Time to do another The Next Big Thing Blog Hop.

TOMORROW I will put up my own answers. Vanessa Ryan (today’s post) was kind enough to let me tag back to her which is totally cheating on my part, but I think you should be used to my moral ambiguity at this point right? 😉

Vanessa is a fellow ASMSG member and writes Urban Fantasy/Horror with Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing & Midnight Hour Publishing.

1. What is the working title of your book?

A BLUE MOON.

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

That’s a loaded question. I started writing the novel when I was recovering from an illness. I didn’t like being sick and I wondered why things happened the way they did. But in a broader sense, I had the odd talent of saying things that would then come true––and they were usually not desirable things. I was married at the time and it got to the point where my husband would stop me from talking––he didn’t want me to say what if…and have that thing come true. So I wrote a novel about this.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

It’s an urban fantasy/horror, written in a chick lit style.

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

Hmm. I think someone like Cameron Diaz, or Beth Behrs, the blonde in TWO BROKE GIRLS, could play Lorrie, the heroine. She has to be a bit zany. Aubrey Plaza, from Parks and Recreation, could play the snotty receptionist at the art gallery. Chris Pratt, also from Parks and Recreation, could play John. As to the rest, I’ll leave that to Hollywood, should they ask.

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

A woman’s desire for acceptance among her peers and as an artist, leads to some tragic and unexpected events.

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

It’s going to be released on April 1, 2013 by CHBB Publishing (Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing). And that’s no April fool’s joke.

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

I wrote for four months until it became 100,000 words. Then I pared it down to just under 70,000 words.

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

I don’t know. Today, I think of it as SEX IN THE CITY with a horror spin, though when I wrote it before the mid-1990s, the chick lit genre wasn’t popular. Maybe it’s a little like THINNER, where eating a certain pie makes people get thinner until they disappear, though in my story food doesn’t play a big part. But like THINNER, it’s about bad things happening and not being able to figure out know how to stop them.

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

Before writing A BLUE MOON, I had read the novel DEATH IS A LONELY BUSINESS, by Ray Bradbury, which takes place in Venice, California. That gave me the idea to write an urban fantasy set in Venice, where I had once lived. While writing A BLUE MOON, I attended a lecture by Ray Bradbury. I talked to him afterward. When I told him his DEATH IS A LONELY BUSINESS had inspired me to write, he winced––because it wasn’t one of his best sellers, I think––though it was quite good. He said when I got it published to send him the eighth copy, because I should send the first seven copies to reviewers and family. Sadly, he passed away this year, so I won’t get to do that.

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

As the expression goes, sometimes life imitates art. As I mentioned, I had the odd talent of saying things that would come true. After writing this book, I moved to New Mexico and met some of the characters I had written about. I met someone like Suzie, Lorrie’s best friend, who became my best friend. I met a character like John, though in real life he was more malevolent than in the story. However, the worst of it was, one of the events in the book came true for me––my house burned down. I guess, sometimes you have to be careful not only what you wish for, but what you write.

Read more about Vanessa and her writing here: http://vanessaryanwriter.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-next-big-thing.html