The Next Big Thing

I got tagged by Ellis Vidler, author of TIME OF DEATH in the Interview Meme, The Next Big Thing.

Q. What is the title of your book? 
A. LOVE IN REALITY, available as a digital book from Harmony Road Press.

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

A. Watching too much reality TV! Specifically, shows like Big Brother, where contestants are locked in a fictional "house" and have to kick each other off one at a time until a winner is selected.

Q. What genre does your book fall under?

A. Contemporary single title romance. (That just means it's longer, about 90,000 words.)

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

A. What a great question. Rand, my hero, thinks he looks a bit like Ryan Reynolds, but I really don't have a specific actress in mind for Libby. Plus, I rather think the couple on the cover is pretty close.

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

A.  Can love flourish when a law student is pretending to be her twin on a reality TV show and the TV producer is using her to write a winning screenplay?

Q. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

A. Love in Reality is published by Harmony Road Press, a "mom-and-pop publishing empire" I run with my awesome husband, Ross. (So, yeah, it's indie-published.)

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

A. About three months. Then I completely rewrote it, so add on another few months, and then I rewrote the first third of the story and the ending, so all told, about three years! (That's called "writer's math," kids.)

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

A. I'm not sure there is anything similar, but it's funny and contemporary, so maybe Kristan Higgins or Susan Elizabeth Phillips?

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

A. It's standard on these reality TV shows for the contestants to talk directly to the camera.  I started to think about the relationship that might develop between the producer asking the questions and the contestant. It seems like a very intimate situation, but still fraught with challenges.

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

A. It's the first book in The Blackjack Quartet, a series of interrelated romances in which Jack "Blackjack" McIntyre plays a role. And then, in Blackjack & Moonlight, he falls in love. (Blackjack & Moonlight was a finalist in the 2012 Golden Heart® contest and will be released in mid-2013.)

Okay, for all you authors out there…here are the rules:

 •Give credit to the person/blog that tagged you

 •Post the rules for this hop

 •Answer these ten questions about your Next Big Thing on your blog

 •Tag two or more writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

I tagged these wonderful authors. Check them out!

Jennifer Bernard, author of the fabulous Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel

KT Grant (aka Katiebabs) who writes...well, a LOT!

Emma Barron, just so we can all learn what she's working on.