The Next Big Thing blog hop - All In With the Duke

I’ve been tagged by the talented Harper Fox to participate in the Next Big Thing blog hop (click HERE to check out her post). The idea is to answer 10 questions about your current WIP (work in process). There’s no giveaway or anything-it’s just a spot of fun to talk about what’s in process or coming soon. So here I go -  

1. What is the working title of your book?  
All In With the Duke

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

The first part of the book takes place in a brothel. I have a ‘thing’ for brothel settings—the exchange of money for something as intimate as sex is wrought with all sorts of conflicts—and I wanted to do things in that setting that I hadn’t done before. Pretty much, I’m taking the gloves off and just going for it. After this one though, I think I might be done with brothels for a while.  

3. What is the genre of the book?

Regency-set M/M erotic romance with D/s elements

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

For Tristan, it’s a model not an actor. I had a firm idea of what he would look like when I started the book. I wanted a character who blurs the line between masculine and feminine, androgynous, exquisitely beautiful. I thought such a character during the Regency, when there were more defined, stricter ideas of masculine and feminine, would be an interesting person to explore. Anyway, one day I found him over at Elisa Rolle’s LiveJournal. Stav Strashko - http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1786307.html - 3rd pic from the top totally captures the image I had in my head for him. Stav even has the right length of hair, except Tristan has ginger-blond hair (strawberry blond). 

Max is trickier. Sometimes I find a picture that captures a character, but for him he’s more in my head. Tall, powerful build, dark eyes, short dark hair that’s slicked back from his forehead. Strong, harshly masculine features. Not classically handsome. It’s his confidence, his strength of character, that draws the eye more than anything. 

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

I’m horrid at a one-sentence synopsis. Here’s what I have at the top of my outline/concept document – Both men think they know what they want, but they find it isn’t what they need. I think of it as a ‘be careful what you wish for’ book. 

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency/publisher?

TBD – ideally, it will be published by a publisher. This one will be a longer book and I wanted to get a good way into it before I sent it out to find a home. My agent just gave the partial a big thumbs up, so fingers crossed it finds a home. 

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I’ve been working on it for about 3 months, and I figure it will take me another 3 months or so to finish. 

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Oh, this one’s a hard question. I purposefully avoid reading anything historical (m/m or m/f) while I’m working on a book, and I try hard to write outside of the box. That’s not to say I think I’m like super original or anything. All romance tropes have been done, originality is all in how an author twists a theme. But I try not to compare because I don’t want another book to inadvertently leach into my writing as I’m working on a book. 

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

See answer to question #2. The inspiration came from scene ideas that popped into my head. Why those scene ideas popped into my head…you can thank my angst-loving heart. 

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

The book has a theme song. Sometimes the emotion or theme in a song will spur an idea for a book or a scene for a book. Like Taylor Swift’s ‘You Belong With Me’ sparked the idea for His Client. I was watching Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders on CMT late one night while I was writing the early chapters of this book. I was never a cheerleader, I don’t watch football, but procrastination can take odd forms. Anyway, they were doing a routine to Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ and I was like, that’s it, that’s Max and Tristan’s theme song. While they don’t fall in love at the brothel, they meet there and a brothel is definitely a ‘hopeless place’. 

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And now, I'm tagging my wonderful critique partner Shawn Lane. You can check out her work at her website:

http://www.authorshawnlane.com/