"The Next Big Thing" blog hop!

I was invited to do this "blog hop" called “The Next Big Thing” where authors tag each other to answer questions about upcoming projects. Many wonderful authors have been tagged, and I was included by Sheri White from her blog Chaos & Contentment.

What is the working title of your book or story?

A short story - White Crosses.

Where did the idea come from for the book or story?

There’s a fifty-mile stretch of highway in the Gallatin Mountains between Bozeman and West Yellowstone, Montana – US 191 – and I’ve always been struck by the number of white crosses along this particular stretch. The crosses, of course, represent traffic fatalities, and these were put up by the local American Legion (if I remember correctly.) Once, while driving that road, I tried to count them, and I lost track after getting up to fifty-five.

What genre does your book fall under?

Crime/mystery

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

Hmmm...I have no idea. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau? No, wait...that’s been done before. And they’re unfortunately no longer with us. Forget I said that. Next question!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book or story?

A retired couple on an RV trip in Montana stumble across what may (or may not) be a kidnapping in process.

Will your book or story be self-published or represented by an agency?

I’ll submit it to a few paying markets and see what happens. If I exhaust those possibilities, I may publish it as a stand-alone short story ebook.

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

I wrote it in starts and stops – had a few false starts and completely started over a number of times. So I couldn’t really tell you. Many hours, though.

What other books or stories would you compare this story to within your genre?

Oh, geez – I don’t know. War & Peace? But without any of the war, and very little of the peace, and not nearly as long, and not really anything like that at all. (I just can’t think of anything.)

Who or What inspired you to write this book or story?

See above (“Where did the idea come from...”) Although the white crosses referred to in the title don’t have much to do about the crime that’s being investigated, it does have to do with the characters’ motivations throughout the story.

What else about your book or story might pique the reader’s interest?

I’m using the two main characters (Mr. Varney and Mr. Johnson) from my short story Leave No Wake, which originally appeared in the Resort to Murder anthology published by Nodin Press. I received a lot of good feedback from that story, and thought this would be a good way to bring those characters back to life for another run.

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