Big Idea Category
The Big Idea: Matthew Hughes
Posted on August 5, 2021 9 Comments
Good things always have to come to an end. Or do they? Author Matthew Hughes is determined not to let the good name of Jack Vance and his fantastical worlds end. Follow along in his Big Idea as he tells us about his newest novel under the Paladins of Vance series, Barbarians of the Beyond. MATTHEW […]
The Big Idea: Nicole Willson
Posted on August 3, 2021 Leave a Comment
Author Nicole Willson, who has been a lifelong horror fan, gives us a little backstory on how she came up with the idea for her newest novel… or rather, the backstory on how she realized she was having an idea for Tidepool. NICOLE WILLSON: My first rule of developing novel ideas: Realize that you’re having […]
The Big Idea: Brad Parks
Posted on July 29, 2021 7 Comments
Sometimes the Big Idea of one’s book is… well. Not something that you would contemplate in real life, but might make an intriguing premise for one’s novel. Brad Parks knows a little bit about this, as it relates to his newest work, aptly entitled Unthinkable. BRAD PARKS: I love my wife very much. So, naturally, […]
The Big Idea: Greg Van Eekhout
Posted on July 27, 2021 8 Comments
There’s a special time in everybody’s life, and by “special” we mean “really confusing and also seriously what the heck is going on?” It’s that special time that Greg Van Eekhout covers in his novel Weird Kid, and along the way he gets into why being a weird kid is, kinda, sometimes, awesome. GREG VAN […]
The Big Idea: Nicholas Bowling
Posted on July 22, 2021 8 Comments
Open your chakras and come along in author Nicholas Bowling’s Big Idea, as he tells you of his journey for happiness. Or at least, his journey to writing his new novel, The Follower. NICHOLAS BOWLING: The Big Idea for The Follower started out as (and perhaps still is) a pretty stupid joke. There was a […]
The Big Idea: Catherynne M. Valente
Posted on July 20, 2021 9 Comments
Humans are garbage. Or perhaps, as author Catherynne M. Valente has it, it’s more accurate to say that the world that people live in is actual garbage. Come along in her Big Idea as she tells you all about Garbagetown, the not-so-trashy setting for her newest novel, The Past Is Red. CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE: Wonderful […]
The Big Idea: Dan Rice
Posted on July 19, 2021 4 Comments
In author Dan Rice’s Big Idea, he shows us a world beyond our own, alongside a world that happens to be our own. How is this possible? Follow along as he tells us a bit about his inspiration for his debut novel, Dragons Walk Among Us. DAN RICE: Is there a world before our eyes […]
The Big Idea: Nicole Kornher-Stace
Posted on July 15, 2021 4 Comments
They say you should always know your audience, but in author Nicole Kornher-Stace’s case, she took this saying literally. Follow along in her Big Idea as she tells you about who she wrote Jillian VS Parasite Planet for, and why. NICOLE KORNHER-STACE: Since approximately five minutes after I started publishing, my mom has been telling me I should […]
The Big Idea: Ada Hoffman
Posted on July 14, 2021 2 Comments
In the face of adversity, it’s easy to think everyone is going to turn on each other. Author Ada Hoffman shows us that the opposite might also true, in the Big Idea for her newest novel, The Fallen. ADA HOFFMAN: When I wrote The Outside I had the luxury of writing an apocalypse. Cosmic horrors […]
The Big Idea: Ryan Van Loan
Posted on July 13, 2021
You know what they say about power, right? So does Ryan Van Loan, and for his novel The Justice in Revenge, he looks at the famous saying, and tries to seek the truth of it. RYAN VAN LOAN: My Big Idea began with that old saw: “power corrupts”. The actual quote is “power tends to […]
The Big Idea: Jennifer Estep
Posted on July 9, 2021 8 Comments
So you’ve created a world for a book series, and the series… ends. What becomes of the world and the characters in it? Can you go back? How do you go back? And why? Lots of questions, which author Jennifer Estep is tackling in this Big Idea for her new novel Capture the Crown. JENNIFER […]
The Big Idea: Jason Fischer
Posted on July 8, 2021 1 Comment
Author Jason Fischer gives us a look at the first installment of the Books Of Before & Now series in today’s Big Idea. Come along as he tells you of the epic journey Papa Lucy & The Boneman went on before becoming a published novel. JASON FISCHER: Can a homage become its own unique work? Papa Lucy […]
The Big Idea: Sarah Henning
Posted on July 7, 2021
Author Sarah Henning has returned to the Big Idea, to subvert your classic fairytale expectations and take them for a spin in the second book of her Kingdoms of Sand and Sky series, The Queen Will Betray You. SARAH HENNING: This time last year, I wrote a post about the Big Idea behind The Princess Will Save […]
The Big Idea: Robert V. S. Redick
Posted on July 6, 2021 1 Comment
Wind your way towards Sidewinders, the second installment in Robert V. S. Redick’s Fire Sacrament trilogy. Follow along in his Big Idea as he tells you of the genius that went into creating this novel. ROBERT V. S. REDICK: On the last page of my epic fantasy Master Assassins, everyone is laughing. Everyone who isn’t dead, that […]
The Big Idea: E. J. Mellow
Posted on July 1, 2021
“Appearances can be deceiving.” In author E. J. Mellow’s Big Idea, she tells us a bit about how she plays off this phrase in her newest novel, Song of the Forever Rains. E. J. MELLOW: Much like a mythological beast, I tend to believe big ideas have a head and a heart and both better […]
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 […]
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