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The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

February 18, 2013

What fun to be part of this blog hop! My friend Keziah Hill tagged me in her post, and I get to tag two more authors in mine. We're all talking about our next book – our Next Big Thing – by answering ten questions to help you find new books and new authors to read. I hope you enjoy the fun!

the-next-big-thing1: What is the working title of your book?

My next book is a romantic urban fantasy called Unexpected Superhero. It's the first in my new series, The Adventures of Lewis and Clarke.

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

It's funny, I remember being annoyed with John for ignoring me one day while he was reading a graphic novel. I suddenly imagined a woman whose husband is lost in his comic book collection again one Saturday afternoon and she gets really upset and wishes she had her own superhero, someone who spent as much time and attention on her as this imaginary woman's husband spent on his comic books. It made me laugh and I couldn't get the idea out of my head.

3: What genre does your book come under?

It's a light urban fantasy with some romance and some inspirational elements.

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

This question really is pure fantasy! LOL! But in my fantasy, I think of how great Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd were together in Someone Like You, and how great they could play Tori Lewis and her newlywed husband Joe Clarke. But since my characters are in their 20s, I think we'd probably have to cast someone else. 🙂 That's the kind of chemistry I see, though. Or like Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler in The Ugly Truth, sometimes sweet and sometimes butting heads.

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

When Tori Lewis discovers she has a super power, she has to figure out how to adjust to her new life, tell her new husband, and save her nephew from the city's biggest villain – who just happens to be her father.

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

I created my own micro-publisher, Daydreamer Entertainment, to self-publish my books. It's a lot of work, but so much fun!

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

Four months – I wrote it while we lived in Sydney when John worked on the movie Happy Feet. The rewrites though – ugh! – that's another story! LOL! The book you'll be able to read in a few weeks is the third version of the story, completely different from the original idea I told you about in question two, but so much better than anything I've written so far. I love this book!

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

This is the hardest question because I don't know of many superhero novels with humor and romance that aren't based on a comic book or graphic novel. Jennifer Estep's Karma Girl is perhaps the closest one that I know of. But my humor might be closer to Kerrelyn Sparks or Jennifer Crusie. Julie Kenner's Carpe Demon is a closer match, even though that's about a demon-hunting soccer mom rather than a superhero newlywed.

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

After I got the initial idea, I mentioned it to John and said I might need some help doing comic book research. He was instantly helpful. He told me about the different kinds of stories out there in comic book land, including the different publishers and imprints, the different writers and artists (meeting Alex Ross and getting him to sign one of his prints to us is on my bucket list), the origin stories, how close the movies based on comic books stayed to the original stories – everything! I got quite an education.

Then John took me to a comic book store and explained what was available there, the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel, and he bought me my first graphic novel, Kingdom Come. (I was 38 years old! I found out you're never too old to learn to enjoy stories in a new way.) By the time I finished Kingdom Come, I was hooked! I have my own collection now, and sometimes we'll go into a comic book store and I'm the one who's asking to use some grocery money for comics!

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

One of the most fun parts for me was remembering how odd it was to get married and suddenly be living with someone in such an intimate fashion. Everything about your life is combined now, but you feel like you don't know what you're doing half the time.

The fun and laughter and romance of being a newlywed combined with the angst of trying to be fully grown up and live without your parents' intervention were some of the most interesting parts of the story for me. And there are so many bits that made me laugh while I was writing it that I do hope readers find the book just plain fun to read.

Look for the book in print and in ebook formats at the end of March 2013.

If you have any questions, I'd love to answer them. If you're a reviewer and you're interested in reading and discussing the book, please contact me. I'd love to hear from you.

Thank you to Keziah Hill for inviting me to join the blog hop. Her Next Big Thing blog post is here. And thank you to Tracy Reed and GVR Corcillo for enthusiastically agreeing to let me tag them so they can tell you about their upcoming books, too.

 

Keziah Hill

Author of steamy erotic romance and romantic suspense, Keziah has been recently published with Momentum, and Harlequin imprint, Escape Publishing.

Web site: http://keziahhill.com

Blog: http://keziahhill.com/blog/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KeziahHill

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeziahHillAuthor

 

Tracy Reed

Tracy writes books that break all the rules of traditional Inspirational Fiction – fiction for women who love God, Couture and Cute Guys. She calls them edgy, but some call them steamy. Judge for yourself this Spring, when her first book, Generational Curses, comes out.

Web site: http://www.readtracyreed.com

Blog: http://www.readtracyreed.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/readtracyreed

 

GVR Corcillo

With her Ivy League education, white trash sensibility, and pop culture savvy, GVR Corcillo, who made it to the New York Times Best Sellers List with her first short story, writes chic lit about women who try not to trip as they march valiantly to their bongo beat.

Web site: http://gvrcorcillo.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gvrcorcillo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/geralynvivian.ruanecorcillo

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