Blog Hop!

Week 27: THE NEXT BIG THING BLOG HOP

There are the books everyone had heard about: Twilight, Hunger Games, Fifty Shades of Gray. But what about all those books written by people you’ve never heard of? Some of them are treasures, just waiting to be found, and that’s what this blog hop is all about: the books you might not have heard about, but that you might end up loving.

This blog hop is like a game of tag. One author posts and tags other authors who link back to their website the next week and tag new authors. If you follow the blog hop long enough, you’re bound to find some books you’ll love! Maybe you’ll even discover a book that ends up being the next big thing.

I was tagged by Janice Sperry. You can learn more about Janice on her blog, www.comeoutwhenyourehappy.blogspot.com where you can then connect with her on Twitter, and even Pinterest.

This blog hop includes ten questions to help you learn more about an author’s current work in progress, so here’s a little info about my current project:

1: What is the working title of your book?

I have two books in process at the moment: Fairy Tales and Lord Hyacinthe

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

Fairy Tales came from a dream I had about being part of a fairy tale. In the dream I was Cinderella, but she was not anything like the many renditions of Cinderella we have seen. And it got me thinking about how many of the fairy tale characters would be very different in our day and age rather than when they were first written about - due to different expectations of how a female is suppose to act, the knowledge they can obtain, the equality with men. And then I began to rewrite their stories - Still set in the historical settings where the stories originally took place, but with a twist that allows them to be a bit more human and interact with each other in a more forward fashion. It's been fun to recreate!
Lord Hyacinthe - I started almost seven years ago - put it on a shelf and this last summer pulled out the scraps of ideas I had scribbled down and went to town putting it into an actual story.

3: What genre does your book fall under?

Young Adult Fantasy
Regency Romance

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

????? I have no Idea ????? (I honestly have a hard time imagining actors to create my stories. But if I saw the right actor/actress, I would know it immediately.)

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

Fairy Tales follows the story of some of our favorite fairy tale princesses and how their lives might have been if their stories had all been entwined.

Lord Hyacinthe - Terrence and Vivian's lives become entwined in a very strange adventure as they are thrown into one another’s presence, fall in love, and then discover that each has their own plans … plans so
secret and so serious that if they discover what the other is doing, it could destroy them both.

6: Will your be self-published, represented by an agency, or published through an indie publisher? (Or How do you plan to have your book published?)

I would love to be represented by an agency. But as it's a work in progress, I have yet to query.

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

Fairy Tales - It took about two months. I had hoped to finish it in one month .... but obviously we can't control when our computers decide to die, our husband's get sick, we get a new job, etc. So it took me two months instead.
Lord Hyacinthe - once I pulled out the idea and blurbs from my filing cabinet then I wrote the first draft in a week. I basically did not sleep! And when it was done I think I may have slept for two days straight. Then I put it aside for 2 months before I pulled it out and rewrote the entire thing in a week again.

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

 Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, and Beauty by Robin McKinley

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

I always have story ideas playing in my head - characters that walk around and talk, settings that pop up at the strangest times, and situations that arise where the story starts to form itself. Then I just go crazy and write down all the ideas and file them away for future use when the rest of the story comes into play.
But I have a lot of encouragement too. My husband has been a great support and inspiration  He helps push me to get to my writing. Also my parents always read and edit the first drafts for me. Mostly because they are gentle with how terrible the first draft really is, and can help correct it before anyone else sees it. But also because it gives them the bragging rights to claim they were the first to read my stories.

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

Fairy Tales - This is not just the story of Cinderella, but rather follows the path of three very well known fairy tale princesses: Belle, Cinderella, and Snow White. I chose to intermingle their paths in this story, allowing them to be part of each others lives and have a role in how each story works out in the end.
Lord Hyacinthe - This is actually a Romance Mystery and absolutely nobody is what they seem through most of the book. But it's hard to tell what information is accurate about each character, and what information is not .... it's fun to keep the reader guessing.

Here is another author who will be joining the blog hop for week 28 on January 2nd. I hope you’ll visit her blogs next week and learn more about their books. She has recently published her first novel and is working on a sequel. Maybe you will enjoy her books and she can become your new favorite author!

Jessalyn Adamson - http://addicted8.blogspot.com