have to develop the drive and storytelling ability to write about 90,000 words without a book contract or assurance it will ever appear in print. Then they have to compete for the editor’s attention with millions of other unpublished novelists—and compete with published novelists as well.

Despite those odds, Teel forged ahead and found a champion in Whalin who submitted The Election to the publishing board at Howard Books.

Whalin said he had no question in his mind that the novel should be published.

“During my last four years as a book- acquisitions editor, I’ve read hundreds of submissions,” he said. “Most of the time, an editor gives a manuscript or a proposal a few minutes of attention. From the opening scene of The Election, Jerome Teel drew me into his story.”

Whalin added that, to date, Teel’s book is the only unpublished manuscript that he has read in its entirety.

“I believe in the power of this story because I’ve experienced it,” he said. “I’m eager for other readers to discover the same experience.”

Following several revisions of the book, Teel signed a contract with Howard in 2004.

“Six years of effort had finally paid off,” he said. “It was an incredible experience to see my work in print.”

Prior to its September release, The Election already was receiving critical acclaim.

Randall Murphree, editor of American Family Association Journal, said, “This debut legal thriller is far ahead of the rest of the class. … Teel manages an easy-reading style, but at the same time produces a story guaranteed to quicken the pulse.”

With his first novel under his belt, Teel has already completed the manuscript for a second novel, due for release in June 2007. Titled The Divine Appointment, the novel centers on a Christian president’s efforts to obtain confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee, and, once again, Teel said, readers will find a redemptive thread woven throughout.

“I had a story I wanted to write, and I believe that sometimes people can receive a message through an entertaining story,” he said. “So that’s what I’ve tried to do in my writing.”

—Edwin Smith is a communications specialist in UM’s Department of Media and Public Relations.

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