My Next Big Thing: Bump in the Night

My Next Big Thing

I’ve been invited by the lovely Lauren Spieller to participate in My Next Best Thing! That said, I'm pumped to talk about my novel Bump in the Night.

1. What is the working title of your book?

Bump in the Night

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

I've always been a huge fan of the macabre and of monsters. There's always been shows like Supernatural, etc where there are lots of men hunting down the things that go bump in the night... but where are the girls?! That's where the idea came from. That and years of reading Goosebumps.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Bump in the Night is a YA urban fantasy novel with strong elements of horror.

4. What actors would you chose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I would love to see this on a big screen! This was actually pretty tough, but here's what I have:

Samantha- Ass-kicking, fearless protagonist
Troian Bellisario

Deacon- Love interest / Sheriff's son
Logan Lerman

Tyler- Deacon's best friend
David Henrie

Marcheline- Sam's best friend

Aimee Teegarden

Victoria- Sam's Mom

Reese Witherspoon

Eliza- Sam's Grandmother and Mentor

Maggie Smith

5. What is a one sentence synopsis of your manuscript?

16-year-old Samantha fights monsters as a Guardian of the Day, while trying to live her life as normal as possible and investigate her Grandmother's disappearance.

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

Agency. 

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

Bump in the Night was started in 2011 and finished during May 2012. I've been editing it ever since.

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

Bump in the Night is probably a cross between Spookygirl by Jill Baguchinsky and Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. I love both of these novels so so much! Also, Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs holds some similarities.

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

My love for writing strong female protagonists and my obsession with horror stories/monsters.

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

I think there is something for everyone in Bump in the Night. There's a love story. A mystery. Monsters and fighting. There are normal growing pains. Loss. I love my story. But then again, don't all writers? I just hope someday, other people might love it too.

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my novel! I'm passing the torch onto one of my favorite writerly people, and one of the best writers I know: Haylee Qualls.

If you have any questions about Bump in the Night, don't hesitate to ask!

Bump in the Night. Also a contest!

I have always said that there are not enough stories about the following:

Girls kicking major ass

YA Horror

Monsters

Some type of combination of YA Horror with monsters and girls that kick ass 

Since there wasn't anything out there like this, I started writing it. I wrote and wrote and just finished it this month. It's called Bump in the Night and the synopsis can be found here.

However, to my excitement, I have come across two other excellent works with a somewhat similar concept. A darker story. Girls kicking ass. Monsters/ Supernatural. I haven't read Spookygirl yet, but I can't wait to! I have read Sweet Venom and cannot wait for the sequel!

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

http://teralynnchilds.com/books/sweet-venom/

Spookygirl by Jill Baguchinsky

Read the pitch here

Also, Jill Baguchinksy is currently running a contest where you can get a copy of her ARC for Spookygirl, as it isn't out yet. You wont want to miss out! Also Jill is a debut author, which is even more exciting, as I love love love success stories and hope that one day I too can have my own. Great work Jill!

Contest!

Jill also has an awesome blog showing her journey to publication! Check it out here!

That said, what other darker YA stories are you into? Are there any ass kicking, monster, supernautral, or horror-esque novels that I am missing? Please, share your knowledge! I'm always looking for a good read.

August 28th Quick Write

My roommate Haylee and I have been doing our best lately to be better and more devote writers. We had a quick writing session tonight and this is what I came up with:

"I watched as my alarm clock changed to 10 just as I realized that I was holding my breath. I had been watching the clock for the last hour, hoping that this moment wouldn’t come. But there’s one thing you can be sure of; and that’s that time will always go on.

I knew my parent’s routine. It had been the same my whole life, minus a few short month when my father had a mid-life crisis and swear he was going to persue a career in night, glow-in-the-dark mini golf. My parents would watch tv until 10. After 10 lights went off. Every great once in a while they stayed up longer, but never past 11. And they never left their rooms.

I grabbed my brown leather bag that I considered my monster kit. I had put it together within the first week of discovering monsters were real. It had been my Grandmother’s and it made me feel more confident using it. I didn’t really know if there was a set item list of what should be inside. Regardless, I had filled it with things that I considered to be essentials: holy water that I had gotten one year from a family vacation to a Monastery in Utah, a notepad and pen, compass, watch, camera, Swiss army knife, thermometer, candles, an old tape recorder, salt, blessing incense and banishing incense, and a cross.

I slowly opened my door, jaw clenched as if it would prevent my door from creaking. I was moving silently. I stood outside my parent’s door for a few moments. Thankfully no sounds. No movement. I slowly and silently inched down the staircase, praising whoever made it in my head.

It had been earlier in the week, when my mom convined me to go to the grocery store with her to buy more bird feed for the feeders (like it was some emergency). I reluctantly agreed but on the way back I noticed something bizarre.

We were stopped at a stop sign on Adam St. while my mother tried to convince me for the third time this year to try out for the advanced choir (no use trying to explain that usually you have to be enrolled in any type of choir first, and that I was not), when I saw it. It lasted only a few moments. A shadow. A movement of a tree.

But my training and instinct of a Gurardian of the Day has taught me to never ignore these types of things. You see, as we get older, our adult common sense tells us to say “It must have been a bird or something.” Or “perhaps a cloud caused that shadow.” But I knew it was something much different. I try to block out my adult common sense at all times.

As we drove off I used the rearview mirror to once over the house. It looked like a normal brick house built probably in the 1920s, like most of the houses in the neighborhood. The interesting thing was that everything in the yard was dead. The front yard looked like the dirt had been turned recently. But still, even the things growing in pots were dead. I knew at that moment that I would need to take a closer look.

I immediately went over the list in my head of monsters that made plants die. Ghosts were a very common one. Especially ill-tempered ghosts also known as poltergeists. I knew a lot of lore talked about demons making beautiful plants die. Was I ready to face a demon? "