Haley Allison's Blog, page 3

The Beginning of the End – A Short Zombie Apocalypse Story

I wrote this for my Creative Writing class and forgot to share it on Halloween. Whoops! Better late than never, I guess. Here’s a free short story for my loyal followers!

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The Beginning of the End – A Zombie Apocalypse Story

by Haley Despard (all rights reserved)

“Fifteen minutes to close,” Krista said as she counted twenties in her hand. “Friday night, baby. I’m partyin’ hard.”

Jennifer laughed. Krista had been her best “work friend” since her first day at the bank, and they always went out for drinks together on Friday nights. “Guess we’ll have to get James to be our designated driver, ‘cause I don’t plan on holding back, either. You okay with that, James?”

James, the assistant branch manager, didn’t say a word from his place at his desk inside his glass-encased office. Jennifer had noticed him looking a little pale that day, but there was a stomach flu going around the office, so she didn’t think anything of it. He leaned forward limply, like his abdominal muscles weren’t holding him up very well, and his mouth dropped open slightly. He stared blankly at his computer screen, as if in a trance.

After thirty seconds with no response, Jennifer repeated her question. “You coming tonight, James?” Still no response. His jaw dropped even further, and drool started coming out—no, not drool. This was darker in color, like a sickening charcoal sludge. His skin had lightened beyond the word “pale,” and it was becoming bluish-grey in hue. Jennifer’s heart jumped in alarm. “Hey, Krista, I think James might not be feeling so great. You mind if I—”

“Go on, I got this,” Krista said, flashing her a slightly-irritated smile and turning back to the customer at the desk. There was always that one customer near the end of the day that held up the entire line and made them stay an extra five minutes.

Jennifer entered James’s office, closed the door behind her, and approached James slowly, only noticing when she came up behind his desk that a section of his crisp white sleeve had been torn off. “Oh, my God, what happened to your shirt?”

A guttural groan escaped his mouth, and his head swung in her direction. His eyes seemed to bulge from their sockets, and then Jennifer watched in horror as the skin around his mouth that had been touched by the liquid rapidly decayed and gave way to raw, rotten flesh.

“Must…feed…” James growled at her, and Jennifer took two steps backward in horror, meeting with the cold glass behind her.

“James…James, what’s going on? What’s happening to you?” Jennifer asked pointlessly as he staggered up from the chair and shuffled in her direction. “James, it’s Jennifer. I’m your friend. Why are you looking at me like that?” His blue-grey eyes were intent on her with a hunger that could only be satisfied with one thing.

Jennifer’s head snapped in the direction of the counter, and her breath caught in her throat. That customer who was taking too long had grabbed hold of Krista’s arm as she reached it over the counter, and the monster was poised to bite.

“Krista! Pull away!” Jennifer yelled, but her voice was muffled by the glass cubicle and Krista didn’t hear her in time. Jennifer heard a heart-wrenching shriek from her friend as her head whirled around to find James mere inches from her. He lurched forward for her neck, but Jennifer bolted away from him. She ducked under his arms to grab the briefcase that was sitting by his desk. She swung it up and hit him right in the jaw, screaming when his jaw severed from his face with a sickening rip and thudded against the glass behind him.

Jennifer gave Zombie James one last mighty whack with the briefcase, and then she opened the door of the cubicle and darted out into the lobby of the bank. The straggler zombie made its slow approach, but she dodged him and grabbed her purse from behind the counter. She turned to head for the glass double doors, but then her breath caught in her throat. There was a mob of zombies clustered right in front of the doors, preventing her from escaping.

Jennifer’s gaze darted to and fro as she searched desperately for a way out. Zombie James and Straggler were headed right for her. At that moment, another coworker, Mark, called to her from behind the counter.

“This way, Jen! Hop the counter!”

Jennifer grabbed the counter and hoisted herself over it, landing right in front of Mark. She looked into his handsome face, trying to judge whether or not he’d been bitten. He had already locked Zombie Krista in the safe. Jennifer knew because she could hear her banging on the inside of the door.

