The Next Big Thing-Meme

Jenny S. Morris of Jenny's Imaginary World tagged me for The Next Big Thing and I feel so flattered. She is an awesome writer and blogger. Her book is contemporary with a bit of magic like mine. I would LOVE to BETA it. *crosses fingers* Find her answers here. Taryn Albright, my incredible, I can do All Things, CP, of A Fool's Golden Paradise also tagged me last month. Check out her answers here.

What is the working title of your book? LOVESENSE

Where did the idea come from for the book? My husband claims he can look at a photo of couple and tell if they're going to stay together. It's how he knew his brother-in-law (who he'd never met) was going to marry his sister. That ability was the basis for my 2011 NaNo. I'm a pantser, so all I really knew was that she could read love in photographs. Everything else (such as love literally stinking) came while drafting or through lots and lots of revisions. 

What genre does your book fall under? YA Magical Realism

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in the movie rendition? 
Here's the part where I admit that I don't know actors and I have no idea:) If Lovesense ever gets optioned for a movie I'll let the casting to someone else:)

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book? Love literally stinks for seventeen-year-old Rae, that is, until she smells her match in an unidentified baby picture.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I recently signed with the lovely Julia A Weber of Literaturagentur GMbH. We're currently revising the manuscript and hope to be on sub before the end of the year.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? May we see the intro? Lovesense was my 2011 NaNo. I can't wait for this year! (If you're doing NaNo, let me know, I'd love to be your writing buddy. I'm registered as Robinwrites.) My first page is below.

I often regret my part-time job as the ice cream/photo counter girl at Alfred’s Drug Store. But in a town as small as Sparrow, a seventeen-year-old doesn’t have a lot of options.

No more reading relationships at work, I remind myself as I tap my cross-trainers in time with the photo processor’s whir, whir, flip. It spews three hundred prints of Mary Brighten and her fiancé but I’m not looking, especially after last week’s debacle with Mom’s friend Barb. Trust me, being the first to know that your mom’s best friend’s husband is leaving her for their pool boy sucks the big one.

Craning my neck I see the “Alfred’s has the Answer” digital clock: forty-seven minutes ‘til the bride waltzes in. The whir is louder than our cheesy elevator music, and my nose, even though I’m telling it no, is taking in bigger and bigger breaths. I pop another Altoid into my already crammed mouth. I don’t want to know! Think about Barb. But I’m like a crack addict needing my next hit. And there isn’t an addiction recovery program to save me.

I pull a photo off the top of the stack. Even with the wonderful aroma of fresh ink, it doesn’t begin to cover the stench of this couple. It’s more than that rotten-egg sulfur smell I made in chem lab yesterday. It’s also rotting meat and moldy, squishy potatoes. A good dinner gone wrong.As I squint at the picture, the formally clad couple separates, not mere millimeters like I usually see, but
to opposite sides of the photo.

What other book(s) would you compare it to within your genre? Mandy Hubbard's You Wish. 

Who or What inspired you to write this book? My muse:) Laughing with my husband about the idea of a girl with his "abilities" inspired me. Also, my hubby and I fell in love in a weight room so it was fun to write those scenes and think of Stan and I falling in love. (Although Rae and Sam are quite different than my husband and me--except for extremely athletic, of course.)

What else about this book might pique your readers interest? I had a great time researching the worst smells in the world, and also deciding what real love would smell like. There are a lot of almost kisses and awkward first love moments, and there's an awful sonnet, written by yours truly, that might just make you giggle.

Now to pass this along. I'm tagging the winners from my giveaway last month. You didn't think you were getting those prizes free, did you?

Kelley H.

Suzi R.

Britney G.

Stephanie D.

Kim K.

Ilima T. also won, but I know she already posted The Next Big Thing here.