I’ve been invited by Nikki Mahood to join in on The Next Big Thing: Authors Tagging Authors by tagging me in her own post. Thanks, Nikki, for inviting me to “tag” along. The premise it to answer ten questions about my current work in progress and then tag five more authors who can move the chain along another link should they choose to do so.
Before I get started I want to invite you to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook. I’d love to see you there!
With that said, I’ll be talking specifically about Davis (The Seven Brothers of Elko: Book Two) which is in the rewrite/edit stage at this point and The Seven Brothers of Elko series in general.
- What is the Working Title of your Book?
The original working title was “Until the Day After Forever”, but is now “Davis (The Seven Brothers of Elko: Book Two)”.
- Where did the idea come from for the book?
Davis is the second book in The Seven Brothers of Elko series which follows seven men who become as close, if not closer, than any seven brothers related by blood and the family they build together. All of the brothers were introduced in Jake (Book One). Davis is Jake’s younger brother. When I wrote Jake, I didn’t intend for it to turn into a series, but once it was complete Davis started whispering in my ear, begging me to tell his story, too.
- What genre does your book fall under?
It will be listed under Romance >> Contemporary and Romance >> Series. But it doesn’t fall into just one or two categories. Davis, and the series as whole, certainly belongs to the romance genre, but they each contain elements of a western, suspense, mystery, and family saga all rolled together.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
There are so many characters in the series and, like I said before, all of the men are in each book, so I’m going to have to stick with just the hero/heroine of this single book here. This won’t be easy because I honestly don’t watch much in the way of recent movies.
Davis is a tough decision because Davis and Jake are nearly identical and the fact that they are becomes a major part of the story in one of the later books in the series. So I see this as having to be a dual role for a single actor. And the picture I’ve always had of these two isn’t really an actor at all but a photographer who was involved in a Marlboro cigarette promotion a few years back. I don’t know his name but here is his picture, right down to those Reardon gray eyes. (Hopefully Phillip Morris/Marlboro or the hunky photographer won’t sue me for this, especially since this is an edited image of one I got from them. What can I say? He needed a cowboy hat to go with that spiffy leather jacket.)
The closest I can picture to “my” Jake/Davis I guess would be Mark Wahlberg but I’m just not sure his voice would match the way I hear them in my head. And I believe he’s only about 5’ 7” so we’re going to have to have some creative camera angles to make him appear around 6’. Or maybe Timothy Olyphant, but he might be better for Michael. Seriously? They would do in a pinch, but I’m going to have to stay with the photographer. Maybe Hollywood could track him down.
The heroine in Davis is Dusty. I could see Olivia Wilde in this role. And I’m going strictly by a picture I saw of her from Cowboys & Aliens. I have to admit I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of her many films or television appearances.
- What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
When the other part of Davis Reardon walks into his life, he and those he loves are forced to make life-threatening choices and risk everything to hold on to that matching piece of his heart.
- Will your book be Self Published or represented by an agency?
It will be self-published. I struggled early on with that decision before I released any of my books. Standards are standards for a reason. But I seldom play by somebody else’s rules, professionally or personally. My books are considered too long for the industry standard. They are my books and regardless of what the mainstream publishing industry believes is the maximum length to fit in their neat little boxes for any particular genre, they will stay as I wrote them. The stories were told to me by the characters and I refuse to let them be chopped up to fit into any specific limitations dictated by some predetermined set of rules rather than allowing the story to be told the way it should be told.
- How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
This series was originally written more than 5 year ago so it’s hard to remember. My best guess if 2-3 months for Davis.
- What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I don’t like making comparisons to other authors’ works. Every author has their own style and their own way of telling the story. But I will admit when I first read the question two other series immediately popped into my mind–Janet Dailey’s Calder series and any of Linda Lael Miller’s McKettrick series.
- Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Davis did that himself. The first book started from a long-standing saga I built in my head around an actor who had a popular television series at the time. Over the years I added to it until I reached the point where I was afraid I would lose it so I started writing it down. The story I wrote turned out to not be the story I started with although there are bits and pieces of it in there. The original didn’t have even one brother, much less seven. But as soon as Jake was finished it felt really important to “finish” Davis’ story line. And from there it just kept going until the family was complete.
- What else about your book might pique the readers’ interest?
As I said, this is the second book in a seven-book series. It’s very difficult to tell what will appeal to readers on any given day. And what will appeal to one won’t appeal to another. I can probably best answer that by telling you what pulls me in about this whole series every time I go back and read them again.
The strong family bond that is built between the men and the women who come into their lives defies the conventional definition of what makes a family. But conventional wisdom aside, the bond is there and builds throughout the series. They have a strong sense of honor. They fight for what they believe in. They fight for their family. And they fight for the women they love.
Not one of these men gets to skip lightly down a flowery path to the land of “happily ever after” with bluebirds singing and heavenly harps playing in the background. You feel what they feel. You know what they’re thinking. Individually and as a group they find hope and despair, love and heartache. Lies, deceit, kidnappings and murder are only a few of the things thrown into their paths. And it all started with one chance meeting.
And there you have it. I hope you have enjoyed this quick peek behind the scenes of Davis and The Seven Brothers of Elko. Davis is expected to be released somewhere in the range of December 2012-February 2013. If you haven’t read Jake yet, you can pick that up today on Amazon at Jake (The Seven Brothers of Elko: Book One).
For my tags I chose some great author friends from the Chick Lit Goddesses Facebook group and some of my many Twitter buddies who have provided me with an immeasurable amount of support and advice on this winding trail. Be sure to check each of them out next week for their Next Big Thing.
Sarah Louise Smith – http://www.sarahlouisesmith.com/
Janet Eve Josselyn – http://open.salon.com/blog/janet_eve_josselyn
Elizabeth Marx – http://elizabethmarxbooks.blogspot.com
Constance Masters – http://creativelyconstance.blogspot.com/
Keith Rommel – http://keithrommel.weebly.com/blog.html
Raeann Blake (Author) 