Wednesday 31 October 2012

The Next Big Thing

Last week my friend, the fabulous Lesley Cookman (author of the superb Libby Sarjeant cosy crime series), tagged me in the Next Big Thing, an online chain of author and book recommendations - so today's blog post is me, answering set questions, about - yes, you guessed it - my Next Big Thing, which just happens to be my next book - AN ENORMOUSLY ENGLISH MONSOON WEDDING - which will be out in hardback and kindle in February 2013, and paperback in May 2013.

So, here goes....


What is the title of your next book?

Er - oops, sorry - just said that above - AN ENORMOUSLY ENGLISH MONSOON WEDDING.

Where did the idea for the book come from?

I wanted to write a funny, summery, weddingy book set in a country village - but with a difference. And as I've recently been closely involved with several fusion weddings, a sort of East-Meets-West marriage of different cultures seemed like a good idea.

What genre does your book fall under?

My very own branch of Romantic Comedy - Bucolic Frolics!

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
 
No idea... My heroes live entirely in my head and heart, and I'm not sure there's a *real person* out there that would match them - although, assuming we're talking fantasy-casting here, if Jim Parsons was available to play anyone in anything I've ever written I'd be ecstatically speechless for ever and ever. Oh, and I have to admit that my heroines all have a touch of Katherine Parkinson about them...

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

My books are traditionally published by the Piatkus imprint of Little,Brown.

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

About 8 weeks. I only ever write one draft and then edit as I go along. If I had to do several drafts I'd lose interest and write the life out of it. I'd tinker and faff and mess about with commas and then get bored....  

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

I'm kindly linked with amazingly talented rom-com authors like Jill Mansell, Carole Matthews, Milly Johnson, Jane Lovering and Katie Fforde - I'm fantastically flattered by this!

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My daughter's fabulous fusion wedding - which I must say, went far more smoothly than Erin and Jay's in AN ENORMOUSLY ENGLISH MONSOON WEDDING - with none of the horrors. My fictional fusion wedding is entirely fictional!

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

The tagline for this book is "BOLLYWOOD COMES TO BERKSHIRE" - so I hope this is a hint that it's a bit mad, and colourful and noisy and lively... And it covers the six scorchingly hot summer weeks before Jay and Erin's wedding - a wedding they've planned carefully, a wedding they're absolutely sure will go exactly the way they want it to, without any hitches or problems or  interference from friends and family... Poor deluded souls... Oh, and it's the first book in my new series of Bucolic Frolics. It's set in the village of Nook Green - and future books will take place in the neighbouring villages of Bluebell Common, Maizey St Michael, and Daisybank. 
 
So - that's my Next Big Thing - and next Wednesday, November 7th, check out the blogs of my super tagged authors below, and find out what their NEXT BIG THING is going to be....

Sheila Norton/Olivia Ryan
Julie Day
Hazel Osmond
Lizzie Lamb