Hi, everybody! Well, I've been tagged more than once to do this Next Big Thing Blog Hop, but for one reason or another, I couldn't do it--until now. I finally was able to say yes to Sarah Penner, so go check out Sarah's "Next Big Thing" blog post!
So, The Next Big Thing is supposed to be about what book I have coming up next. Well, my next book is actually a bit of a sequel to the one that just came out this month, The Fairest Beauty.
If you have read The Fairest Beauty, which you can purchase now wherever books are sold,
you may be wondering about Valten, Gabe's brother. The story didn't end well for him, but his story isn't over. He gets his own heroic tale told in my next book The Captive Maiden, which is a Cinderella story in which he finds his own fairest beauty. ;-) So now I'm going to tell you a bit about that book, which is set to release in October.
1: What is the working title of your book?
The Captive Maiden
2: Where did the idea come from for the book?
The idea came from the Cinderella story, from Valten, who is a character in The Fairest Beauty and gets to be the hero in The Captive Maiden, and I threw in some stuff inspired by the great novel, Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.
3: What genre does your book come under?
It is a Young Adult, Inspirational, Medieval, fairy tale retelling romance. Is that enough genres?
4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
If I had to choose actors who would play Valten and Gisela in a movie rendition, a good actor to play Valten might be Jensen Ackles, who has the perfect look but ought to be a little brawnier, as Valten is quite muscular, being a trained knight.
And here's another picture of the "Supernatural" star.
Put him in Medieval clothes and a sword in his hand and you have Valten, the hero of my next book.
As for Gisela, the heroine, the perfect actress to play her would have to be blond and beautiful, but also tough and feisty. Maybe Emelie de Ravin with blond hair:
5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
The Captive Maiden is a fairy tale retelling of Cinderella, set in the Medieval town of Hagenheim and continues the story of Rose and Wilhelm's son, Valten, and a beautiful named Gisela, who gets kidnapped by Valten's rival.
6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?
The Captive Maiden is being published by Zondervan in October, 2013
7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The rough draft took me about four months to write.
8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I would compare this book to my other fairy tale retellings, and also to other Inspirational historical romance stories with lots of action and romance.
9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Valten's character inspired me to write this story. I'd been wanting to write a Cinderella story, but I wasn't sure how to do it in an original way, and then Valten turned out to be the perfect hero for a Cinderella story. He was my inspiration!
10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
One of my inspirations for this book, besides Valten's character and the story of Cinderella, was the book, Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott. I love that story, and since my hero is a knight who likes to fight in tournaments, I was inspired by the tournaments that Ivanhoe engages in, as well as the tradition of knights wearing the scarf of the lady he loves into battle. Such a fun, romantic concept! And I think Valten makes good use of it in my story. :-)
So, if you have read The Fairest Beauty and wondered, "What about Valten?" I hope this answers that, at least until October when you can read the entire story!
And now I want to encourage you to go to my friends' blogs, who have also agreed to participate in this blog hop!
1. Kathleen Maher www.kathleenlmaher.blogspot.com
2. Debra Collins http://www.debracollins.blogspot.com/
3. Bridgett Henson http://www.bridgetthenson.com/
4. Sarah Holman http://destinyofone.blogspot.com/
