The Next Big Thing

Mom was tagged to be part of the Next Big Thing by Diana over at the Qi Papers.  We were tagged here, although Mom has a website for writing (not much there yet).  We just thought we’d through that out.

We’re quoting from Diana, “It works like this: a writer answers ten questions about an upcoming publication and they tag five more writers. Each of these writers answers the ten questions by the following week and they recommend five more writers. It grows, week by week.”

Anyway, to kind of continue with the formula, we’re connected to her through Diva Kitty’s Mom who knows her because of the bun connection.   And of course she thought Mom would like her because they are both acupuncturists and into all that health stuff as well as liking animals.  Diana has several up and coming books and has been writing quite a lot if her Facebook quotes are anything to go by for the last year.

So here are the questions with our answers:

What is the title of your new book (s)?

Whisper Bound (probably)

Mom just finished the fourth book in what will be a series of urban fantasy of which this is the first.  We are working on getting an editor so that we can publish through Kindle direct and Create Space (and probably Barnes and Noble and Smashwords).

10 Misconceptions about Acupuncture

Where did the idea come from for the book(s)?

The Whisper novels came from many places.  Mom really loves reading mystery and fantasy and urban fantasy.  She’s attempting to the take the sense of place that she’s loves so much about Margaret Maron’s Colleton County North Carolina and meshing it with a sort of light mystery (no save the world mysteries here–just kind of light and fun), although it is definitely urban fantasy with fantastic creatures in our world (but treading lightly upon our world).

The acupuncture book came about because a friend of hers did a sample book that she didn’t care about to learn the ropes of self publishing.  Mom figured she could dash off a novella length book on acupuncture misconceptions that would be useful for acupuncturists to offer to potential patients or refer to on their website.   She’s got an editor for that and it will go into editing in January (her editor has a small child–they work together editing Chinese Medicine Quarterly) because the editor in question has small children.

What genre does your book fall under?

Whisper is definitely Urban Fantasy (with touches of paranormal romance).

The acupuncture book should be obvious.  Non fiction, healthcare.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Um the acupuncture book probably won’t get a movie rendition?

As for the Whisper novels, we’ve never thought of that.  Lead actress would be young, brunette and very athletic, girl next door looking.  As for the hero?  Hmm… You know, as much as we’d love George Cloony for the part, he just doesn’t have quite the right energy!  And of course, for the cat, perhaps our friend Tama-Chan or Sei-Chan.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book(s)? 

Oh dear.  Hmm… Someone has loosened an earth spirit near Whisper Mountain and Meg has to figure out who before the spirit decides she’s part of the problem.

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

About two weeks.

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

Well, we compared Margaret Maron’s Deborah Knott books from the mystery genre to ours.  From Urban Fantasy? Not sure.  We read a lot but while there’s mystery there’s usually also a bit of epic-ness to so many of them where things get worse. I think the earlier Mercedes Lackey books that were probably the precursor to the genre are the most similar.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Mom has always written. She has several books that landed in a drawer, although there was an agent who was interested in one of them (but from a totally different viewpoint).  She ended up being uninspired by his idea. In the last couple of years she found Dean Wesley Smith’s blog and Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blog that talk about the business of being a writer and being an indie publisher.  Dean and Kris have been around the fantasy cons forever and she has a huge amount of respect for their opinions.  Plus they both talk about the idea of making a living as a writer (not as an author or marketer).  She finally decided she wasn’t doing anything else so she might as well get off her bum and start writing a little more seriously.  So, since January of this year she’s turned out four Whisper novels (book 4 was her NaNoWriMo draft) and one novella that will be part of a series and the acupuncture treatise that will be her experiment.  One has had a beta read and needs some edits and she needs to find a real editor for it and the acupuncture treatise will get one more re-write, an edit and the probably some more refining after that.

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

Did I mention that one of the main characters who has a sub plot has a very special Abyssinian?

Writers I’m Tagging

Max Thompson (and his mom)

The Ballacai’s Mom (Thomma Lyn Grindstaff)

Katz Tales’ Ellen White

The Hottie’s Mom

Carmen, one of our long time feline loving friends

Wow! That was a lot of work!