The Next Big Thing

I was invited to participate in The Next Big Thing by my friend Joanna Campbell Slan, who is blogging about the next novel in her Jane Eyre series, Death of a Dowager, here:

http://www.joannaslan.blogspot.com

 

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:

1 - What is your working title of your book (or story)?

Dead Man's Float (Book 1 in the Deadly Pleasures series)

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

My husband is a commercial pool and spa contractor in Florida. He’s been in the pool business for about 30 years, and tells me stories about the bad things that have happened. People think of pools as being strictly for fun, and they can be, but they are inherently dangerous – water, electricity, slick surfaces. I had an idea about a woman who comes back to her hometown, and gets into the pool cleaning business.

3 - What genre does your book fall under? 
 

Mystery.

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

When I picture the characters, I can see Jennifer Lawrence as Sabal Bishop Taylor, America Ferrara as her friend Maria, Pink as her friend Hannah, Alyssa Milano as her friend Lisa, Paula Malcomson as Sabal’s mother Alma, Stanley Tucci as Thomas Parker, and John Goodman as Sheriff Calvin.

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

Sabal Bishop Taylor finds a dead body in a pool she is scheduled to clean; while investigating the death to clear her name, she finds out her father’s death wasn’t an accident and that someone will kill to keep a secret.

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

I will be sending the completed manuscript to an agent.

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

The very first draft took one month; it began as a NaNo novel. Subsequent drafts have taken much longer, as I thought through the first few novels in the series.

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

I like Sara Paretsky’s books; they have a social component along with business, and the murder is the reader’s entrée into that story.

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

I am interested in women’s issues, and thought they could be wrapped in a story along with education about pool and spa safety (it may sound dry, but it’s not).

10 - What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Human trafficking is an issue that is under the radar, but Florida has one of the highest incidences in the country. Nationwide, human trafficking ranks second to the illegal drug trade. Human trafficking is modern-day slavery - trafficked individuals have no control over what happens to them, are bought and sold as a commodity, and are taken to countries where they don’t speak the language to further isolate them.

 

And now I turn this over to my friends:

Jeffrey Marks will be blogging about his Erle Stanley Gardner bio. “It's currently titled FOR THE DEFENSE. I’m nearly done editing after a large reformat/reconfiguring suggested by my agent. The website address for my blog is http://thecorpsestepsout.blogspot.com, and I’ll be blogging on December 11^th.”

Jeffrey Marks is a longtime fan and writer. He's written about the lives of many 1940s/1950s mystery authors including Craig Rice, Anthony Boucher and currently Erle Stanley Gardner. His website is http://www.JeffreyMarks.com.

Synda Roberts will blog about her first project, Phoenix: A Love and Sex Story in Twelve Parts. It will be released as a serialized e-book novel on Amazon, before being released in paperback; the first installment will be released December 14^th. Her blog is http://www.SyndaRoberts.blogspot.com.

Synda Roberts is the pseudonym of an author currently living on the East Coast. Phoenix is her first story of erotic fiction.