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The Next Big Thing: My New Project

Thank you to Nicola Twrst for inviting me to participate in this blog chain. Nicola writes short stories and novels across various genres, including mystery, romance, and paranormal. Be sure to check her out at Nicola Trwst.com.

I’m not really ready to talk about My Next Big Thing because it’s still in the development stage, so I’m going to tell you about My Current Big Thing:

What is the working title of your book?
Paris On Less Than $10,000 a Day

Where did the idea come from for this book?
It’s a coming-of-age memoir based on the six years I spent modeling in Europe and Japan in the late 80s and early 90s.

What genre does your book fall under?
Memoir

How long did it take to write the first draft?
I wrote 100 pages while in my MFA program over the course of two years. I was too busy working, TAing, taking literature classes, and revising those 100 pages for my thesis to get beyond that. Once I graduated, I completed a 500-page draft in about six months. Then I spent the next five years revising it. It’s back down to about 250 pages now.

What actors would you use for a movie rendition of your book?

Carey Mulligan with a pixie and without the British accent. Otherwise Natalie Portman with a pixie. My french ex-boyfriend could play himself since he’s an actor, although he’s twenty years older now than when the story took place. Someone short, French, and in his late-30s.

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Former journalist Meghan Ward takes readers behind-the-scenes for a funny, brutally honest peek at the international high-fashion modeling industry when supermodels were refusing to get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.

Will it be self published or represented by an agency?
It is represented by Andy Ross of the Andy Ross Literary Agency.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
For years, when I told friends stories about my adventures modeling in Europe and Japan, they said, “You should write a book!” So I did.

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

In fiction I would say The Devil Wears Prada or Prep. In memoir, Melanie Gideon’s The Slippery Year comes to mind.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It’s a fun book, fast-paced and candid. I divulge the truth about what it’s like to be a fashion model—from the boredom and insecurity to how much money models make and whether they all have drug addictions and eating disorders. It’s also a travelogue of sorts. I spent seven years living abroad—traveling between Paris, London, Hamburg, Milan, and Tokyo, and the reader gets to experience each of those places from the POV of a young fashion model. How many books offer that opportunity?

Next week, please welcome the following writers as they add more links to the chain, and stay tuned as I add more throughout the week:

Sierra Godfrey writes stories about women who grow from the choices they face, and who always get the guy at the end. Unrepentantly sassy, she is a graphic designer in her spare time.

Kristen Lippert-Martin writes SF/F novels for young adults and middle grade readers. She received her MFA from Columbia University and is represented by Molly Jaffa, Folio Literary Management.

Lindsey Crittenden is the author of THE WATER WILL HOLD YOU: A SKEPTIC LEARNS TO PRAY and THE VIEW FROM BELOW: STORIES, as well as published personal essays, articles, and short stories. She lives in San Francisco and teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley Extension.

Nancy Davis Kho is a freelance writer in Oakland, CA whose work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Hippocampus Magazine, Skirt! Magazine, and The Morning News. She writes a music and humor blog about the years between being hip and breaking one at MidlifeMixtape.com.

Be sure to check out their work!

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