The Next Big Thing

I’ve been tagged! Credit for this one goes to my good friend Shannon McNear. (Thanks. I think.)

The rules of the blog hop:

1. Mention who tagged you, and link to their post.
2. Give the rules.
3. Answer the ten questions below.
4. Link to several more people (I chose 6).

Let’s do this!

1) What is the title of your next book?

Weeeelll…since I have the flu crud, which is interfering with normal thought processes, I’m going to do the book I’ve most recently worked on,  my space opera Brand & Bound. Indulge me. I’m sick. (No snyde comments, okay?) 

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

 

The entirely snarky answer is: my brain. But the real answer is pretty much the same. I originally wrote Brand & Bound in November 2005. It was totally seat-of-the-pants writing, and I just let it run away with me.

 

3) What genre does your book fall under?

 

Cumulatively, I’d say speculative. One experienced (in the genre) reader said: The early part …felt like fantasy (George R. R. Martin), then I was in space opera (David Weber). So, a new name for this type of genre I’ve heard that I really like is “sword and planet.” I think that fits. Mostly. LOL

 

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Rel Mollet and Erynn Newman and I have gone back and forth, and back and forth on this. I think overall, I’d say for my hunter, Marco Dusan, it’d be either Eduardo Verastegui or Christopher Douglas from back in his days of soap operas (ahem–I am not a soap watcher, but this photo was shared with me). For the heroine, the up-and-coming India Eisley, who has the wide-eyed look I’d imagined of my heroine Xylia Dragoumis, is close (though still a bit too young) but Kate Beckinsale has the spunk (and brown eyes) that are right for Xylia (imagine the picture below of Kate with dark brown hair and no high lights LOL).

 

 

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Bound to a prince and branded a traitor, she is irrevocably tied to the man who hunts her.

 6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I…I don’t know yet. I’m moving forward–hired an editor, recruited beta readers, getting line edits , and cover designer–but I am also exploring other options.

 

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

 

A month for the first draft, November 2005. (But there have been sooooo many revisions, rewrites, tweaks, edits, that I can’t even count them.)

 

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

 

As others have pointed out to me, David Weber’s Honor Harrington series, Kathy Tyers’s Firebird series, and the like. While some scenes take place in space on a ship, most are set on another planet. The space thread is comparatively small, but it’s there. I think those elements are kept small enough that readers won’t stress. At the same time, this is an entirely new storyworld, so as with any fantasy storyworld, readers have to settle in and get to know the world as well as the characters. It’s part of the wonderment.

 

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

 

Honestly, just the opening of my heart and eyes by the Lord to be able to write in this vein and still honor him. That might sound crazy, but I grew up being told that stories with any type of nonhuman entities or powers or magic or creatures was not godly. But then God turned that belief on its head when (by Steve Laube’s prodding) I read Kathy Tyers’s FIREBIRD. I suddenly felt freed, as if something in me had been caged and found wings. That might sound melodramatic, but that is truly how I felt and how I still feel when I write stories in this vein.

 

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

 

This story is an adventurous romance. I’ve had so much fun writing this story, and I’ve tried to keep its pace and characters compelling enough for readers to “risk” the unknown and plunge headlong into a brave, new world.

One reader said about Marco as she read that he was a classic “Ronie Kendig hero.” I love that across genres, my styles still come through.

 

The next next big thing:

• Terri Whittington Haynes
• Erynn Newman
• Bethany Reconnu Kaczmarek
• Candace Calvert
• Shannon McNear–yeah, I know she started this mess with me, but I’m hoping she’ll do her speculative story (yep, Shanneo, I’m trying to add as much spark to the fire to push you back into *those* stories).
• Shannon Dittemore (totally cheating hoping to get a jump on what Shannon’s writing now–this chick’s AMAZING. LOVE her stories!)

Forward momentum!