THE NEXT BIG THING

So, I got tagged by my man Frank Wheeler Jr., author of the excellent novel "The Wowzer", in this psuedo-chain-letter thing called "The Next Big Thing", in which authors (purportedly) answer questions about whatever it is that they are working on.

Despite my reservations about including references to unpublished (hell, unfinished, unreviewed, unedited, etc.) work as "the next big thing" (let alone "a" next big thing, or hell, even "next" or "big"), out of respect for Mr. Wheeler and his inspirational story of stalwartly moving forward, word for word, sentence after sentence, toward an eventual completed manuscript (which, it shall be noted, became the excellent novel "The Wowzer" - seriously, go buy it now), I shall comply with my duty as Tag-ee and disclose the following in accordance with said duty:

1. What is the working title of you current/next project? I love my title so much I have never revealed it to anyone other than my wife, and one of my good friends, both of whom I trust to not steal it.  Seriously, I google the title from time to time to make sure no one else has discovered it.  It's probably the only thing about the project that I absolutely love and would refuse to trash upon the promise of eventual publication.  "Main characters? Trash 'em! Plot? Changed! How about a different title? Screw off - I don't need your awesome publishing contract anyway."

2. Where did the idea come from? The main arc of the overall story was revealed to me upon the discovery - in a German cafe - of a postcard depicting an event in 1950s-era America.  In fact, the title comes from the postcard, which has since been misplaced as a bookmark in one of the thousand or so books I own.

3. What genre does your book fall under? Does unfinished count? If allowed an ultimate conceit - I'd say "literary mystery" (and yes, I already know how douchey that appears).  OK - the non-douchey answer - crime fiction, most likely.

4. Which actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Oh man, this is like asking a tone-deaf 9-year-old learning to play the recorder if he'd like to play guitar for Motley Crue on the Girls Girls Girls tour of 1988.  At this point, probably just actors whose work I admire and presumably would be allowed on set for a day to annoy the shit out of - Viggo Mortenson, Ben Foster, Vincent Cassel, and Richard Jenkins.  For the main character - who is a redhead - I don't think I'll settle for anyone less talented or gorgeous than Kate Mara or Jessica Chastain.  

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A novel partially about a woman summoned to a mysterious office to accompany a rather charming yet unsavory character around America as they tour prisons for purchase as investments for what appears to be a very powerful mafia-like organization headed (apparently) by a successful Furrier in City-City, USA, a generic municipality located in the hot and humid southeastern United States, and the erstwhile turf of Shark Hands Teddy, a man tortured by his criminal past and hell bent on redemption at any cost.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Self publishing seems to me to be the one of the few things folks will do that doesn't seem like a horrible idea at all yet is likely just that and obviously so.  Folks who aren't doctors don't self-operate, and it's a really bad idea for non-attorneys to represent themselves in a criminal trial.  I don't see why publishing a novel should be any different.  That's not to say I haven't read a few books recently that were self-published (I think) that were very, very good.  

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft? The first draft has taken over 7 years to complete.  It's still not done.  Mostly because it's easier to continue to work on something than just finish the fucking thing and put it out into the world, warts and all.  I don't think I've ever typed the words "The End" on any version of it.

8. Which other books would you compare this story to within your genre? I wouldn't dare compare my work-in-progress to something someone has already put out, mostly because I'm superstitious about eventual publication and this seems the best way to jinx myself.  Instead, I'll proffer that I greatly admire the following authors - Don Delillo, Willa Cather, George V. Higgins, Dennis Lehane, Paul Auster, Tana French, Frederic Nietzsche, John Williams (author of Augustus and Butcher's Crossing), Stephen Wright (Going Native, Meditations in Green, The Amalgamation Polka), Cormac McCarthy, Clarice Lispector, George Pelecanos, and my latest discovery/obsession - Jim Nisbet.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? I have a lot to say about a great many things.  Some of it is dumb.  Some of it isn't.  Some of it is ponderous, skanky, irreverent, philosophical, categorical, and probably likely very, very lame.  Putting those thoughts into the mouths of characters and narrators, and examining situations in which those thoughts would manifest themselves in interesting ways seems to me to be best way of examining them from different perspectives in printed material without the author being committed to an institution if found anywhere else other than a bookstore under the category "Fiction".

10. What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?  The mafia, a Furrier in a hot and humid city, a tough, gorgeous redheaded heroine, prisons, and a character who got his nickname because he may or may not have beat a shark to death on the beach after being bitten by said shark while lounging in the water with purple floaties keeping him abrest of the waves?  Seriously - you aren't interested?


Since I don't really know a lot of folks to tag, I'll instead plug the work of my fellow tag-ees, Chris Holm and Brian Quertermous  as well my tagger - Frank Wheeler Jr.