Well hello again!
I’m excited to be tagged in the fantastic ‘The Next Big Thing Blog Hop’ and would like to thank the very talented Cath Staincliffe for tagging me. Isn’t she the best? I absolutely love her Blue Murder series.
The basic idea to TNBTBH is a writer with a Work In Progress or an up and coming new book is sent 10 basic questions and we then reply to it in relation to said book/ WIP.
And so, below you will find my 10 questions and their answers. I hope you enjoy and don’t snicker at them too much. 😉
What is the working title of your next book?
It’s called Bonnie’s Story with the subtitle ‘A Blonde’s guide to Mathematics’.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
It’s an idea that’s been rattling around inside my head for over 10 years now. I can’t remember if the origin was from a dream (as a lot of my stories are) or just somewhere my mind wandered to on long journeys on public transport while reading street signs.
What genre does your book fall under?
It comes under the newish genre of speculative fiction and, although it has been compared with Young Adults books, really isn’t specifically aimed at this age group.
I’ve had adults who don’t normally read YA read drafts of Bonnie’s Story and enjoyed it, so I guess any age from 16+ is good! (It has swear words, despite also having a swear jar.)
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I have always freely admitted that Sylvester is strongly based on Damian Lewis’ steely blue eyed, passionate and mildly insane Soames from the Forsyte Saga. Though I admit he’s probably too old for the role now in real life. He was still the person whom, unintentionally, came to mind the more I wrote about Sylvester.
And, although I never had a real person in mind for Rogan, I did stumble across a photo of Dimitri Leonidas in torn jeans and a red flannel shirt (semi grunge) that has since made me think of him as Rogan. He’s perfect for the role, if he can pull off the right level of French accent. In the picture in question Dimitri is a little younger than what I feel Rogan is… but this is a daydream cast here so I can adjust, right? Make Dimitri Leonidas older to be Rogan, while making Damian Lewis younger to be Sylvester.
As for other characters, no idea really. Bonnie is very loosely based on me when I was young, blonde and could pull off those South Australian short shorts that are almost more a belt than real clothing. But not anymore. Get someone younger, cuter, who’s still blonde, and who can act.
Clara and the rest of the gang? Well, as most of them are also loosely based on people I grew up with, I haven’t quite met their movie star doubles.
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
Discover Maths that isn’t boring, as it can take you around the world with a picture and through solid walls to the Moon.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Bonnie’s Story is currently under contract with Hague Publishing and will be released by them in early 2013 as an e-book.
I, however, am unrepresented as I have found Literary Agents don’t want to touch an unknown these days. Instead, if you’re in Australia, find your local state based Writing Centre. They are awesome and so helpful in assisting you find your feet as a prospective author.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Well, if I go from when I started it to when I finished (and include the huge gaps of inactivity) maybe 3 years. If you just go on actual time spent working on it, probably more likely just under 1 year.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I’m really not too sure as I’ve not actually read much Speculative Fiction and haven’t read a lot of Young Adult for a few years. My Publisher has likened it to Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. I’ve read that book; sort of see the similarity, sort of don’t.
In the same way you could say it’s like YA books The Riddle of the Trumpalar by Judy Bernard-Waite, or maybe even We are Tam by Patricia Bernard as they are about the adventures of travelling to different places through everyday things.
Bonnie and her Gang are actually older than the kids in these books, which is why I feel YA may enjoy it, keeping in mind that Bonnie’s Story is really aimed at an older audience. Both books, however, were huge favourites of mine growing up so of course will have had some influence on me.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I really don’t know if anything really inspired me. I breathe, therefore I write and pretty much have done since I learnt to eons ago.
As mentioned, I do remember being bored on many long bus trips to and from work (before the days of e-books, MP3 players and when your mobile phone’s special feature was a calculator) and really just got to thinking “What if you could make portals where the name on a street sign took you to that place?”
Example: I wanted to go to Adelaide (when living in Brisbane) and so thought “How cool would it be to use that street sign as a point of reference and ‘POP’ be in Adelaide.” And really I just worked it out from there and made it more plausible.
Yes, there even was a Moon Street that had me thinking ‘What would happen if you used that point of reference?’
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Perhaps by how it opens up the possibilities of exactly what maths and science could do, if we lived in a weird enough world. Instant global travel, doors in walls found with ‘Hidden Logic’, and something useful to do with all those used pizza boxes?
I’d also like to think Bonnie is someone people can relate to. And who else wouldn’t want to be able to whip up some ‘Maths That Stays’, dial up a picture of the Eiffel Tower and go spend the weekend in Paris without the expense of travel or the time it would take to get there?
Got a craving for something that you can only get from that little cafe you found in a different part of the world? Maths baby!
And, please, hands up who doesn’t think a half hour round trip from Australia to Belgium for decent chocolates isn’t such a bad thing?
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Well, that’s my 10 Questions and Answers for you. I hope you enjoyed them. All I can really say now is – Tag! You’re it Leonie Rogers and D. A. Meyrick!
Leonie is the author of newly launched book Frontier Incursion, also through Hague Publishing. While Denzil’s fantastic new crime novel Whisky in small glasses has recently been released by Ringwood Publishing.
If anyone has any other questions they’d like to ask me on it, feel free. I hope you enjoyed these ones.
Janis.
Janis Hill 