Usually I hate talking about my manuscript because I don't really know what I should say, something that the Next Big Blog Blog Challenge helped me with. All I had to do was answer 10 questions about my manuscript and choose 5 bloggers to challenge. Easy and fun!

I was tagged by the fantastic Karen De Lang who is writing a great sounding story about dragons! I love dragons.

1. What is the title of your book / WIP?

DWARFED, which also makes a pretty good metaphor for my WIP!

Young adult contemporary. I consider it a coming of age story, but with each new round of edits, it seems like it keeps steadily drifting towards becoming a teen romance novel.

Where did the idea of this book come from?

Ready to be really surprised? I don’t think that DWARFED would have even been inspired without the television series, Bones. The Girl in Suite 2103 guest-starred Danny Woodburn. One of the comments Brennen makes to Woodburn’s character about Dwarfs being the power behind the thrown started the wheels turning. An latter episode where the characters of Gordon Gordon and Angela quote Shakespeare provided additional inspiration. I started officially moving Dwarfed out of my head and onto paper during NANOWRIMO 2009, which just happens to be when Bones aired an episode investigating the murder of a dwarf, which I took as a sign from the universe that I was on the right path.

The Taylor Swift song, Fearless, provided additional inspiration.

I added the agriculture angle because that’s the world I know and love.

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

I honestly don’t know. Even though I have a pretty good mental impression of what my characters look like, I haven’t seen any actors that resemble them. The two exceptions to this would be Grace’s Uncle Ray Bob who bears a striking resemblance to Michael Cain. Grace also has a drama teacher who I based heavily on Val Kilmer when he played in The Saint. I wouldn’t object if Gerard Butler was cast in any of the roles.

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

I’m supposed to know what I’m writing about? Why?Here’s the best I can come up with at the moment.

Grace’s entire world gets turned on its ear when her parents pull her out of the Renaissance world she’s always known, forcing her to learn how to survive in a new and very scary world.

6. Is your book published or represented?

Not yet. I’m hoping to start pitching it to agents starting the beginning of September.

7. How long did it take you to write it?

Grace moved into my head during the spring of 2009. I started researching and formulating ideas that summer, and started the actual writing process November 2009. I’ve been plugging away with it in fits and starts ever since.

8. What other books in your genre would you compare it to?

Oh boy, I’m going to go with anything by Sarah Dessen (boy does that sound conceited, I’m not nearly the writer that Dessen is)Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly.

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?

Every single one of these authors inspires me in a different way. In addition to the three listed above, I’m going with

· Robin McKinley (stunning prose)

· Rick Riordan (engaging characters, research)

· C.S. Lewis (words can’t express how important Lewis is to my current dream to be an author)

· Louis L ‘aMour (realisam)

· Poe (his stories make me shiver)

· George Lucas (the man came up with the idea of Willow, ‘nuff said)

10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book.

Grace grew up traveling the Renaissance Faire circuit. One of the side effects of her upbringing and spending so much time promoting the past that when she’s stressed or feeling passionate she tends to lapse into Shakespearean English.

Grace has red hair, a freckled face, and dreams of becoming an illusionist. She’s stubborn, and passionate, and clever. She’s sixteen years old, and has reached her full height of 4’2”, the result of a genetic condition called Achodroplastic dwarfism. While Grace might be small, she makes If Grace had a superpower it would be the ability to remove the sensation of sadness from others, absorbing it into herself.

The Five Awesome Fiction Authors I'm Tagging Include: