Big Idea Category
The Big Idea: Jen Karner
Posted on June 22, 2021 1 Comment
Events can change you — and in her novel Cinders of Yesterday, author Jen Karner posits that this change can go more than just skin deep. In this Big Idea, Karner explores how we react to these events, and how we carry their marks moving forward. JEN KARNER: Gaslighting is insidious. It’s worse when it […]
The Big Idea: India Holton
Posted on June 17, 2021 5 Comments
The women of The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels have a most unusual talent — one that their society most decidedly does not approve of. Author India Holton raises the roof on this unusual ability… and why it was the one she chose for her cast of characters to have and use. INDIA HOLTON: The […]
The Big Idea: Christopher Swiedler
Posted on June 15, 2021 11 Comments
Author Christopher Swielder takes a look at what divides not only his characters, but people in our society in his Big Idea for his newest novel, The Orpheus Plot. Read all about how our problems today aren’t so different from a futuristic-space society’s. CHRISTOPHER SWIEDLER: It recently occurred to me that I wrote most of The […]
The Big Idea: Brandie June
Posted on June 11, 2021 2 Comments
Ah, yes, a damsel in distress. Or, perhaps, a con artist in distress? Author Brandie June has taken a classic we all know and love, and spun it on its head in her newest novel, Gold Spun. BRANDIE JUNE: Fairytales are simple. The bad guys are wicked. We know them by their cruel sneers and ugly faces. […]
The Big Idea: Stuart Jaffe
Posted on June 10, 2021 5 Comments
If you want proof that good ideas — indeed, big ideas — can come from anywhere, well, Stuart Jaffe’s got you covered with his tale of how his latest novel, The Water Blade, came into being. STUART JAFFE: Like most of my books, the Big Idea for The Water Blade (indeed, for the entire trilogy […]
The Big Idea: Benjamin Rosenbaum
Posted on June 9, 2021 3 Comments
For The Unraveling, author Benjamin Rosenbaum discovered in the writing of the novel that the tale he wanted to tell was not necessarily the tale he was then telling — and to tell the true tale, someone else in the story would have to step up. BENJAMIN ROSENBAUM: The Unraveling didn’t begin as The Unraveling. […]
The Big Idea: Stephen Aryan
Posted on June 8, 2021 4 Comments
Author Stephen Aryan has taken extra care in his newest novel, The Coward, to bring you a realistic main character. Follow along in his Big Idea as he tells us of the research that went into crafting a hero who perhaps isn’t as heroic as everyone thinks he is. STEPHEN ARYAN: I’ve been reading fantasy novels […]
The Big Idea: Craig Alanson
Posted on June 7, 2021 8 Comments
It is, in simplest terms, our humanity which makes us human. But what’s in our humanity that makes it tick? New York Times best-selling author Craig Alanson gets into that, in his Big Idea for the latest novel in his Expeditionary Force series, Breakaway. CRAIG ALANSON: What’s funny about an alien invasion? The notion that we […]
The Big Idea: Nancy Jane Moore
Posted on June 4, 2021 2 Comments
Author Nancy Jane Moore takes us into her past in her Big Idea, to explain how a favorite (if not outdated) book of hers inspired her new novel, For the Good of the Realm. NANCY JANE MOORE: For the Good of the Realm is The Three Musketeers with swordswomen and witches. While it doesn’t follow […]
The Big Idea: Lavie Tidhar
Posted on June 3, 2021 5 Comments
Author Lavie Tidhar is on a mission to bring you the best science fiction in the world — the whole world, not just parts of it. This is a task which takes some doing, as Tidhar explains today, telling you of the painstaking work it took to accumulate, translate, and pitch the collection that is […]
The Big Idea: Veronica G. Henry
Posted on June 2, 2021 2 Comments
Behind every good villain is a great henchman. Yet, we never seem to hear much about these evil sidekicks. Author Veronica G. Henry decided to tackle this problem herself in her newest novel, Bacchanal. Discover what being a villain’s minion is all about in her Big Idea. VERONICA G. HENRY: Heroes? Every book, film, and fireside […]
The Big Idea: A. C. Wise
Posted on June 1, 2021 3 Comments
Getting older doesn’t have to mean you can’t go on adventures like all the youngsters. This is certainly the case in A. C. Wise’s newest novel, Wendy, Darling. Grab your bag of pixie dust and come along as she tells you all about how becoming an grown-up doesn’t have to mark the end of your adventures. […]
The Big Idea: Ryk E. Spoor
Posted on May 28, 2021 7 Comments
Actions, as they say, have consequences. For Shadows of Hyperion, author Ryk E. Spoor gives us evidence of how true this saying really is, both for authors in their work, and for the characters and universes they create. RYK E. SPOOR: One of the major background events in the Arenaverse series, going all the way […]
The Big Idea: Christian Klaver
Posted on May 27, 2021 6 Comments
In today’s Big Idea, author Christian Klaver invites us to take a look into the magical world he created for his book-loving daughter. Come along as he explains the inspiration behind Shadows Over London. CHRISTIAN KLAVER: The Big Idea: We needed more Narnia. Shadows Over London was born out of reading to my daughter before bedtime. […]
The Big Idea: David Ebenbach
Posted on May 26, 2021 1 Comment
Blast off as author David Ebenbach embarks on his Big Idea by stressing one concept that helped him write How to Mars — It involves characters, and ideas, and the relative importance of each. DAVID EBENBACH: Can I admit that ideas make me nervous? Especially big ones? This isn’t to say that my fiction avoids ideas—my […]
The Big Idea: Sammy H. K. Smith
Posted on May 25, 2021
There’s some heavy stuff going on in Sammy H.K. Smith’s Big Idea for her novel Anna, and while it’s a lot to take in, Smith explains how this particular journey is critical for her novel, and the characters within. (Content warning for issues of sexual and mental abuse) SAMMY H. K. SMITH: It was another […]
The Big Idea: Alex Zohar
Posted on May 18, 2021
Is there such a thing as too much progress? Sometimes we are more preoccupied with the question of “if” we can do something, we don’t think about if we “should”. Such is the case in Emotional Robots: A Question of Existence, when the very robots that replace us may find themselves replaced. Follow along in co-author and […]
The Big Idea: L. R. Braden
Posted on May 14, 2021
Though individuality is what makes us great, sometimes you have to find common ground to bring everyone together. Read along in L.R. Braden’s Big Idea, where she tells us how this idea of bringing wildly different groups together took shape in her newest novel, Of Mettle & Magic. L. R. BRADEN: Fear drives people to do […]
The Big Idea: Jeff Noon
Posted on May 11, 2021 5 Comments
The famous saying is that “life is like a bunch of chocolates.” In author Jeff Noon’s case, it’s more like a deck of cards, and for the same reason: You never know what you’re going to get. Follow along as Noon tells you how total chance helped him write his newest novel, Within Without. JEFF […]
The Big Idea: Griffin Barber
Posted on May 7, 2021 2 Comments
The difference between a tyrant and a king is found in if he is a ruler or a leader. But what makes a leader? Author Griffin Barber begins to answer this question in his Big Idea. Follow along as he tells you of his newest tome, 1637: The Peacock Throne, and how to write a […]
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