The Next Big Thing

by · December 2, 2012

I was invited by John Floyd to participate in The Next Big Thing, and answer ten questions. My answers are below. For my turn, I’m asking these four writers to follow suit:  Colin Conway, Jim Wilsky, Bonnie Paulsen, and Asa Bradley.

Wait a minute, Frank…aren’t you supposed have five writers?

Yep. But I’m not very well liked, and could only bribe four people to be my friend, so I’m playing shorthanded. But really, it works — I’m a hockey player, so I’m used to it.

So without further interrogation from the Next Big Thing Hall Monitor, here are the ten questions:

What is your working title of your book (or story)?  At This Point in My Life.

Where did the idea come from for the book?  I wanted to explore a new character, for one. I also wanted to delve into the idea of what our value as a human being is . What impact do we leave behind? So I came up with a guy who hasn’t accomplished anything above mediocre in his career, who has no family, and when he retires, he is feeling like he has left no mark on the world. Then he finds out he may have a daughter he never knew about…

What genre does your book fall under?   Definitely a mystery/suspense title.

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Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?   Mac would need to be a played by an EveryMan. Maybe Bill Pullman?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?   Retired cop Jack McCrae joins forces with a young woman to find a missing girl who is her sister…and might be the daughter he never knew he had. 

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?   Independently published. Right now, I’ve got a good mixture of small press publications and independently published titles.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?   A long time. This one was unusual in that it had several starts and stops. I wrote a piece of it, then it sat. I dictated a piece of it on a long trip, then it sat. I picked it back up and finished the first draft, then it sat. I revised it, and it sat while readers read it and marked it up with red pen. Then it sat some more before I revised it and sent it to my editor. Right now, I am finishing up the absolute final draft, just tweaking and polishing. Overall, though, from first word typed to being released sometime in December…over three years.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?   Maybe something along the lines of a male version of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?   I’m in the second half of my own career, and the people that have been retiring the last five years or so are people I’ve known for a long time. Talking to some of them, the idea of retirement and the thoughts and struggles that might accompany that piqued my interest. Being a writer, I took it to extremes, of course, but this was the genesis.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?   Most of my novels are either hard boiled or procedural. This one is a lighter shade of both. The mystery is there, the procedural is there, but this isn’t as hard boiled as WAIST DEEP or BLOOD ON BLOOD or SOME DEGREE OF MURDER. As I mentioned before, I would equate it more to something like a Sue Grafton novel. Not even close to cozy, but not full of blood and violence, either. There’s some — it is a mystery, after all, and a Zafiro title — but the book is a slightly different flavor than some of my other mysteries. Long time readers won’t be put off, but if there are readers out there who don’t like rated R mysteries, this one is more PG-13…but barely. 

And just like that, you’ve got the next big thing…thanks to John Floyd for inviting me. Check out Colin Conway, Jim Wilsky, Bonnie Paulsen, and Asa Bradley on 12/9 to see their answers to the same ten questions! And I hope you check out At This Point In My Life when it comes out later this year (January at the latest).

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