Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Next Big Thing

thanks so much to Diane Zahler for tagging me to participate in THE NEXT BIG THING blog chain!

if you haven't heard of it, The Next Big Thing is a campaign that started in Australia and spread all over the world. essentially, authors and illustrators answer a series of short, speedy questions to introduce their next project, then they tag another author to answer the same questions the following week. not sure how long it's been going, but it sounded like fun, so here's my Q&A:

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

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
It started with a series of conversations between two characters who I could not get out of my head. I had to write the book twice to figure out their story!

3) What genre does your book fall under?
Contemporary YA.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I can never answer this question! It's hard for me to imagine any actors playing my characters. Good thing I'm not a casting director!

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?A bully and a boy with Down syndrome form an unlikely alliance when they team up to find one of their missing fathers.

6) Who is publishing your book?Bloomsbury.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
One month. I wrote it during NaNoWriMo! (note: I spent almost a year rewriting it.)

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Another question I have a hard time answering. I always try to tell a story I haven't read before, so if there is a similar book out there, I haven't read it yet.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?I knew I wanted to write a story from the perspective of a bully, and when the second character came to me, I had to think long and hard about his voice. He felt very unique to me, but it took some time before I figured out he had Down syndrome. I had recently witnessed a teenage boy with Ds having an argument with his dad in a store, and I think something about that fight stayed with me and worked its way into the character.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
Even though there is a character with Down syndrome, this is not a story about Down syndrome. It's just a story. And one of the characters just happens to have that trait.

the Next Big Thing chain continues with Anne Greenwood Brown! Look for her post next week.

2 comments:

K M Kelly said...

What an interesting sounding book!

Diane Zahler said...

Dead Ends sounds fascinating -- I can't wait to read it!