“What now?” Jennifer asked, her breath coming in gasps.

“Wait a second,” Mark said. He took the fire extinguisher from the wall and started banging on the teller window, smashing against it until it began to splinter and crack into a spider web-like shape. Finally, the glass shattered and fell to the ground, and Mark reached for Jennifer’s hand. “Come on!”

The two of them climbed out the broken window, and Jennifer winced when a shard of glass caught her leg and made a shallow cut. Mark led Jennifer past the horde of zombies to his car, and they sped away from the bank at breakneck speed.

As they passed through the little town of Walterboro, Jennifer was horrified at the sheer number of zombies who were trudging down the sidewalks and wreaking mass havoc and panic. She unlocked her phone and searched “zombie outbreak,” and nothing came up. The epidemic must have just erupted. Mark and Jennifer exchanged worried looks, and then Mark turned the radio on. They finally got their answer while listening to a newscast.

“Multiple reports confirm that an outbreak of the zombie virus has surfaced in the little town of Walterboro, South Carolina. The town’s close proximity to a military base is said to be the cause of the outbreak. Allegedly, one of the soldiers was infected, and he brought the virus home to his family, where it spread at an alarming rate. There is no known cure, and no way to escape the virus except to…oh, God. Run! Allister, run!”

The transmission clipped off, resulting in the cold buzz of static.

Jennifer began to hyperventilate in her seat with tears burning her eyes. “What are we going to do now?”

Mark’s eyes were just as stricken with fear, but he took Jennifer’s hand and squeezed it. “We’ll stick together and do our best to survive.”

***

Two Years Later…

Mark and Jennifer gazed out at the empty expanse before them. Their new farmland beckoned them with the promise of a brand new life. He laid his hand over Jennifer’s swollen belly and pressed his fingertips in. Their baby rewarded him with a kick, and Mark smiled. They might not have much, but this baby was a new start for them.

Two years of battling zombies had passed—two years of groans and sludge and the sickening stench of rotting flesh. Mark and Jennifer had stuck through it all and found love in the midst of an apocalypse. Only a small colony of humans remained, but it was just enough to start life over anew. Happiness seemed within reach again, and people were even beginning to smile.

Their neighbor, Mrs. Gibb, approached them on the driveway. Her frizzled white head seemed too bright against the green grass. Jennifer waved happily, thankful for the baskets full of goodies Mrs. Gibb always brought. Mark kissed Jennifer and went inside to sign the deed so they could take it to the town council.

Jennifer tried to talk to the sweet old lady, but she wouldn’t respond with even a word. After only a few seconds, Jennifer noticed something was off. Mrs. Gibb’s eyes were glazed over, and her mouth hung open even more than usual. Her posture was gaunt and hunched, unlike her usual straight-backed self. Her dentures fell out, and Jennifer gasped in horror at the black sludge that laced her false teeth. She started to run, but she wasn’t fast enough. Mrs. Gibb lunged at her, and with one swift bite to the neck, she undid two years of agonizing torment and hard work.

Jennifer wept and fell to the ground as Mrs. Gibb gnawed on her neck, unable to find the will to fight back. As the darkness crept in, she realized James’s sickness back at the bank that day was the beginning of the end all along.

***

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for big DORK news! Cover reveal on Nov. 9th!

-HD

Cover Reveal Puzzle Pieces

Sorry I missed the first one, but here are the first two pieces of my official cover with Limitless Publishing!

  

  

Black manicure + stunning crystal blue eyes = star’s daughter for sure :) Stay tuned for more puzzle pieces before the big reveal on Nov. 9! #DiaryofaRockersKid

-H.D.

Haiku: The Weeping Willow by Haley Despard

I haven’t attempted poetry in a while, but this was an English assignment for school, and I think it turned out okay.

Inspired by this tree in my backyard (not sure if it’s a real weeping willow or not, but it looks like it to me).

Haiku: The Weeping Willow

By Haley Despard

The willow weeps in

The corner of the field. They

Wonder what she mourns.

