The Next big Thing

Jason Nahrung kindly tagged me in this Next Big Thing chain of blog posts. Writers have to answer some set questions then link to five other people to do the same thing the following Wednesday.

So, this week it’s my turn and here are the questions.
1) What is the working title of your next book?

The working title is “Shadow of the Dragon”. (I posted an excerpt here a couple of days ago.) It’s a bit generic, I know, but I like it because of the double meaning– actual shadow of an actual dragon, and a metaphorical shadow of the human female type dragon. I’m pretty sure it won’t survive.

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

I’d been working on a four book series (Tribes of the Hakahei) for a number of years and really just wanted something smaller scale and more marketable. So I invented a very confined setting and a character I liked. From there I pantsed it and… well, there it was.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

Fantasy. It’s actually good to be able to say that without having to give it any thought. Normally I struggle to find a nice, manageable pigeonhole for my writing. (Or I find too many.)

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

Tough one. I haven’t really thought about the actors for this one yet.

Maybe Noah Taylor for Ben. (He’d have to put on some weight.) And Taylor Lautner could play Zack from a marketing point of view. 🙂

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

Ben is transported to a fantasy world, but all the dragons and second class male citizens make it hard to distinguish from his recently ended marriage.

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

I think I’ll throw it out to some publishers first but won’t spend a great deal of energy trying to do it that way. I have 5 other books self published for Kindle, so I’ll probably head that direction pretty quickly.

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

On and off (mainly off) for 5 years. (I’ve wrapped up the four book series and finished another stand alone in the mean time.)

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

Tough one again. I don’t find a lot of books like the ones I write. It’s not epic. It’s not sword and sorcery. There’s action, but it isn’t about the action. There’s humour, but it isn’t a comedy. The tone is a bit similar to KJ Parker or Sean McMullen, but the story isn’t. I’m sure there are some out there, I’m just not exactly sure where.

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

Bad relationships. And dragons, of course. Dragons can inspire all sorts of things.

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

It’s a solid, definite fantasy, just not quite like you expect. There’s dragons, nasty women (and some nice women), an industrial revolution and cast iron blimps.

If I get off my butt it might be ready to go in a few months.

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So, that’s it from me. Here are the next people on the list. Go and check them out.

Ben Rovik

James Jackson

And that’s actually the only people I could find (some dropped out, others didn’t reply, others were already signed up and Chris McMahon said yes, but he’d double booked) so I thought I’d link back to some earlier people  for those who might have arrived late.
Carole Johnstone

Betsy Dornbusch

Elizabeth Amisu