The Next Best Thing

Here is an interview I did about Singles’ Holiday for writers’ website The Next Best Thing, having been tagged by Joanne C Hillhouse – see her interview at http://jhohadli.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/the-next-best-thing-.   

Please enjoy!

Singles' Holiday

TNBT:  Where did the idea come from?

ES:  From my experiences as a tour leader with a UK singles’ tour operator.  While the characters are all from my imagination and the resort and company are also fictitious, I have been able to write convincingly about a singles’ holiday because I know how they operate, how people behave and the dynamics between them.  Too often singles’ holidays are portrayed as being for “Billy No-Mates”, but I know that singles’ holidays work and I wanted to show the one in my book in a positive light, which is what I hope I’ve done.  It’s very true to life.

TNBT:  What genre does it fall under?

ES: Fiction – chic-lit (although I hate that term!) – humour and semi-erotic!

TNBT:  What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

ES:  Hmm!  Well, the characters are English so I’m going to go with UK actors – Murray would be played by Peter Capaldi; Stewart by Peter Kay; Suzanne by Lisa Riley; Deano by Hugh Grant; Michael by Myron McKay; Natalie by Sheridan Smith; Frances by Brenda Blethyn and Eve by Emma Thompson.  The others I can’t make my mind up about.

TNBT:  What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

ES:  A group of complete strangers choose to go on holiday to the Caribbean and find out a lot about themselves as well as each other.

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

ES:  I don’t produce a complete manuscript, rather I write in sections – chapters – days of action – and edit each one separately and I don’t move on to the next one until I’m totally happy with the previous one.  All in all the book took fifteen months from start to finish.

TNBT:  Will the book be self-published or represented by an agency?

ES: Self published.  That’s the way forward.  It’s hard to promote yourself when you self-publish because you don’t have the backing of a publisher and all that that involves, but you don’t surrender control of your work either.  

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