I've just been tagged by a very lovely and talented pair of writers,
Jaclyn Aurore and Julie Rainey in the Next Big Thing Blog Chain
Whatsit. (I believe that's the full name, though I could be
mistaken).
Apparently, we each answer
the same ten questions or something, and then choose five more people
to carry this on, until no one's left standing. It's basically
Highlander, I think.
Anyways, here are the ten
questions:
1. What is the
working title of your book?
Try
Not to Burn.
2. Where did the
idea for the book come from?
I
originally wrote a short story just out of high school, about a man who wakes up in purgatory,
and meets up with a group of other people who died before asking forgiveness for their sins. I
later took that story and wrote a pair of novels out of it, the first of which has just been published.
I've
always loved horror stories, and there aren't too many things that
scare people more than death, and what might be awaiting them if they
mess up in life and go to the wrong corner of the afterlife.
3. What genre does
it fall under?
It's
a mixture of horror, suspense, and sci-fi. It's not exactly a romance
(the sequel starts to kick it up a notch, though), but there is a bit of a love triangle aspect thrown into the mix.
4. What actors
would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Brandon Morales:
Edgar Ramirez from Domino.
Samantha Reiss, a natural beauty with a mean streak and a ponytail:
Evangeline Lilly from Lost.
Jane Calrin:
I just saw Dredd last night, and Olivia Thirlby looks quite a bit
like what I imagined when I wrote the character, even down to the haircut, although Jane's a
redhead.
5. What is the
one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A
horror novel set in purgatory, about three lost souls struggling
towards redemption.
6. Will your book
be self-published or be represented by an agency?
It
was published by Post Mortem Press, a small independent publisher from
Cincinnati, Ohio.
7. How long did it
take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Two
or three months, I think, though this was a number of years ago.
I've done a few other drafts since then, all of which took a
ton of time themselves. The first draft was when I was just getting
started writing, so it was pretty rough.
8. What other
books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The
Divine Comedy or Paradise Lost would probably be the closest I could
think of, though the Bible--I think it was self-published a while
back--is also a pretty big influence. My publisher has called my
book “The Hunger Games in Hell,” though that book's still on my
“to read” list. And by that, I mean I'll probably catch the
movie at some point and tell people I read the book.
9. Who or what
inspired you to write this book?
Depending on what you
believe in, it was either me or God. I'm still not quite sure
myself, sometimes.
10. What else
about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
It's funny, it's
heartfelt, and it asks serious questions about life and death. Does
everyone deserve forgiveness? Would God condemn a good man to suffer
for all eternity, or is there another reason why Brand was sent to this place?
And if you're like Sam, and you've given up all hope of redemption
and accepted your fate, can you ever start believing again?
Is it too late for some of
us, or is there hope for us all?
And now, the next links in
the chain:
I'll be honest, I'm not
much of a stickler for rules, so this might end up being more of a
blog loop than a blog chain.
Sounds like a very powerful book. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Julie! :)
ReplyDelete