What is your working title of your book?
Needle's Eye (I'm toying with a couple others, but that's it for now).
Where did the idea come from for the book?
When I found out we were moving to Russia back in February, I did some research on Russian folklore. The story of Koschei the Deathless caught my eye, and I already had this idea for a really creepy bad guy, so I incorporated the two. Not sure where my half-Japanese, half-Russian MC came from...
What genre does your book fall under?
YA Urban Fantasy
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
For Akira, the MC, I have a couple different actresses in mind. One is Emily from Pretty Little Liars (Shay Mitchell, who is half-Filipino and half-Irish/Scottish apparently). There are also a couple of Japanese actresses who would fit the bill, including Meisa Kuroki, who is cute and kind of bad-ass at the same time (which I love).
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
I don't have a one sentence synopsis yet. You're getting the long version.
17-year-old Akira Tanaka has never belonged - not with her distant Japanese-American father, and certainly not with her Russian classmates. When the mysterious Dmitri appears, Akira finds herself wondering if she hasn't finally found someone who understands her. But just as she begins to open up, a series of violent murders rocks the city, and they bare an eery resemblance to a story her grandfather told her before he died, a story Akira always assumed was just a fairy tale. Now Akira isn't sure who to trust, and if she doesn't discover the killer soon, there's no telling who might be next.
Or something. I frigging hate synopses.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Hopefully, by some miracle, an agency.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? May we see an intro?
It's not done. Here's the first paragraph (or two):
When Akira was very small, her grandfather told her stories of Koschei the Deathless.
She knew even then that the stories were meant to frighten her. They were the kinds of tales villagers told their children so they wouldn’t go wandering off into the woods, where wolves waited with steaming breath and yellow eyes, the Russian equivalent of “Little Red Riding Hood.” But just as there was nothing frightening about a wolf wearing a bonnet and bifocals, there was nothing frightening about Akira’s grandfather, and so Akira paid little attention to his stories.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
In my dreams, something along the lines of Daughter of Smoke and Bone crossed with Sucker Punch, with a little Shadow and Bone thrown in for good measure.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
See above.
What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?My MC practices kenjutsu, so I'm watching samurai videos for research. Did I mention I love research? And of course, since the book is set in Russia and I LIVE in Russia, I've got some cool Russian folklore, vocabulary, and anecdotes in there.
That's it! Pretty much everyone has already been tagged for this, so I'm just going to leave it open for anyone who wants to participate. All the rules and questions are up on Krista's blog. :)
1 comment:
Your book sounds awesome Mara! I've been enjoying hearing everyone's answers to these. :) So how is Russia? Are you just moving in the same city or somewhere else? :)
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