The World Blog Tour

A huge thanks to author Stephen Brayton for including me in the world blog tour. His post can be found here. Stephen is author of Night Shadows:

Here are the four questions I was asked to answer for the tour:

1)What am I working on?

I am currently working on a novel about the Zombie Apocalypse.

 

2)How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I almost cringe when I say I am writing a Zombie novel because they are so popular. I am not one to jump on any bandwagon, and yet, I find myself writing a zombie novel.

My novel differs from most of the zombie novels and books I have encountered in three ways.

a) It’s part of a series and the series isn’t about zombies. It’s about apocalypses in general. The idea was to create a consistent setting and cast of characters and then compare how they do in various different apocalypse scenarios. This time its zombies, but next time it will be something else, a plague, a supervolcano, who knows.

b) Have you watched the show The Colony? It’s a reality show that puts a “cross section” of America into a post apocalyptic world to see how they would do. Their cross section includes some highly talented people including electrical engineers, handymen and martial arts experts. Where are the financial analysts, bankers, and stay at home moms?

The same problem exist with most zombie novels. The vast majority of America is not ready. How will they adapt and change? That is the focus of my novel. There are no heros. A few characters have survival skills. Most do not. Or they don’t think they do. They will discover, as the novel goes on, that some skills will translate into a post apocalyptic world but many will not. My story is about how ordinary people must learn to live in a very different world.

c) How does the zombie apocalypse get started anyway? Most novels and movies gloss over this point. They do this by jumping into the action and distracting the reader from asking hard questions. How do shambling beasts overtake the entire population? My novel has a timeline that goes from patient zero, the first zombie to the full blown apocalypse.

 

3)Why do I write what I do?

I write the stories that live in my head. I don’t have much choice about it sometimes. I am a lifelong day dreamer. I will catch myself dreaming a new story. I will let it go, let it grow in my mind until the idea just has to be written.

That said, I like characters who are quirky or different. I am really drawn to people who don’t fit in. The characters in my zombie novel are an eclectic group. Sometime they have nothing in common, or are even at odds with each other. When a national guardsman is called up to active duty, his conservative wife will be forced to rely on the help of the lesbian couple next door to survive. Can they learn to get along? We will see.

 

4)How does my writing process work?

I have heard it said that there are two kinds of writers, those who write by the seat of their pants and those who outline. I hate that saying because I do neither.

I am a storyboarder. I lay out my novels in a fluid, visual way. Scrivener is my favorite program to assist with this. I often start only knowing the main climax. One strong emotional image or scene is enough seed for an entire novel. I ponder the scene. Who is there? How did they get there? Why? Slowly I answer these questions and that suggests more scene. Each scene raises new questions that must be answered and the work continues.

I do this until I have the whole story fleshed out in my head. Then I write it all down. Its that simple.

Coming next week:

The World Blog Tour moves on to these two places:

A. R. Miller

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A.R. Miller is best known for her adult, contemporary fantasy series, Fey Creations. In the past, her short stories ranged from YA to erotica, all with supernatural overtones.

When she’s not finding ways to torture characters and drive readers crazy with cliffhanger endings, her life consists of mundane homeowner tasks, keeping up to date with the beauty community, helping out behind the scenes at the local library and reading. She also enjoys connecting with other readers and writers across the interwebs.

She lives in Central Iowa with her husband and feline companion.

 

http://feycreations.com

armiller@feycreations.com

 C. Deanne Rowe

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C. Deanne Rowe was born and raised in Southern Oklahoma. She has lived in Texas, Nebraska and Iowa, settling in Iowa after she attended Oklahoma State University and married her high school sweetheart.

Writing became a passion as she was growing up beginning with poetry and later short stories. Her dream of becoming a published author was realized later in life, but was as powerful of a dream then as when she was younger.

Her fondness for Cowboys was realized when she became the author of her first book Cowboy Temptation ~ Colt and Cassy, the first in her Cowboy Temptation Series. She is also known as one of The Stiletto Girls, which have published anthologies in The Stiletto Series. Her latest book In the Heart of Valley is also available.

www.cdeannerowe.com | cdeanne@cdeannerowe.com

Cheryl Corbin

Cheryl Corbin writes adventures set in other worlds, aka science fiction and fantasy stories. She lives in Iowa and works with her writing partner, Yuki, a Bichon Frise, though Yuki spends more time sleeping than contributing to the story in progress. You can find Cheryl at www.cherylcorbin.com

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