Her weighted limbs sag

And faint, bringing sorrow to

A green, limpid world.

The trees misunderstand

Her dreary form; they beg her

To stand tall and proud.

They do not know her

Nature is to sag and faint,

But her strength is great.

Calling All Book Bloggers!

Hey everybody!

Sign-ups for the Diary of a Rocker’s Kid (DORK) book tour are now live! The tour will be taking place between Dec. 7-18 and there are all kinds of options for participation. Please check out this link and if you like YA/Music Fiction, go ahead and sign up! People who liked If I Stay, Where She Went, and The Princess Diaries may like this book series.

Tour Sign-Up Link: http://goo.gl/forms/iC4uajyWRE

Thanks for your participation/interest!

Haley Despard

5 Areas Where Authors Need To Think Like a Reader

One thing I have learned over the past few months as I was working on my debut novel is that there are times when a writer has to get out of their own head. If you plan to publish/sell your book, you’re going to want to produce a product that’s going to appeal to more than just you. In an ideal world, each and every one of us would have a million people out there just like us who love our writing style (actually, let’s be honest, that would be one crazy-ass, over-populated planet), but in this world, readers want to read something that appeals to them, not just you.

There are several areas in which you’ll have to pull a Facebook…you know, where you view your “timeline” or “profile” as another person (in this case your plot or novel). Here are some areas where authors need to think like a reader.

#1: Backstory and plot development.

Readers don’t know the tragic backstory behind your twisted villain unless you tell them about it. When writing a book, you really need to spell out every last detail of the backstory and the plot. The challenge is to do that without clunky backstory dumps, rambling, and detracting from the main story. There are several techniques that help with this, such as revealing backstory through dialogue, working it in as you go along, etc. My techniques of choice for the shameless backstory dumps I included in my upcoming novel were blog posts written by the MC and a documentary about her rock star father, but of course that won’t work for everyone.

#2: Reader expectations.

There are certain genres in which a certain outcome is absolutely expected. Romance is the biggest one that comes to mind. In a romance novel, you almost always want the MCs to end up together. Romance novel readers are going to need Prozac at the end if they don’t get the all-important HEA. Some other genres are more flexible with their expectations, but you’re always going to want the book to feel like a ______ book (sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, thriller, etc.). This is one area where I took a bit of a risk in my debut novel because I did not pattern it after any book I’d ever read, ever. Because of that, it reads differently from your typical YA fiction book. Some people love my style and some people don’t, I’m finding, which is a-okay. You can’t please everyone. But in most cases, you’re going to want to know your demographic’s expectations and deliver on them, otherwise you’re going to end up with a pissed off demographic.

#3: The Three-Act Structure.

I scoffed the first time someone told me I needed to follow a three-act structure while writing a novel. I thought that was only for plays and movie screenplays, but it turns out it does help to build just the right amount of tension in your storyline. It also feels more natural to readers, who will be expecting this layout even if they don’t even know they’re expecting it. Try dividing your chapters or word count into three equal thirds, and see if your story fits into three distinct, separate, recognizable acts. If not, you may want to re-evaluate your novel planning method. It works for plays, it works for screenplays, and it might just work for your book.

#4: Character development.

This one is a big one. If you want readers to make it all the way through your book and be screaming your name from the rooftops at the end (followed by five-star ratings on Amazon and Goodreads, of course), you need to write about characters that they can connect with. Give your characters quirks and flaws that will endear them to the readers, and make sure you always expose their good and bad sides. No one wants to read about one (or even two) dimensional characters. They always need to be 3-D and larger than life.

#5: Marketing.

Heh…yeah…this was another one of those “learn by experience” areas for me. Don’t shout your book anywhere and everywhere. It’s not effective, and it just comes off as annoying. No one is going to buy your book and read it if you’re in their face 24 hours a day screaming, “Buy my book! Buy it! Buy it!” Give your desired readers another incentive to buy and read your book. Run a contest with a giveaway, include it in a box set with other books, show excerpts, post teaser trailers…but for the love of God, don’t blast it on Twitter every five minutes. You’ll get un-followed by everyone you know and love in a hot second.

