Challenged

So, my friend Robin MacPherson tagged me with a Work In Progress (WIP) Challenge and although I am not where I’d like to be, here’s the scoop:

What is the title of your Work In Progress?

Posession (Greywalker #8)

Where did the idea for your WIP come from?

I’ve done a lot of stories about monsters in the series, but this time I really wanted to do one about ghosts, so the seed of the idea was to start with old-school spirit manifestations and write a story revolving around those, including a medium, a lot of ghosts, and imminent threat.

What genre does your WIP fall under?

Dark Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Detective (not Paranormal Romance–there’s not a lot of snogging here.)

Which actors would you chose to play the characters in a movie rendition?

Umm… no idea. I just don’t pay enough attention to actors to have any idea who’d be appropriate.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your WIP?

Harper Blaine is hired to discover if a client’s sister is possessed, but the patient’s manifestations are the tip of the iceberg in a case of angry ghosts roused from a century of slumber by a tunneling project that may unleash a catastrophe on Seattle’s waterfront.

Is your WIP due for publication or represented? (original question was “published or represented” but it makes no sense to me for a true Work In Progress to be already published.)

Possession is under contract to Roc (Penguin USA) for publication in August 2013.

How long did it take you to write? (I’m assuming to the current point in development, since this is a WIP, not a published book yet.)

The first draft is still in progress and due December 31. It will be done by then, even if I have to hide in a cave and eat bugs to make that happen.

What other works in your genre would you compare it to?

I’d compare it favorably to the work of Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris’s Harper Connelly books.

Which authors inspired you to write this WIP?

I’ve been reading a lot of Cornell Woolrich and Algernon Blackwood lately, as wells as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler–who’ve always been inspirations for these books. But in terms of contemporary authors, I’d say Daniel Marks, Mario Acevedo, and Cherie Priest.

What else might pique our interest in this WIP?

Are you a fan of detective stories? Do you like a bit of creepy stuff now and then? How ’bout crazy, scary history and the city of Seattle? Ferris wheels? Dead serial killers? Rampaging ghosts and haunted bars? This book’s got it all!

Tag three other authors and ask them to complete this challenge and post it to their blog or other social media/websites:

Laura Anne Gilman
Warren Hammond
Kari Sperring