The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

I have been tagged to discuss my Next Big Thing! Woo!

This comes from Bella Leone (check out her fabulous post on her Downpour sequel -- comes with awesome reaction gifs and other adorbs things) and J.A. Rock (who is writing a book with Lisa Henry BE STILL MY HEART). Obviously the last fairy book, Losing Better, and yes, even Malory's book are complete now and awaiting editorial inputs and/or contracts if that's gonna be a thing in the case of the last one. But apart from that...

1. What is the working title of your book?

Air or Back to the Sky. I know, but to be fair, By the River was Water for like six months in my mind.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

It's the air in the elementals project, unsurprisingly!

3. What is the genre of the book?

It's kinda like By the River in that it's technically lgbt contemporary, but it's got a really heavy supernatural undercurrent, so I'm more comfortable calling it paranormal in some ways.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

The PoV character, Zane, I would definitely go with Corbin Bleu. I don't know, I just see his face when I think of Zee. Maybe it's the musical thing.

For Geordie, I've never seen anyone quite perfect, but the other night watching The Vampire Diaries I realized that if Zach Roerig had electric blue hair... this picture could pretty much be him.

I do believe they'll work just fine for Zane and Geordie. Yes good.

Bonus points because that one on the right is pretty much exactly how Geordie dresse. If we can call it that. Needs a tattoo and dye job and a couple of protein shakes, but it's nigh perfect.

And because I gotta cast the rest now, Zee's best friend Raff would absolutely be Jeffrey Licon, and for his sister Lauren I like Chelsea Tavares because she is srsly adorbs.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

His first summer after college, a grad with serious family pressure meets the next door neighbors' would-be hippie house-sitter. Meditation, responsibility-shirking, and what has the potential to be a life-saving love story ensue.

Two sentences cuz I'm feeling punk rock!

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency/publisher?

Hopefully my publisher will dig it.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It's not done yet. Well, it is, but the last quarter of it is in script form, still. I keep going back and nitpicking. In my defense, it is my first west coast book, so I'm doing a lot of calling random friends for backup and fixing shit as I go.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Eeeek I always kinda hate to do this, because then it sounds like I'm comparing myself, which I never wanna do. It's sorta like that weird fairy tale-but-not thing you get in a lot of modern mermaid/man, selkie/shifter fae stuff, but without the shifter bit. Air!

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The idea for it goes all the way back to when I was in college and did my study abroad in Kathmandu. I  heard a lot about the Wind Horse thing due to being there with a university in the Shambhala tradition. I spent 15 days tripping from there to Lhasa and random towns and monasteries around that part of Tibet, and I got to see a few sky burial sites, so that factored in too.

The sky is fucking huge in Tibet. And close. The Himalayas aren't screwing around, man.

There's a fine line with westerner Buddhists* when it comes to cultural appropriation and actual respect for and/or adherence to Buddhist tenants, particularly since I'd say most are in the previously mentioned and relatively new Shambhala tradition, which has its immediate geographic roots in North America. Culture in diaspora, and all that.

I wanted to sort of have a character who was trying to walk that line, but also really lost. I wanted the other character to be able to be critical of that stereotype ("Haha, okay, white boy...") but also be able to grasp the connection to it at the same time.

Zane's family has its own baggage and expectations, but I'll save that. Geordie's my air element, so yeah.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I think the relationships Zee has with his sister and his best friend will appeal. Lauren is one of those characters who looks really fragile on the surface, and so of course her big brother is overprotective--if not as much as their father, who is a bit of a dick, honestly. Rafael grew up the lone goth in a hard neighborhood, and once he got to high school became kind of a perpetually drunk sleeparound with fabulous eyeliner--with his best friend the quarterback of the football team, Zane. They have a kind of friends-with-benefits "I love you enough to tell you that you're being a dumbass, son" relationship.

Also Zane has a Les Paul named Xenobia.

*So the question is why didn't I make the hero Tibetan? Totally different book. Incoming.

Now to tag some awesome folk! First, Erica Pike, for being super awesome in general. Erica is not only a wonderful author of some sweet m/m stuff, but also a sweetheart herself. Love! Next, Zoe E. Whitten. Zoe writes stuff that you could classify as mostly sff, but there's a healthy dollop of the erotic and/or romance in much of it. She is fucking fabulous--and I'm not just saying that because she took us to get, like, the best food in Milan a few months back.