Next!

By: Joelle Charbonneau

Okay, I am the caboose on the Do Some Damage "Next Big Thing" Train Adventure.   To be honest, I am not exactly sure which book I’m supposed to be talking about…the book I’m writing, or the book that is going to be published next.  Yep—it is quite possible I’ve been working too hard or inhaling fumes from one to many sugar plums.  Still, I am going to attempt to answer these questions as best as possible.  And if I sound a little addled—well, it is probably because I am.

1) What is the working title of your next book?

Since this says working title, I’m assuming it means a book that I am currently working on and not one in production with my publisher.  In that case, the title of the book I am currently writing is GRADUATION DAY—the final installment of The Testing trilogy that will start hitting shelves on June 4th.

I guess I should also admit that I’m also working on the first couple of chapters of Rebecca Robbins mystery #5 that I have currently titled Skating Up Hill.  

2) Where did the idea come from?

Well, the idea for The Testing trilogy as a whole came out of years of watching my voice students go through the college admittance process.  Every year they have more hoops to jump through, more auditions to appear for and a whole lot more stress.  It made me wonder what would happen if the process was even harder and if the worst thing that could happen wasn’t just hearing “No.” 

As far as Skating 5 is concerned, well in Skating Over The Line, I brought a new character to Indian Falls…one with a secret.  In Skating Up Hill, that character vanishes and it is up to Rebecca to discover his secrets and hopefully get him home in one piece.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

The Testing trilogy are post apocalyptic young adult thrillers.   

Skating Up Hill is probably the exact opposite!

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in

a movie rendition?

I have no idea, but if the Skating books ever get made into movies I want to be the camel wrangler.

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

Um….the ACT meets Hunger Games?  (This is The Testing, although it might be fun to throw Rebecca Robbins and her grandfather into this plot and see what happens!)

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

The Testing trilogy is being published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s.  The first book, THE TESTING, will hit shelves June 4th.  INDEPENDENT STUDY will publish in January of 2014 and the final installment that I am currently writing, GRADUATION DAY, will makes its appearance in June of 2014.

As for Skating Up Hill….the Rebecca Robbins novels are currently published by Minotaur Books.  Book 5 is not yet under contract, so I guess we’ll see how that goes.

 

 

Phew…okay!  I hope that made sense.  If not…well, feel free to ask questions about anything and everything and I’ll try to clarify.

 

 

(And yes, I know there are several questions on the meme that I didn’t answer.  I opted to forgo them because they made me think I’d answered the above questions incorrectly.  Since, I liked my above answers, I decided to end things here.)

What's Next?

by
Scott D. Parker

This week here at Do Some Damage, we’re participating in a meme about What’s Next. Today, being Saturday, it’s my turn. While I have a really good idea of my story and all the players, I haven’t given much thought to the answers to these questions. Mainly, I think, because I’m not finished with it. And, while I think I know where it’s going—planner that I am—you never know if it might take a turn that I didn’t foresee.

What is the working title of your next book?

I don’t have one. In Scrivener, it’s “Mrs. Keene.”

Where did the idea come from?

My mother. She claims not to remember telling me the inkling of the idea, but she did. So, if this thing gets published, you know who gets the dedication. One afternoon, she mentioned how much fun it would be to have an amateur PI, an older woman, who gets a bionic eye. Now, I know she was thinking Murder, She Wrote with a Bionic Eye or the Six Million Dollar Miss Marple, but I’ve changed it some. I’ve youthed up the main character, Mrs. Helen Keene, to be, in her words, “a woman of a certain age.” Well, that’s what she told me when I asked her how old she was. She added, “Young enough to be your mother but not old enough to be your grandmother.” Point taken.

Hang on a second. Mrs. Keene is nudging me. I think she wants to speak. 

“I was trying to tell Mr. Parker here about the story, but he wasn’t listening properly, so let me tell it. One of the fun questions people sometimes ask each other is ‘If you could have any superpower, what would it be?’ Flying almost always wins. Probably from the folks who can never seem to get to work on time. Invisibility is another popular one—and I think we all know why…. Bionic eye never seems to be in the Top 10. It wasn’t for me, to be sure, but I ended up with one anyway.

Now, you might think that having a bionic eye would be fun, especially for a woman of my years. And, no, I’m still not going to tell you how old I am so stop asking. You might also think that being a part-time private investigator and being able to see things far away might come in handy. Yes, it does, and I can certainly see further than I ever could. Eventually, I learned how to toggle the night vision—and not a moment too soon. Having a bionic eye is, all things considered, pretty nifty.

The only problem was that some pretty bad people wanted the eye that was in my head. And they were willing to do anything to get it, too…”

Me: Well, there you go.

What genre does your book fall under?

Mystery. In my head, it’s a classic mystery that could land on network television and, if the mapping holds, will have some exciting bits as well.

Mrs. Keene: Exciting bits? You call what happened to me ‘exciting’? What about the time that guy…

Me: Shhh! Don’t tell them now. Let them find out later.

