So today I woke up to a lovely surprise. Colin Smith tagged me in a bloghop called "The Next Big Thing". I'm super honoured to have been tagged! This bloghop is about one's current WIP. Now mine, while it's been forming in my brain for almost a year, the writing is still very much in the early stages, so we'll see how much I can answer without giving too much away!
What is the working title of your book?
I actually don't have one at the moment. I'm going off various things like A New World and silly ones like that because the right name hasn't come to me yet...
Where did the idea come from for the book?
The idea actually came out of an idea I had for a different story. I'd set this other story in dystopian earth inside a dome. However I found there were quite a number of books like this including one that was released around the time I was in the brainstorm phase. So I reworked it a little, changed the location, the premise and a number of aspects about the story and it evolved from there. My idea for this book is much better than my original idea now I think about it.
Aside from that the idea from this book came from the question - what would we be like if we as humans had gone in a different direction. If we hadn't evolved into this world of technology, materialism, and money hungry people. How different would we be if we had gone down a different path. What would our world be like? So the basis of my idea came from that.
What genre does your book fall under?
I would say it's a YA Sci-Fi meets Romance meets Drama ... It's a bit of a mash up really. My sci-fi mad brother in law insists that it's entirely sci-fi. I wouldn't go that far....
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
This wasn't something I'd even thought about, and I haven't had a lot of time to think about this question but I have to say Clare Bowen, who is an Australian actress and currently stars in Nashville, would be the perfect Verra (the girl the story centres around). I can clearly see my main male character, Archie, being played by Asher Book. Other guys in Verra's life I'd love to be seen to be played by Matt Prokop, Austin Butler, Cody Linley, Alex Pettyfer and Jeremy Sumpter.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Verra's community is left in a state of grief after the humans from behind the wall begin stealing the community's children.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I'm hoping it'll be represented! I'm hoping there's an agent somewhere who would love to represent me and help get the story out to the masses!
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I still haven't finished! It's a long term work in process. I started writing in February and I'm only up to chapter four...!
What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?
Hmm that's a hard one. It has elements of I am Number Four I guess, maybe elements of The Host....Also Rabbit Proof Fence. It's hard to really compare it to others at this stage when I've got a very much incomplete WIP!
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
My Mum, my man and my kindle! I got really into reading on my kindle which meant I was suddenly reading a lot more books than I was before. My mum then told me she believed I would write my own book one day and my man encouraged me to go with it. It snowballed from there!
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It has elements of real life. It looks at a young girl who is taken from her community and all she knows and placed in an environment which is so completely different from her own. (That is based on the stolen generations of Australia.) Verra and her community have very strong Maori elements to it, and it really looks at a different way of life.
TAG!
Okay, now it's time to hear about other people's WIPs! I hope you guys haven't been tagged already..!
Jaime Morrow
Jess Khoury
Daisy Carter
