The Next Big Thing: Blog Hop

Happy Girl Hopscotch in Strawberry by Pink Sherbet Photography

Holy Smackers, I've been blog hop tagged! 

The amazing, generous Cat York is curious about my WIP (!) and decided to include me in this epic blog hop. 

The idea is to answer ten questions about my current WIP and then 'tag' 3-5 other writers to also complete the survey.

I'm nervous and humbled, because I'm not an author. The WIP I'm writing is my first. But, I can't say no to Cat, so I'll do my best.


1: What is the working title of your book?

A Bird's Eye View - I'm horrible with titles (my first idea was The Trickster Crow, eek). Lucky for me I know this really great writer who is BRILLIANT at titles, so she named the book for me. Thanks C!

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

The long answer to this question can be found at this blog post. The short answer is that I wondered what it would be like to turn into one of the crows hanging around my deck and just fly, fly, fly. It's funny to think back on that now, because my WIP has moved away from this rather dramatically.




3: What genre does the book fall under?

It's definitely a fantasy, though I'm still not certain if it's for an adult or a YA audience. I've read a lot of both and the line between the two is indistinct for me. YA fantasy has become so sophisticated. ABEV (A Bird's Eye View) has some violence, profanity, romance (not yet sure if I have the gonads to actually write sex, though I would like to), and there is a suicide too. Adult? YA? Not sure.

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

Wha-whaat? Now we really are fantasizing! Ok, I'll play. These selections are based solely on looks. 

• Hunter Parrish as the inspiration for Colum Greggor
• Tinsel Korey as the inspiration for Shanjii Jaadas (Anji)
• Eddie Spears as the inspiration for Ben Taan
• Adam Beach as the inspiration for Graham Taan
• Elle Fanning as the inspiration for Lily Mitchell 
• Simon Woods as the inspiration for Gavin Speers

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

Yikes. "A girl has trained her whole life to be the next Keeper of the Lore, but when she goes into the Deep Woods to endure her Trial, she meets a strange being that burdens her with a terrible task, one that goes against all that she has learned about what is right."

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

I'm trying hard not to laugh here. ABEV is the very first draft of my very first attempt at a manuscript. The chances of it ever seeing the light of day are slim to slimmer. But for the sake of the blog hop, let's pretend otherwise. I would first try to publish traditionally for the simple reason of vanity: I'd love to see it sitting on my bookcase (ok, let's be honest, I'd love to see it sitting on the bookcase of a book store!).

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your MS? 

Well, as per question #2, the idea first came to me in 2009. I started writing in 2010. I scrapped my writing and built an outline in 2011. I just re-hashed that outline and have written 13 chapters in 2012. I'll let you know when it's done. ;)

8: What other books would you compare this to in your genre?

Answering this question requires a little arrogance on my part. Because there are actual priestesses and magic in my book, perhaps it would be comparable to Juliet Marillier's The Bridei Chronicles. 

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

This one's easy. As per question #7, I started thinking about and tinkering with the book quite a while ago. But I didn't do any real work on it until this year. This year BoyChild turned four years old and I started to remember myself at that age. I remember asking my parents what they'd wanted to be when they grew up. I realized that someday BoyChild would ask me this question. I imagined it like this:

• B: "Mom, what did you want to be when you grew up, when you were a kid?"
• M: "A writer."
• B: "So why aren't you a writer, Mommy?"
• M: "Because I never tried."

Unacceptable.

10: What else about the book might make it pique the readers' interest?

The only thing I can think of off-hand that might be somewhat unique about the book is that the inspiration behind some of the mythology/legends and place/people names is from those of the Haida People, primarily of Haida Gwaii. 


 Well there you go, folks. Thanks for spending the time to read it! Now onto the next act of tonight's production: the tagging. As I understand it, I am to tag 3-5 other writers/authors/bloggers to complete the survey, so here goes:

1. Cat York for tagging me, which made me feel like a real writer, thanks Cat!
2. C. M. Franklin for being this really great writer that I know, love you C.
3. Aimee L Salter because I'm wildly curious! I don't know Ms. Salter and I've only been following her fantastic blog for a couple of weeks, so I hope she doesn't mind me tagging her.
4. Janice Hardy because her blog ROCKS and I'd love to hear her talking about her own writing! I don't know Ms. Hardy either. I'm hoping it's not inappropriate for me to tag her.

So, tag, ladies, you're it!  Can't wait to read your answers to these questions.

Happy blog-hopping!!