R.K. MacPherson hit me with the WIP Challenge, and after I assured him I was, in fact, his huckleberry, there was nothing for it but to make good on my boast.
1. What is the title of your Work In Progress?
Which one? Oh, fine, I'll pick just one: Marginalia.
2. Where did the idea for the WIP come from?
I had just put down The Hunger Games (yes, you may all gasp and flutter at me now - it was even my second attempt to read the thing) and I thought about what made good Dystopian writing. Eventually those thoughts coalesced into the core of the idea for Marginalia.
3. What genre would your WIP fall under?
Dystopian Young Adult. If that's not a genre, it should be.
4. Which actors would you choose to play characters in a movie rendition?
Good question. I don't really know a lot of young actresses. I can vaguely envision the main character being portrayed by a teenage Kate Beckinsale, but that train has sailed, alas. There's a role for an older man that I would want to be played by Steve Buscemi. Eeeevil.
5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your WIP?
When Alethea Three finds a beautiful, mesmerizing and utterly forbidden story hand-written in the margins of an official copy of HISTORY OF THE STATE, she is consumed with the need to find its author, even if it means she may never be more than a lowly subcitizen in her dystopic, totalitarian nation of a future not so improbably different from our own.
6. Is your WIP published or represented?
Still working on it, but I have no plans to shop it around either to agents or publishers. What for? I have all the tools I need to sell it on Amazon, CreateSpace, and similar venues of the future.
7. How long did it take you to write?
No idea. It's not done, after all. I did have to take several breaks when other, time-sensitive projects arose. At this point it would be hard to estimate.
8. What other WIP’s in your genre would you compare it to?
I'll sigh and admit some inspiration from The Hunger Games, but then I'll amend that and say it actually reminds me more of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, a comparison I think much more apt overall.
9. Which authors inspired you to write this WIP?
Suzanne Collins merits a positive mention here, and not a backhanded compliment either. She deserves her success, even if I didn't find her work to my particular taste. I will also tip my hat to Eric Arthur Blair - better known as George Orwell - for showing me the way.
10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest about this WIP.
Like Shakespeare's Hamlet, this is really a story within a story. By using the story written in the margins to contrast with Alethea's own story, I find a great deal of subtle commentary can be woven in through symbolism and careful choice of pacing. As a narrative device it works wonderfully.
11. Finally: Tag three other Authors and ask them to complete the above interview.
* Scott Roche
* John Ward
* Brooke Johnson
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