The Next Big Thing

I was tagged in the online blog hop The Next Big Thing by Jennifer Ellis. You can check out her own responses on her writing blog here. I may just be the last person to be tagged in this game, so I will reserve the right to tag others at a later date. (If you would like to be tagged, let me know!) What is your working title of your book?ClearwaterWhere did the idea come from for the book?This book came from a memory of a place I lived long ago. It’s a beautiful place, on the surface – stunningly beautiful as you can see by the pictures. But this is an area that also has some dark patches in its past: the murder of Helen Betty Osborne took place here. There was a residential school nearby. Such horror and tragedy juxtaposed with the intense beauty of the place has stayed with me since I was very young.Other than location, the genesis of this book was first spoken aloud on the summer chairlift at the 2007 Fernie Writers’ Conference. I knew I wanted it to be about family, in whatever form “family” takes.What genre does your book fall under?Fiction.Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?Sarah Polley does a great job of choosing her actors, and since she would be my director, I’d defer to her superior abilities in that area.What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?When loss shatters a young woman, she has to rebuild her life and family from the pieces left behind.Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?Neither. Coteau Books is publishing the book this fall.How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?Two years, for the first draft. Revisions…about the same.What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?Well, I wish it compared to Crow Lake, or As the Crow Flies. There are elements of each of those books that I aspired to.Who or what inspired you to write this book?The strange ways of family. And, as I said above, the place.