The Next Big Thing

My good friend and fellow author, Darcia Helle, didn't think I had enough to do on a Monday, so she decided to tag me in a challenge called The Next Big Thing. I do actually love these challenges, so a big thanks to Darcia.

The rules of the challenge are:

1. Answer 10 questions about my current WIP (Work-In-Progress)
2. Tag five other writers and link their blogs so we can all hop over and read their answers.


The questions are:


1. What is the working title of your book?
2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
3. What genre does your book fall under?
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?


So, here we go...

1. My upcoming novel is called, 'Haunted'. It's not a working title, it will be the actual title. The working title was '3 Crimes', then that changed when the book changed direction, to 'Aftermath', but then that changed to the current title, which I think fits the story well.

2. The idea came from a road rage incident. It also encapsulates something that I had wanted to write about ever since seeing a news story on TV about 8 years ago. I know I am being very vague here, but I don't want to give too much away.

3. The genre: the short answer is I don't believe in genres, it is too restrictive for a creative person to be limited to one genre. The book has elements of crime fiction, psychological thriller, literary fiction, contemporary fiction, drama, and is paranormal-esque.

4. Who would play my characters in a movie? My main character, Nigel, is British, but I would love someone like Robin Williams to play him, as he is so talented and roughly the right age. For the female lead, Emily, maybe someone like Kate Winslett.



5. A one sentence synopsis of my book is: Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.

6. I am self publishing this book. Indie authors are the best!

7. I actually don't remember how long it took to write the first draft, maybe about 6 months. I started writing it in January 2011, and it was written in pen, rather than directly onto the computer. I then spent ages typing up the draft. A few months ago, I finished the first couple of edits and sent it to an editor Susan Helene Gottfried (who is also an author friend of mine).

8. I don't know which books I would compare this story to, but can say that it was partly inspired by a Stephen King short film that I saw about 20 years ago, and also by the excellent movie A Beautiful Mind.

9. Who inspired me to write this book? I would have to say that the indie writers I have read over the past few years have been a big inspiration to me. By reading so many diverse and great novels and stories, I have become more confident in experimenting with different genres. I think that when I wrote Cutting The Fat with Jason McIntyre, it made me realise that writing crime fiction was something that I might be able to do. Also, I have recently blamed Darcia Helle for causing me to lean towards writing more crime fiction as her books are so good!

10. What else about my book might pique a reader's interest? When my editor read it, her comment was 'Man, this is dark stuff'... so if you like dark fiction, you may be intrigued now :)


Okay, here are the 5 authors who I would like to challenge:

1. Michael Radcliffe http://michaelradcliffe.wordpress.com/

2. Julie Elizabeth Powell
http://www.freewebs.com/julizpow/

3. Susan Buchanan
http://susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk/

4. Dionne Lister
http://dionnelisterwriter.wordpress.com/

5. Quentin Bufogle
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

I know all of those authors have a work-in-progress which I am very much looking forward to read!