The Next Best Thing
So have you heard about the Next Big Thing? It's a blog game similar to an interview, with a bunch of questions, where you publish the answers on your blog then tag (if you want to) 5 more people. I decided I was in because it’s meant to raise the profile of your work (always a good thing especially with all the noise and other distractions out there) and it sounded kind of fun (and apparently I have an aversion to saying No). Enjoy!
The person who tagged me is a friend and author with an upcoming book to be released in April. Here is his post. And my answers are below.
http://www.erbrown.com/category/posts-about-writing-and-writers/
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is the working title of your book?
Nicolai’s Daughters
Where did the idea come from for the book?
If you’ve read my blog before, you know that sometimes characters come to me fully formed and insisting their stories be told. I basically write down what they tell me. I like it when this happens, but it doesn’t happen often.
In the case of Nicolai’s Daughters, I had to go searching for my characters, their stories, and their desires. It was hard work and took so much effort on my part before the characters finally opened up and talked to me.
I guess the idea first came to me on a trip to Greece in 2006. I’ve always loved my cultural roots and felt like I’ve missed them my whole life. So I wondered how different my life would have been if I had been born and raised in Greece. That was the first question. To test the theory of having a different life, I had to have at least two characters that somehow knew each other. Another question was raised: how would they meet, why would one have been raised in Greece, and the other raised in Canada. The idea of a secret half sister came to me, and in order to have this happen, there had to be a father with his own history. Now I had three main characters and was still trying to figure out what their story was.
I started Nicolai’s Daughters with a few images, some of these questions, thoughts really, mostly about loss and longing. It tends to be a theme of mine as a writer. I have some ideas about why that is, but I'll save that for a psychoanalyst's couch.
I had visited Greece on many occasions since I was a child. I love the hospitality, the openness, and the generosity of Greeks and at the same time I also felt that there was some fear of happiness, something inherently sad and complacent, something at the root of all the superstitions I grew up with. I wanted to explore this contradiction. Okay, so now I had another element of the story, but still the whole project seemed pretty foggy, certainly nothing I could touch or hold on to. Every time I reached for it, the story vanished or gave me more questions to answer.
Greece has been a nation that has been conquered many times in its history, has fought many battles and yet somehow Greeks have maintained their culture. More thoughts. I didn't know how any of this fit in or even what I wanted to write exactly, until I visited Kalavryta. The novel found its soul in that tiny mountain village. I listened to the testimonials of the victims recorded in the Kalavryta museum and climbed Kappi Hill myself where the massacre (considered the worse atrocity perpetrated by the Nazis in Greece during WWII), happened and realized I wanted to tell the Kalavryta story through my characters, and at the same time explore all my other questions: the differences between siblings raised in Canada vs. Greece, the compromises made and secrets kept in order to survive war and what all this does to a nation, and a family, not only at the time of the tragedy, but also its impact on the family's subsequent generations.
I apologize for the long explanation, but it’s nice to get it all down because sometimes when asked, I’m not exactly sure I can put into words how ideas come and find their way to the page. It just does and I’m grateful for it.
What genre does your book fall under?
Literary Fiction
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition of your novel?
This is a tough one. I love Jennifer Lawrence and think she’d make a wonderful Alexia, as would Drew Barrymore. I’d like to also support Greek actresses, but don’t know their work personally. A young Greek actress would play Theodora’s character. For Nicolai, perhaps the Greek actor, Elias Koteas. He was born in Canada, which is a bonus. He’s a bit young to be the older Nicolai, but with makeup, anything is possible. Richard Gere is also a good alternative or perhaps a British actor. I think Lainie Kazan would make a wonderful aunt Christina and perhaps Nia Vardalos could be the lovely, and independent aunt Maria.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
The Sarinopoulos family has long been marked by tragedy, war, and a shame fanned by idle village gossip. Looming over Alexia’s visit and the one trip back to Greece her father had taken twenty-five years earlier is the tragedy of Kalavryta, a Second World War massacre that changed the family forever.
I guess that’s two sentences. UGH! Gift of the gab being my strength and as a consequence, brevity being, well you know, my weakness.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Signature Editions, one of Canada’s premier independent publishers (based in Winnipeg) published Nicolai’s Daughters. The novel was released on October 1, 2012.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Forever! The first time I wrote a line towards the novel was in August 2006. I completed the first draft in late 2008. And then began the rewriting process which took me to the end of 2010. I began shopping the manuscript around in mid 2011.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is one example although Nicolai’s Daughters is mostly set in the present time and is more a multi-generational family saga, with the Kalavryta tragedy at its heart, than a story based on the tragedy.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I think I went on at great length above (maybe too much) as to the genesis of the novel. So I think I’ll use this space to just talk about the books and authors I love.
I love books that make a bigger statement, say something about our world that we need to pay attention to, whether it is how we treat each other, or how we treat the environment. I love books that make me feel and empathize and understand situations, people, and places outside my comfort zone. This insight usually helps me see myself more clearly too. So I want to write stories that do all this. I have tried with Nicolai's Daughters. You can let me know if I’ve succeeded. I love feedback. Good or bad. Really!
I love everything written by Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba the Greek, The Last Temptation of Christ), just about anything written by Cormac McCarthy (The Road, No Country for Old Men), Margaret Atwood (The Year of the Flood), and Barbara Kingsolver (The Lacuna). I hold the best up as my light and if nothing else, aspire to do my best.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Nicolai’s Daughters has enjoyed wonderful reviews. More importantly, readers have been touched by the characters and loved the story. Strangers as well as several friends have told me that they didn’t want the book to end because they knew they would miss the characters. This is what I’ve strived for as a writer, that feeling, that closeness that the reader has to the people in the book and their lives. Again, I’m very grateful.
That’s it for me and I pass the baton to:
Veronique Darwin – is a writing buddy of mine who lives in Vancouver and is writing a novel and using her blog to tell the story. You can check out her work at:
http://anoveljournal.wordpress.com/
Markella Mildenberger – is organizer extraordinaire for the Vernon Writers Festival April 11th to 14th, and has a novel in progress.
www.markellawonders.wordpress.com
Graham Fuller – former CIA operative and author of many books of non fiction. His latest book is an incredibly touching and brutally honest memoir about his adopted son’s death following an overdose. Three Truths and a Lie is a must read.
Samantha Beiko – a writer’s dream publicist and a marketing guru (I know because she has helped me immensely with the promotion of Nicolai’s Daughters). Sam is also a writer who has a new YA book out on May 1, 2013: The Lake and the Library.
Sue Oakey is in my Whistler Writers critique group, and is a passionate outdoors woman, I'm in awe of. Her memoir is inspiring and shows us how to go on after enduring tragedy.
Now finally here are the rules if you want to participate and spread the word about the Next Big Thing:
Rules of the Next Big Thing
***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is the working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Include the link to who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.
Be sure to line up five people in advance.
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Have fun!
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