The Next Big Thing

The following meme is courtesy of Ray Veen . I'm doing it a) because Ray is a sweet guy and doesn't often ask for favors, and b)  I'm a little brain dead this week, thanks to a big paper and prepping for finals.  and c) What writer doesn't like to talk about their work? At the end there will be an invitation and directions so you can join in.

My answers below apply to my current work in progress--my sixth novel.


1. What is the working title of your book?  
The working title of my current project is "Bright" as in--
  
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever." Revelation 22:1-5

Trust me, it's relevant. 

2. Where did the idea come from for the book? 
Multiple sources. The largest part of it was inspired by confronting my own mortality (midlife stuff) and, as a result, baring my soul to my husband while on a camping trip. I've already blogged about this here so I won't retell the story. But the primary conflict was presented in the form of a really strange guy who camped right next to us one night in the otherwise empty campground. For reasons known only to him, he positioned his entire campsite so it was facing us and every time we looked up from what we were doing, he was watching us. Being of a less suspicious mindset than his wife, Gary thought he was lonely and went over to introduce himself. While he was vaguely polite, he made it plain he wasn't interested in conversation nor did he want to join us. Late that the evening he trooped past our camp site multiple times while carrying an ax and retrieving dead fall from the woods--which meant he actually had to make a detour because the tree-line was behind his own campsite. When we woke up the next morning, he was gone--leaving his campfire still smoking. I have no idea what his real story was, but some day I'm either going to owe him a debt of thanks or an apology for inspiring one of the creepiest villains I've ever written. 

3. What genre does your book fall under?  
I really don't know. Spiritual chick-lit meets science fiction meets the supernatural genre?

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart? Just kidding. I'm not good at this.  I like Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, John Cusack, Harrison Ford, and the guy who plays Monroe on Grim,  See? This is why I don't write scripts . . .

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
For the record--I hate run on sentences . . .
In the wake of an extramarital affair, a middle aged woman and her husband go on a camping trip  to relive the moment they first fell in love, but they're stalked by the woman's former lover who attempts to murder them both and in her final moments promises her he's going to kill her children as well, but he doesn't count on tenacity of a mother's love and the Powers-That-Be.  


6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I am an indie writer for oh-so-many reasons. If I'm going to put the time into writing an entire book it's worth it to me to find an audience sooner than later rather than play a form of literary lottery and just keep hoping that my work finds the right agent who's in the right mood and then hope that the agent finds the right publisher who's in the right mood, etc and so on. I'd rather acquire a small following and make a few sales than have a manuscript moldering on my desktop, slowly being outdated. In brief, I'd rather be read than be famous.

However I will probably continue to seek publication for my short fiction. 

  
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I'm still writing Bright and I started it back in 2010. I took a long break from it though. However, on average it takes about six months minimum for me to write anything of any length and a year or so on average. I could probably turn work out in significantly less time, but why rush it? I'd just have to go back and fix it. 


8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
As I'm not sure what genre my work falls into, this would be hard to say. I don't like to think of my stuff being like anyone else's. 

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?
A creepy guy at a campsite and the mid-life crisis fairy. My husband helped a little. :)

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
This is my first "grown up" book, meaning I'm writing for women (and men) my own age. I'm not just telling a supernatural adventure story this time--I'm writing about hard stuff--marriage, love, and death. This story has a message and it's (on many levels) that this is not all there is and that there is a greater plan.  

Now I'm presented with a quandary. I consider myself very fortunate to have 21 followers and other readers who don't formally "follow" the blog but read here regularly.  I'm subscribed to a lengthy list of blogs, but very few of them are authors and I don't know most of them well enough to ask them to contribute to this. So here's what I'm going to do:

If you are an author and you have a current project and/or have just finished something, or you just want to talk about your book, please consider yourself invited to answer the questions in this meme (just copy and paste 'em) and link back here so I can come read it and subscribe to your blog as well.  Be sure and go read Ray's blog too!

It's fun. I promise.