NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I've been sucked into a chain letter! The horror! The horror!
The first time I was asked to participate, back when there were still piles of authors to invite to contribute, I said:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm trying to write a propoooOOOooooOOoooooosal.
The second time, I was simply tagged. So here I am, playing a little game called, The Next Big Thing
What is the working title of your next book?
Count Me In
Where did the idea for your book come from?
One of the jobs I had when my kids were little was working as a research assistant at a company nestled deep in the countryside. The President and Vice-President of this business were a brilliant husband and wife team who were successful enough to conduct business from their magnificent rural home.
Early in the 21st Century the Government of Canada began recruiting census-takers. As a professional researcher I thought this would be a breeze. I’d had a lot of very bad jobs in my life, especially when I was attending university. Little did I know that was about to embark on the worst job I would ever have and dear God I can only hope it remains so until the day I die.
I knew I was in for it when the contract stated that if I tried to quit the Government would punish me with jail time, but I signed anyway. How bad could it be? I found out.
What genre does your book fall under?
Erotic Romance. Or Romantic Erotica. E-romancexxx (the 3rd one is copyright Madeline Moore.)
What actors would you choose to play the part of your main characters in a movie rendition?
I’d need a young actress who is good at playing the waifish, wistful, dreamy kind of person my main female character is. Emma Roberts, maybe?
My main male character is a lone wolf who is brilliant, witty, chivalrous and extremely shy. He’s gorgeous but he doesn’t know it and is oblivious to the way he affects women because he’s too nerdy and focused on his work to notice and isn’t particularly willing to risk upsetting his important research by succumbing to the abstract notion of 'love.'
I like this guy but don’t know his name and can’t shrink his picture to fit my blog.
Hey, dude, get yer fat headshot out of my list of reviews. Sheesh. I don’t work with difficult actors so I’ll go with Timothy Olyfant (once he shaves.)
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
A naive young woman, new to country living, takes a job as a census-taker, which opens her eyes to the many perversities hidden in the hills and valleys of the bucolic countryside and to the possibility of love. (This is a run-on sentence. Conjunctions used to link two ideas should be replaced with a period, unless you’ve been instructed to create only one sentence. – ed.)
Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?
If I can ever actually finish my proposal I'll fire it off to Mischief,the new all digital Imprint of Harper-Collins. I’ve discussed it with the editor so I’m fairly confident it’ll be a go. I first conceived of it as a 'petite novel' but it may turn out to be a novel.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I’m still working on the proposal! If it's accepted I'll ask for three to four months if it’s a novella, six to eight if it’s a novel.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I’m only comfortable comparing it to own work. When I wrote Sarah’s Education, my third Black Lace novel, I decided to give Sarah a family, friends, a boyfriend and a part-time job while she attends university. In other words, I gave her a real life, as opposed to perhaps one girlfriend and the man or men in her life. It worked well for me and the book continues to sell briskly.
I did the same for my main female character in my first petite novel for Mischief, Debutante. My main female character has all the problems most women have. I think Debutante is my most light-hearted and least kinky story to date, although there’s still an indecent amount of sex, kink and kinky sex in it. There is also plenty of love.
I’m going to continue to give my female characters everything a regular gal has in her life. A lot of erotica authors abhor this but it works for me and allows me to exercise my abilities to write whole paragraphs that aren’t set in an orgy and sentences that are not descriptions of beautiful body parts. Neat.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
As stated above, my experience as a census-taker inspired this book. However, as I have taken an oath never to reveal what I saw while collecting data (also punishable by imprisonment) I won’t be including any real stories. Instead, I’ll use my vast creative skills and make everything up. I think the word for that is 'fiction.'
What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
The male protagonist is conducting research into sleep disorders and dream-states. I’m a lucid dreamer and I know a fair bit about sleep disorders.
Here are the authors I'm tagging. Heads up folks, you're on!
Vida Bailey (posted NOW)
Lee-Ann Graff-Vinson (posted NOW)
Lucy Felthouse (posted NOW)
Ashley Lister (posted NOW)
and finally, the man who has proven you do not need a platform to be a successful author and has posted his answers on facebook, the one and only:
Felix Baron (Posted NOW)
