The Next Big Thing!

The Next

BIG Thing!

I’ve been tagged in The Next Big Thing by fellow author Melanie Robertson King, who is at the Kansas Book Festival this week launching her debut novel, A Shadow in the Past. I’m instructed to tell you all about my next book by answering these questions and then to tag five other authors about their Next Big Thing. So here I go!

What is the working title of your next book?

 

It’s called ‘How Do You Voodoo?’

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Like many of my ideas, this one was sparked off by a real life event. I was on a flight from the Caribbean a few years ago, which had originated in Haiti. During the flight, I witnessed a ‘spat’ between two female passengers. One went on to become quite ill during the flight. Some people clearly thought it was because she’d drank too much alcohol, but as the meal on board hadn’t been very palatable, I thought it could have easily been down to the food. But then, my writerly imagination kicked in, and I thought - what if one had put a voodoo curse on the other?’

What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary women’s romantic fiction with humour.

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

Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald would be perfect as Nola, who is the Glasgow born heroine of the story. Someone like Queen Latifa or Whoopi Goldberg could play the voodoo ‘mambo’ priestess. As for the hero of the story, well I’ll leave him totally to your own fabulous imaginations!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Top model Nola Nichols thinks being beautiful is a curse, that is, until she is cursed and her looks begin to fade.

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

I’m not represented by a traditional publisher anymore but I really don’t like the term ‘self-published’.  It implies that an author is ‘going it alone’ and that certainly doesn’t apply to my kind of publishing.  As an Indie ‘independent’ author, I enjoy every aspect of control over my career but I also I have the support of a network of enthusiastic, capable and talented people. I’m part of several writers’ groups, who offer friendship, advice, and both moral and practical support with the writing as well as the marketing and promotion of my books. I employ an editor and a cover designer to help me produce a totally polished and professional end product and I’m continually striving to develop my brand and adapt to industry changes. So, by the time one of my novels reaches my reader, it’s very far from being ‘self’ published.

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

How Do You Voodoo? is a novella, a special release for October and Halloween. At 20,000 words it has taken me only four weeks to write a first draft. I’ll do a few subsequent drafts to polish the story and then it will be professionally edited before being formatted for the Amazon Kindle.  A total time scale of eight weeks. During this time the cover will go through several stages of design until we are happy with the final version. As you can imagine, a complete novel would take me much longer than this; usually a full year.

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

I don’t know. I haven’t read anything similar. I’d be interested in knowing if any of my readers and reviewers can answer this question?

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

See my answer to question two - “Where did the idea come from for the book”.

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

If you are looking for spellbinding read on your Kindle this Autumn, you might enjoy my romantic magical novella How Do You Voodoo?  I’m planning a fun launch party on my blog on Friday 26th October and I will be telling you more about this on Friday of this week.  So stay tuned!

 

Here are some great authors I’ve tagged to tell you about their Next Big Thing!

 Harriet Schultz

Kenneth Rosenberg

Rosemary Gemmell

Myra Duffy

Angela Simons Barton