Fellow YA author Elsie Chapman (DUALED, out from Random House Children's on 26th Feb 2013) has tagged me to take part in a blog hop this week, The Next Big Thing. It's supposed to be about our works-in-progress, but my WIP is too rough to share at the moment so I'm going to talk about ACID. I hope that isn't cheating!
1) What is the working title of your book?
ACID.
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
The very first spark came from a story a friend and I challenged each other to write when we were 14, about someone being imprisoned in a brutal future world. Many years later, I came back to it, and ACID was born.
3)What genre does your book fall under?
Dystopian YA.
Dystopian YA.
4) Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Hmm… I'm not sure! I actually haven't thought about this… rubbish, aren't I? I guess I see my characters so vividly inside my head, I can't imagine them looking like anyone else.
Hmm… I'm not sure! I actually haven't thought about this… rubbish, aren't I? I guess I see my characters so vividly inside my head, I can't imagine them looking like anyone else.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
ACID, the most brutal police force in the world, locked Jenna Strong up for a terrible crime she struggles to remember, but now she's been broken out by a mysterious rebel group and must use all her strength and skill to stay under ACID's radar.
ACID, the most brutal police force in the world, locked Jenna Strong up for a terrible crime she struggles to remember, but now she's been broken out by a mysterious rebel group and must use all her strength and skill to stay under ACID's radar.
6)Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I'm represented by Carolyn Whitaker at London Independent Books, and ACID will be published by Random House Children's Publishing next year.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
About 6 months.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Hmm… I've seen it compared to The Hunger Games and Matched. I think it will also appeal to fans of Divergent, and Jenna's been compared to Lisbeth Salander!
9) Who or What inspired you to write this book?
Lots of things! That idea from when I was 14 that never quite left me. George Orwell's 1984. Reading an article about how, in 2009, the Shetland Islands supposedly had more CCTV cameras than the San Francisco Police Department, which I found VERY sinister…
10) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
ACID is full of twists and turns which (I hope!) will keep the reader guessing to the end.
Amy McCulloch
ACID is full of twists and turns which (I hope!) will keep the reader guessing to the end.
Tagged for next week (Week 23) are some of my talented writer
friends. Check out their blogs next Wednesday, November 7th, when it's
their turn to post answers to these same questions about their own
works-in-progress!
Happy Halloween!