I’m sure there are more areas than just the ones I’ve listed, and if you have anything to add, please comment below :) More information about the DORK release and blog tour(s) to come!

Thanks for reading!

H.D.

Mass Invite – Santa’s Helpers Book Release Party!

Hey everybody!

Been super super busy lately, but I just wanted to drop a quick line to tell you that all of you are invited to my Santa’s Helpers Book Release Party on Nov. 30, Cyber Monday! KM Taylor, myself, and a bunch of other Limitless Publishing authors will be giving away books and other cool swag from 3-10 PM EST on Facebook. While you’re online shopping great deals for the holidays, why not drop by and enter to win a few free books? Sounds reasonable to me!

Here’s the link for the event, you won’t want to miss this! Santa’s Helpers Book Release Party

Hope to see you there!

-H.D.

Writing Through Depression and Anxiety

“I have to get this book done. I have to. I have to!”

“But no one’s going to read it. You suck compared to all the other writers. No one even gives a crap about you.”

“It doesn’t matter, this book has set my brain on fire. It needs needs needs to be written. Now now now!”

“Shut up, lay down on the couch, and do absolutely nothing. It’s not like anything matters anyway.”

“Everything matters! All the freakin’ time! I never get a break! I’m gonna explode!”

“You’re such a loser. You’ll never amount to anything. Just lay down on the couch and give up, because that’s the only thing you’re good at. It’s all you’ll ever be good at.”

“What if…what if you’re right? What if everybody hates me? What if I lose all my friends and end up a bitter loner for the rest of my life?”

“It’s bound to happen. You might as well just quit while you’re ahead.”

“No…no! I need to do this! It’s in my blood. It’s burning my veins! I need to get this done!”

“Ugh, you suck. You’re so wishy washy and weak. It’s no wonder nobody cares about your stupid book.”

***

That drama, combined with an occasional interruption from my voice of reason, is on a constant loop in my head all day long. Depression and anxiety is no joke, folks. That lethal duo can honestly drive a person to insanity. If you’re unlucky enough to suffer from either or both of these mental illnesses (or any others), believe me, I feel your pain.

Writing requires an extra burst of fortitude whenever my illnesses both rear their ugly heads at once. It’s paralyzing. I’m afraid to write, yet I have to write, yet I don’t feel like writing or doing anything else for that matter. Wanting to do something and doing it used to be so easy as a kid, and now it’s all I can do just to get out of bed in the morning.

Depression is mean. It sucks the life out of you. Anxiety has good intentions, but it ends up being a pain in the ass. Caring about getting things done and keeping your friends is great until it turns into excessive, out-of-control, panicky worrying. Reason is good. It’s grounded. But sometimes it’s hard to keep around. It fades into the background whenever it sees depression and anxiety stalking down the alleyways of your mind, ready to strike.

Mental illness has many causes. It could be a hormonal imbalance, a result of trauma from your past, or it could be just the way you’re wired. I’ve always been kind of an anxious person, and certain difficulties in my past brought that tendency out and magnified it. At least, that’s my self diagnosis. I’m sure there’s more to it than that.

It always gets worse when I have a deadline, though. Right now, I’m desperately trying to get pre-edits done, but it’s not going as smoothly as I thought it would, and I’m panicking. What if I don’t get it done on time? What if I ruin the book while I’m trying to fix it? What if I piss somebody off by cutting out a part of the story they liked?

Truthfully, in the end, all I can do is try my best to do right by myself, my publisher, and my future (and past) readers. If I mess up, I mess up. I’ve got the “human being” excuse to fall back on if some faulty detail slips past my perfectionistic eyes. Also, now that I have an editor, the pressure is not all on me. An extra set of eyes will come in very handy for catching small details and smoothing out the kinks in my writing.

The best thing to do as a depression/anxiety sufferer is STOP, take a deep breath, and let reason take the front seat. Reason won’t steer you wrong or make you want to tear all your hairs out one by one. Reason will guide you to the solution. Reason will save your life.

