The Next Big Thing

 

 

 

 

 

Last week, I had the good fortune of being tagged in The Next Big Thing, which is an ongoing chain dedicated to highlighting the work of authors from all walks of life.

I would like to thank Sarah Perry for doing so, and you can see her response to the ten-question quiz here. Sarah’s début novel After Me Comes the Flood has been signed up by Serpent’s Tail, and she will be Writer-in-Residence at Gladstone Library in January 2013

Sarah Perry, author of Confusion

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not the only writer tagged by the Good Doctor Perry (Ph.D. – she won’t cure your rickets); here are the other luminaries (please check out their links):

 

Lindsay Catt

Writer of children’s fiction, her début piece Quest is an homage to the classic quest narratives of the past two hundred years. Quest earned Lindsay a Ph.D. from Royal Holloway in 2011.

 

 

 

 

Sarai Walker

Sarai’s first novel Dietland was initially inspired by Fight Club, and tackles misogynistic representations of women in popular media (and plenty more…)

 

 

 

 

Carol McGrath

Carol recently signed a deal with Accent Press, and works in the genre of historical fiction.

 

 

 

 

Theresa Lee

Theresa has written numerous books in the field of YA fantasy, a short example of which you can find here.

 

 

 

 

And then there’s me…

1. What is the working title of your next book?

DemiGod. I’m pretty sure you can say that this IS the title of the book, as it is a perfect summation of themes, character, and plot.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

Before I began writing my début novel This Is It in 2007, I envisaged a trio of loosely related novels which tackled the position of heroism, power, and hypermasculinity in post 9/11 Western culture. Given the decade-long zeitgeist motif of superheroes (which was, at that point, at its peak), I chose to work in that field. It fascinated me, the challenges of interpreting a highly visual genre (comic books) into novel form.

This Is It tackles hypermasculinity, vigilantism, heroism, and much more; DemiGod tackles power, patriarchy, hyperreality, and much more. The third – provisionally titled The Twelfth Son, will feature a female protagonist and will examine discrimination and inequality within the power equation. All three books are related in theme and genre, but do not follow on chronologically.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

This question is problematic for DemiGod, because it isn’t so much of a comic book trope as the other two. As it deals with theories of Lacan & Baudrillard, I think it would be safe to categorize DemiGod “literary fiction”.

4. What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Hmm. The main character, Demichelis Demichelis, is VERY malleable – even in appearance. Trust me to write a novel where even the physical features of the protagonist frequently change! It would have to be an actor who could get to grips with the conflicts central to Demi.

The Fassbender

At the moment, though he is perhaps a little too mature, I would choose Michael Fassbender for the lead role.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis for your book?

Man leading unfulfilled life has car crash, experiences dramatic shifts in reality, becomes an Ubermensch through manipulating reality, and battles to impose his own will upon the very fabric of Everything.

6. Is your book represented by an agency?

I’m about 40,000 words in. I’ll wait until I’m past 60k before seeking representation.

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

I’ve been doing this one in dribs and drabs. I started writing around 18 months ago, but what with completing the Ph.D. and starting my new job, writing has been intermittent. You can probably condense the effort of those 40,000 words into a dozen separate sessions over that year-and-a-half time frame. DemiGod has been a different beast in this respect; with This Is It, because of the fragmented yet precise time structure of the plot, planning was important. On DemiGod, I’ve been more free-form, and that allows you to write 5,000 words or more in one sitting.

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

I don’t think I could within the genre; comic book fiction is very straight-laced, traditional, and all-in-all not very challenging. I would compare it (but not say that it passes muster with) to:

White Noise by Don DeLillo

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick (short story)

I am sure there are more. In terms of father genre, I wouldn’t compare it to the complete works of Watchmen (Moore/Gibbons), but Doctor Manhattan’s character arc shares similarities.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The explosion of hero-inspired content – across all mediums – led me to re-examine my own affinity with the genre. Where did it come from? Why was it so attractive? This brought out of me an inevitable conclusion: these myths were blankets – not of truth, but from the truth.

I set out with these three novels to explore what is so rarely challenged in comic book form – what would the nature of these tales be in a quasi-realistic setting? Could the hero stop himself from gaining revenge? What happens when the “good” guys don’t possess an abundance of moral fortitude? It seemed to me that the novel form was perfect for exploring the psychological minutiae within this hero impulse.

10. What else about this book might pique a reader’s interest?

Whereas This Is It employs the structure of a whodunnit (echoes of Rorschach from Watchmen in this dynamic), DemiGod uses a distinctive first person perspective, which allowed me to really work on hooks. It is a mystery as much as anything, as Demi fluctuates between normal guy to god, yet the questions (about Everything…literally) pile up quicker than he can gather answers.

Anyone who enjoys having no idea what to expect from the next chapter would love DemiGod.