Lynette Sofras: My Next Big Thing

I was thrilled to be tagged last week by the supremely talented Paula Martin to answer 10 questions about my next release which will be published next month.  To read about Paula's Next Big Thing, which sounds very exciting, you can visit Paula's blog - and I recommend you do!

Here is what I certainly hope will be MY next BIG thing:

What is the working title of your book?

Actually, I just referred to it as the Greek Story.  The name In Loving Hate (which is one of those oxymorons in Romeo and Juliet) didn't come until after I'd finished writing it. Anyone who has followed my posts will know how much I agonise and obsess over titles!  I'm struggling right now with with a title for my WIP...I feel a headache coming on just thinking about it.  Help!

Where did the idea come from for the book?

This was a snip of a dream I had about a young woman in a London street glancing up at a top window of her elegant family home in central London, because she sensed someone was watching her. She herself felt something of an outsider, having spent several years away from home and when she went to investigate who the stranger was, she received quite a considerable shock.  When I woke up, the whole story started sliding into place. 

What genre does your book fall under?

It's my first (but hopefully not my last) foray into romantic suspense.

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

Emilia Fox as Lyssa

Eduardo Verastegui as Alex

This is always so hard for me - but what fun!  When I started poking around on Google for ideas, I really started enjoying myself.  Lyssa needs to be beautiful enough to "pierce hearts" but with that aura of vulnerability to her.  I think actress Emilia Fox would certainly be able to do her justice!  Now I've never seen the work of the next three actors but they leapt off the screen at me and I just had to share them.  Alex Andrakis looks like this rather gorgeous guy, Eduardo Verastegui (though the equally gorgeous John Barrowman would probably do quite as well, if he could master the accent!)  But I also found two other important characters.  Nell looks like Selma Blair while Mark definitely looks something like Josh Hartnett.  I'll have to watch these actors in action.  Oh, but right from the start, when this story first popped into my head, I modelled Lyssa's mother, Dame Constance Culver on our own wonderful actress, Dame Maggie Smith, currently starring in Downton Abbey - but believe me, I had her earmarked long before that!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts! Is Alex offering Lyssa his heart, or trying to ensnare hers for more sinister reasons?  (Sorry,  I know that's two sentences but it's the publisher's tagline).

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

MuseItUp Publications is the publisher.

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

This is hard because I actually wrote this story a long time ago when I was living in Greece but then forgot about it.  I totally revamped it recently, which didn't take very long at all - perhaps two or three months.

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

Impossible to say.  Rather like Paula, I just don't compare books in that way.  Someone else would have to answer this.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

There's no doubt that some of the inspiration came from actual experience.  I wanted to write a story set in both Athens and London and with Greek and British characters showing the good and bad sides of both.  

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

I hope the glamorous and rather dangerous world of the extremely rich and powerful will intrigue readers.  These are people who know what they want and go out to get it at any cost.  And that the strong friendship between Lyssa and Nell and also between Lyssa and widower Alex's young son, will hold their interest throughout.  Lyssa finds herself plunged into an intrigue between bitter business rivals, Nell and Alex, which is so complex and tortuous that she almost begins to doubt her own sanity.  

Selma Blair as Nell

Josh Hartnett as Mark

Dame Maggie Smith as Dame Constance

Next Wednesday (October 10th) the writers tagged to tell you about their Next Big Thing are:
Mary L. Ball, Tara Fox Hall, Deborah Court, Kim Jackson and Gloria Harchar.  I hope you'll visit them all - I know I shall and I know they'll all be worth it..