Wednesday 7 November 2012

The Next Big Thing by Julienne Durber



For this week's post I have been asked to take part in The Next Big Thing.  Upcoming authors are asked to answer ten questions about a work in progress and then link to others who have done the same.  So here are my ten answers and at the end are links to some of my favourite up and comings, do check them out, they are all fab ...



What is the working title of your book?
I always struggle to title my works in progress.  For ages, they are just called by the name of the main character until I bite the bullet and give them a title that sums up the spirit and hopefully raises a question.  At the moment, this story has just graduated from 'The Maxwell Story' to the extremely unsatisfying  'A Forest Full of Aliens', (partly because Maxwell has just been rewritten as a female called Redd).  There will be more changes!

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I was trying to reimagine an old idea I've had for a while about a whole world within a gearbox in a scrap yard, changing it from a fantasy epic to an ultra-violent sci-fi thriller.

What genre does your book fall under?
I'm aiming for Young Adult Science Fiction Thriller as long as I can keep the cuteness and wise-cracking at bay that tend to drag my stories towards 12+.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I'd love Redd to be played by Paloma Faith.  She had a small part in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus which really stood out for me, and she's great at 'fabulously bonkers'.  I think she'd give a brilliant take on the concept of a heroic main character.  And to counter Paloma, the scientist character would have to be played straight and by-the-book.  Perhaps Helen Mirren.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
The Borrowers meets Platoon and then the solder hits the cooling fan.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I'm currently working on another couple of things with my agent, but when this one gets into a shape where I'm willing to show people then hopefully it will go forward with agency representation.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
This story is ongoing, but my last first draft took around six months, fitted in around my day job.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Hopefully none!  I lie awake worrying that someone will have come up with a similar idea to one of mine and that a publisher will already have it on their desk.  Authors don't write in a vacuum.  Inspiring events, films, books, newspaper stories etc are all around and it's inevitable that other creative people may take an idea in a similar direction.  And good luck to them if they have, I genuinely wish them every success with it.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?
The original gearbox concept came from a college exercise.  I was on an illustration course and the project was to combine a piece of technology with a fantasy element.  I had an overgrown mini gearbox in my garden and wondered what it would be like if tiny creatures lived in it.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
The whole thing takes place inside a computer tower (apart from the bits that don't ;)

 
The fab authors I'm tagging are:

Sam Hawksmoor - author of The Repossession and The Haunting

Caroline Green - author of Cracks and Dark Ride

Addy Farmer, who invited me to take part (and author of amongst other things the heart warming Grandad's Bench)

Sharon Jones - author of Dead Jealous and lover of poodles

Please check out their sites and responses to the Ten Big Questions.

No comments:

Post a Comment