Thanks for reading! Follow me here, on FB, and/or on Twitter for news about my upcoming series with Limitless Publishing, Diary of a Rocker’s Kid (DORK).

-H.D.

Book Review: Touch Me Not (A Manwhore Series Book One) by Apryl Baker

Haley Despard:

Check out this book! It’s awesome!

Originally posted on Silver Day Book Reviews:

Amazon book link: Touch Me Not (A Manwhore Series Book One)

This book is available for pre-order and will be going live on Sept. 22, 2015.

Content Warning: For mature adults 18+.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis:

Lily Holmes can’t stand to be touched by anyone after the death of her twin sister, not even her best friends or family. She’s in love with her best friend, Adam Roberts, but there can never be an intimate relationship there because of her phobia. He can’t even give her a hug without setting off a panic attack. Lily has to suffer in silence as she watches him plan a wedding with a woman who is completely wrong for him.

Along comes Nikoli Kincaid, a cocky, swaggering, self-assured “connoisseur of women” who never has to hear the word “no.” Lily captivates him because she refuses his advances, and even seems frightened of…

View original 288 more words

Introducing Silver Day Book Reviews!

Silver Day Book Reviews

I came up with a name for my book blog, finally! Check out the new site, and go ahead and follow for book news, reviews, and other updates!

Thanks readers!

-H.D.

Book Boost: Next Door to a Star by Krysten Lindsay Hager

A fellow Limitless author, Krysten Lindsay Hager, has a fantastic YA book releasing tomorrow, and it is my privilege to be able to share this cover and synopsis with you!

NEXT DOOR TO A STAR by Krysten Lindsay Hager

Genre: Young Adult

★ SYNOPSIS ★

Hadley Daniels is tired of feeling invisible.

After Hadley’s best friend moves away and she gets on the bad side of some girls at school, she goes to spend the summer with her grandparents in the Lake Michigan resort town of Grand Haven. Her next door neighbor is none other than teen TV star Simone Hendrickson, who is everything Hadley longs to be—pretty, popular, and famous—and she’s thrilled when Simone treats her like a friend.

Being popular is a lot harder than it looks.

It’s fun and flattering when Simone includes her in her circle, though Hadley is puzzled about why her new friend refuses to discuss her former Hollywood life. Caught up with Simone, Hadley finds herself ignoring her quiet, steadfast friend, Charlotte.

To make things even more complicated, along comes Nick Jenkins…

He’s sweet, good-looking, and Hadley can be herself around him without all the fake drama. However, the mean girls have other ideas and they fill Nick’s head with lies about Hadley, sending him running back to his ex-girlfriend and leaving Hadley heartbroken.

So when her parents decide to relocate to Grand Haven, Hadley hopes things will change when school starts…only to be disappointed once again.

Cliques. Back-stabbing. Love gone bad.

Is this really what it’s like to live…Next Door To A Star?

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnLXsu2c43k

Bio: Krysten Lindsay Hager is an obsessive reader and has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. She’s worked as a journalist and humor essayist, and writes for teens, tweens, and adults. She is the author of the Landry’s True Colors Series and her work has been featured in USA Today and named as Amazon’s #1 Hot New Releases in Teen & Young Adult Values and Virtues Fiction and Amazon’s #1 Hot New Releases in Children’s Books on Values. She’s originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and southwestern Ohio. She received her master’s degree from the University of Michigan-Flint.

WEBSITE: http://www.krystenlindsay.com/

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8298036.Krysten_Lindsay_Hager

INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/krystenlindsay/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/KrystenLindsay

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/KrystenLindsayHagerAuthor

Buy links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Next-Door-Krysten-Lindsay-Hager-ebook/dp/B0149HTAK0/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Krysten%20Lindsay%20Hager%22?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/author/krysten-lindsay-hager/id890673226?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/search?query=Krysten%20Lindsay%20Hager&fcsearchfield=Author&fclanguages=all