The Next Big Thing

January 13, 2013

(A really BIG THING – loosely relevant image of the day)

I was very thoughfully tagged in The Next Big Thing Author blog hop by Jon at jumpingfromcliffs – what a great start to the New Year!

No, I haven’t seen a badge…despite back-tracking this award through several blogs. I’m not sure that there is an official one, although I did borrow the image below from Michelle Proulx – hope you don’t mind, Michelle!

The Next Big Thing is part interview and part award, consisting of a series of questions about a writer’s latest work and how it came to be.

What is the working title of your book? It began as ‘Angels Instead’, partly as a nudge in the ribs towards the glut of vampire books and partly as a nod towards Robbie Williams’ song ‘Angels’ which contains the line ; ‘I’m loving angels instead.’ That line helped to drive this book from concept to completion, despite some very trying times.

What genre does your book fall under? I originally categorised it as a paranormal romance but have since found out that it’s also an urban fantasy.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? One sentence? Sheesh…it took me months to condense it down to two paragraphs.

*taps side of mouth thoughtfully.*

Okay, here goes. A paramedic accidentally pulls an angel to Earth, where she discovers that he has only six days to save humanity from a terrible fate.

Where did you get the idea for your book? A combination of ‘what if…?’ questions that coalesced into one story. ‘What if a dead body suddenly came back to life?’ ‘What if Hell launched an all-out attack on Heaven?’ ‘What if a human fell in love with an angel (as opposed to a vampire or werewolf)?’

Who or what inspired you to write this book? It began as a collaboration with a friend, but our diverging ideas led to my story becoming a prequel to the main idea and her story as the future events that would follow. Sadly, she didn’t continue with her part. I very nearly foundered too, but Robbie Williams’ song, echoing in my head, made me determined to pick myself up and continue with my prequel.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? The ‘Hell attacks Heaven’ idea was conceived in late 2009, but my part didn’t really take shape until March 2010. I finished the first draft about a year later.

What other books would you compare this story with in your genre? I deliberately haven’t read other Angel romances in order to avoid any story influencing and I haven’t found any Vampire romances that have a similar storyline, so I couldn’t really say. I’d like to think my story was unique as it doesn’t feature any love-struck teenagers in high school, but of course, comparisons can always be made with other books.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? That’s an easy one to answer. When I was writing my story I kept several celebrities in mind as visual character references.

Janeanne Garafalo (The Truth about Cats and Dogs) would play Sara Finn, my main character,

with Tom Ward (Silent Witness) as Michael the Angel.

A younger Rutger Hauer (in his Blade Runner days) would be ideal as the Aryan (the antagonist)

with Sara’s medical colleagues played by Alexander Siddig (Deep Space Nine)

and Kyle McLachlan.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I tried to interest every genre-relevant agency in the UK for over the course of a year, but no-one seemed to be interested. I was about to begin targeting the US agencies when the notion of self-publishing occurred to me. I’d seen many articles about it and with a good deal of help from several bloggers, I self-published in October 2012.

What else about your book might pique your reader’s interest? The notion that Angels are constructed from clusters of souls. That and the fact that Heaven is dangerously close to losing the war with Hell.

Thank you for taking part in the Next Big Thing Author Tour.

And now comes the point where I pass on the TNBT baton.

I’m to nominate five writers and bloggers who inspire, entertain and motivate me on a daily basis.

I’m going to try to avoid duplication so I’m not including patwoodblogging or Nightwolf’s Corner or Unravelling my Mind as Jon just nominated them and they’d be answering the same questions twice.

Michelle Proulx, Candace Knoebel and James Calbraith have also recently been tagged.

So I hereby nominate;

Briana at When I became an author

I have had so much fun in the short time I’ve been blogging – and I’ve learned a great deal in the process. I look forward to learning more, sharing your experiences looking out for your latest (or debut) books in the various electronic outlets.