The Next Big Thing
My friend Kelly Smith, writer and quilter, tagged me in this “Next Big Thing” interview meme thing, so here are my answers. I don’t usually talk about my current WIPs, unless it’s face to face with someone I trust, but hey, just this once, I suppose it’s all good. And apologies for the non-commital tone. Even now it seems like I’m not all that interested in talking about what I’m writing.
So without further ado:
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing
1. What is the working title of your book?
Cry Havoc, which I think alludes nicely to some of the action and themes of the book. I probably won’t get a lot more specific than that.
2. Where did the idea for the book come from?
Cop out #2 here. It came from a lot of different sources. One was my friend Matt Wright’s idea about a terrorism campaign in the US. Another was a desire to update a particular terrorism narrative from the 80s beyond the narrative that we’re caught up in now, especially in modern spy/technothriller fiction, which I read too much of in prep for this.
3. What genre does your book fall under?
See above. Espionage/technothriller thing.
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I’m really terrible at this sort of thing, unfortunately. For a couple of projects, I’ve actually done the “pick an actor and base physical descriptions off them” exercise, but I haven’t with this one for whatever reason. Just for the sake of reference, let’s say Thandie Newton would do fine as my main character, Karyn. Gerard Butler could be her ex-husband Tommy, probably. Beyond that, I’ve tuckerized my friends Matt Wright and Michael Mundy into cameos, and they could play their eponymous characters. Though they would both need to put another ten, fifteen years on.
5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
I hate giving away too much on this project, so let’s say it’s an examination of terrorism in a post-post-9/11 America. And some shit blows up.
Woops, that was two sentences.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
If it isn’t represented by an agency, it probably won’t get published. Self-publishing is cool and all, but it involves a lot more work than I’m keen to put into it. I write for the love, and if I can follow the traditional path to money, that’s an excellent goal. I’ll happily go there.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Ask me in six months? I’m still at around 30% on that first draft, sadly. Going to plow forward a bit more tonight, though.
8. What other books would you compare to this story within your genre?
Really hard to say since I’m not very well-read in this genre, but in terms of feel I’m shooting for an old-school Tom Clancy vibe. Trying for some very grounded sort of stuff, not the Ludlum-esque mega-conspiracy thing. That obviously has done well, but not really my thing.
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Mostly just observations on terrorism and political change, especially stemming from my “vacation” in Iraq in 2004. Again, hard to say, because elements of the book have been percolating in the back of my head for, well, yeah, 8 years at least now. Why now? I’d really like to see this thing on shelves (if at all possible) in 2014-2015. I think it could be pretty topical then.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Other than a minority female heroine in a genre that is seemingly dominated by the white-male-former-Navy-SEAL archetype? Yeah, I dunno. I blow some stuff up, but good, in it. That should be pretty cool.
Instructions
1. Use this format for your post.
2. Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress).
3. Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
4. Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.
Tag! You’re it!
I hate tagging people for stuff like this, but if you see this post and you’re inspired to do it-hey, tag! Ah ha! Link back to me and I’ll add a link to you down here and it’ll be super swell.
Mirrored from Bum Scoop.