My good friend, A. E. Stueve,
asked me to participate in the blog hop of “The Next Big Thing.” You know, one
of those setups for some good ol’ fashioned self-promotion. Basically, it asks
a few questions of writers and what they’re currently working on. So, without
further ado…
1) What is the working title
of your next book?
Frenetic Connections
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
Seeing as it’s one that I’m
working on with my coauthor, Holly Cagney, it stemmed from one of those
conversations where we were, mostly, talking about something else, and the
novel grew from tossing around a few “What about…”
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Young Adult Contemporary—though for the
older crowd since the characters are on the verge of graduating,
and seeing as the novel is set in Vegas…
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Much as I love Michael Cera
and think he’d do a great job here, I’m thinking that Andrew Garfield would
knock one of the narrators, Donovan, out of the park. As for the other
narrator, Frances, while she doesn’t really look
the part, who wouldn’t want Ellen Page?
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
When Frances
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
The goal is to be
represented, though it’s a bit from the querying stage still.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
As mentioned above, it’s
still not ready to be queried, and that probably has quite a bit to do with the
fact that the manuscript isn’t finished yet. Still, we’ve only been working on
it about a month, and even with the holidays, we’ve gotten about ¼ of the way
through our word count goal.
8) What other books
would you compare this story to within your genre?
Any of the YA romances with multiple narrators, but most
notably Nick & Norah’s Infinite
Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Most of it stems from
enjoying the coauthoring setup as much as I have. Once we finished the first
book, we knew that we were going to write another. And while the last novel was
more on the “quiet” side of things, we wanted this one to be—and I quote,
“Mother Fuckin’ LOUD.” So, since I was currently living in Vegas and got to
know the area fairly well, well, it doesn’t get much louder or more frenetic
than Vegas.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
While it’s set in Vegas—and
even much of it taking place on The Strip—this isn’t the typical Vegas most are
used to through the traditional Las Vegas films, The Hangover
and the like. This is less party-tastic and more a tribute to all the colorful
characters that inhabit this space, including cosplayers like Winnie the Pooh
and Kratos from the God of War video
game series. It’ll hopefully be a peek into the Vegas that most don’t see or
ever know—unless you’ve lived there.
There you have it. And if you’re interested in
what others are doing, there should be some posts coming next week, Jan. 9.
from a few folks I know. (I’ll provide links as I receive confirmation of their
participation.)
