The Next Big Thing Blog Hop (Week 24)

I've been tagged by my friend Sean Jenan for the week 24 installment of "The Next Big Thing".

Personally, I feel his latest edgy thriller, CIPHER, will definitely become one of the next big things you'll want to read, and wish him well.  Not that I'm psychic or anything like that, but I seriously see great things on the horizon for both Sean and for CIPHER.

By the way, you gotta check out the musings and mayhem on his blog~Read the Sloshpile!

And in case you've been wondering, what I've been working on on since finishing THE DEATH BROKERS, it's this:

Cover inspiration for my manuscript created by the very talented
Calista Taylor (http://coversbycali.com) And psst!  We'll be interviewing her next week on the blog!

1- What is the working title of your book?  TWO TALISMANS

2- Where did the idea come from for the book? My summer vacation to the Caribbean islands of St. Thomas and St. John. 

After hopping off the ferry on St. John, I wandered around an area near the port and found a great little jewelry shop. 

While I was looking inside a glass showcase for an item engraved with the ancient symbol of St. John, the salesman behind the counter walked over and began staring at the pendant on my gold chain.

him:  "What's that hanging from your necklace?"
me:    "A coin."
him:  "I can tell it's very old.  What wreck was it from?
me:  "The Atocha, off the coast of south Florida."

And then we had quite an interesting conversation about the wreck.  The coin I have which was made into a pendant, was from the wreck of the Atocha, a Spanish ship which went down over 200 years ago, and the man told me that there has always been a rumor that the gold and silver coins that were found by Mel Fisher (the man who discovered the wreck and brought up the treasure) were cursed (he suffered personal tragedy after discovering the wreck).

Now of course I thought this was terribly tantalizing,  as I love a good tale or legend, and the talk with the man from the jewerly store provided me with all kinds of wild inspiration.

A few days later, I was enjoying a quiet moment off of Hawksnest Beach, just floating in the windex-blue water, and the premise for TWO TALISMANS came to me as clear as the water surrounding me.  I thought of my coin pendant,  and I thought of the lore surrounding the cursed gold and silver coins, and the result was TWO TALISMANS.

3- What genre does your book fall under? paranormal thriller.

4- Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  If I had to pick two actresses to play Eleana (short for Eleanor) and Abbie Syler (direct descendents of Amelia Carlysle), it would probably be Claire Danes and Reece Witherspoon.  Without a doubt, I would want Halle Berry to play Sophie DuBois, and possibly Amanda Seyfried to be Amelia Carlysle.

5- What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  It's not really a sentence, but a little poem I wrote while floating on my back in the ocean.  Here goes:

All that glitters isn't gold,
But coins of silver, very old.
Forged into chains with hanging talismans,
And when they touch, chaos begins.

6- Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?  Right now I'm gearing up to send out more queries for my thriller, THE DEATH BROKERS, and have had a good response thus far.

So it's safe to say I'm in search of the perfect agent .  

7- How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?  I'm not totally finished as of yet. It is actually my Nanowrimo project, but it's moving along quickly.  Like I've told my crit partners, this one is as if it's almost writing itself.  It's too darned easy, this one!

8- What other books would you compare this to to within your genre?  I would compare my w.i.p.  to the feel of THE WITCHING HOUR  by Anne Rice, but mine has more thriller in it, and also some elements from  the 2011 movie, Chronicle.

9- Who or What inspired you to write this book?  A series of personal losses, combined with a love for the beautifully wild Georgia coast and the south, and my trip to the islands of St. John and St. Thomas.

This manuscript will be dedicated to two very important women in my life.  One of whom, I miss very very much.  Miss you D.V.H.  Gone but never forgotten.

10- What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?  Personally, I think that most women who wear any type of jewelry feel some sort of an emotional attachment to a special piece.  As for me, when I put on a certain ring, or when I put on the silver coin pendant I wrote about earlier in this blog post, it makes me feel connected to certain places, people, and events in my life.  The premise of this manuscript draws upon those exact types of feelings you may feel when holding something of value or sentimentality, or of historical value in your hand.  

If you wear an engagement or wedding ring,  you'll know what I mean.  You look down at your hand, and you're brought back to that once-in-a-lifetime moment.  Like that feeling.  My glittering band on my left hand may be new, but the solitaire inside of the ring is the same one that I was given on the 9th of December by my husband.   Every time I look at it,  I remember his proposal under the Christmas tree.

Now on a totally different level, I think anyone who believes in karma, or the notion that you reap what you sow, will also want to read this manuscript.  It's the unleashing of the secret desire to see bad things finally happen to very bad people. But in the end, revenge can't really fix your soul or your problems.  It'll eat you alive from the inside out if you let it, and TWO TALISMANS also shows the beauty in forgiveness, and also celebrates the tight-knit bonds of family and friendship.

Tagged for next week (Week 25) is my AQC friend Vicki (also known as the elusive LucidDreamer, and a very talented writer (do check out her incredible poem on the blog too!). Check out her blog next Wednesday, November 21st, when it's her turn to post answers to these same questions about her manuscript!

http://vickilempweavil.com