The Next Big Thing

My writer friend, Stephanie Neighbour, gave me the job… er, challenge… er honor of participating in a game of virtual tag. Stephanie asked me to participate in The Next Big Thing where I will answer ten questions about my work in progress and choose five other writers/bloggers/authors who will be tagged at the end of this post. Stephanie really  had fun with her post, so I thought I would give it a whirl.

1. What is the working title of your book? My current WIP, which has all of 5,000 words written is the third book in the Seasons Series and is titled Out Of Season. While there is plenty of room to change the storyline in the next 75,000 words, I think the title will stay. (OMG, why did I have to remind myself of how much more I have yet to write?)

2. Where did the idea come from for the book? When I first started the mystery series, many moons ago, I did all the things a writer is supposed to do to try to market a series. I wrote the first book, Open Season. Did a detailed synopsis of the second book, Stalking Season, and did an overview of the whole series with short synopsis of story ideas for several more books. The idea for Out of Season was one of those story ideas that came to me when I imagined what kind of grisly cases a pair of homicide detectives in Dallas might face. Little did I know it would take a hundred years for the series to get published.

3. What genre does your book fall under? This is a police procedural mystery.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I have a good friend here in my neck of the woods who is a terrific actress and I think she could bring Sarah to life on screen. Not only that, she keeps asking when auditions are. For Angel, I would love Halle Barry to consider the role.

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? ACK! I’d rather stand on my head for an hour – if I could – than figure out a logline. I usually can’t do that until I am at least halfway into a book, and even then the logline basically sucks.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?Actually, neither, although I would love to have an agent. (hint, hint) Hopefully, the book will be accepted by Five Star Cengage, the company that published the first two books in the series. Since Stalking Season got a starred review from Publishers Weekly , I think my chances of acceptance is pretty good. Unless I totally bomb with the writing. Please tell me I won’t bomb.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? This first 5,000 words took three days. For previous books, it took the better part of a year to do the first draft, then almost another year to do rewrites. If I was a more disciplined writer, I would probably turn out books faster, but I get sidetracked with the business of promoting, doing some editing or other freelance work to pad my bank account, or taking time out to play on stage.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? My books are similar to the 87th Precinct Series by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter). In fact, his books are what inspired me to write police procedurals.

9.Who or what inspired you to write the book?  Do I repeat myself or just say “see above?” (smile)

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? The Seasons Series has been described as “Lethal Weapon” set in Dallas with female leads. Readers who enjoy a bit of humor with a gritty mystery might like the books.

I love to promote my friends and am happy to introduce you to Stephanie and her terrific blog. She is a comedian and there is lots to smile about in her posts. However, I do hesitate to ask some of my other friends to add one more thing to their to-do list, so I will only tag a couple of folks. If anyone else would like to join in the fun, just let me know in the comments and send me a link to you blog that I will promote next week.

My tags are:   Terry Odell, Laura Eno, and Morgan Mandel