You have an awesome protag. You love to share him, or her, with the world.
Share your protag with me!
I'm an interdimensional reporter. I like to ask questions, and I like to analyze. Even in our world, I've made part of my living asking interesting questions of interesting people and things. I'd like to step out of our world, into the worlds you've created, hang out in an imaginary eatery of your choice, and ask your protag/evil guy/random minor character some questions.
Why? First, it gets you a tiny bit more publicity--a tiny bit more hype about that gorgeous WIP. But secondly and more importantly, it can strengthen character development, and it's fun. Do not underestimate the power of fun to jump-start your writing. I interviewed a space-ninja here and my writing and his character development became better for it. When your MC is forced to answer questions you didn't think of--shoved into situations that didn't come from the tidy place in your head he belongs--well, good things happen. Mostly fun things, IMHO. Isn't fun part of the reason we all began writing in the first place?
How does this work? Leave a comment below explaining how you prefer to be contacted. I will contact you with questions for your character, you'll give us the setting, and we'll 'chat' back and forth for about 250-400 words.
THIS could be fun, people. Have some fun with me?
Both John Krissalas and Katrina Sincek tagged me in this "Next Big Thing" Blog Hop--go back and check their Big Things out!
A lot of you already know I've got a story awaiting representation about a comic book character who shoots his author. That gets a lot of hype already--it's my popular child--so I'm going to introduce you to the quiet kid in the family.
You know it's a noisy family when the quiet kid tells stories about space ninjas.
Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:
1. What is the working title of your book? /2. Where did the idea come from?/3. Genre?
Neodymium Sacrifice is a YA sci fi space opera that comes from years of good friendships and sibling rivalries, and a healthy dose of insanity, kick-assery, and philosophy.
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
The kid who played Spiderman in the new Amazing Spiderman movie should play JE, the teenage pilot who tries to bring medical supplies to needy soldiers, but crash-lands on a planet made of diamond and finds himself attacked by an insectoid-bear!
Dakota Fanning would play Juju, the pre-teen princess who tests robots meant to protect children in warzones--but accidentally loses her robot, unleashing a killing machine on civillian populations. The robot only responds to her face, so she has to catch it and bring it back!
Then awesome youtuber Ryan Higa would play Roz Bereens, the brave space ninja searching all over the galaxy for a cure for his best friend Lem--a cure he believes his worst enemy possesses.
Finally, if Sigourney Weaver were a teenager, her hard-core attitude could play Lem, the 17-year-old space ninja whose bad genetic reaction to a bio-weapon traps her in her own mind. When she's finally healed and awakens, she finds out her entire family's disappeared, and a megalomaniac dictator-wanna-be is mind-controlling Lem's allies with her own secret weapon. Worst of all, Lem's trip inside herself convinces her she's got more in common with the megalomaniac than she wanted to admit; she wants to save her universe, but now she may need to save herself first.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
When a lethal bioweapon traps space-ninja Lem Benzaran in her own mind, she must fight for her sanity while her best friend finds a cure--before Lem's own personal secret weapon destroys her family.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I really need the structure of traditional publishing.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
A little less than a year.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I hate comps with a passion. I guess anything by Kathy Tyers meets Across the Universe by Beth Revis?
9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?
The book's inspired by a childhood game my little brother invented. My siblings and I would team up with our alien friends to battle a megalomaniac who longed to take away our freedom! I don't think we really knew what 'freedom' meant back then, but now it's a tale about children's rights, and two conflicting definitions of 'freedom.' The 'bad guys' aren't really just 'bad'--there's a motive to the madness. They believe they can force intellectual freedom and defeat ignorance by eliminating the ignorant; part of this means destroying dangerous 'freaks of nature' and 'schizophrenics' who talk to invisible, interdimensional beings. Like our protags.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Neodymium maces and oxidizing death-cartridges from flayer guns! Seriously, I love the crazy new weapons and beautiful worlds. This book also celebrates a unique cross-species diversity with a ton of different sentient beings.
Thanks for reading! I don't have 5 people to tag, but I can tag:
Stacey Nash
T.Z. Wallace
This is part of the Thursday's Children Blog Hop about what inspires our writing. Linky below!
Dreams. Just as I'm settling to fix a story about space-ninjas, my Muse comes to me in a dream. With an absolutely fabulous story idea that I'm instantly loving.
NO! I don't even know how to pitch this new story yet. Just a crazy awesome dream--
I've got this female secret agent who's a little heavy-set--"too fat to be suspicious," she jokes. She likes My Little Pony and autumn. Her name's Jordan. She's stealing US military intelligence for South Sudanese freedom fighters.
Then I've got David. He's a palladin battling anger issues. He longs to make the world a better place, but every now and then he's possessed with the desire to hurt everyone he meets. He's supposed to capture the spy stealing US military intelligence. And he hates her.
But the way she laughs--the way she wriggles out of his grip when he catches up to her--and the way her philosophizing rends his heart in the e-mails that pass between them--David's taken with her.
Jordan finds sanctuary in a coven of monastic mountain-dwellers. She's learning meditation, farming, and basket-weaving while she heals from battle-scars--as David desperately tries to prove she exists so he can arrest her. But as he gets closer to flushing her out, he's terrified: he doesn't want to find out if he loves her more than he hates her.
YES I want this book to happen. The dream was awesome, and I want to be in more of that.
But...but...Lem?
Dear God,
You're driving me crazy.
I love it.
Jen
