The Next Best Thing Blog Hop

 

Carolyn Mulford, asked me to participate in a Blog Hop called “The Next Big Thing,” which rotates once a week on Wednesdays. I blog on Mondays, so links to all the WWK bloggers participating in Week 33 will appear on our marquee. Carolyn wrote Show Me the Murder, which will be released by Five Star/Gale, Cengage February 15.You can find out more about Carolyn's work at http://carolynmulford.com  All author’s participating in the blog hop answer the same questions. Mine follow Warren Bull’s answers. E.B. Davis

Warren Bull

1: What is the working title of your book? 

Heartland  

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

It started with a winning short story for the Great Manhattan Mystery conclave short story contest.

The family I wrote about kept popping up in my mind telling me more and more about their experiences.  I had three stories about them published in various venues.

They finally convinced me to write them into a novel.  If I’d been smarter about it, I could have written the novel years ago.

I am glad none of my characters can type.

3. What genre does your book come under?

Young Adult Historical/Adventure/Mystery.  Also, it is a book for boys who don’t like reading.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Drew Barrymore would have been great when she was younger.

Daniel Radcliffe in the first of the Harry Potter movies would have been fantastic. 

I don’t know current actors who fit the characters’ ages.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Imagine Little House in “Bleeding Kansas.”

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

The book was first self-published and then picked up by a small independent publisher.

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

Since parts of the books were published as short stories, it only took about one and a half to two years.

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

The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books. 

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

As I mentioned before, the characters made me do it.

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

The book was one of five finalists in the 2010 Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest sponsored the Gotham Writers Workshop.  The feedback I got was extremely helpful in making final edits.

E. B. Davis

1. What is the working title of your book?

I’m promoting my short stories that were published in 2012: “Lucky In Death” contained in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder, “The Acidic Solution” published in He Had It Coming and “No-Hair Day” one of many short stories in A Shaker of Margaritas: Bad Hair Day.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

The titles of each anthology dictated its theme, which was prescribed by the editors. In “Lucky In Death” my husband’s obsession with fishing boats evoked my conception of the story. The voice of the main character in “The Acidic Solution” came to me while alone driving on the Interstate, a place where I often get ideas. In “No-Hair Day,” I took the idea to its extreme ending up with a main character on chemo who lost her hair as a side effect, then made her fight.

 

3. What genre does your book come under?

Traditional mystery, although I hope that “No-Hair Day” may also be interpreted as Inspirational as well.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Vanessa Redgrave or Mia Farrow could take the role of my main character in “Lucky In Death.”

Robin Wright would be a good fit for “The Acidic Solution.”

It would be a switch for Sandra Bullock, but she is in her forties and could have the sixteen-year-old daughter in “No-Hair Day,” a role she might like since it’s comedic.

 

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

In “Lucky In Death,” a grandmother, who wants to help her granddaughters, finds that the best solution is murder.

A young woman outwits her kidnappers and seeks revenge on her good-for-nothing fiancé in “The Acidic Solution.”

After a home invasion, a woman undergoing chemo learns to fight in “No-Hair Day.”

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

Wildside Press published Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder.

A Shaker of Margaritas: Bad Hair Day was published by Mozark Press.

Banty Hen Publishing released He Had It Coming.

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

Each short story takes about a month to write.

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

I’d compare them to any book with strong female characters.

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Although ideas spontaneously occur to me, I find it a challenge to write to a prescribed topic. After a volume is published, I love reading the stories to understand how other authors interpreted the topic.

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

In Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder, Donna Andrews, Art Taylor and Barb Goffman are a few of the talented writers whose shorts are contained in the anthology.

A story of revenge, “My Husband,” written by Agatha nominee, Kaye George, was also published in He Had It Coming.

Award winning writer, Linda Fisher, edited and also wrote a story in A Shaker of Margaritas: Bad Hair Day. Carolyn Mulford’s story, “Leftovers” was also published in this anthology.

Thanks to Carolyn Mulford for asking us to this blog hop.