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Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Current Big Thing





Hullo, lovely readers. I know, I've already done The Next Big Thing, about my WIP. 
This is a blog hop, arranged by Vicki M Taylor, a member of a LinkedIn writers group I belong
to. 

The questions used are the Next Big Thing ones, but I am talking about my current book, 
which is FINALLY available in US bookshops and on Amazon as a paperback instead of just
 ebook. the idea is to promote and get some interest in your books. 
Please check out the links at the end of this post to see what other writers are doing!

What is the title of your  book?

The title of my current book is Wolfborn. It has just arrived in the US.

Where did the idea come from for the book

It came from a mediaeval romance by Marie De France, the Lai Le Bisclavret, (Werewolf). 
I have used the story's outline but set it in my own world. 


What genre does your book fall under

It's YA fantasy.

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

In the Wolfborn movie, I would have Sean Bean or Viggo Mortensen as my 
werewolf knight, Sire Geraint, who is betrayed and stuck in wolf skin. 
The young hero, Etienne, his loyal page, could be played by Jamie Bell 
if he was a few years younger. :-) I am still casting the other roles.


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book

Teenage boy and friends race against time to save his master, a werewolf knight 
who has been betrayed and stuck in wolfskin, before he becomes a wolf forever!

Was your book self-published or represented by an agency? 

Neither. I was very lucky with this one; I was doing an interview about another book 
in a magazine when a publisher who needed a full manuscript in a hurry read the interview
 and emailed me to ask if she could have a look at the MS. She bought it two days later.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 
This one was written and rewritten. The first draft was actually written very quickly
 because the story poured out of me. Then I rewrote ... and rewrote. 
And then it was edited and edited again...

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

I can't recall ever reading anything quite like it, but I am a big fan of Sophie Masson, 
Juliet Marillier and Margo Lanagan, all of whom write novels with fairy tale backgrounds. 

Who or what inspired you to write this book? 

I was reading the mediaeval romance mentioned above, in a collection called 
The Breton Lais. It was about a werewolf knight whose wife betrays him when 
she finds out his secret, making sure he stays a wolf. I thought it fascinating. 
These days we're used to the werewolf, vampire or whatever as the good guy
 in YA paranormal romance, but in the Middle Ages they were evil creatures  linked 
to Satan.Yet here was this story written in the twelfth century in which the werewolf
 was the good guy and probably born that way. The story leapt out at me yelling,
Novel! It's told from the viewpoint of a character I created myself, a teenage boy
 serving in his castle and learning what he needs to know for his own 
knighthood. I added a couple of romances and some characters not in the original. 

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

Fairies! (Or Faeries) Villains! Love! Adventure! Heroism! The Wild Hunt! 
And a big, soppy dog.



And here are some more posts on this subject by other fabulous writers - why not visit them 
all? 

And Deborah Teramis Christian: http://www.deborahteramischristian.com/










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2 comments:

Vicki M. Taylor said...

Sue, I hope your book does well. Thanks for participating in The Next Big Thing author blog tour.

Sue Bursztynski said...

Thanks, Vicki. Unfortunately, the link given was to my previous NBT post, which was about my current WIP so this one hasn't yet had a lot of hits.