The Next Big Thing

“The Next Big Thing” is a blog chain started by blogger She Writes  to help female authors promote their current work by answering a set of seven questions and then “tagging” other writers, inviting them to do the same.

Judith Starkston tagged me for The Next Big Thing. I first met Judith on Twitter, then I met her in person, since she too lives in the Valley in Arizona. (She holds the distinction of being the very first friend from Twitter I’ve managed to meet live.) We met at a Starbuck’s and the hours flew by as we gabbed about what we love best. Specifically, writing historicals. She is at work on a novel titled Hand Full of Fire, about Briseis, the captive woman Achilles and Agamemnon argue over in the Iliad. You can read more about it *here*.

My WIP:

What is the working title of your book?

Sword of Mordrey. It started out being Warlord, but I soon realized that wasn’t right for it.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I’ve always loved tales of the crusades, and have always had a fascination with certain periods in history – one of those being the medieval period in England and France/Normandy. Most of the writing I’d done up until I began this novel had been short stories, and I had never attempted anything historical, though much of what I read is in that genre. A lot of my stories tended toward novella length tales, and I was always frustrated with trying to keep my stories short – which should have been a clue I could write a novel, but the idea of a novel was intimidating, to me. Especially a historical, with all the research and details involved. But these characters just wouldn’t leave me alone. So, one morning, instead of working on the novella I was writing, I just started writing about this guy – a crusader knight; a baron – who wakes to find himself still alive, but trapped beneath his dead warhorse in the aftermath of a bloody battle. And then I didn’t want to stop. It all grew out of that moment.

What genre does your book fall under?

English Historical Fiction with overtones of Action Adventure and Romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I would choose Brad Pitt or Russell Crowe to play Lord Jocelyn. But as to all the others? There’s a very large cast, and I don’t follow actors closely enough to know who would best suit the many parts.  Although this book would certainly make a great epic movie in the hands of the right director. I’d love to see what Joe Wright would do with it. His Pride and Prejudice is just so lyrical and beautiful – I could watch it over and over again (and have). Or Mel Gibson; whatever one thinks of his backward religious comments, the man gets it right when it comes to making historical movies; both Braveheart and Apocalypto are amazing. But Ridley Scott would be my first choice for director: Gladiator, Tristan & Isolde, and Kingdom of Heaven are three of my all time favorite historical movies.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

I haven’t been able to come up with one. Wish I could. But the novel is over 160,000 words and has several interwoven plot threads and a huge cast of characters. It has a premise, of course, but that would hardly cover as a synopsis – it’s a mystery to me how anyone manages to come up with these one sentence things. I had a terrible time even distilling it down for a reasonable length query.

Will you be self-published or represented by an agency?

Well, only the literary gods know for certain. But it is my intention to seek an agent and have that help. I have watched friends go through all the labor of self-publishing, and I have to say, it looks exhausting and time-consuming. I’d much rather be writing. I already have a day job, thank you very much; and until I win the lottery I must keep at it. That hardly leaves time for anything else. Even when I spend time on social media: blogging, Twitter, Goodreads, FB, I find myself working less and less on what is most important to me, namely fiction writing. So, yeah, I hope to find that special buddy – a man or woman, who gets me and my writing and is willing to be my publishing partner. A good agent is worth every penny they earn. If that doesn’t happen I will self-publish and hire a publicist.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript.

It took eight months, getting up every morning and writing for three hours before work. But I did run into a wall in the middle and stop for two months to figure out the problem. That was in July and August. It’s extremely hot here in Arizona those two months, and I don’t like them much. When I hit that wall in the middle I was terrified. I didn’t have anyone to tell me how to get past it, and I was worried I would stop writing this novel—which filled me with horror and sadness, since I love this story. I meditated a lot, and prayed. When the weather cooled off I felt that old inspiration rising and one morning I was just back at it, up at five am and the story continued to spool out like magic. I finished by Thanksgiving, which was nice. Since then I’ve been working on rewrites and edits, polishing the language, etc. I hope to have it done in the next six months and begin querying agents.

Here are the novelists I’ve tagged. They are all wonderful writers and I can’t wait to see their novels published!

Natalia Sylvester  is  a blogger, writer, and as an editor runs her business Inky Clean. She has recently found a publisher for her debut novel Where We Once Belonged.

Melissa Crytzer-Fry   is a blogger and free-lance writer who has been writing a novel in the women’s fiction genre. I very much look forward to hearing more about it, and reading it someday soon.

Diana Douglas is a fellow member of the Arizona Novel Writers Workshop, and has recently self published two of her novels to Amazon. She writes about that experience and what she has learned on her blog. She has two more novels in the works.

Jolina Petersheim has recently found representation and is preparing to release the novel she’s been working on. Her blog posts are both funny and lyrical, so I’m looking forward to her novel.

Char Bishop is another of my workshop pals. She has recently sent her novel One Shadow on the Path off to be read by betas. It’s about her two month solo journey through Alaska at age 55.

Message for the tagged authors and interested others:
Rules of the Next Big Thing
***Use this format for your post
***Answer the questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Seven Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?