The Next Big Thing

Medusa by Jacek Malczewski, courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons
I've been invited by Cynthia Reeeser to share about my work in progress through the blog series The Next Big Thing. So, here it goes:


What is your working title of your book? _In the Belly of the Albatross_





Where did the idea come from for the book? It was sort of organic. I was combing through my poems and realized many of my poems were a variation on a theme.





What genre does your book fall under? Poetry





Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Ooh, I like the idea of a short film for each poem: Halle Berry, Meryl Streep, Keiko Agena, America Ferrera, Ralph Fiennes, Olympia Dukakis . . . .





What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? These poems give voice to historical, mythological, Biblical and contemporary women, and sometimes their stories are unexpected.





Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I'm peddling it to manuscript contests at the moment.





How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? The first poem was written probably ten years ago, but I've just recently gathered these poems into a collection.





What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Within my genre, I'd compare it to work by Carol Ann Duffy, although that seems pompous. Fiction readers might think of it as a poetic cousin to Anita Diamant's The Red Tent.





Who or what inspired you to write this book? I read these stories from the bible, myth, or legend, and so little detail is given that, as a writer, I can't help but try to fill in the empty space. Eventually I became interested in the way these stories mirror women's present day narratives.





What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? The title is take from Chris Jordan's photographs of the plastic-filled bellies of dead albatross as well as Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."






Thank you to Cynthia Reeser for the invite. Read about her Next Big Thing, Lefenstrausse, at Abstractions.


A few other writers you will enjoy:


Cassandra Dunn


Lisa Ahn


Marie Gauthier


Tarfia Faizullah


Laura Grodrian


Comments

Lisa Ahn said…
Oooo, I love the poetic cousin to The Red Tent -- I totally see that. Thanks for the link too. :)