The Next Big Thing

Well, I've been tagged by the lovely and talented Wai Chim (from my writers' group), author of Chook Chook: Mei's Secret Pets, a children's book released 2012 through University of Queensland Press. And of course I'm running late with my post which was supposed to be exactly a week after hers. Thank goodness Blogger lets you backdate posts. No one will ever know, right? ;-)

The Next Big Thing is an authorly chain-post of sorts; where we each share a little about a current work in progress, and then pass the baton on to other writers to do the same a week later. I have several projects at various stages of completion, so for this I'm going to pick one of them at random to talk about. It might be some time before I actually finish it though!


1) What is the working title of your next book? 
While a project is unfinished, my working titles are just that: stand-ins to give me something to name the document. So this one is called G&A, after the initials of the two main characters. I do have a better title in mind, but I might keep it under wraps for now! Yeah okay, you've got me. I like my secrets. :-)

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
Basically the idea came about when I took a couple of common scenarios and turned them on their heads to see what happened. So I'm writing about a forbidden teacher student relationship, but with the power dynamics being completely the opposite from what you'd perhaps expect.

3) What genre does your book fall under?
Loosely speaking it's a psychological thriller - but I tend be be a genre-mixing type, so it has plenty of romantic elements and sexy bits too.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I don't usually have particular faces in mind when I'm writing, but for this book I did. And, y'know, they're NICE faces too. Definitely...umm...inspirational.

For Gabe, I imagine Ryan Phillippe.

Ryan Phillippe image by Josh Jensen

For Luke, Channing Tatum.

Channing Tatum image from Wikimedia

And for...the girl, whatever the heck I end up calling her, Abbie Cornish.

Abbie Cornish image by Eva Rinaldi

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
This isn't really a one line synopsis, more of a tag line: Some lines weren't meant to be crossed.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I have an agent and publisher at present so I'm thinking I'd try that road first when this manuscript is finished.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I'm still working on that...and I'm not the fastest writer in the world, I'll admit. Every time I hear other writers claiming to have written a first draft in a couple of months, I want to weep.
I do tend to have more than one project on the go at a given time, so maybe that's part of the problem!

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
There's a little bit of similarity to Donna Tartt's The Secret History. But only a little.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
There are different elements of two movies that inspired this book - the Heartbreak Kid, and Cruel Intentions. I was inspired by the idea of emotional entanglement; of going down a forbidden path and finding yourself trapped. And I also wanted to explore the idea of what would happen when someone very devious meets, and falls for, someone much more innocent and straightforward.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
There are lots of elements to this story. Forbidden love, and erotic couplings, and betrayal and murder. I really prefer to under sell and over deliver though, so I might leave it there.

I'm supposed to tag five other writers, but so many people I know have already done this, so instead I'd like to invite you to leave a comment with a link to your post if you've already participated. If not, feel free to consider yourself tagged! And again leave a comment, with a link to your post when it's up.

And without you having to wait any time at all, why not go and read about the Next Big Thing from some of my fellow Momentum authors who were tagged earlier.

Amanda Bridgeman is so new to the Momentum fold that her bio isn't even up yet, but her book sounds awesome! Read her post about Aurora:Darwin and judge for yourself.

John Birmingham talks about his upcoming books here.

Nathan M Farrugia, author of techno-thriller, The Chimera Vector writes about The Next Big Thing In Your Pants. Yep, this guy talks about pants (and their absence) a fair bit. Be warned.

There's plenty more spy thriller action on the way from Intrepid series author, Chris Allen.

Luke Preston talks about Dark City Blue.

And there's more hot romance to come from Rhian Cahill.

Enjoy!