The Silent Isle: My Next Big Thing, to include the Boston Tea Party, a vicar, and hopefully Richard Armitage.

Thank you, Kate from the Nested blog (nested1.blogspot.com), for including me in the Blog Hop entitled My Next Big Thing. And this is something I’m super excited to do because I am finally getting back to my novel after another novella project has unsurreptitiously interrupted my literary journeys. The novella I am working on I will be submitting on Feb. 1 to my editor and, as much fun as it would be to write about this novella, I don’t know how much I am allowed to discuss before it goes to print. But I will be putting out updates about my novella (release date Sept, 2013) soon, so come back and visit! Anyway, now that my novella is done, it’s on to My Next Big Thing:

1. What is the working title of your book or project?

My novel doesn’t have an actual title at this point. I was using Time Enough and Courage, but it seemed too hoity-toity, too Robert Penn Warren, for this story. And, once it started to annoy me every time I opened the document, I chucked it. So right now I’m calling it Marian’s Story, though it is both Marian and Gareth’s story.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book or project?

I love British history and am fascinated by what people back in the mid to late 1700s thought was acceptable. So I thought, as a woman, what would seem the worst fate I would face that could be, with civility, forced upon me—even by those who were my supposed protectors. Forcing me to marry a man I didn’t love ranked high on my list, just above being forced to drink tepid tea.

3. What genre does it fall under, if any?

It’s historical fiction, although (spoiler) there’s romance and, of course, lots of drama as well. Can you have a spoiler for something that hasn’t been finished yet?

4. If applicable, whom would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

I don’t have any actors/actresses in mind for my 2 protagonists—I would be ultra persnickety because they’ve been so real in my head and on the page for so long that if someone didn’t perform perfectly I might put a contract out on their life. (Could that be considered a spoiler, too?) However, for Alistair (nope, no spoilers for this one other than he’s a big role-player) I would swoon in ecstasy if Richard Armitage—with his buttery baritone voice, British accent, and aquiline nose—would play that role.

imdb.com

5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your manuscript or project?

I hate this: epic novel reduced to only a few words. (Did you not just read my post on the 6-word memoir and failing Hemingway?! Give me a novel to tell my story!! Rant over.) Ahem. A young British couple, in the midst of the American Revolution, is caught in a revolution of their own. Ha! How’s that for vague and obscure?

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

Represented by an agency and the greatest agent EVER.

7. How long did it take you to finish the first draft of your manuscript?

About 10 months—and to call it a first draft is generous. I have had to pause in my revisions of this project due to some other, more pressing, endeavors. So I am anxious to continue revision if for no other reason than to remove some of the “suckage” of this 1^st draft.

8. What other book or stories would you compare this story to with the genre?

This is a question I want to answer diplomatically. My story is historical and a bit on the epic-scale (spanning 2 countries and 1 war), and a few people who have read portions have likened it to Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. In terms of scale, yes, I might agree.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book or story?

The 12-year-old girl inside me who loves a good, against-all-odds romance and the mother in me who wants my daughters to see the beauty and indefatigability (I think I just made that word up) of love and what it can overcome.

10. What else about the story might pique the reader’s interest?

There’s a vicar named Becker and continual carnage over a china tea service. That alone ought to pique any reader’s interest, right?

So, that’s my current project in a shell that is a bit larger than a nut—except maybe a coconut. Are coconuts nuts? (I just googled it: coconuts are not nuts, they are dropes. Whatever the heck that is.) Now I’m supposed to keep this blog hop going by inviting other writers I know who are in the throes of a project to join. While I hesitate to do this because I know how precious writing time is and how blog posts (such as this) can be used as yet another means of procrastination and distraction, my blogging/writing friends I’d like to invite along are:

Karen Chronister at thewordshopblog.com