{"id":4044,"date":"2012-09-12T00:01:16","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T05:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044"},"modified":"2012-09-10T16:41:23","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T21:41:23","slug":"the-next-big-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044","title":{"rendered":"The Next Big Thing!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week fellow loveahappyending.com<\/a> author, Mandy Baggot<\/a>, tagged me in her post The Next Big Thing<\/strong><\/em> and this week it’s my turn! So, I answer ten questions about my Work in Progress\/Current release and tag five other writers to tell you about their latest work next Wednesday! Woo hoo! Sounds like fun, eh?<\/p>\n

What is the (working) title of your book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
My novel’s cover created by Aidana WillowRaven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since mine is my current release, it\u2019s no longer a working title. Now known as A Shadow in the Past, its working title for a very long time was Sarah\u2019s Gift.<\/p>\n

Where did the idea come from for the book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a keen reader of the Scottish newspapers since my first trip to my father\u2019s homeland in 1993. I saw an article in the Press & Journal that caught my attention. But even before that, I was given a photograph of my grandfather and his first wife presumably on their wedding day and bingo, everything came together and I wrote a short story which I later expanded to a novel.<\/p>\n

What genre does your book fall under?<\/strong><\/p>\n

YA Crossover, although historical romance would also work since the majority of my book is set in 1886.<\/p>\n

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without a doubt, they would have to be Scottish so I would have to \u00a0Shirley Henderson who played Isobel Sutherland in Hamish MacBeth as Sarah and John Hannah of Rebus and earlier MacCallum fame as Robert.<\/p>\n

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a contemporary teen is transported back through time to the Victorian era, she becomes A Shadow in the Past.<\/em><\/p>\n

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Neither. I\u2019m under contract with 4RV Publishing<\/a> for this novel after pitching to them at the MuseItUp Online conference last October. My novel launches on Saturday, September 15 at the Kansas Book Festival.<\/p>\n

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s hard to say. I\u2019m thinking 6 months to a year but it was 4-5 years ago now. Before that it started out as a short story. I was working full-time in addition to writing so had to steal moments to write.<\/p>\n

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is going to sound lame but I\u2019m not sure how many other YA Crossover novels that involve time travel with romantic elements are out there. Except my heroine is only nineteen, I would have to say the closest would be the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I recently met Canadian author, Y.S. Lee<\/a>, who writes The Agency series YA novels set in Victorian London so perhaps my book could be compared to her novels?<\/p>\n

I really don’t like making comparisons like this because I’m an emerging writer and some people might think it presumptuous of me to think that I’m on the same plateau as these other authors.<\/p>\n

Who or What inspired you to write this book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had recently started reading the Outlander Series and with it being set in Scotland I was immediately hooked. Then the romance and the time-travel aspect took over and I thought I could write a time-travel romance.<\/p>\n

What else about your book might pique the reader\u2019s interest?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Egads! I don\u2019t want to put spoilers in here, otherwise people won\u2019t buy it. So can I leave it at it\u2019s the first in a series? There are lots of plot twists throughout the story.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tagged the following authors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barbara Phinney<\/a><\/p>\n

Janice Horton<\/a><\/p>\n

Audrey Hawkins (writing as Joanna Lambert)<\/a><\/p>\n

Darlene Jones<\/a><\/p>\n

Gina Dickerson<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week fellow loveahappyending.com author, Mandy Baggot, tagged me in her post The Next Big Thing and this week it’s my turn! So, I answer ten questions about my Work in Progress\/Current release and tag five other writers to tell you about their latest work next Wednesday! Woo hoo! Sounds like fun, eh? What is … Continue reading The Next Big Thing!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,25,13,27,6,15,21,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","category-awards","category-interviews","category-novel-covers","category-novels","category-publishing","category-reading","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Next Big Thing! - Celtic Connexions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Next Big Thing! - Celtic Connexions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week fellow loveahappyending.com author, Mandy Baggot, tagged me in her post The Next Big Thing and this week it’s my turn! So, I answer ten questions about my Work in Progress\/Current release and tag five other writers to tell you about their latest work next Wednesday! Woo hoo! Sounds like fun, eh? What is … Continue reading The Next Big Thing! →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Celtic Connexions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-12T05:01:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Melanie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Melanie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Melanie\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612\"},\"headline\":\"The Next Big Thing!\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-12T05:01:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044\"},\"wordCount\":634,\"commentCount\":14,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Authors\",\"Awards\",\"Interviews\",\"Novel covers\",\"Novels\",\"Publishing\",\"Reading\",\"Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044\",\"name\":\"The Next Big Thing! - Celtic Connexions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-12T05:01:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/01\\\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?p=4044#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Next Big Thing!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/\",\"name\":\"Celtic Connexions\",\"description\":\"My Scottish roots and writing by Melanie Robertson-King\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612\",\"name\":\"Melanie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Melanie\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melanierobertson-king.com\\\/wp02\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Next Big Thing! - Celtic Connexions","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Next Big Thing! - Celtic Connexions","og_description":"Last week fellow loveahappyending.com author, Mandy Baggot, tagged me in her post The Next Big Thing and this week it’s my turn! So, I answer ten questions about my Work in Progress\/Current release and tag five other writers to tell you about their latest work next Wednesday! Woo hoo! Sounds like fun, eh? What is … Continue reading The Next Big Thing! →","og_url":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044","og_site_name":"Celtic Connexions","article_published_time":"2012-09-12T05:01:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Melanie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Melanie","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044"},"author":{"name":"Melanie","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#\/schema\/person\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612"},"headline":"The Next Big Thing!","datePublished":"2012-09-12T05:01:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044"},"wordCount":634,"commentCount":14,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg","articleSection":["Authors","Awards","Interviews","Novel covers","Novels","Publishing","Reading","Writing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044","url":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044","name":"The Next Big Thing! - Celtic Connexions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg","datePublished":"2012-09-12T05:01:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#\/schema\/person\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/A-Shadow-in-the-Past-by-Melanie-Robertson-King-194x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=4044#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Big Thing!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#website","url":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/","name":"Celtic Connexions","description":"My Scottish roots and writing by Melanie Robertson-King","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/#\/schema\/person\/fc1dc45dd87a15ec9c0044a4fe9cd612","name":"Melanie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac3ad22152d09e4a7bd2cb3bae125e6661ce011f61dfc62b8aaa5f8f911edff9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Melanie"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com"],"url":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?author=2"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NmRa-13e","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4044"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4127,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044\/revisions\/4127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}