The Next Big Thing: 10 Question Interview
A meme-o-gram:
What is your working title of your book?
A Pastoral Picaresque? I’ve considered and rejected at least 50 titles... still searching, though something as banal as A Sheep’s Tale may win out.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
From the folly in my head, which spawned a line and then a musing in my previous (unpublished) novel. It feels like something I’ve considered from the moment I could consider. What’s it like to be something else? But I didn’t want a talking animal story and that led to human brain in an animal’s body which then lead to how? why? and the plot.
What genre does your book fall under?
Literary fiction, satire. Dystopia (or mistopia).
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Uhhh… some actors from The Princess Bride plus half the cast of the Simpsons and a few Cohen Bros characters? Early on I described it as Tarantino by Pixar.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A petty thief, who has been punished by having his brain inserted into the body of a sheep (a government penal program called Constock), attempts to escape his prisons and clear his mostly worthless name. Maybe “Little Sheep, Big City” could be a title?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will not be self-published and it may or may not be represented by an agency (must get on that). Those aren’t the only two options.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
It was written over two years, with the lamb’s share during a few months in early 2010 and the lion’s share during the latter half of 2011.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Obvious comparisons are Animal Farm & 1984 by Orwell, but it’s more ambitious in terms of structure and language and is more a comic novel than either of those two. I was thinking of Bulgakov – Heart of a Dog – when writing the first outline. I see touches of Pynchon in it. I see myself flattering myself right now.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
No one, nothing. Or maybe just the folly (that word again) of making this idea real, the challenge. Could be fun, I thought. I didn’t know finding a title would be so hard, though, or else I wouldn’t have bothered.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Sheep sex? A pun a paragraph? Sentences that shapeshift? Talking to animals? An evil pig? A clumsy heroine? Satirizing everything?
Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged. Be sure to line up your five people in advance.
The tagger is Jeff Bursey. I lined up five people, yes, and then shot them all.
What is your working title of your book?
A Pastoral Picaresque? I’ve considered and rejected at least 50 titles... still searching, though something as banal as A Sheep’s Tale may win out.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
From the folly in my head, which spawned a line and then a musing in my previous (unpublished) novel. It feels like something I’ve considered from the moment I could consider. What’s it like to be something else? But I didn’t want a talking animal story and that led to human brain in an animal’s body which then lead to how? why? and the plot.
What genre does your book fall under?
Literary fiction, satire. Dystopia (or mistopia).
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Uhhh… some actors from The Princess Bride plus half the cast of the Simpsons and a few Cohen Bros characters? Early on I described it as Tarantino by Pixar.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A petty thief, who has been punished by having his brain inserted into the body of a sheep (a government penal program called Constock), attempts to escape his prisons and clear his mostly worthless name. Maybe “Little Sheep, Big City” could be a title?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will not be self-published and it may or may not be represented by an agency (must get on that). Those aren’t the only two options.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
It was written over two years, with the lamb’s share during a few months in early 2010 and the lion’s share during the latter half of 2011.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Obvious comparisons are Animal Farm & 1984 by Orwell, but it’s more ambitious in terms of structure and language and is more a comic novel than either of those two. I was thinking of Bulgakov – Heart of a Dog – when writing the first outline. I see touches of Pynchon in it. I see myself flattering myself right now.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
No one, nothing. Or maybe just the folly (that word again) of making this idea real, the challenge. Could be fun, I thought. I didn’t know finding a title would be so hard, though, or else I wouldn’t have bothered.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Sheep sex? A pun a paragraph? Sentences that shapeshift? Talking to animals? An evil pig? A clumsy heroine? Satirizing everything?
Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged. Be sure to line up your five people in advance.
The tagger is Jeff Bursey. I lined up five people, yes, and then shot them all.
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Great answers, Lee, and I hope to see this book between covers soon. Jeff
Richard wrote: "There, now you've gone and done it. Made me all conflicted, having just finished the thirteenth of a baker's dozen of animal stories all having human brains. My only recourse is to set one of them,..."You're not shitting me, are you? What are the odds of that?
Jeff wrote: "Great answers, Lee, and I hope to see this book between covers soon. Jeff"
Yes! I need more than an audience of one, as good a reader as he is.
Richard seems like he'd be a second audience member...Jeff
I'm worried about your title, Lee. Possible titles #51 - #55 to add the the 50 you've already considered:Fifty Shades of Mouton Grey; Do my Ears look Wider Apart? I'm Leaving, I Smell Mint; Since When do I need a Shepherd? and lastly, It's Mister Lanolin to you, Mac.
Jerrod wrote: "How about Little Bo Thief?"Oh, that's a good one. No one's touched Little Bo yet, not that anyone should be touching her... Might have to look up my nursery rhymes since 'little bo peep come blow your horn, the dish ran away with the spoon' is what runs through my head.
"A renaissance of mutton won't change the world but it just might, might make the difference between [farmers'] survival and disappearance and that, ladies and gentlemen, is enough for me."~ Prince Charles (November 14, 1948 - )
A Renaissance of Mutton? WTH?
Jeff wrote: ""A renaissance of mutton won't change the world but it just might, might make the difference between [farmers'] survival and disappearance and that, ladies and gentlemen, is enough for me."~ Prin..."
Inbreeding!
Shank, a Sheep: The Story of a Remption
Sorry, my bad. Shank, a Sheep: Story of a Redemption
Lee wrote: "Mutton but Trouble?"I like that.
Or: "Mutton, Mutton! Who's got the mutton?"
He's Balthasar, and he's in branta's October blog. He'll larn you a lesson or two.