Musings
THE NEXT BIG THING or What I'm Working On Next!
Where did the idea come from for the book?
About a year ago, I fell very clumsily, (and on only one step!) and broke my foot. After surgery, I did time with a wheelchair and crutches and discovered first hand the limitations created when you're handicapped in a world that can be user unfriendly for the disabled. Thus an idea grew. What if my protagonist similarly broke her foot. She has the inconvenience of trying to deal with her law practice (she's an attorney) and a sadly lacking love life. But what if she also had to contend with a serial killer and how close that killer was coming to her world. Emma is a thirty something attractive gal who discovers how condensed and dangerous her world has become as she hobbles slowly into the face of a killer.
What genre does your book fall under?
Mystery. I've Got a Secret also combines humor and what I label ironic wisdom about life's challenges and the misadventures that arise when trying to find solid ground in a world that often feels like it's sand passing through your fingers.
Which actors would you choose to play in a movie rendition?
Casting my book would be easy, that is until you start casting! Let's see:
- Emma, tough, smart, successful vulnerable, confused: I could see Amy Adams or Anne Hathaway—both know how to look smart, interesting attractive, vulnerable and confused.
- Ally, the psychiatrist and best friend who also has judgment issues: Katherine Heigl
- Jake, the enigma and Marlboro man: take your pick, Jake Glyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke
- Max: the cynic, non realist, angry talented writer turned cab driver: Robert Pattison because it's the anti vampire; it's the non blood sucker with an edge.
- Steve, the successful, perfect doctor: Paul Walker, first choice; Ryan Gosling would work.
- Bernie the attorney who may not have biggest but surely has the most fun part: I saw Dennis Farina the whole time I wrote him. M. Emmett Walsh could do it and give it an interesting slant.
What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
While being confined to a wheelchair due to a broken foot that resulted from a gun being fired at her, Emma Sloane comes to realize that one of her dear friends is likely a serial killer.
Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?
I have an agent. My prior mystery, Hollywood Forever, was published by Five Star. Most likely this book will also be published by a publishing house, not self published and done through my agent.
How long did it take you to write a first draft of your manuscript?
I'm still working "the day job" so that has impacted the time I was able to give this book. It took one year to do the first draft.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
One editor at a major publishing house called me the Susan Isaacs in Hollywood. I thought that comparison was flattering and it pleased me greatly.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
One day when I was in my wheelchair with my casted broken foot, I tried to gain access at the handicap entrance to a building. Someone had placed in front of the entry door a heavy cement ashtray. One of those outdoor ashtrays about three feet high and weighing a lot to move even if I wasn't in a wheelchair. I was outraged that someone had virtually made the handicap entrance inaccessible and my first thought was: this is only temporary for me, what is it like if you live this way permanently. This led to some other research (which I will not give away as it plays a surprise role in the book) and I started thinking how I could write a book with a protagonist in a wheelchair who becomes the "hero" of the piece. An homage to brains over action. Not unlike Sherlock Holmes refusing to leave his quarters or Jimmy Stewart sitting is his "Rear Window".
Emma does move around but having her do so with limitations (particularly in a city like Los Angeles that is so centered around cars) and her need to use her head rather than her legs, was my challenge and inspiration.
What else about your book might pique your readers interest?
I've Got a Secret is filled with wonderful references and quotes from old movies. If you like the old Hollywood/studio films, the book is a roadmap to what you need to rent from net flicks. Also, there is something about being in your thirties and not yet settled down and in love. In the middle of the rather grim murders that are going on, every character has his/her moment of coming to terms with that forever question of what do I want to do for the rest of my life and with whom. This is a whodunnit about a hard, cold killer set against the backdrop of the angst of people in their thirties.
Hope you enjoyed reading a little about my current project. Read more about me and my last book Hollywood Forever. Be sure to check out the Next Big Things by Craig Faustus Buck and Matt Coyle.
