THE NEXT BIG THING

Russ Woods, this is an infernal game of tag you've tagged me in, requiring a person to tag it perpetually forward and the like. But I am a good sport, and I will play. I've got something, a recent project, I'd like to say somethings about anyway. (That's how this works for the uninitiated: it's a meme floating around presently wherein you talk about something you've been writing or have recently written.) Here's mine:

WHAT IS THE WORKING TITLE OF THE BOOK?

Paltry Little Circumstances

WHERE DID THE IDEA COME FROM FOR THE BOOK?

Lots of things, Nietzsche for one (got the title from an aphorism of his in Human, All Too Human). Likewise, experiences I was having with my own mental health and other coming-of-age type stuff of my early twenties. Also, a good bit of it deals with my frustration at working as a temp for a major Chicago area bank, MB Financial. Not that I consider MB particularly bad by itself, only inasmuch as it's a microcosm of the wider system of  corporate culture. And really, kind of like David Foster Wallace hits on in a number of different ways in  The Pale King, I was more struck by the tedium of the work I did, and the monotony of the corporate day-to-day. You had to find ways to escape boredom or analyze your boredom intensely. I found myself doing both at various intervals.

WHAT GENRE DOES YOUR BOOK FALL UNDER?

I'm trying to do something humorous with this story. I'm comfortable with the idea that it would be considered a humor novel with serious elements / themes, or not.

WHAT ACTORS WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY THE PART OF YOUR CHARACTERS IN A MOVIE RENDITION?

EEErgh. I dunno. Daniel Day-Lewis as every character, maybe?

WHAT IS THE ONE SENTENCE SYNOPSIS OF YOUR BOOK?

The story of a man, his guardian angel, and the man's cat.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE MANUSCRIPT?

A little over a year.

WHO OR WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THIS BOOK?

As I alluded earlier, it came about sort of organically. Weird developments in my life and my mental health made me want to ruminate a little less and maybe project some of what I was feeling on the outside world. A dysfunctional guardian angel, friends and family who mean well, a cat that could somehow solve everything, and the forces that be, that be pretty constantly.

WHAT ELSE ABOUT YOUR BOOK MIGHT PIQUE THE READER’S INTEREST?

There are a lot of fight scenes? I really wanted to have a superhero/action star quality to the action and the protagonist, Herman Wellesby.

WILL YOUR BOOK BE SELF-PUBLISHED OR REPRESENTED BY AN AGENCY?

I like to think someone will find it interesting enough to pick it up for publication, but I'm very amenable to the idea of self-publishing. Why the heck not, eh?

WHAT WRITERS YOU HAVE TAGGED FOR NEXT WEEK:

Thomas Simmons
Mason Johnson
Josh Denslow
Faith Gardner
Alexander J. Allison
Matthew Burnside