[Writer Post] The Next Big Thing Meme

So I didn’t get “The Next Big Thing” done for any earlier in the week. It’s going up today. And no one volunteered to be next, so this round of the meme ends with me. Ah well, all good memes must come to an end. J. Kathleen Cheney tagged me on this one. And being one that doesn’t look gift promoting in the … well, whatever that analogy seems to fall apart, here we are.

This meme is geared specifically toward novelists. There will be some jiggering of the answers. The questions:

1) What is the working title of your next book?
VAGABOND
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
I actually came up with this one back in college when I was getting my RTVF degree. I combined my love of music and my knowledge of growing up in radio with my love of SF to put together a time travel, rock and roll story.
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Science Fantasy – there’s not enough “science” to make it hard science fiction, but it’s not basic fantasy.
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I used to have this cast – when I first wrote it oh, so many years ago based on musicians I knew then. I don’t necessarily have them cast NOW. Except one character. There’s a grumpy “older” character – I have him based on Lee Arenberg from Once Upon A Time and Pirates of the Caribbean.
5) What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
Seemingly small issues today can become major societal darkness in the future.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
This is the loaded – and incomplete – question. This assumes there’s no other option. I don’t have an agent – but that doesn’t mean I will be self-publishing. I am currently trying to sell a book without an agent, and I will likely try to sell this book without an agent. There are still avenues open to writers who wish to go traditional paths without representation. Not that I wouldn’t accept the help of an agent if I found the right relationship.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I don’t remember. I wrote the first draft *mumblety-mumblety* years ago with the help and guidance of one of my college professors – who was the one who mentioned it to me all these years later. If he remembers it after all this time, I figure it had to have legs and something to it. So I revisited ti.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Another loaded (and awful) question. I guess there’s a bit of comparison to Bradley Denton’s classic Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganyemeade – but only because it’s SF and rock and roll related. Which means it’ll be compared to ALL Elvis and other music/SF combining stories. But I’ve not read a lot of them.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Okay, so Chuck Etheridge – who is a college professor down in Corpus Christie now (I think) was the one that got me to revisit this book. I wrote it back in the day when I was “writing what I know” (to a certain extent) which was some of the music industry and my SF influences – Roddenberry, Quantum Leap, and the like. It’s been sitting for years, because yeah, there are reasons you don’t see books written by (much) by people their late teens/early 20s.

I’m lucky to have had Chuck’s guidance back then, and now that I’m a more seasoned writer, this book can be redone to be worth publishing. Oh, yeah, though I’ve had to update a LOT (technology has changed SO MUCH), it’s still topical.
10) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Rock and roll, politics, romance, and time travel… what’s not to love?

Tags: Bradley Denton, J. Kathleen Cheney, Lee Arenberg