Dani Burlison asked me to be part of The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, where writers with literary blogs talk about what they are working on. So read on to learn about my novel!
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book (or story)?
Right Back Where We Started From
Where did the idea come from for the book?
I had this idea of three generations of women moving through time and influencing each other’s actions without knowing it. Sort of a “sins of the mother are passed down to their daughters” kind of deal. Everyone in the book is a kind of Gold Rusher who wants something for nothing, and this unwieldy ambition dominates their lives and has consequences on other people.
What genre does your book fall under?
Literary fiction
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
From the pitch letter: “When Sandi Sanborn tries to abandon her past to become a Hollywood star during the Great Depression, she’s followed by a family history of failure and lost fortune that, no matter what she does, will not go away. ”
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It is represented by the Carol Mann Agency in New York.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Too long. I worked on it in fits and starts at first because I was intimidated about writing a novel.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Hm. Sandi, the main character, is a redhead. I’ll go with someone like Kirsten Dunst. She seems like she has range, and occasionally she has red hair.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
This question leaves me stammering. I really don’t know.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The above-mentioned idea. Also, I was interested in California, and how it’s a place that tends to repeat its history. We haven’t had just one Gold Rush, we’ve had dozens in different forms and success rates—dot-com booms, real estate booms, Hollywood, spirituality gurus, on and on. It’s a state of gold rushers, and maybe we’re a nation of gold rushers, too, and I wanted to explore what that means.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Here’s another line from my pitch letter: “The book a fast-paced story involving a metamorphosing house, hallucinatory talking birds, 1930s radio shows, conspiracy theories about president Warren G. Harding, a race riot at a boxing match, and at the end, one giant earthquake.”
Thanks Dani!