Inspired?

The magnificent Lisa Shambrook (@LastKrystalos) tagged me in this wonderful blog hop, which allows the blogging community to glimpse what our writer neighbors are working on!

I am the Johnny-Come-Lately to this little meme, so I apologize for showing up late to the soiree. But I had absolute fun putting this together, and I hope you enjoy it too.

First, the rules:

1. Answer the ten questions

2. Tag five other writers, link to them in your post so we can hop over and see their answers too.

The Questions:

1. What is the name of your book:

Castle 8

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?

I was literally ambushed by the four main characters – a set of brothers, as I was driving home from an after-Christmas dinner with friends on December 26, 2010. They were so real to me in that moment that I actually turned a couple times to double check the seats. I was sure someone was in the car with me.

3. In what genre would you classify your book?

Speculative Fiction

4. If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose?  

Honestly, this will probably mark me as a weirdo, but I hope they cast all anonymous faces (If it ever does make it to the silver screen). If you follow my boards on Pinterest and look at the C8: Chars pinboard, then you know I cull from anonymous people for my characters.

That being said, I wouldn’t be opposed to Andy Serkis in the role of Captain Sikes. He is such an excellent actor and has always managed such wonderful villainous roles.

5. Give us a one sentence synopsis of your book:

Following the second end of the world, four brothers fight for a way out of the crumbling subterranean network in which they find themselves entombed.

6. Is your book already published/represented?

Not yet. If I can keep my nose to the grindstone with edits (I am VERY pleased with how things are moving at present), then I hope to begin querying for my first round of rejections in August. J

7. How long did it take to write your book?

Almost precisely a year. It was on hiatus from February till May of this year, and I am currently in the trenches of rewrites and edits.

8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or, readers of which books would enjoy yours? 

This may sound like the biggest cop-out, but I really don’t know. HOWEVER I've had several beta-readers comment that those who like dystopian fiction, but would rather hear more about what comes AFTER the collapse of the tyrannical society would really embrace this one.

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?

My first literary love is C S Lewis, hands down. I adore his clean prose that packs so much into such deceptively simple-looking sentences. I am consciously attempting to emulate that skill in my current rewrites.

10. Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book.

Here is my working book jacket “blurb” that I plan to include in upcoming queries:

Six years after the second end of the world, cannibals dominate the Underground. The makeshift government that set this subterranean society in motion has gone quiet. Big Brother, it seems, is dead. The Underground has been left to self-destruct.

            Then rumors circulate of a nameless visitor, arrived from a bunker supposedly dead. Of an engineer, brutally murdered; and an abandoned warehouse with secrets of its own. As tensions mount and supplies run out, four brothers emerge from the chaos to find they stand on the crux of a fragile hope – not only for themselves, but all who wish to survive.

And now – to tag five other bloggers (apologies if you've already been tagged):

A Mirror Dim / @BettisiTheThird

A Spark of Hope / @JustPlainMary_

Scribbling Sharon / @sharonscribbles
Re-Raveling / @reraveler
Raven in the Writing Desk / @falcon_feathers