Screw what anyone thinks, If you love the story you’ve written, or are writing, then you have gold. Don’t sit there and check your royalty reports every two hours, because you know what… It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t change one thing.
Donald Morrison – 10 October 2013
The Back Flap
Rabid Lands is a zombie story written from the perspective of small animals, namely rodents, using an advanced form of rabies as the pathogen. From the moment you experience the first infected through the eyes of a rat named Maya and two guinea pigs named Chuck and Charlie, you will be transported into a world where the forest has been becoming increasingly full of the rabid, flesh hungry husks of what was once it’s inhabitants. As they journey the woods, fighting off crazed, bloodlust driven animals, they will have to conquer their fears of the forest around and the anger that dwells inside them, working together and forming new bonds. They have to make it to the other side of the woods and put a stop to the source of this infection before it’s too late, or the woods they know will be torn apart in a rabid frenzy…
About the book
When did you start writing the book?
I began writing Rabid Lands around the middle of 2012
How long did it take you to write it?
Roughly six months.
Where did you get the idea from?
I had written a short story about my girlfriend’s guinea pig, Charlie. It was about him being bitten by an infected guinea pig and becoming kind of a rabid zombie hybrid. Then the idea hit me… No one has written a zombie story from the perspective of the animals. Yeah, there are animals in zombie stories; the dogs in Resident Evil, the cat in Pet Cemetery, but no one has written from their view. I grew up on animated films like; The Flight of Dragons, The Secret of Nimh, Watership Down, and Charlotte’s Web, so I took the idea of animals interacting as we would, and mixed it with an obsession of mine, zombies. I just kinda thought it would be cool to instead of using “zombie’s” to have the animals deal with an outbreak of rabies in the same way. Keep it all in realistic perspective.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
Formatting. This is the first novel I have written. I didn’t take classes on it, I didn’t study it, I just kinda pulled books off my shelf to see how others had formatted theirs and started writing. The story was easy, I had the entire story in my head, it was just a matter of putting my thoughts into words, and going through a couple times and making it read more fluid.
What came easily?
Wow. I think writing the action scenes in the book were the easiest. Maybe because they were the funnest for me, it made those parts the easiest. I got to imagine how they would move, how rats, guinea pigs and all the animals I chose would attack and defend themselves. To be honest I started this book as a young adult novel, but after I realized how much fun I was having describing the infected in detail, realized that the age range was about to rise a bit.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
Well, technically they’re not people, but actually, I did in fact take them from real life characters. Charlie was my girlfriends’ guinea pig, he was actually very skittish, so when it came to writing his personality I tried to mirror how I imagined Her guinea pig would be if it was in the situations in the book. Maya was written after a pet rat I had when I began writing the story. Her personality was written the same way, and Chuck is my girl’s niece’s guinea pig. All the rest of the characters in the story are completely fictional.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
Stephen King. He may not be a “zombie writer” like Max Brooks or Brian Keene, but since I was a little boy I have read his work. He is by far at the top of my list for writers. He showed me what building suspense, and terror truly was. I mean, if you try and tell me, there wasn’t at least one point during The Shining, that you didn’t have to stop, and set the book down until the goose bumps went away, I’d probably call you a liar. Also on that list would be Terry Brooks, Clive Barker, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Frost, and Gordon Dickson.
Do you have a target reader?
I do. People that love good books. I can’t shell myself into one niche of people. I write for everyone, women, men, teenagers, adults… As far as having one certain group of people I am trying to go for, I don’t.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
Well. I’m starting on my second book, and am about six chapters in right now, so I’m starting to realize that I do. It all begins with an idea, a cool story. I put that on paper and create a beginning, and an end. Then I go through and come up with what I believe are really cool things that would fit into the story. I set it up in acts and build off of that. I’m constantly taking notes and referring back to those as I write, conversation ideas, story world ideas, events, you name it. It never stops until the story is finished. One thing I have been doing is reading the book many times. Each time I’ll read it from the perspective of each character. I have already before I start writing the story, written a back-story and bio for each character. I did this for Rabid Lands; I’m doing this for the one I’m working on now. This allows me to not only catch mistakes, but also helps tremendously with dialogue, and adding even more of a personal touch to each character. Sometimes when you’re writing you read something one way, but if you put yourself into the other characters perspective you may find yourself saying, “I wouldn’t answer that question like that…”, or, “I wouldn’t weigh that like that…” After I’ve done that then it’s straight to the red and greens in Word for the polishing.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I usually do light editing as I go. Normally I’ll write for a few days straight and then take a day or so off, works better for me that way. I know it goes against what all standard practices and advice are, but hey, to each their own right. So I’ll write for a few days, knock out a few chapters, then when I come back, I’ll read those chapters again to get my momentum going and I’ll do some very light editing, fixing grammar, minor mistakes, as I catch up to where I left off. For the most part though, I do all my editing at the end, after I’ve done a revision or so.
Did you hire a professional editor?
I didn’t, not to say that I’m opposed to the idea, but I definitely wanted to do this first project completely on my own, so that I could gain a true respect for everything that goes into it.
Would I hire a professional editor in the future, possibly. Let’s just hope that I get to the point soon where I’m too busy working on my next book to have time to edit the one I just finished. I think it’s everyone’s goal to have to be in the situation where you don’t have to worry about that because you have a publishing house that takes care of that for you. For now though, I like doing everything on my own.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No music! I am way too easily distracted. I’m not one of those laptop jockeys that save rent by working night and day in the local café. I can’t do it. Noise throws me off. I love writing in complete silence, that way I can build my own soundtrack in my head for what I hear going on in the story. This helps me build ambiance even more. I may not have heard that branch snap in my mind if I had Kilpanda blasting in the headphones, or Aphex Twin coming out of the iPod dock… I love music, always have, but just not while I’m writing.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Rabid Lands, I did not. The book I’m working on right now, absolutely I will!
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
I did it myself. I had an image in my head and just threw it together while I was at work. Did it in about twenty minutes…
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I have to say that being that this is my first release, I’m just winging it. I’m contacting as many book reviewers as possible and just trying to get them to check it out and hopefully write a review. I figure that’s a good way to start. I don’t have a facebook page or anything like that, so I’m shooting off of the fact that I have a one hundred percent original story, and that it’s freaking awesome! So I think word of mouth is going to be my greatest ally on this, and the ridiculously awesome book reviewers that hook me up with kind words.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Heh – Start writing. Screw what anyone thinks, If you love the story you’ve written, or are writing, then you have gold. Don’t sit there and check your royalty reports every two hours, because you know what… It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t change one thing. Numbers, or facebook likes, or twitter followers don’t mean sh… well, don’t mean anything. It’s what you feel that matters. If you’ve written an awesome story, use Createspace, or Lulu or some company like that, and get it out there, because it’s free, and why not. Buy an author’s print and slap it on your bookshelf so you have something to motivate you even further. There’s not enough original writers out there, Hollywood just keeps proving that point over and over, so, just write what you want. Who knows, you may have the next big hit…
About You
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Silverlake, in Los Angeles California.
Where do you live now?
I currently live in Pasadena California.
What would you like readers to know about you?
I’m just getting started, there will be more great books coming from me in the future!
What are you working on now?
Once again, it’s something original that hasn’t been done, so I’m gonna have to keep this one under the hat for now, but let’s just say, when this one’s done, it is going to be a very intense thriller.
End of Interview:
For more, visit Donald’s website or follow him on twitter.
Get your copy of Rabid Lands from Amazon US (paper or ebook) or Amazon UK (paper or ebook).
