That WIP meme...

I've been tagged by the fabulous Caitlin in the WIP meme that's going around. Now, I tend to play my cards pretty close to my chest when it comes to my writing, but I like to be a team player. So I'll share a thing or two about the newest project I've been toying around with, and hopefully my vagueness won't be too annoying, ha.

What is the working title of your book?
Err, yeah, I'm pretty terrible with titles. This one's just filed under TOWER for now, and fyi, there's no tower planned in the book. Yet. My last project had the working title FAIRWEATHER, and that never ended up having anything to do with anything. 

Where did the idea come from for the book? 
Sooo...I can't really say I've got the idea figured out yet. This one came more as a desire to do some fantasy worldbuilding, followed by lists of names I liked and thought went well together, which led to an initial setup. I've got some fun characters lined up, but right now I'm testing them out in my head and trying to plan what kind of torture I want to put them through. This is about the same order of creation I went through on my last book as well.

What genre does your book fall under?
Middle grade fantasy

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I'm too unfamiliar with child actors to cast my own books in my head, though sometimes I visualize the adult characters as looking like certain actors. Not for this one yet though, sorry!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
No plot = no synopsis. No fun, right? But I'm still waiting for the pieces in my brain to settle into a configuration that grabs me. This could take a while. 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? May we see an intro?
I've written one practice scene so far, and it's not the intro. I'm not sure how long it took me to write the first draft of my last project, because I dawdled and dawdled for ages on the first 30k, and then I finally realized OMG RACHEL THIS DREAM IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN IF YOU DON'T GET SERIOUS and set a goal of writing 1k per day until it was finished (sound familiar?), and that took about 3-4 months. And yes, the first draft was way too long.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
See my previous post re: Leonora Carrington and her demented fairytale paintings...it's got me thinking that I'd like to try writing a sort of bizarro dark fantasy at some point.  

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
Hmm, ask me again in a few months and I might have an answer. I'll leave you with this image instead: