Yep, I too have been tagged to be a part of this ongoing blog hop, so here’s my entry.
What is the working title of your book?
My novel in progress is titled “The Betrayed.”
Where did the idea come from for the book?
To be completely honest, I don’t fully remember where the idea for the novel came from. I do remember sitting around with a buddy of mine one night, discussing the nature of good and evil, and why we, as humans, perceive Lucifer as being the ultimate evil. Why is that? I thought. Because we’re told that’s the way it is? Accept it and move on, nothing to see here? There was obviously something there, and over time the idea settled into my brain and refused to leave.
There was also the idea of young, single parents and how it affects someone’s day to day life accordingly. I had started writing the novel right after college, and the notion of “What’s next?” was always slapping me in the face. Though I am not a parent myself, I’ve seen how being a single parent can affect someone’s choices. My protagonist struggles with this kind of life, along with lost love, parents who were never there, and…maybe a gift that might make sense of it all. A gift that affects the entire world.
What genre does your book fall under?
It’s religious horror, but it doesn’t beat you over the head with it.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
The cast is primarily young people in their mid twenties, so I guess I’d like to see:
Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass) as Sidney Jameson
Emmy Rossum (Shameless) as Megan Connors
Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as Mitch Happe
and Noel Fisher (Red, Shameless) as Mike Sauer (mainly because Mike is a smartass dickhead, and Fisher seems to always play that type of role, very well).
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
In a world where everyone is not who they seem, a young, single father must find the strength within to battle as earth’s last hope against a vengeful Arch Angel’s hell-born hoards…
Long-winded enough?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I hope to have it in the hands of a few publishers within the next year.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Well, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it has taken over five years to complete, but in that timeframe I’ve been publishing short fiction. Being my first crack at a novel, I’ve had to learn the hard way that, one: 124,000 words is TOO much for a first novel and, two: adjectives and adverbs before every noun and verb are very unnecessary. Thankfully, over time, I’ve learned right from wrong. The novel currently sits at 88,000 words.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Oh, geeze, that’s hard. The closest I can come to is maybe Blood Crazy by Simon Clark. Though I am a voracious reader, I’ve tried not to let ideas from other books seep into this novel.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
Brian Keene inspired me to want to be a writer, but a good book or story from anyone can inspire me to want to be better at my craft–to work harder, to improve.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
You can always check out my other currently available work, which is all located in the BIBLIO section above. That should give you a taste of what’s to come.
Thanks for stopping by, and remember to check out these other blogs next Wednesday for the continuation of THE NEXT BIG THING:
and Lesley Connor
Wesley Southard 