Mrs. Keene [eyeing me warily, the comprehension dawns on her] Oh, right. Let them be surprised.

Me: Exactly. [wink]

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

[Mrs. Keene is looking at me, eyebrow arched, arms folded, finger tapping.]

Since the story came from my mom, I know she had a certain type of character in mind. I’ve altered it slightly. Mrs. Keene, widowed and divorced (he cheated on her and he was caught, um, with his pants down) is the main character. She’s a woman who has latched onto a part-time investigating gig with a local PI firm as a way of finding some direction in her life. I’ve had strong, confident, beautiful women in mind, something along the lines of Christine Baranski or Jean Smart, maybe even Candace Bergen from Boston Legal.

[Mrs. Keene smiles at me, beaming.]

Other than her, I haven’t given many of the other characters a “face.” The PI firm is owned by a younger man, Peter Angel, who is a bit brainy, casually granola in his dress, and prefers to help people that need helping even if it doesn’t always pay well. He and Keene tend to bicker sometimes about proper procedure and expenditures. If I had to put an actor to it (which I haven’t yet but am doing do now), I’m thinking Zach Braff in Garden State or Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
When Mrs. Helen Keene, part-time private investigator, inadvertently finds herself implanted with a bionic eye, she can see a whole lot of things more clearly, including the men who want the eye back, and are willing to murder to get it.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 
We’ll see. Would like to go the agency route.

How long did it take you to write the first draft?
NaNoWriMo kicked this thing in to high gear. My aim is to complete it by New Year’s Eve so that I can fulfill my one and only 2012 resolution.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I am a huge fan of Castle and like the dynamic between the two leads. The relationship between Kathy Bates and Nate Corddry from Harry’s Law is also part of the mix. The interplay between my characters (Keene and Peter Angel) keep reminding me of Cool and Lam. Even though I’ve planned it out, I’m seeing how it ends up before I make any more comparisons.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
My mom gave me the idea, but I changed it to my liking. 

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
I’m hopeful that the humorous parts are funny, the thrilling parts thrilling, and the mystery interesting enough. I’ve enjoyed coming up with it, and I’m hopeful that it might be unique enough to earn some readers.

The Previous Little Thing

By Russel D Mclean

Yeah, we’re all being lazy this week.  But since I was tagged ages ago by the awesome Zoe Venditozzi and have now been retagged again in the DSD next big thing week, I figured I might as well finally answer these questions and become part of an internet meme.

It seems most people I would tag or who I would expect to respond have done so. But I invite you, freely, to take this meme and run with it. With my blessings.

So without further ado, here’s a little bit that also serves as the public airing for the potential title of the next McNee novel (release date currently uncertain so hold yer horses):

• What is the working title of your next book?
Mothers of the Disappeared

(the title was given to me by the awesome Canadian author Sandra Ruttan a few years back, although the proposed book was utterly different in form then but now the title fits better)

• Where did the idea come from for the book?
Probably the ideas shop. Ha!

No, each McNee book furthers a background story while dealing with its own central crime. In this case, I was intrigued by the idea that an apparent victim of a crime would eventually come to believe the person arrested and charged with committing it may in fact be innocent. It’s a pretty horrific crime, and the whole moral quandary that erupts felt perfect for throwing in McNee’s path as he’s dealing with some fallout from the last few books.

• What genre does your book fall under?
Romantic cosy? Science fiction adventure comedy musical tragic romance?

Or hardboiled?

Yeah, guess I’m going with hardboiled crime.

• What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Ones who show up in front of the camera and remember their lines.

I still maintain that in an ideal world the recurring villain of the McNee novels would be played by Dundee’s own brilliant Brian Cox. The rest of the cast is up for grabs, though, especially McNee.

• What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
Bad shit happens, some of it to good people.
(I really can’t give away much of the plot just now - - I can’t until its in a readable form and in front of my agent and publisher’s eyes, but trust me its there and its beautifully brutal)

• Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I’m pretty traditional about my novels. Why? I like working with authors. Despite egomaniac ideals to the contrary, no book is actually written by one person. You need those other professional eyes on it, too.

• How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Three months. But then, writing is easy: rewriting’s where things get tricky. And long.

• What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Good ones, I hope.

I guess if you dig PI novels by guys like Ross MacDonald, Lawrence Block and George Pelecanos, but wish they wrote about Scotland, you might get a kick out of what I’m trying to do (but they’re all so much better at it than I am, except for the Scottish stuff).

• Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The promise of an advance. Even if it is a small one.

That and I love writing. Adore the process. If I hadn’t done this one, I’d have done something else.

• What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
There’s some good old fashioned violence and swearing in there, alongside some real painful emotional stuff. And since it’s the fourth act of five in an on-going story, reader’s who’ve been along with ride since THE GOOD SON should hopefully be put through the ringer. In a good way.

Oh, and if you do read this (or any of my books) you will get a warm fuzzy feeling inside from knowing that I get to eat another meal thanks to you. And doesn’t that warm your cockles and pique your interest?