Olivia Boler over at Oliviaboler.com invited me to be a part of a blog chain that introduces the premise of my latest work while promoting her blog and five other blogs of writers like myself. I have posted the blogs of these writers after my little Q&A session, and hope that you will go over and check them out. I’ve decided to tap Bob Evenhouse over at Part Time Novel , H. Conrad Miller over at A Side of Writing and Kate Policani.
On to the questions:
- What is your working title of your book (or story)?
This Broken Earth
- Where did the idea come from for the book?
I at first had a dream of writing a post-apocalyptic novel based on the Biblical eschatological view of a post-tribulation rapture, but after doing much research and finding that there were as many views on the end times among Christians as there were denominations, quickly backed off from that. In the end, I decided to write what I know. I spent 6 months researching ways the world could end (realistically, politically, globally) and then wrote a book that echoed some of my favorite science fiction on the subject with a theme that explores the idea of faith at all costs.
- What genre does your book fall under?
It is a post-apocalyptic, romantic, action/adventure thriller.
- Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
That is tough to say, but the actors would be unknowns. I love what J.J. Abrams did with Super 8. I would need ordinary looking people for my heroes because they are, indeed, ordinary looking. It is the ordinary person who runs into the burning building and becomes the hero, not the dashing, good looking model.
- What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
The world has ended…sort of, but a band of wandering survivors are about to find their destiny in a far away place they thought had been utterly devastated by a massive war, and find themselves in the process.
- Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
At this point I have an agency that is looking it over. I will have to wait about a month for them to get back to me, as they are currently very busy. I received an e-mail (after many rejections) from the president of a literary agency that said (1) that they loved the way I described my characters (2) they would download my book and read it and (3) would be interested in seeing what they could do to help me. We will see. If that falls through, I am prepared to purchase 10 ISBN numbers (for this and future books), and will self-publish through Amazon Createspace and then do the convention circuit.
- How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Research took 6 months, but it took me 12 months to write the first draft of 120,000 words.
- What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
My book has the stark devastation of The Book of Eli, the hapless characters of David Brin‘s The Postman, the social group and romantic love triangle dynamic of The Walking Dead, the spiritual messages and biblical miracles of C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters and Frank Peretti‘s This Present Darkness and the deep characterization of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.
- Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I think it all began after watching The Book of Eli. I got on this post-apocalyptic reading kick and gobbled up everything that even remotely had that genre in its description. I think good writers are good readers, and if you want to write in a particular genre, you need to read everything you can get your hands on that would fall into that genre.
- What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It is ultimately a story about faith and how most people have a weak faith in the face of devastating peril. Americans do not know what it is to have their faith threatened. I have spent much time in other countries (China) where faith can be a dangerous thing. It was interesting to explore this idea and see what would happen to ordinary people of faith when their lives were threatened for their beliefs, especially American believers.
Writing Is Hard Work 
Roger, very exciting that you have an agency looking at some of your work!