The next big thing
Graeme Talboys drew me into this one, so you might want to take the time to backtrack and have a look at what he’s done with these questions too. http://grumsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-next-big-thing.html I shall also be tagging a bunch of people to spread the love, so do have a look at what they’ve done. This is basically a cheery promotional thing for authors that I have done in a slightly convoluted way.
What is the working title of your next book?
In terms of things not yet published, Letters Between Gentlemen (Fic) and Druidry and Prayer (not fic) I’ve also got an audio project in the works called The Unquiet Land, and there’s going to be Hopeless Maine Book 2 at some point – Inheritance.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
Most of my ideas come from inside my head in a response to things that happen outside my head, and it’s the interface between the two that gets the writing done. Actually there’s a whole rant in Druidry and the Ancestors about the frequency at which this very question comes up in interviews, because it assumes that ideas and inspiration come from ‘away’ and not from ‘within’.
I pay attention to everything around me – I’m a compulsive observer, I read widely, listen to the radio. I think about everything, and I imagine what things would be like and how they look from other perspectives, and I ask, what if? Then some alchemy occurs, and books happen.
What genre does your book fall under?
Druidry and Prayer will, unshockingly be a non-fic Druid book. Letters Between Gentlemen is shaping up to be an illustrated sort-of novel in the Steampunk genre. Unquiet Land is gothic alternative history type of thing. Not entirely sure how to pigeonhole that yet, it’s early days. Hopeless of course is a gothic, graphic novel Steampunky sort of thing.
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Well now, For the Letters, the main character would, quite simply, have to play himself. Those of you who have been paying very close attention to my creative entanglements may be able to figure that one out! I’d also like the fabulous Chantelle Smith to play the female lead. Which may come as a surprise to her because she’s better known as a singer… Unquiet Land, well, that’s audio and written for a specific voice, hopefully he’ll like it, so that doesn’t need casting. As for Hopeless, my dream is not of a live action movie, but of a Studio Ghibli production and anything Hayao Miyazaki wanted to do would be fine with me!
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
Ah, if only I’d started this thing with one book I’d have a fighting chance. But I never seem to be working on just one thing. Too many irons in the fire, too many ideas, too much the grasshopper mind. How about: Nimue writes a book which is distinctly different from the books she has written so far in which things happen that may or may not, depending on genre, be wholly fictional?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Druidry and Prayer I shall wave at Moon Books, I feel able to say this because Trevor expressed interest in public on facebook the other day! Hopeless Maine book 2 will be published by Archaia. The Letters, we’re contemplating and at a guess the audio work will be a self pubbing business.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I very seldom know. Partly because of the having multiple projects on the go at any one time thing. Letters Between Gentlemen, I’ve been working on for nearly a year, sporadically. I expect Duridry and Prayer will have its first draft down in a month a two. The Audio, not a clue, depends on how the inspiration flows.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I try very hard, in all areas of work, to find space that don’t have much other content in and shoot for there. On the downside this does not make the marketing easy and I know being able to say ‘it’s a lot like X’ is helpful, except that if X has already done it, I want to do something else. I’m not even that reliably like me, I suspect, because I get bored far too easily. There are days when I want to be Neil Gaiman, and Terry Pratchett an Douglas Adams. There are days when I want to be Dunsany and Lovecraft and Clive Barker all at the same time. There are dark days, and gothic days, and angry political days, and all kinds of other things going on.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Most of it lately has been inspired by a heady combo of Tom Brown and Paul Alborough. However, Druidry and Prayer was mostly inspired by the fact that there wasn’t much about prayer in Alain Du Botain’s Religion for Atheists book so, even though I’m not an atheist, this made sense to me as a gap I needed to take on. Hopefully it’ll still make sense when I’ve finished tackling it.
What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
As I get bored easily and I hate things I can predict, I try very hard to come up with things that will surprise and entertain and take you somewhere you haven’t been before. Regardless of genre.
I shall be tagging…
Tom Brown http://www.mothfestival.wordpress.com
And
Jonathan Green jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.com/
And
Rachel Tansy Patterson tansyfiredragon.blogspot.com
(And if you want to be tagged, yell)
