Next Big Thing Blog Hop
What is a blog hop? Basically, it’s a way for readers to discover authors new to them. I hope you’ll find new-to-you authors whose works you enjoy. On this stop on the blog hop, you’ll find a bit of information on me and one of my works, and links to three other authors you can explore!
My gratitude to fellow author Kimberley Linstruth-Beckom a.k.a Amanda Kimberley for inviting me to participate in this event. You can click the following link to learn more about her work: http://www.fibroandfabulous.com
In this blog hop, I and my fellow authors, in their respective blogs, have answered ten questions about our book or work-in–progress (giving you a sneak peek). We’ve also included some behind-the-scenes information about how and why we write what we write–the characters, inspirations, plotting and other choices we make. I hope you enjoy it!
Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts and questions. Here is my Next Big Thing!
1: What is the working title of your book?
The series I’m working on right now is Starwalker. It’s currently a web serial, but this year I’m aiming to release it in ebook form. I’m still working out the names of the books, but I’m pretty sure the first one will be Star Made. On the web serial site, the first book is called Identity.
2: Where did the idea come from for the book?
While I was writing The Apocalypse Blog, I got to thinking about what I could do next with a blogfic. I had done the ‘voice from the end of the world’, and I wanted a new challenge. What popped into my head was initially a captain’s log, harking back to Star Trek: The Next Generation, which I watched a lot as a teenager. That led me to ship’s logs, and the way they used to be (and still are, in many cases) kept for nautical ships. Smoosh the two together with a bit of a twist on top, and you get Starwalker: the ship’s log as told by the ship.
3. What genre does your book come under?
Science fiction. I’ve heard it referred to as space opera, but it’s also heavily dosed with adventure and mystery. Maybe even a trace of romance in the later books. But it’s definitely science fiction. The main character is a starship, after all.
4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I very rarely peg my character so solidly. I prefer to let the readers draw their own images. The closest I’ve got with this is when I was having the graphics done of the ship’s avatar, and I described Danika/Starry as being based on Alecia Moore/Pink.
5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A ship’s log, as told by the ship.
6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?
I’m currently planning on self-publishing Starwalker as ebooks. I may shop it around to publishers or agents at some point, but for now, I’m focussing on finishing up the first main story arc (which ends with Book 3), and pulling it together as ebooks.
7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Well, it’s an ongoing serial, and I’m averaging about a book a year. So it took me about a year to write the first book, and it’s looking like it will take me three and a half years to finish up the first trilogy. It has been a long and fun journey!
8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The closest that I can think of would be Anne McCaffery’s brain-ship series, for the ship side of things. Similarly, the Andromeda TV show is one of the inspirations, though I sought to do something different to both of those stories. It’s not as heavy as Peter Hamilton’s work; it’s closer to Asimov’s, though with more of a focus on people rather than technology.
If you like character-centric stories, this one is for you; you don’t need to read science fiction or space-based stories to enjoy it. I’ve had many readers tell me this explicitly!
9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?
It’s hard to point to a specific inspiration. Question 2 lays out where the idea originally came from, and the stories mentioned in Question 8 are some of the inspirations for the characters and situations. I like gnarly moral situations and gritty settings, like Farscape. I wanted to explore the melding of human and machine, both in mind and body, and that led to elements like the ship’s personality and some of her crew (like Rosie, who is mildly obsessed with augmenting her strength, and the pirate Lieutenant, who was less willing about his prosthetics and cybernetics).
There’s also a world around these characters that I wanted to explore for a while, based on the rise of corporate power. It’s not there to make any kind of statement; it is a situation that I find interesting to put people into and see what happens. I’m as interested in the implications of societal forces as I am in technological ones. Personal freedom, morality, and ownership are other elements and themes that interest me, as well. Together, these mix up to make the world the Starwalker flies through. Already, I have a lot more stories in mind to tell, more facets to uncover. But this is my first foray and, I hope, a good start.
10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
The Starwalker Saga is an adventure that starts on the decks of a single ship and ends up spanning a galactic network of colonies and deciding the fates of the stars themselves.
There are space pirates, battles, and chases through asteroid belts. There are love stories and broken hearts. There are robots on board the ship who are wilful, part of her subconscious, and occasionally hilarious. There’s loss and hard-won success.
You don’t need to know science to read the story. On the other hand, I’ve had scientists tell me that they weren’t thrown out of the story by the science that’s in there. It’s a story about people in an extraordinary situation, which I hope everyone can enjoy.
There also might be plushies one day, because everyone wants to hug a starship. Read the story and you’ll see what I mean!
Who’s next on the NEXT BIG THING BLOG HOP?
So glad you asked! Below you will find authors who will be joining me by blog, next Wednesday. Do be sure to bookmark and add them to your calendars for updates on works in progress and new releases! Happy writing and reading!
- Khaalidah Mohammed-Ali’s blog: Khaalidah
- Matthew Williams’s blog: Stories by Williams
- Raymond Gates’s blog: Dreaming
- Daniel Ferguson’s blog: The Dark Word
Khaalidah says:
Thank you for including me in this blog hop. I am so honored! You are the kind of writer I look up to. Thank you for the inspiration!!!
March 29th, 2013 at 11:46 am
Mel says:
You’re welcome, Khaalidah! 🙂 Thank you for being awesome.
March 30th, 2013 at 3:53 pm