The Next Big Thing

Suspense author Jeremy Bates was kind enough to tag me for participation in this freeze-tag style blog hop that’s going around Authorville, which works like this: if you get tagged (see who I’ve tagged at the bottom of this post), just copy the following ten questions about your current work in progress and answer them over on your own blog, and then pay it forward by tagging five more authors by linking their blogs or websites at the bottom of your post and e-mailing them to let them know they’re it.

My own WIP is, as you most likely know already if you’ve been here any amount of time, Dominion of the Damned, of which I’ve got about fifteen chapters left to put a final polish on before releasing it into the wild. Without further ado…

THE TEN QUESTIONS:

1. What is the working title of your book?

Dominion of the Damned is the official title. If I had a working title at any point, it was probably at the very beginning when it was just “Untitled vampires vs. zombies novel.”

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

I used to sort of joke that I really wanted to see a vampires vs. zombies movie (except I wasn’t at all joking) and I couldn’t believe that there weren’t any out there. Then it occurred to me that I could write one. And as I thought about what that would look like, the plot and premise just kind of formed themselves.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

That’s a tough one. There are definitely horror elements, along with action and post-apocalyptic survival, but also character drama and a healthy dose of romance. I just lump it all under paranormal urban fantasy.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

For the male lead, this guy:

That would be Colin O’Donoghue, who has been playing Alek Konstantin in my head since I saw him in The Rite, way before he became the new Captain Hook.

Summer Glau is who I tend to imagine as my female protagonist, Hannah Jordan. For some reason, it’s just really easy to picture her knowing how to handle guns and kick ass. But she’s such a petite and fragile ballerina, I can’t imagine why…

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

The day the dead rose, the Undead rose to the challenge.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I started it in November 2009 as a NaNoWriMo project, and got about 10,000 words into it before Life Happened in a big way and derailed me both from finishing ‘WriMo and from writing in general for about a year and a half. I finally climbed back on the horse in March 2011, when I threw out everything I’d already written and started over on it from the beginning, and finished that draft mid-November of last year. I’ve been revising and polishing since then.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Well, this ain’t no Twilight. It’s closer to The Walking Dead with vampires added to the mix, although that’s a TV show, not a book. Unless you count the graphic novels, which you should, because graphic novels definitely count, but I haven’t read them, so….

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

There’s not any particular Who or What. I think it’s just the fact that I’ve been a fan of both zombie movies and vampires for a very long time, and as much as I’ve poured into my brain from both of those sub-genres, something like this was bound to leak out eventually.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

My zombies are pretty much the basic Romero-esque version. I did try to put a spin on my vampires that I haven’t seen done elsewhere–what they are, where they came from, what makes up their nature. Also, I think if you’re a fan of Joss Whedon, you’ll enjoy this, and my books in general. Not that I’m comparing myself to The Great Purple One, but his shows have influenced me heavily, and that shows up in my writing. See also: Jim Butcher, Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin.