I was tagged by Lorna Dounaeva (http://lornadounaeva.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/the-next-big-thing-blog-hop/) for this post, which is similar to the award memes that make the rounds of the Internet. The Next Big Thing Blog Hop is a chance for us to talk about our works-in-progress, or WIP, and we have to follow certain steps to fulfill it. First, I have to tag the person who tagged me (thanks, Lorna!). Then I have to introduce and explain The Next Big Thing Blog Hop to those reading the post (check!). Then I have to answer ten questions about my WIP, and include pictures if possible. After the questions are done, I must tag five other writers with WIPs, and then let them know through emails or comments.
I’ll get to that, but first the questions, which will be focusing on The Quiet Game:
1. What is the title of the book you are working on? The title is The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones.
2. Where did the idea come from for the book? I think it started when I realized that editing my sci-fi novel RC was taking longer than I thought and that I’d probably finish my thriller novel Snake around the beginning of winter break. I’d played with the idea of working on a collection of short stories after Snake was done, but by the time winter break arrived, I thought it’d be a good thing to do, especially with my plans to self-publish. So as soon as I’d finished Snake, I got to work on it.
3. What genre does your book fall under? Horror, definitely horror. To be more specific, four of the short stories feature supernatural horror, while the fifth features psychological horror.
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Well, it’s a collection of short stories, so that’d be five movies if I were extremely lucky. The only actor I can think of though, would be Taissa Farmiga from American Horror Story, who would play Traci from the titular short story, The Quiet Game. Although she doesn’t look very much like my conception of the character, she’d definitely define and bring the role to life, and that’s what I’m looking for.
Taissa Farmiga, everybody.
5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book? Be prepared to enter the darkest corners of your mind in…The Quiet Game.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I’m doing the self-publishing thing. It’s the way of the future, and I’ve tried the traditional route to publishing novels and collections. Although it’s still prestigious,the traditional route is still very difficult to do and from the way some of the bigger companies in New York have been merging and acting, they know it won’t last forever. Besides, I want to get my work to my readers sooner rather than later.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manusript? Probably a month or so, though one of the short stories did need to be rewritten at some point, so that’s another couple of days there. Each story took different lengths of time to work on, so it was an uneven work schedule. Still, it was very much worth it.
8. What other books would you compare this story to in your genre? I don’t know; it’s so hard to compare one collection of short stories to another. In fact, I’d say it’s almost impossible, though my Mom did compare one of my short stories to Stephen King’s It, which I thought was a huge compliment.
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? I got inspiration from anywhere. The Quiet Game came from a comment-conversation on a friend’s blog; Addict came from the experiences of a friend of mine. If I tried to go back and figure out the origin of each story, I’d have interesting stories to tell right there!
10. What else about yoru book might pique reader’s interest? I think that it’s by a new author and that each story is different, scary, and unique might draw some in. That’s the hope, anyway.
And now, onto the tagged people:
1. Matt Williams (http://storiesbywilliams.com/)
2. Angela (http://aportiaadamsadventure.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling)
3. Cristian Mihai (http://cristianmihai.net/)
4. Pat Bertram (http://ptbertram.wordpress.com/)
5. Jason Alan (http://jasonalanwriter.wordpress.com/)
Congratulations to the tagged winners, and I can’t wait to read what you’re in the process of creating.
Rami Ungar The Writer 
Firstly, of course, thank you very much for the nomination, Rami, and secondly, compared to IT?!? That is amazing! I can’t wait to read it! Stephen King is one of my favorite authors (though my favorite is not pure horror, it’s the Gunslinger series). I’m not surprised that you and I have so much in common!
I’m really happy that we have so much in common Angela. And for the record, that Stephen King comparison was to make a point. I don’t think my mother was actually saying I was like King.
Still, it’s a compliment to me.
Thank you for mentioning me! You can find my responses here: http://ptbertram.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/the-next-big-thing/
I’ll definitely look at it.