The rules are as as follows: I answer questions about my WIP and then tag five people who will talk about their WIP next week! Sounds fun, right? :)
What is the working title of your book?
I usually suck at coming up with titles, so for right now, I'm referring to this book as Graveyard Love until I can come up with a more suitable title.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
The idea came out of nowhere, really.
What genre does your book fall under?
I would say YA Paranormal.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I think I would prefer the actors to be unknowns, it's more fun that way and can introduce the world to new talent.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Ugh, this is the most difficult part for me! So instead, here's a rough synopsis:
When 16-year-old Holly Daniels' close friend Annah is found brutally murdered on the night of the trial run grand opening of Holly's family’s B&B and Holly awakens to find herself covered in blood and clutching the murder weapon, with no memory of what happened, she doesn’t think things can get any worse.
Six months after Annah’s murder, after Holly convinces her mother not to sell the B&B in order to escape the painful memories of what happened there, a charming boy named Issac appears on their doorstep on the night of the new grand opening, asking for a room. At first, they are forced to turn him away since the B&B is filled to capacity, but everyone, including Holly, is swayed by his charm and eventually they agree to let him stay.
But not everyone is so easily wooed by the newcomer, including Rhys, a boy Holly has known since childhood. When strange, unexplained things start happening soon after Issac's arrival, Rhys is convinced that Issac is to blame and that he cannot be trusted.
Unwilling to believe Rhys’s claims, Holly pushes him away, not realizing that looks can be deceiving and that Issac is hiding a dark secret.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I started writing the first draft on July 5, 2012 and I still have yet to finish it, but hopefully sometime before the end of the year!
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I would have to say, Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown, and Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
Like I said above, at first, the idea just came out of nowhere, but then, as I got further along into the story, I kept thinking about one person in particular-or should I say one ghost in particular? :)
In my hometown, there's a well-known hotel by the name of the Van Gilder Hotel that was built all the way back in 1916 and is said to be home to many a ghost. The ghost I'm referring to here though is a woman by the name of Fannie Bane.
My memory is a little hazy on all the details, but from what I can remember, Fannie was a young single mom of two little girls, who were all staying at the hotel. Fannie needed an important operation, but didn't have the money to pay for it, so she contacted her ex-husband, Joe, and asked him to meet her at her hotel room to ask him if he could loan her the money. While her daughters were down at the beach playing, Joe went to meet Fannie...and brought a gun with him.
At some point, Joe shot Fannie and when the police arrived on the scene, they entered the room to find Joe cradling Fannie's limp body to his chest and sobbing, "I'm so sorry, it was an accident, it was accident..."
I first learned about Fannie Bane when I did a report about her ghost in 6th grade, then my 6th grade class and I even got to take a field trip to the Van Gilder Hotel and visit the room where Fannie stayed and as I sat on the bed (I don't know if that was the same bed she slept in or not) in the middle of the room and took in my surroundings, I was mesmerized and terrified all at the same time, feeling like we weren't alone.
Ever since then, I've thought about Fannie, her daughters, and even Joe. Who were these people? Who was Fannie, the struggling single mother? Who was Joe, a man evil enough to murder the mother of his children in one breath and then sob and mumble apologies in the next? I've often thought about what it would be like to contact her daughters, to get a better idea of who their parents were and what could've led to such a senseless tragedy. I've thought about the fact that Fannie's life was cut so short and that she didn't choose to die, her life was stolen from her in the blink of an eye, with the pull of a trigger. And that's when it occurred to me: In a way, my story, Graveyard Love, was, I think, loosely inspired by Fannie and her murder. It was my way of giving her a voice. through the fictional ghosts in my story, my way of finding justice for her untimely demise.
So, whatever happens to this book, whether I finish it or not, whether it gets published or not, I dedicate this book to you Fannie, the ghost of my childhood, and to all the other ghosts out there who's lives were cut way too short, this book is also for you.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
I'm not really sure what else to add at this point except to say that for every book I've written lately, I've also created a board on Pinterest to go with it, full of images that remind me of it, so, if your interested, take a look: http://pinterest.com/ellaink/graveyard-love-wip/
Lastly, the 5 people I choose to tag for this blog hop are:
TBA!
Thanks again for tagging me, Rachele! That was just what I needed, very cathartic! :)
~Ella
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