Next Big Thing Meme

So Elin Gregory did this meme at her blog a couple days ago, and though she didn't tag me, she challenged those who liked it to have a go. Which I am.

What is the title of the book you’re currently working on?
"Iron Eyes"

Where did the idea come from for the book?
It started as a writing exercise, actually. I do them occasionally where I'll brainstorm on three unrelated words, just to keep the creative juices flowing. In this case, the three words were pilot, doctor, and kidnap. It sounds like a romance already, doesn't it, lol?

What genre does your book fall under?
It's m/m steampunk erotic romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I just blogged about this when I started the story! In cast you missed it, though, my heroes would be played by Jeremy Renner and David Zepeda. I have no idea if Zepeda is a decent actor, but he's where I started when I was envisioning the character.

What is a one-sentence synopsis of the book?
Captain Terrence Kaufman does the unthinkable and kidnaps the one man he believes can assuage his guilty conscience, only to rediscover his humanity in the process.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It'll come out in early 2013 at Amber Allure as part of their steampunk pax, "Days of Future's Past."

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
This presumes it's done, which it's not, lol. However, at the rate I'm going, it'll be done by the end of the month, which means it'll be about three weeks for 35,000 words.

What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?
I wouldn't. The genre is too young to have a ton of reading material yet. Besides, I think it's kind of egotistical to compare yourself to anyone.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I've wanted to try my hand at steampunk for a while now, so when this opportunity came up, I jumped at it. I've found it difficult to find much steampunk that really satisfies me. Most of the time, there's too much focus on world-building and not enough on the story. I wanted to see if I could get the right balance.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Haha, I don't know. I try to not write the usual most of the time, and I don't think this is any exception to that. It's not set in a usual setting, instead on a remote Canadian island, and doesn't employ the typical gadgets I think are most common in the genre. Instead, my engineer has a career in the budding film industry in Los Angeles that proves vital for my other hero. I'd like to think readers would be piqued by its unique angles.


 I'm not tagging anyone to do this, but if you want to have a go, I say go for it!

The state of me

We lost our internet two days this week. Comcast issues. It always shocks me how much I rely on it for everything when it's gone, and then even more so when I get so much other work done instead. I'm still in catch-up mode, so today's post is just a general state of my world thing.

Like...how relieved I am the election is over. We can move on from all the campaigning talk finally.

Like...how nervous I am about this steampunk story I'm writing. It's swinging higher on the "aw" scale than I've done in a while, plus I've never tried my hand at this genre before. It's daunting.

Like...how excited I am about the upcoming holidays. We spent two hours on a conference call with the family we spend the Thanksgiving holiday with, getting things organized. A family of six coming to our house for four days, so we have ten people we're feeding/providing for. There are spreadsheets involved, lol.

Like...how anxious I am when I realize just how much is yet to be done in preparation for said visit.

But life is good and really, I wouldn't change a single bit of this.

Looking the part...at least at first

Yesterday, I started my next project, an m/m steampunk erotic romance that I haven't titled yet. One of the things I always do before I start anything is get mental pictures of all the characters. I need the visual of them before I can put a single word to paper, otherwise, they're not real to me. Most often, I go combing through photos I've found online or I pick an actor-type to model the character on. These physical similarities often change as the story progresses (or there's a physical characteristic I know is necessary for the hero/heroine that isn't present on the model), but there is always a starting point.

With this particular story, there are two heroes. One is an ex-military pilot with a guilt-ridden conscience who sets out to do the right thing the wrong way. He's the center of all my angst in this, so I wanted someone intense, not too big but buff and dangerous anyway. This is how he's starting off:

I've adored Jeremy Renner since he played Penn on Angel, so seeing him finally getting recognition the last five years or so has been great.

The other hero is my engineer. He didn't start out that way, so I wanted to play against physical type by having my brainiac look like he should be beating up the bad guys instead. I also knew his family is originally from Belize, so that helped me pick out...

...David Zepeda. My guy is a little rougher around the edges than this, less clean-cut, definitely dirtier, but he's my springboard for where I start.

I think they're going to be hot together. I can't wait to get into the meat of this story.