The Next Big Thing

Paolo Chikiamco tagged me, so I'm up next in this Next Big Thing writer blog meme. Writers get to talk about their upcoming books by answering the questions. I've been tagged! I am it.

1) What is the working title of your next book?
Queen of the Clueless (Interim Goddess of Love #2). But it's not just a working title anymore, it's the title by now.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
I wanted to write something that incorporated mythology, but keep it within my comfort zone of contemporary romance. So this happened.

This book is the second volume of a three-book series I launched early this year, called Interim Goddess of Love. It's set in a college just outside Manila where some Philippine gods and goddesses happen to be studying. I wanted to write QotC as soon as two specific scenes came to my mind -- which were neither appropriate for the first book (where the premise and characters are introduced) or the last (when the protagonist makes that brave final choice). It might have come to me during a cab ride, or while standing in line for something.

3) What genre does your book fall under?
Young Adult/Older YA/New Adult Fantasy Romance, I think. That exists, right?

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Sorry, I'm wussing out of this question. I have pegs and inspirations for the roles, but some of them are odd and I suspect are attractive only to me. I wouldn't want to ruin anyone else's experience of the book by superimposing that image. By all means, insert the hottest actors today in any role! (Update: Someone just did -- yay, Viel!)

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
College sophomore Hannah, temporarily the Goddess of Love, tries to help out with her best friend's troubled relationship, and ends up discovering more about her new power.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Self-published first. My traditional publisher (Summit Books) has offered to do a Philippine print run of my self-published titles though, so if this book gets the same treatment, I wouldn't mind at all.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Ten months. It's not significantly longer or more difficult to write than other novels that I've finished in a shorter timespan, but I just didn't have enough time this year to do it. Arg.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Mostly Sweet Dreams, and maybe a hint of Beautiful Creatures and The Vampire Diaries. (But in writing it I was guided so much by TV's The Good Wife, which most people may find odd.)

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I taught a communication course in a college for a year. One day I gave a writing assignment, and told a friend about how two students interacted in a meet-cute way in that class, and she said "YA novel premise!"

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
It's romance, but with Philippine myths! Which is a fit because many Philippine myths are romances!

I'm tagging:
Ines Bautista-Yao
Chinggay Labrador
Marla Miniano
Katrina Ramos-Atienza
Gypsy Esguerra