My Next Big Thing: DIVE

I’m so happy that my fellow dog lover Alison Bliss chose me to carry on The Hop. Allison is currently working on RULES OF PROTECTION, which poses this thrilling question: If an FBI agent stole his only witness from Witness Protection, where would he hide her?  Awesome, right?

The purpose of this hop is to expose people to new writers and new genres. I hope you will vist all the links provided in this blog hop and see all the wonderful new writers and their fantastic books.

Without further ado, I give you my NEXT BIG THING.

What is the working title of your book?

DIVE

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Fourteen-year-old Kiro has been training to become a cliff diver since he was small, but his dream of completing this male rite of passage is put on hold when a strange girl washes up on the beach… and demands to Dive.

What genre does your book fall under?

DIVE is going to be light magical realism, which is defined as “a genre where magic elements are a natural part in an otherwise mundane, realistic environment.” The characters will encounter a few instances of magic on the island where they live.

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

I love this part of the game!

 

KIRO

This handsome dude is named Tequan Richmond. You may recognize him from the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris (he played Drew) or from Ray, in which he played Ray Charles, Jr. Anywho, I think Tequan has the perfect look and feel for Kiro. Strong and stubborn, but still young and mostly innocent, Kiro is a typical fifteen-year-old boy with a lot to prove…especially to his older brother Tan, the new Chief of their tribe.

LWIN

I’d like Selena Gomez to play the sassy, outspoken Lwin. From the moment she washes up on the beach of Kiro’s island, she starts causing trouble for the hot-headed son of the former Chief. I think Selena will bring the necessary ferocity to this role while still maintaining a sweet and likable persona.

TAN

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Well, HELLO THERE. This is Denzel Whitaker, and I think he’d make a great Tan. As Kiro’s older brother and the newly appointed head of the Yaaril tribe, Tan has a lot on his plate. Denzel has done a lot of work on children’s tv programs, so I think he can bring the necessary lightness and warmth to this role (and to Kiro’s life).

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

I hope to find an agent to represent this work, as well as SIGHTLESS, my YA urban fantasy novel.

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

I’m still in the writing process, but I hope to finish editing SIGHTLESS by the end of April and then turn all of my attention to DIVE. With any luck, the first draft will be finished sometime in July or August.

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

When I first thought of the concept of DIVE, I was immediately reminded of a wonderful book I read in elementary school called ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS. There weren’t any magical elements in Scott O’Dell’s beautiful book, but it did tell the story of a young girl who must fend for herself on an island.

Another piece of my childhood that comes to mind is Fern Gully (the wonderful Disney movie from the ’90s). If you haven’t seen this animated film, then you MUST check it out. The best character is Batty, voiced by Robin Williams.

Where the hero’s journey of ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS meets the magic of Fern Gully…that’s where you’ll find DIVE.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I had just finished the first draft of SIGHTLESS, and I was taking a break from it while my beta readers critiqued it. I wanted to get to work on another book, but I didn’t have any ideas. So, of course, I turned to Pinterest. Here’s what I found:

The picture was so inspiring! The abandon with which he’s jumping, the gorgeous setting, the light pouring through a hole somewhere off camera…I fell in love, and DIVE was born.

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

THE MAGIC. Much of DIVE is devoted to the relationship between Kiro and Lwin (and how Kiro makes a place for her in his life and heart), but the climax of the novel involves a curious scene at the bottom of a water-filled cave…where Lwin and Kiro find something that might prove to be the key to saving Tan’s life.

AND THAT’S DIVE!

I’m passing the Blog Hop torch over to the newly agented Juliana L. Brandt, who’s working on a FANTASTIC dystopian YA, and Charlie Holmberg, who is going to knock your socks off with her tale of paper magic and heroism. They’ll have their “Next Big Thing” posts ready for you in a few days, but I recommend that you check out their blogs in the meantime. They’re both swell ladies with a LOT to say that’s worth reading. I’m also meeting them both for the first time in TEN DAYS so I’m SUPER excited.

Thanks for checking out MY NEXT BIG THING!

Lauren