I don’t normally do these sorts of things, but as I have been tagged by two of my favorite people in the world, Roxanne Piskel and Cameron Garriepy, I find that I have absolutely no choice in the matter. I am outnumbered.
And so it begins:
The rules are: 1) You must give credit to the person who tagged you with her/his URL/link; 2) you must answer ten questions relative to your WIP (Work In Progress); 3) you must name five other authors and their URL/links who can merrily jump through these same hoops.
I hate rules so very much.
One: What is the title (or, working title) of your next book?
I have several works in progress at the moment, only one of which is currently burdened with anything approaching an actual title: A Baker’s Dozen, which is a collection of short stories. Those stories themselves are what I’m focusing most on at the moment, and they have such wonderful working titles as “The One With the Bugs,” “The One With the Newspaper Boats” and “The One With the Fish In the Desert.” Titles generally do not come to me until after the final polish is being put on the stories themselves, so I am not feeling rushed at the moment to come up with anything better than what’s already there.
Two: What genre(s) does/do your book fall under? (Or, land really near!)
Most of the stories in the book fall into the old school horror or dark fantasy categories, along the lines of ’80s Stephen King or early Clive Barker. Some are more straight fiction and as such will probably be removed from the final cut and let loose on their own or as part of another project, because I’m trying to aim for one unifying genre for this collection. However, the final selection hasn’t yet been determined, so I reserve the right to go with something outside of the genre constraints if I feel that it works within the context of the whole.
Three: What actors would you choose to play the characters in the film version of your book?
This is a little difficult, since I am working with a slew of short fiction characters instead of just two or three main ones. Obviously, Ryan Gosling would have to be in there someplace, because again, obviously. I should also like to have Peter Weller and Ed Harris, because they are both beautiful to look at and wonderful actors. Oh, and Naveen Andrews. And Tom Waits. So essentially, every male actor that I find attractive in any way. That’s not too much to ask, is it?
Honestly though, if I picture any of the characters from the stories I’ve already written in my head, it would be a narrow list at this point, and also time-specific: Russell Crowe in L.A. Confidential, Diane Lane in anything from the ’90s, Thora Birch in Ghost World… it’s a very short list, I’m afraid. Maybe when the whole of the project is finished, I’ll have a better answer to this question.
Four: What is the main outline of your book? (Call it a ‘pitch’ as a synopsis includes ‘spoilers.’)
I can’t really answer this, as the book will be a collection of short fiction, but I can say that there is a continuity of narrative that runs through all of the pieces… although I reserve the right to not have the continuity remain past the final edits, if I feel like doing something else once I get to the end of the project.
I’m fickle, I know.
Five: Will your book be Indie published, self-published, or represented by an agency and sold to a traditional publisher?
I am a fan of the self-publishing world these days, which I find liberating and more satisfying than banging my head against the wall attempting to get anything published traditionally. After having a few “real published works” out in the world, I’d have to say that doing it yourself is much, much more rewarding in the long run.
Six: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I’m still writing it. I’ll let you know when it’s finished.
Seven: What other books in this genre (or genres) would you compare yours to?
Why don’t I just shoot expectations to the moon and also set myself up for being knocked down later by saying Barker’s Books of Blood or King’s Night Shift, although my ego is nowhere near so inflated as to actually compare myself to the masters.
Eight: Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I haven’t gotten inspiration from any one place for the stories in the book, but I have gotten a great deal of encouragement from those women who tagged me for this questionnaire in the first place. Does that count?
Nine: What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Each book also comes with a free piece of German chocolate cake. How many titles can you say that about?
Ten: Teaser! There is no question ten…
Oh good. Does this mean that I get out of class early?
I am apparently also supposed to tag five other authors who should then subject themselves to the same sort of self-promotion that I’ve done here, but I do believe that I mentioned my hatred of rules somewhere up there, and so I’m not going to do it. Instead, you should just go click on some of the links in the sidebar to the right and go read something. I don’t need the guilt of forcing anyone else into the spotlight hanging over me. I have enough guilt as it is already.
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