The Next Big Thing Blogarama

Today, I'm participating in The Next Big Thing Blogarama. Thank you to author Morgan Mandel for inviting me.

I have to answer 10 questions, then pass on the baton to other bloggers.  Each of those bloggers answer the questions then pass it on to others. And so on and so on.

So, let's get down to the fun.

Question 1: What is your working title of your book?

Since the question is about the "working title" rather than "title," I'll tell you the name of my next book which should be out early 2013: Dismembering the Past.

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

Clearly, the easy answer is "my head." But that's too easy. I like reading PI books. When I decided to write one, I knew I wanted the PI to be a woman and I wanted her to live in central Texas. I had her pictured in my mind and I knew a lot about her. So then it was just a matter of figuring out what case she would be working. I tend to be a "pantster" when it comes to writing, so I started the book, knowing the case, but not knowing the end.

3: What genre does your book fall under?

When readers hear the term "PI," the term "mystery" comes to mind. I would put Dismembering the Past into the category of "Suspense" which is in the mystery family.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Now, this is a difficult question. I'm not very "up" on actors and actresses.  I'll open this question to those of you reading this post. Hallie McAllister is 28, red hair, in great shape (she boxes and works out at the gym), knows how to shoot and is always carrying. Who should play Hallie?

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

I'm gonna have to fudge on this. Here's my two-sentence synopsis of Dismembering the Past:

The Texas Butcher has killed twelve women around the state, dismembering them and displaying the body pieces. He'll add three more in Mesquite Cove if the FBI and Hallie can't stop him -- unless he kills her first.

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

Dismembering the Past is not represented by an agency. It will be published by me and High Canyon Books, as was my first fiction book, Angel Sometimes.

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

It took about five months. I tend to write, then edit what I wrote, then edit again then write some more….

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

When I first started writing it, Kinsey Milhone was in my head. Hallie is very different from Kinsey, but they're similar in their tenacity.

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

It seemed to me that Suspense is dominated by male protagonists. I wanted to put a woman in that position. I also wanted her to be living in Texas, a state wide open to different settings and danger.

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

How about the opening paragraph of Dismembering the Past:

The first things I noticed when I raised the lid on the freezer were the eyes. Eighteen glazed eyes reflected whispered light from the frost-encrusted bulb. Heads and necks bent backward and blank faces tilted upward toward the sliding baskets of ice cream and ground beef.

And now, link backs…

Morgan Mandel, who invited me to participate in The Next Big Thing.

http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-next-big-thing-for-me-is-blessing.html 

Later this week, I'll be inviting other bloggers to participate.

Genres and Titles

If you're a writer, what genre do you write? Do you write in only one genre? Or do you cross lines, maybe writing a horror book, then switching to a comedy? Or perhaps you tend to write scary Romances, combining Horror with Romance.

As most of you already know, I've published a Women's Fiction with a bit of suspense. My next book, which I'm in the process of editing will be Suspense. The lead character is a woman, but this one will be suspense from beginning to end.

Different genres have different paces, different topics, different types of covers, even different titles.

My Women's Fiction is titled Angel Sometimes. In my mind, that's a "soft" title. In this case, it's the protagonist's name.

While Angel Sometimes has suspense, my next book, Dismembering the Past will be a total suspense, from beginning to end. On the title alone, you could probably have guessed it was Suspense, although that could possibly have been the title of a Horror.

Think about your title. Does it fit the genre?

The cover for the e-version of Angel Sometimes is a picture of a flower garden. The garden is significant to the story. It's also "soft". It probably wouldn't appeal to men, but then, it's Women's Fiction.

The cover for the print version of Angel Sometimes will  not be a flower garden. It will be, I'm thinking, a water scene since Angel is a mermaid at a bar/restaurant. That will still "say" Women's Fiction.

I don't yet know what the cover will be for Dismembering the Past, but it won't be "soft".

Spend time deciding what your cover will look like and what it will convey to a possible reader.

Does your title fit the book and the genre?