The Next Big Thing

Rachael Lockhart as Rahab Carmichael, the heroine of Into the Flames

Okay, so both Joshua Unruh and Courtney Cantrell tagged me to do this, so I guess I can’t ignore it.

The point is to talk about the next writing project that you are working on. Go to the links above to see how Josh and Courtney answered the questions to “The Next Big Thing,” and then you can read my answers below.

What is the title of your next book?

Technically the book that I’m working on right now is called Stolen Treasure, but I’m not going to be talking about that. That’s because it’s part of the Tales of the Dragonriders series that we’re working on with Aaron Pogue, and if you read Josh’s post as I told you to, you alreayd know all about that. And I don’t want all my answers to be identical to Josh’s.

So instead I will tell you about the thing I’m going to be working on after I finish the Dragonrider novella.

The title of my next book is Title Pending: Grover Cleveland Academy, Book 2, or, as I like to call it, Breathing Underwater and Other Superhero Problems.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

This book is a sequel, so the idea came when people told me to write a direct sequel to my first novel, Into the Flames. The idea for Into the Flames was also a spin-off from another book that I wrote in high school called Born to Fly. That book was inspired by a multitude of things, such as the release of the first X-Men movie and Treasure Planet.

The short answer is that I love superheroes. So I wrote a book about them.

What genre does your book fall under?

I call it an Urban Fantasy. According to Josh, I that means something else entirely, but I’m going to stick with Urban Fantasy. Because it is a fantasy that happens in the modern, urban world.

Or you could call it Young Adult.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Grover Cleveland is the one series where I haven’t obsessed over finding actors to portray my main characters. I think this is because I know them so well in my head that they are their own selves and therefore can’t be portrayed by anyone.

Courtney mentioned Chloë Grace Moretz in her post, and I think she might could pull off Rahab, if they gave her bangs. She has a good snarky face that I can see her giving Bracken.

But I have planned out actors for characters specific to this book. I have always pictured my villianess as Zoey Deschanel. And the new boy, Scotty, is Anton Yelchin (you may know him from the new Star Trek movie).

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Here’s something that would never fly on a back cover copy:

“Now that Rahab has settled in at her new school, will she choose to become a hero, or will she continue to push her powers away? And what’s up with Bracken, anyway?”

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

My book will be published by Consortium Books, the same indie publishing group that did Into the Flames. When this will happen is beyond me. I was hoping for March 2013, but I can see now that that was a ridiculous goal.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I wrote the first 75-80% of the manuscript for NaNoWriMo 2012. I still haven’t finished it, but I plan to get to work on it very soon. I know what’s going to happen, I just haven’t typed it out yet.

What other books would you compare this to within your genre?

Hm, I’d go with I’d Tell You I Love You, but then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter except that it’s completely different. The only things the same are that they are at a boarding school and the main character is keeping her special abilities hidden from the rest of the world.

But it’s the closest thing I’ve got. Unless there’s something out there that I haven’t heard of that is just like it.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’d say it was mostly Becca Campbell telling me I needed to write a direct sequel to Into the Flames instead of running off and doing prequels and “Twenty Years later.”

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Um, it has people using superpowers in it. There will be danger.  And Rahab will go out on a date.

The only artistic person I know who has a blog and hasn’t been tagged yet is Thomas Beard. So he should fill this out. And I’ll tag Aaron Pogue and Becca Campbell again because I want to see their answers.