The Next Big Thing

Thank you Teresa (www.teresaflavin.com) for asking me to blog as part of 'The next Big Thing'.

Unless we've already had a mega hit, we writers always hope our next book will hit the big time...become The Next Big Thing. So I'm going to blog about my next teen novel, Deceit, which is out in January 2013.
Published by Templar, it's the sequel to Wickedness (Templar Sept 2011). One reviewer called it twistorical fiction with a touch of terror. What a great description! History with a twist. Accurate too, because one half of each novel is set in either 17th century London or Paris. And there's a dash of Ancient Egyptian mystery in there too (I'm blogging as Nefertaru for Templar in January).
Samuel Pepys was my inspiration for both novels. He mentions going to see an Ancient Egyptian mummy in his Diary, so I just had to research what they knew about Ancient Egypt in the 17th century (They couldn't read hieroglyphs and thought that the writing was magical. They also believed there was a lost text called the Hermetica that contained all the secrets of the Universe.Blimey...you'd want to get hold of that wouldn't you?) So mystery, danger, magic. Perfect ingredients to make some intricately plotted twistorical fiction. How could I resist? And luckily for me, Templar commissioned Wickedness and its sequel Deceit...and gave me invaluable help with that intricate plot. Wickedness took a long time to write. There were two strands of story that needed to be woven about each other. One about Claire in the 21st century. One about Margrat in the 17th. There was a lot of research to do. The characters emerged slowly and developed with each draft. Deceit was written much quicker, though I had written a whole first draft using a different 'voice' (Martha's) before I realised it just wasn't working. Once I went back to using Margrat's voice it all fell into place and the story fairly whizzed along!
A lot of people have kindly said Wickedness would make a great film. I absolutely agree and would like to ask Johnny Depp if he would be available to play Nicholas Benedict, my wicked 'anti-hero'! Seriously though, since the deadly attraction between Margrat Jennet and Nicholas Benedict is crucial to the plot of Wickedness, I guess I would have to leave it to a casting director to get the on screen chemistry right. (Think Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovitch in Dangerous Liaisons. Phew! ).
And if I had to sum up the storyline of Deceit? Not sure I can do better than the blurb on the cover: WHO CAN YOU TRUST WHEN WICKEDNESS RETURNS?

Alexander Gutteridge will be posting about her new novel on Saturday 25th November. (alex-gutteridge.blogspot.co.uk)
Pippa Goodhart will be publishing a blog about her upcoming novel on Alex's site on Sat 1st December.
Rose Impey is in the process of getting a new website so was going to blog, but now isn't. But look out for her Sir Lancelittle stories when they come out next year. I've already ordered a signed copy!

Just One Good Book

Was recently asked to list my favourite books/authors. Hard. Mostly its individual books I love and then others by the same author never quite match up. The others may be good...but not AS GOOD. Is it true do you think that as a writer you only have 'one good book in you'? And does it matter? (Maybe not if you get squillions of pounds from it. I'm sorry...money does help!) And another question...would you choose to write a critically acclaimed...but miserably financially rewarded book? Or a massively lucrative, but scathingly reviewed title? Phew. Tough choice!
Recently read and hugely enjoyed 'Mr Chartwell' by Rebecca Hunt. Her first book...so looking forward to seeing what her next is like. Or maybe...like Arundhati Roy she'll leave just leave us wanting more. And that may be a clever thing to do...you know the 'genius' dies young scenario. Keats for instance, I mean he could have done so much ...written some really outstanding poems! Oh and Jude Morgan's novel 'Passion' which tells the stories of all the women in the lives of the Romantic Poets...is brilliant. Haunting. Check it out.

Wool Smugglers

Novel research uncovered this interesting fact: wool smuggling was rife in the 17th century. Wool went across the channel from England to France. Returned as finished goods. Smuggled...so no tax to pay. Nowadays its drug smuggling. Wonder if they had a wool smuggling terminology? So maybe 'Score us a skein' or "Got a hank?' or I'm totally knitted! Adds a whole new meaning to the idea of 'needle exchange'!

Welcome to the Blog!

Welcome to Deborah White's Novel Ideas blog. Stick around for novel ideas about me and my writing. Just getting started but there's so much more to come!

Debs.