My Next Big Thing, Take 2

I was tagged by Charlene A. Wilson in the “My Next Big Thing” blog hop.

The Rules: Answer some questions about the book I'm currently working on. Since I have recently dug out an old manuscript I wrote years ago and am now in the process of fixing up for submission, I have chosen this novel to talk about for the blog hop.

Next, I must tag authors to keep the hop going around the web so that everyone can read about The Next Big Thing.  I listed them below.

The Questions:

What is your working title of your book?

 “Faded Reflection.” Not sure if it’s a title I would want to keep but it works for now.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Two things actually inspired the idea for this novel. When I was a college student, my sister and I lived together. I was going to college and she was going to high school. We kept getting strange calls from this guy who demanded to speak to someone named “Betty.” This guy was calling us every day, sometimes several times a day and at odd hours of the night. No matter how much we tried to convince him there was no Betty living there, he thought we were lying and kept yelling at us over the phone to let him speak to her. The other thing that inspired the idea for this story was a song. I often played the song “Gloria” by Laura Branigan and something about the words to that song plus our creepy caller had me putting this story idea together. (I knew the song well before I lost my hearing and I still had some of my hearing when I was able to wear hearing aids so I was able to enjoy songs I knew before becoming deaf until the rest of my hearing was gone and hearing aids became useless.)

What genre does your book fall under?

 Suspense.

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

I’m going to select people based on how closely they match how my characters look.


Laura Williams: Laura is a redhead in her early thirties so I think Laura Prepon (she played Donna on That 70s Show) is a good choice. I know she's gone blonde now but she really has my character's face, especially the eyes. And she's also really a "Laura"!

Jeff Carson: I think Ryan Gosling would do well playing the hero of the story. He is a little younger than my character (who is 38) but he has Jeff’s face and I’m sure Hollywood can touch him up to look older.

 Carl Gunderson:  The best match for the bad guy in this story would be Brandon Routh.

 Sandy Dollarhide: This character is a Latin American nurse who is Laura’s co-worker, so I think Sofia Vergara would be a good choice because she looks like my character Sandy.

Karen McAvery: Laura’s best friend should be played by Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. She looks a lot like Karen.

 

 

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

 
Looking exactly like someone else can be dangerous … especially if that someone else is supposed to be dead.

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

 I am submitting this manuscript to one of my publishers.

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

I have no idea! I wrote the first draft of this book in 1994 and it sort of languished away when I focused on a different novel.

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

A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

See above.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

One very big issue with this story is that it addresses stalkers and stalking. My antagonist stalks my protagonist in this story. A character in this story is secretly a part of an organization that helps stalking victims. I hope this story will emphasize how dangerous stalking is for a lot of people, and not just for women.

Now I must tag authors:

Lee-Ann Graff-Vinson

Aubrie Dionne

Kathleen S. Allen

Note: I incorrectly noted that I wrote the first draft of my novel in 2004. That is not correct and I fixed the mistake. I completed the first draft in 1994, then picked it up again in 2004 to revise. The manuscript remained with the editor of a publishing company for 5 years before it was again forgotten about then I just recently went back to it again, as of yesterday. I just realized that in the event this novel is published next year, that will make it a book that finally sees print 20 years after I started writing it!