It's time to post about my writing progress! A day late! Did I mention I moved last week? Are you tired of hearing about that yet?
Progress: 0 words written
Okay, end of post.
....
Just kidding. Hahaha, aren't I funny?
This last week has been super duper busy. I could go into the gory details, but essentially moving took a lot longer than I thought, and I am still unpacking vital rooms like the bathroom. Most of the other rooms are finished, or close enough, but between unpacking, feeling like death warmed over, and having an extremely needy baby who hasn't adjusted to his new house yet, I haven't gotten a single word written.
I'd considered writing one word before I wrote this post, but that just felt more pathetic than no words, for some reason.
Instead of talking about my lack of progress, I am instead going to do the Next Big Thing bloghop. The lovely Rena tagged all of us in the Birth of a Novel blog chain. So here it goes!
1. What is the working title
of your book?
It was "When Zombies Attack" way back when I first had the idea, but it's currently "Zombie Road Trip". The title pretty much says it all. It's a road trip, and there's zombies.
2. Where did the idea come
from for the book?
I honestly dreamed it.
I had a dream that my friends and I were at Dragon*Con when zombies started to attack. We made witty banter while fighting our way through hordes of undead. Obviously the characters aren't fill ins for my friends and I, but the opening scenes are pretty much the same.
Of course, the dream didn't hand me much else. It took a long time, and a lot of false starts, to come up with a solid plot. That's the thing about book ideas that come to you via dreams. You still have to do a lot of leg work.
3. What genre does your book
fall under?
Oh genre, you fickle mistress. I would say dark urban fantasy. I've struggled with genre because normally zombies land you straight into horror, but this book is not horror. However, it doesn't really resemble most of what is current in urban fantasy, but it's the closest thing.
4. Which actors would you
choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Hmmm...for the main character Lilah I would say Anne Hathaway. She does plucky, slightly clumsy girl really well without making herself seem like a total idiot.
For the love interest Rowan, Sung Kang is a really good fit.
For the villain, Donald Trump. Yes. I said it. Bad hair piece and all.
5. What is the one-sentence
synopsis of your book?
When a zombie
outbreak starts chewing on the population, Lilah Reynolds travels to quirky
road side attractions to set up anti-zombie ritual sites, but discovers along
the way her best friend is in league with the evil necromancers.
The sentence isn't polished yet, because it's changed since I've started writing, but that's the general idea.
6. How long did it take you
to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The first draft of the first incarnation only took about a month to write. I'd had the dream, and sat down to write out the first few scenes so I wouldn't forget it. 30,000 words later I realized I had a book on my hands. I plotted it out, and wrote the rest.
It was terrible. I revised and started rewriting it about a year ago. That draft didn't work either. Early this year I started the current version of the book. I'm about halfway through the "first" draft, and things are moving along nicely. Finally.
7. What other books would you
compare this story to within your genre?
I haven't read it yet, but I did notice that Nancy Holzner's Deadtown has zombies and undead creatures front and center. There's also a ton of zombies in other supernatural books, too many to list here. There's also a ton of general zombie apocalypse books.
The movie Zombieland is pretty close to describing the book's tone and feel, so we're going with that.
8. Who or What inspired you
to write this book?
My love for apocalypse novels coupled with my interest in all things geeky.
9. What else about your book
might pique the reader’s interest?
Let's see...the characters travel to awesome places like World's Largest Ball of Twine, there's lots of references to geeky things like Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, and last but not least, House Buffaloes are mentioned. A lot.
