I know, I know, I just did this Next Big Thing…thing, wherein I beat you over the head with details about something I’ve spewn (I don’t really care if it’s not a word) from the dark and often puzzling confines of my brain. Well, if you’re in the market for a reason to wear a stylish “I survived Ashley Heckman’s NEXT Next Big Thing” t shirt, it’s your lucky day!

You can all blame the spewer (again, I don’t care if the word doesn’t exist) of awesome, Ms. J. M. Blackman this time, who tagged me with a blurb that made me want to internet sex her like a one night cyber-stand. Our paths just recently crossed, but I can already tell she’s going to end up needing a restraining order against me.

…Too far?

Anyway, the rules, because we live in a society:

• FOLLOW THIS FORMAT.
• ANSWER THE 10 QUESTIONS BELOW.
• SPREAD THE FUN AND TAG 5 MORE AWESOME PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE.
  Note: I’m a rebel, yo.
• IT’S ALSO NICE TO LINK BACK TO THE PERSON. SHARING IS CARING, Y’ALL.

1. WHAT IS THE TITLE OF YOUR BOOK / WIP?

It doesn’t have one *whines*

I fail at titles, so the working one for this story is any reasonable variation of “that Grace thing.”

2. WHERE DID THE IDEA OF THIS BOOK COME FROM?

I literally tweeted one day about wanting to write something about ghosts and reincarnation.  I also drew inspiration (more so than usual) from Anne Rice’s book The Witching Hour, which includes a seductive spirit attaching himself to the female descendents of an ancient family of witches. The book kicked off a trilogy, but things just got weird for me after book one, so I thought of how I’d have wanted the ghostly character of Lasher to end up, and my character of Noel–along with how he has basically stalked Grace–was born from there.

3. WHAT GENRE WOULD YOUR BOOK FALL UNDER?

Young adult, paranormal romance, I suppose (though the ghost turns out to be anything but a source of love for our heroine).

4. WHICH ACTORS WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY YOUR CHARACTERS IN A MOVIE RENDITION? 

I’m gonna cheap out on this question again and say I don’t know enough about young Hollywood to answer. Keep reading my WIP Wednesday posts though, and maybe you guys can suggest some actors to me.

5. WILL YOUR BOOK BE SELF-PUBLISHED OR REPRESENTED?

I will be querying this novel to agents.

6. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE IT?

Well, I’m only about half done at this point, and have been writing since mid-September, according to the tweet linked above. It’s going much more quickly than the novella did, due to decent outlining. I will never pants a long piece again, I swear!

7. WHO OR WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THIS BOOK?

See “where the idea came from.” Same shib. (answer ganked from J. M. Blackman)

8. WHAT OTHER BOOKS IN YOUR GENRE WOULD YOU COMPARE IT TO?

To be embarrassingly honest, I’m not sure. I’m positive that there are other YA ghost PNR stories out there, I just haven’t read them. I tend not to read much while I’m writing my own stuff.

9. ONE SENTENCE SYNOPSIS:

Sixteen-year-old Grace Regan finds the man of her dreams in Noel, a spirit from the late 1800′s, but when he asks her to do the unthinkable to be with him–as he’s also done with her various past lives–she must find a way for things to come out right this time.

10. WHAT ELSE ABOUT YOUR BOOK MIGHT PIQUE THE READER’S INTEREST?

The three past life characters each get their own first person chapters in which to tell the stories of their own dealings with Noel. Ranging from 1902 to 1963, Sophie, Emma-Marie, and Elizabeth each have their own reasons for becoming involved with him, and their own ways of answering his requests.

AND NOW, THE NEXT VICTIMS:

Bogna Maslanka – The Rants of a Starving Writer

Escape From Reality – A blog of a teenage writer in love with Young Adult ficion