Fireflies & Laserbeams

Next Big Thing Tag

Friday October 26, 2012 | By Hieronymus Hawkes | Blogging | Leave Comments

 

NaNo Prep: The Next Big Thing.  Janice Hardy tagged Jami Gold, who tagged me.   I’m honored that she picked me and I’m going to do my best to answer:
 
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
 
Quoting Jami:
As NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month—write a 50K word novel during November) is all about writing “the next big thing,” I decided this would be a fun tagging game to play.
So have I.
 
What is your working title of your book?  
Clear Ether.  This is the2nd title I’ve used for it, but I think it works.
 
Where did the idea come from for the book?
This is my first novel length work, and I had a couple of idea kernels that I ended up mashing together, (those make the best stories don’t they?) one being about a vampire and the other circling loosely around my experiences sitting alert as a military pilot.  It made at least half a dozen major morphs before it emerged into what it is now.
 
What genre does your book fall under?
It is Science Fiction Adventure with romantic elements.
 
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Okay, believe it or not I already had this figured out, LOL.
 
 
 
 
(Protag)Remie La Jeunesse – Matt Bomer
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anneliese Trahan – Emily Van Camp
 
 
 
 
Chloe Naquin - Alexandra Daddario
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Conall La Jeunesse -  Logan Lerman
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sage La Jeunesse – Chloe Moretz
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sebastian Meijer – Cary Elwes
 
 
 
 
 
I am actually considering doing a screenplay version, but have to cut about 300 pages.  Heh.
 
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Remie thinks that being a vampire is not all it’s cracked up to be, once he outlived his wife and watched all his offspring die one after the other, and is ready to call it quits, until a chance meeting with a hot tempered young female pilot reignites a spark of life in his long dead heart.
 
Okay that’s kinda long, but I cover a lot of ground and that doesn’t even scratch the surface.  It takes place 700 years in the future and we have inhabited 58 star systems outside of our own.
 
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I am going to shop it with a few agents and if that doesn’t work I may try the slush pile at a few book sellers.  If all else fails I may self-pub …  or, I may trunk it.
 
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Another tricky question that on the surface seems simple enough.  I’ve been working on this book for more than three years, but the actual draft that I am currently using took a little more than a year to write. 
 
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I know there are a few cheesy movies that have vampires in space, but this book is nothing like that.  It’s a character driven story.  I know that Jane Fancher has a story, called Blood Red Moon, with vampires, mixed with science fiction but I haven’t read it.
 
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I have wanted to write a novel for about 25 years, and finally put aside video games and made a serious effort to do just that.  It has been a steep learning curve, but I’ve met so many great people on the journey it has made it all worthwhile.  I’ve learned a great deal about writing and publishing in the process.  I think I am closing in on the magic one million word mark and it is all starting to make more sense.
 
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
My vampires are not quite the traditional sort.  They are spawned from an alien phage that came to Earth via meteor strike in ancient time and nearly wiped out an entire region in Europe before the survivors figured out what they were.  It has star travel and space battles and poker and romance.  Chloe Naquin is Remie’s actual granddaughter, from the daughter he had before he was turned.  She is the only person he has ever turned into a Nemisi, and she was a quadriplegic until the day he turned her.  She runs a syndicate made up of Remie’s thousands of descendants from his two children.  Of course he couldn’t have any more children after his turning, but he reunited with his wife for the rest of her life. There is lots more.
 
Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.
 
Jami Gold tagged me.  She is a writer and blogger extraordinaire and I expect she will be famous before too much longer.  She is one of my oldest twitter friends and I’m excited to cheer her on for NaNoWriMo this year.
 
Stacy McKitrick is my writing partner. She just finished the draft on her 5th book and is shopping her stories right now.  We have been working together for a little more than a year and I really appreciate everything she does.  It’s also a joy to share in someone else’s journey.  NaNo Stacy?
 
Jane Fancher is a writer and artist and is back at the writing thing after a hiatus.  She writes Sci Fi and just released Netwalkers: Partners, a prequel to her acclaimed Netwalkers trilogy.  I’ve read it and it rocks. 
 
Karen Woodward is a long time twitter friend and a prolific blogger.  She collects lots of great information on writing on her blog.  I’m not sure if Karen is doing Nano either.
 
Gerry Wilson is a writer and I only recently met her doing a blog challenge (that I am failing) but she has a wonderful way with words.  Gerry, are you doing NaNoWriMo?
 
I am doing NaNoWriMo again this year and I am Kardaen on their website, and my story this year is tentatively called Requiem for Memory.
 
Clear Ether!

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Why do we do it? (No excuse, sir!)

Wednesday October 19, 2011 | By Hieronymus Hawkes | Blogging | Leave Comments

Get that chin in, maggot!  Oh, sorry, flashback. There is only one answer to a "Why" question when you're a freshman at the Academy, but I digress . . .   There’s been a lot of noise on the interwebs lately about how or why people should blog or even in some cases not bother to blog at all.  Some of it I agree with and some of it I think is bordering on the ridiculous, but is that really anything new?  Everyone is entitled to their opinion.   I am fast approaching my one year anniversary on this blog and looking back I had no idea what I was going to do with this site when I started.  The entire purpose has always been just to have a space out here in the nether to share stuff that interested me, and the largest focus has been on writing, because that is what I’m doing with the bulk of my “spare” time.  On the other hand, I always did intend this to be a place to connect with other people.  I am extremely flattered that anyone is reading this stuff.  I’ve found that I really like to see people stopping by and reading and leaving comments, it has its own addiction.   I love being able to connect to my favorite authors in this new electric frontier, it’s easier than ever before, so in that vein I started this blog with the hopes of one day having my book published and have a place to connect with my readers.  Maybe that’s conceited, it’s certainly not intended to be -- I like to think of it as hopeful. I’m not nearly as disciplined as a lot of my friends who post multiple times a week and on a set schedule, but this was never intended to be about anything specific, just a forum for me to share bits of whatever flotsam crossed my path.  Roni Loren put it very well, "I am not a blogger who writes. I am a WRITER WHO BLOGS!" I’ve found that I enjoy blogging.  Maybe it would be better if I had a set schedule of different stuff for each day of the week or at least specific days.  Chuck Wendig has a great format over at Terribleminds.  He has a food blog, 25 things, an interview, a word challenge and a random post about whatever strikes his fancy.  Not in that order.  Jami Gold posts every Tuesday and Thursday about writing and blogging.  Roni Loren has two blogs, one specifically for writing and one to promote her “Author platform”.  I’m definitely not ready to do anything that ambitious.  Just trying to post at least once a week for a year has been a challenge.  Not one I always accomplished, but I am going to try something new… I am going to start a regular series of posts about the story I’m working on, as I get it ready to sell.  It might still be awhile before it comes out, but I am going to share nuggets from the book.  I’m going to introduce characters and setting, to hopefully flame the interest a little. The first installment is going to be on how I created the story.   I’m leaving something to look forward to.  Heh!  Thanks to everyone who's shown up!  I really appreciate it!   Clear Ether!

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