Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing
1. What is the working title of your book?
Well, I have four working titles because I am working on four stories all at the same time (I don’t suggest this by the way). The titles (in no particular order) are: Miracle Child, Sacrificing Tyreshia, A Fall from Grace, and Wrestling Louis Braille
2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
Miracle Child is a non-fiction account of the struggles my wife and I faced when our son was born 16 weeks premature. The idea came from my “real” life. I lived this. Sacrificing Tyreshia is a sequel to my debut novel Sex, Lies, and the Classroom. I never intended to write a sequel, but the idea came to me while I was speaking to a book club and one person asked a question that I couldn’t answer. While I was thinking about the question, everything just clicked and I knew I wanted to write a sequel. The idea for A Fall from Grace came to me while watching the national news and the idea for Wrestling Louis Braille came to me while watching my visually impaired son struggle to learn to read and write Braille.
3. What genre does your book fall under?
As I mentioned, Miracle Child is non-fiction. Sacrificing Tyreshia is an urban thriller/family drama. A Fall from Grace is a political/military thriller with a religious component. Wrestling Louis Braille will probably fall into contemporary fiction/family drama
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Wow, this is a difficult question. For Miracle Child, I would probably want George Clooney to play me. As far as the others go, Matt Damon could star in Sacrificing Tyreshia, Josh Buhamel could star in A Fall from Grace, and Elijah Wood could be in Wrestling Louis Braille.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Miracle Child: It is impossible not to grapple with your faith when your child’s life hangs in the balance. Sacrificing Tyreshia: After witnessing a murder attempt on the first day of school, teacher Nathaniel O’Connell finds himself pulled into a web of lies, deceit, and violence in his attempts to save his student and her child, while facing the question of whether he is willing to sacrifice Tyreshia. A Fall from Grace: When terrorists zero in on the Catholic Church in America, the Pope only has one option: to fight fire with fire. Wrestling Louis Braille: Living in two worlds is difficult enough without having to wrestle Louis Braille.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
All of my books have been and will be self-published. I love the control I have as an indie author. The publishing houses have nothing to offer.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
As a high school teacher and father of three young children, I struggle to find time to write. I am a slow writer on top of that so it takes me a long time to finish my first drafts. Sex, Lies, and the Classroom took about 10 months and The M-16 Agenda took even longer. I have been working on my new four for nearly a year and hope to have at least one of them out by the end of 2012.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I am not really sure if I can compare them, especially because they aren’t finished yet. I will let you know when I get closer to completion.
9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?
My mother is my inspiration. My mother instilled in me early on a love for reading and writing. Of course, I couldn’t do any of this without the love and support of my wife and kids.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Early readers of Miracle Child have said that it is one of the most moving stories they have ever read. Also, I have been contacted by several readers asking for a sequel to Sex, Lies, and the Classroom, so if you haven’t read it yet, you might want to grab a copy before the sequel comes out.
Now it’s time to find out the Next Big Thing from some others:
Dean Mayes
Emerald Barnes
Andrea Buginsky
Val Muller
Tarek Hassan Refaat
Dreama Collins
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Amazing, James. I can’t imagine working on four stories at the same time, though given my scattered brain, maybe that would be a better way! Each of your WIPs sounds fascinating. Good luck with the writing.
Thanks Carol! It is stressful and sometimes confusing to keep each story straight from the other, but it does seem to reduce the writer’s block. If one story isn’t working on a particular day, one of the others usually is.
Great article James. We’re including it as one of the five articles that caught our eye this week! Keep up the good work.