The Next Big Thing

The lovely Kirsten Krauth – novelist and editor of the NSW Writer’s Magazine, Newswrite, has tagged me in ‘The Next Big Thing’ blog meme!

It’s a literary meme in which writers discuss their next big project, and link to other writers, who discuss their next big project. If you’ve got the time – it’s well worth taking a little meander down some of the meme’s links. There are a lot of excellent and exciting projects out there!

Now, I’m at a disadvantage here. In contrast to many (most?) of the writers tagged, my own novel is not yet ready for publication. It’s also not really a next big thing, per se, as it’s my first go at this novel-writing caper.

So answering some of the ‘set’ questions is a little tricky for me, but I’ll do my best… Here we go:

What is the working title of your current/next book?

Darn. You had to start with a hard question. I still don’t have one! Just a big blank space :) Turns out, I’m not one of those people who has to have a title before they can start writing…

Where did the idea come from?

You know what? There was no single thing that made me think of it. I wasn’t even trying to think of a book idea at all. I was interning as a journalist at the time and my mind frequently wandered down more creative paths at random moments. One morning I was doing something enthralling – I think it might have been standing in the kitchen – when the idea struck me. It was all very embryonic at first, but over the following weeks and months, little bits and pieces started coming to me, and one day it wasn’t just a fleeting thought any more; it was an idea I could actually envisage turning into a novel.

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s Young Adult fiction, told from the perspective of Aussie teenager, Will. There’s something about the YA genre that really speaks to me. Maybe it’s the fact that I have two teenage siblings myself, but I find young readers so intelligent and perceptive. They’re a really worthwhile audience and I can think of nothing more rewarding than engaging with them and providing them with a book they’ll love reading and characters that really resonate with them. If I can achieve that, I will be beyond happy.

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

Ooh, now I haven’t thought of a title yet, but I have thought about this one! I have an English teacher in there whom David Tennant would play superbly. Someone like Andrew Garfield would be great as Hugh, Will’s best friend. Will himself I’m not sure about. He’d have to be an Aussie, though. You just can’t fake that accent!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

15-year-old Will thinks life has stopped when his mum moves them from Sydney to her sleepy English home-town, but strange things are happening there and while Will knows he has nothing to do with them, someone out there thinks otherwise, and they want him out of the picture.

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

I don’t know – the book’s not finished yet! But I hope it will be represented. I would love to go through the traditional publishing channels.

How long did it take you to write the first draft?

Well I’m still going, but I’m actually planning it as a trilogy, so a lot of that time has been overall planning and plotting. I’m hoping to have the draft of book one done and dusted by around the end of February, which will make it a year since I started. But I’m also starting a Masters of Creative Writing this year, so I guess we’ll see how it goes!

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

I’m not sure how much of a comparison there is, but I’ve taken inspiration from the Harry Potter series and Patrick Ness’ brilliant Chaos Walking trilogy, among other things.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

No one thing or person in particular. Writing a book is something I have always, always, always wanted to do, since I was very young. I did a lot of writing in my free time growing up, and started a lot of things I liked to think of as ‘novels’ at the time, which in retrospect were really just strung-out short stories that never got beyond the first few chapters anyway. This idea was the first one I’ve had that I could actually see as a full-length work. It was so exciting, but I sat on it for a year nonetheless, as I’d just changed careers from lawyer to journalist and landed a job at a newspaper, which didn’t leave me much time to write creatively. After a year, I decided I wanted to give this idea a red-hot go. As I didn’t feel I could do justice to both it and my job, I left the paper last year, to write creatively full-time. This year I’m studying a Masters of Creative Writing part-time too, and I’m very excited about learning some of the tools of the trade and applying them to not only this project, but some of the other ideas I’ve had in the past year, too.

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

Mystery. Action. A dash of the fantastic. A nice, healthy twist – or three. And a long, hard look at what makes us human, and that fabulous, often-blurred line between evil and good.

Now comes the part where I tag other writers. Many of the ones I’d have chosen have already been tagged, so I’m just going to add one new writer to your radar today:

• Aussie writer Lauren McKellar – a fellow YA-first-time-novelist, whose book Losing It sounds like it will be a great read!

Be sure to check out Lauren’s website and the writers she links to on the Next Big Thing in about a week’s time!

~ DF

Share this post: