Laura E. James

Friend and fellow writer, Wendy Loveday kindly tagged me for The Next Big Thing. Well, with all the chocolate I have consumed this week, I’m not surprised. But enough. Let’s get down to business. I have ten questions to answer about my work in progress and once I’ve done that, I’ll choose five other writers and ask them to tell us about their work, for posting next Wednesday.

I think it’s a lovely way to get to know one another.

Q: What is the working title of your next book?

I am currently working on my second manuscript and it is called ‘Follow Me’.

Q: From where did the idea come?

I was thinking about my new found fondness for Twitter and how wonderful it was to communicate with my favourite authors and the idea grew from there. What will it take to entice a person to follow back? What measures can be taken to ensure the other person isn’t a fruitloop? How could this fit into a romance without it appearing sinister? This was the starting point, but the story has evolved since the original idea.

Q: Under which genre does your book fall?

A contemporary romance/family relationship story. I didn’t know I wrote these until I started the second one, but I do like to have a family in there.

Q: Which actors would you choose to play the part of your characters for a movie?

My male protagonist is an action hero, slim and dark. I’m a big Johnny Depp fan and my character, Chris, is in his late thirties. Mmm. Johnny Depp. He’d play the tortured soul so well. Victoria, the female protagonist is a little younger, with unruly copper curls. Could I get away with Sandra Bullock? I realise she’s in her late forties, but hey, it’s make believe and she looks great.

Q: What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

If I write a one line synopsis, it will give the story away, but here’s a little something… The real world is a daunting place, but having pulled the plug on technology, does Victoria Noble have the power to reconnect her emotions, or will she freeze and crash?

Q: Will you self-publish or be represented by an agent?

My next job on my ‘To Do’ list is to start submitting to agents.

Q: How long did it take you to write the first draft?

I completed 60,000 words from January to March of this year, stopped for a few months and am now back on it. As a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme, I was able to submit my partial for critiquing, which has presented me with some excellent challenges and wonderful advice.

My first full manuscript, ‘Truth Or Dare?’, on which I cut my teeth, took three years from start to final draft. I say final draft – I’m still tweaking as I learn more about the craft of writing.

Q: With which books within your genre would your story compare?

This is a tricky question to answer. I would love my stories to be compared to Jodi Picoult’s, as I like to examine gritty issues. I loved Me Before You, Jojo Moyes and the way she tackled the question of euthanasia. Joanne Harris is another to whom I aspire. There are many great writers for whom I have immense respect and with every book I read, from a wide selection of genres, I learn something new. 

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

Twitter and the wonderful Carole Matthews, who I think I have finally convinced I am not a mad stalker.

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

It’s a modern tale for today’s woman, with business intrigue, a troublesome four year old, and the beautiful Dorset coastline for its setting.

The writers I am tagging are:

Vanessa Savage

Celia J Anderson

Nikki Goodman

Anita Chapman

Susan Bergen

As Wendy said, I do hope you’ll join me in this. It’s been great fun.

Thank you for tagging me, Wendy.

Take care all.

Laura x