The Next Big Thing: STRAY

I blame my talented beta-buddy, the crazy (in a good way) sci-fi writer Leah for this meme! She asked so nicely, I couldn't resist. Even though her book is le-far-cooler (SPACE MURDERS you guys. srsly).

So here goes! The dealio on my current WIP:

What is your working title of your book?

Stray

Where did the idea come from for the book?

A few places, actually. The setting came about from a visit to the MoMA. I was chilling around, not at all waiting for the Tim Burton exhibit to open (cough), when I spotted an exhibit on the third floor about the rising tide in New York City. Externally, it was not to exciting (apologies to all you budding architects out there, but building models NORMALLY aren't my thing).

Anyway, I was chilling out, reading some apocalyptic signage (keep in mind this was 2 years ago, long before Sandy or even Irene troubled our shores), and eying the models for how NYC might hypothetically combat the sea-level rise predicted over the next 100 years, and I started to think about how the city would function if it sank as far as Venice once did. If we had canals on our streets, would the subways still be waterproofed? What would the main mode of transportation be? How would New Yorkers adapt to that? Would it affect the mad-dash pace-of-life we currently have in the Big Apple?

A few days later, I was sitting in a cafe ranting discussing some YA books I'd read lately, most of which featured white privledged suburban kids suddenly thrown into some dystopic situations with a few hot boys to contend with (naturally). I found myself wondering why there weren't more books about kids who started out poor. Or kids who weren't white. Or kids who weren't straight/heteronormative. Maybe even kids who don't identify as one specific gender or another.

Darryl was born, and I had found a main character for my Venetian-New-York story. The rest of the plot fell into place as I wrote.

What genre does your book fall under?

That's a tough one. I'm gonna have to go with YA sci-fi noir. Sci-fi, because although there are a few dystopic elements, this is really not a story about controlling governments and disenfranchised people rising up to retake power. It's a story about a possible future I envision, both good and bad, and what happens within that future. And the noir comes from the murder-mystery aspects of the plot. And because I love Blade Runner.

Legit reasoning. Totes.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

This is super difficult for me to answer. So far, visually, the people I've found most similar to my lead character are models I've found on Pinterest:

Whereas the main love interest, I think best fits Deepika Padukone, a Bollywood actress:

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Homeless teen Darryl dives into the underbelly of flooded, Venetian New York City to find the real killer when someone dumps the mayor's dead body in his gondola.

... Yeah, it needs some tweaks, I'll admit.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I feel like this is a trick question... Those two aren't mutually exclusive!

For the time being, I am searching for an agent. But even if I find one, that's no guarantee my book will sell to a publishing house. If it doesn't sell, I will definitely consider self-publication as an alternative, because I do believe in this story. Whether now is the right time in the right market for it, well... that remains to be seen.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

40 days and 40 nights. Literally. But don't kill me yet. I then spent a year revising, took a year off to write other projects, and eventually returned to spend another 2 months on it before I reached my current draft...

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

David Levithan's work when it comes to gender-bending and identity issues like that (helloooo Every Day), but I'd say overall it most resembles the Uglies series in that it's set in the future, yet not a strictly dystopian novel.*

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Justine Larbalestier, in her blog posts where she talks about why she doesn't write about your typical white suburban girl (aka, because everyone else already does, and Justine's world is more diverse than the world reflected in many books).

Bryn Mawr College in general, and specifically my many friends who wrestled with questions of identity, sexuality and gender throughout their college years. YA novels are all about figuring out who you are and what you want out of life. Gender and sexual identities are issues every teen goes through at one point or another, whether we realize it or not (for most of us, discovering "hey, I am a girl and I like boys" isn't a huge life-changing experience, because it's what's expected of us. But that doesn't mean we don't go through it subconsciously). So it didn't make sense to me why more YA novels didn't touch on that topic, or at least feature protagonists who were wrestling with the question as they dealt with other, bigger issues (like saving the world or whatever, y'know).

Frank Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Connie Willis and Philip K. Dick for secretly making me fall in love with sci-fi while I wasn't looking. All throughout high school and college, I though I wanted to write fantasy. It was only after graduation, when I had a few practice novels on the tables, that I looked at them and thought, hang on a minute... These aren't fantasy at all. Where'd this sci-fi come from?!

Dang space ninjas.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Gender-bending + sexy, slightly insane lurve interest. Also guns, mobsters and futuristic technology-ness. What's not to love?! *biased*

As for tagging people, I'm going to pass, because I feel like most people I know who would do this already have... But if you haven't yet and you feel inspired to post after reading this, link back to your post here and I'll pretend I tagged you to begin with! Woot? :D

* disclaimer: not that I'm saying I'm the next Scott Westerfeld. I freaking wish, but this is beside the point!