The Last Big Thing

Here is your installment of The Next Big Thing, that chain-letter blog post for writers that’s been making the rounds. Like all parties, I find myself late to it. But better late than never!

What are you kids doing in there?

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

I despise titles. After many deranged ideas, mostly cribbed from the text of Romeo and Juliet, I’m now calling it STARS CROSSING IN THE NIGHT. While I was drafting it, I simply called it Romeo and Juliet in Space.

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

It actually came to me in not one but two dreams. In the first one I was trying to describe my previous novel to someone at a convention and told them it was Romeo and Juliet in space. I woke laughing from that dream, having never written anything remotely like that. The second dream provided me with an opportunity to do so, handing me Earth as a prison planet and an alien race that’s been watching us throughout history.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

But despite the above, it’s really not a cheesy space opera. It’s post-apocalyptic, near-future SF, but it’s also a love story. Is it paranormal romance to have a human fall in love with an alien? My writing group saw it as YA, but I didn’t, so take that for what it’s worth.

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

I’d like Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games) for Mona and CG for Frangi.

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

One woman and one alien will do anything for each other–even if it leads their species to war.

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

I really can’t say.

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

The first draft took about two months, which is so! fast! that I can hardly believe it. The next draft took four months, and the one after that took seven. I hope I don’t have to do any more, because at this rate of change the next one would take well over a year!

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

Um? Do I have to? Okay, then: THE ROAD (only not as depressing), CAT’S CRADLE (only not as funny), and Nancy Kress’s STEAL ACROSS THE SKY.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Isn’t that the same as question #2?

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

UFO chases, rogue robots that hunt humans for food, whole planets destroyed! Alien-human sex scenes!

So. Despite knowing a gaggle or more of writers, none of them would consent to being tagged in this chain letter. Many had already participated, and some were just stubborn. You know who you are.

It dies with me! Apologies to Jeremy Zimmerman (who tagged me). You didn’t know you were choosing a loser, did you?

*update* The fabulous Lori Rader Day, colleague from my MFA days, has taken up the baton. Check out her next big thing over at her blog.