For today’s offering of Sunday Box Talk, I offer you the Next Big Thing, an event where participating authors share their insights on their current in-progress novel. My agent provocatrix is Meg Allison, fellow author at Beyond the Veil and “wife, mom, and published romance writer” (love her tag line, don’t you?).

I know talking about my favorite subject, my writing, isn’t exactly about the boxes of life, but here’s how I’m thinking of it: my life centers around my writing and my family or home. I think ruminating on that for a while is a useful exercise when we’re thinking about our boxes and why they’re there.

So, without further ado, here are my Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing. Stay tuned at the bottom for links to some other participants in this event.

TNBT: What is your working title of your book?

Noony:  Our next book is called BOUND BY FIRE.

TNBT:  Where did the idea come from for the book?

Noony:  I was at my coauthor Rachel’s house and we were talking late one night. She has a print over her desk of a dragon at the portcullis of a castle and he is talking to a castle denizen. Of course, the assumption is the dragon’s there to eat the occupants, but I got to thinking, what if the dragon were an ally?

TNBT:  What genre does your book fall under?

Noony:  Fantasy M/M romance.

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

Noony:  We actually selected models to play the two main characters, and use a lovely site called Beautiful. It’s a labor of love by two men in Europe and is one of the most professional sites on the internet for erotic male photography. If you haven’t checked it out, take a visit (not work safe and make sure you’re over 18).

TNBT:  What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Noony:  Gosh. Good question! I always find these exercises tough. We struggle over the blurb for the books we write and I hope, someday, they’ll get easier. Let’s see what I can come up with for now:

Will Vanya, apprentice to an unscrupulous sorcerer, be able to free himself from a powerful binding with an elemental or will he become bait for a dragon?

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

Noony:  Neither. We are targeting a specific house for this one, but we do not use an agency right now.

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

Noony:  Not very long; the first draft only took a month or two. The challenging part has been the ending and bridges in the middle. I’m finding the endings are the most challenging part of any project.

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

Noony:  Some of the elements of the MYTH ADVENTURES series by Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye influenced us, as well as the early Harlequin white-covers where the romance is between two people brought together by arrangement.

TNBT:  Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Noony:  My inspiration comes from many different places, especially my coauthor Rachel Wilder and the crew of Writer Zen Garden. I love you guys.

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

Noony:  There are snakes, and bears, and sorcerers, and dragons. What more could you want? Oh, yes. The smut. Lots of lovely smex.

Be sure to check out some of the other participants in the Next Big Thing:

Kimberley Troutte’s Blog

Selena Robins Musings