The Next Big Thing Blog Hop...
So much new writing out there it's mind-boggling but this exercise is a great opportunity for writers to focus on other
gifted writers - see below, but first...
Spiritual writing, no less
A Single Petal, my debut adult novel that won the Local Legend Spiritual Writing Competition (Murder, Politics and Passionate Love in Ancient China), is now available as an e-book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/278-1683763-1688614?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=A+Single+Petal+kindle)
My other writing for children and young adults plus photos from across the world (taken whenever I physically attempt to keep up with my global family): http://www.olivereade.co.uk/
The rubbish ends up in A Lonely Writer's Runaway Wheelie Bin... chase it at: http://runawaywheeliebin.blogspot.co.uk/
And so...
The Next Big Thing Blog Hop
Recently I was asked by Margaret Skea, a
prize-winning writer living in the Scottish Borders, and author of a fabulous
recently published historical novel, Turn of the Tide, to take part in
this blog hop.
http://margaretskea.com/2013/01/02/the-next-big-thing-blog-hop/
http://margaretskea.com/
A challenge, but
here goes:
What is the working title of your next book?
The Terminus
Where did the idea come from for the book?
From being born and brought up in London and seeing huge changes there over only sixty years... plus an interest
in the science of Physics which is on the threshold of a new era following the
discovery of the Higgs Boson at CERN.
What genre does your book fall under?
Young adult/ fantasy
What actors would you choose to play the part of your
characters in a movie rendition?
Juno Temple for female lead (St Trinian's ... sorry, but she looks the part on the internet). Anna Sophia-Robb (Bridge to Terabithia) would have been great a few years back, but too old for a sixteen year-old. Maybe Will
Poulter (Son of Rambo and the latest Narnia, a gifted young actor) as male lead
and Ian McLellen as GOD (who else?).
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
A time travel fantasy giving a glimpse into the
horrors of the last two days of Planet Earth, and in which friendship and love
finally triumph over human greed.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an
agency?
Sadly, self-published. It was with an agent who found
a publisher, but after over a year of waiting the publisher went down and I
decided to self-publish through a publishing consortium.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of
the manuscript?
About six months.
What other books would you compare this to within your
genre?
H.G.Wells, The Time Machine
Audrey Neffenegger, The Time Traveller's Wife
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Peter Higgs, the Edinburgh Physicist who anticipated the Higgs boson that explains how fundamental
particles derived mass... ie why we exist. This and other unexplained mysteries of Physics such as Dark Matter
and Dark Energy.
What else about the book might pique the reader’s
interest?
A story of relationships challenged by the
'extraordinary', of the precarious balance of opposites in friendship and the
all-consuming passion of first love.
Now I would like to tig the following very gifted writers:
Eileen Thornton
My first novel, The Trojan Project, is a thriller set in
Northumberland whereas my second novel, Divorcees.biz couldn’t be more
different. I am a making it up as I go along sort of writer! I don’t plan
anything ahead, I simply start tapping at the keys and see where it takes me.
As for my third novel, I think it will be another chic-lit. The last one was
fun to write.
John Clewarth
John Clewarth is a teacher turned writer, still fully
involved with 'the day job', but enjoying success as a children's/young adult
author of dark fiction. His first novel, Firestorm Rising, aimed at
the 8-10 years age range, has been voted through to the final of The
People's Book Prize 2013, in the children's section. His next, Demons in
the Dark, (10-14+), is due for release in paperback from Mauve Square
Publishing later this month. He is happily married, with two teenage
sons, and writes mainly after dark, when his laughter and barking at the moon
can be heard for miles around.
Wendy Leighton-Porter
Wendy
Leighton-Porter, a former teacher of Languages and Classical Studies, now
devotes her time to writing for children instead of teaching them. She is currently
working on a series of fifteen time-travel adventure stories aimed at the 7-12
age group and plans to take her young readers on an exciting journey through
the past, starting in the mythical lost city of Atlantis.
The Dark Stuff of Scottish Mythology...
A kelpie took up residence in my brain. A far cry from the supernatural beast in Molly Hunter's 'The Kelpie's Pearls' (a lovely book) this creature is evil personified. Like the kelpies of old it threatens to take over, body and spirit, any human who dares to approach its watery stronghold... and last June it transferred from my head to the The Grey Mare's Tail, a magnificent waterfall in the Scottish Borders off the road to Moffat. Problem is, I was there with my two eldest granddaughters from Texas, USA... so what happened has to be their story.
Called 'The Keeper of the Sword', it will (God and the Clootie One willing) be my next but one novel - for children, of course, as they understand these things far better.
Plays, plays, plays...
Recommended to all interested in a healthy blend of good food and good photographs...