The Next Big Thing

 



 



Okay, so maybe I'm not a big deal yet, but just you wait and see. For now, Author Helen Maryles Shankman
(who writes haunting tales that tend to hang around a while after you’re
finished reading) invited me to this blog thing, and of course I had to agree
because I’m easy to get along with, and because I like her. This blog …series(?)
is called, "The Next Big Thing." Authors answer a set of 10 questions,
and then tag authors they feel are worth checking out. Next week, the authors
I’ve tagged at the end of this post will answer the questions. Or not. I left
that up to them. Even if they don’t, all of them have blogs that are worth
checking out.



So, here are the questions:





What is the working
title of your book?
Which one? The most recently “finished” would be False
Prophet, which I’m working on rewriting at the moment. I have a couple of WIPs
too. No titles.




Where did the idea
come from for the book?
My boyfriend. Seems weird to call him that because I imagine
boyfriends as temporary things, and he’s been hanging around for more than a
decade, but that’s a tangent. Kurt and I joke around with story ideas, usually
with him tossing out ridiculous ones that are completely unwritable. So he was
like “What if you had to eat shit or die, literally?” and the idea was formed.
No one eats shit of course, but my brain traveled a winding path from there.

 




What genre does your
book fall under?
Science fiction, but not science fiction. If
pseudo-apocalyptic were a genre, then that would be it. Sci-fi/thriller? I’m
not sure. I’ll figure it out before I query anyone.

 




Which actors would
you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
The logical me sees David Boreanaz playing Rayne, the
protagonist, perfectly. However, the romantic me imagines Richard Armitage when
I’m writing. As for the “villain” Markos, I would choose…wait, Armitage would
play him very well. There, I can have my Boreanaz and my Armitage too.






What is the
one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Plane crashes on a mountain after an asteroid has allegedly
wiped out most of the world, and the survival of the passengers depends upon one
man’s ability to separate fact from fiction.




Hmmm….sounds awful. I suck at synopses
 




Will your book be
self-published or represented by an agency?
I hope it will be represented by an agency. I don’t plan to
self-publish.

 




How long did it take
you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The first draft? A little over a month. The second, third,
fourth and fifth drafts have taken slightly longer.

 




What other books
would you compare this story to within your genre?
Um. See, I have trouble with this question when submitting
my work because my goal when writing is to make it something that is unique. I
know that’s impossible, but I try to write what I’ve never read before, so
saying it’s like this book or that feels wrong because I don’t want it to be
like anything else. I’m not sure I’d even like the book anymore if I found one
that was similar. I don’t want to tell the same old story.

 




Who or What inspired
you to write this book?
I think I answered that above.

 




What else about your
book might pique the reader’s interest?
Murder, deceit, humor and sex in the dirt.




 
Over the next week, take a wander over to these blogs. I’m
sure their answers will be more interesting than mine. Or at least, more
informative.




 

Wendy Swore



VeronicaSicoe



S.M. Carriére




And if you’re
feeling chatty, I’d like to know where the idea for your current WIP came from.