Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Rachel: We love to get politics all over our pulp fiction, so here’s screenwriter and novelist Shawn Whitney to tell us about his latest book, Deads Rise! Shawn, tell us about the book!
Shawn: It’s the first in a series called No Signs of Life. When half the world’s population suddenly drops dead, humanity braces for the zombie apocalypse. But as the “Deads” reawaken hours later, it becomes clear this is something far more complex.
Tanitia Mortero never asked to die, let alone rise again. Now, she finds herself caught in a war between the living and the Deads – a war fueled by fear, misunderstanding, and a refusal to accept that death was just the beginning of a startling evolutionary leap.
Rachel: That sounds rad, and hints at something more complicated than your typical action-horror.
Shawn: My own work focuses on typically unrepresented folks. However, when I’m writing to pay the bills, I have to write what my publisher tells me. That means male-led and even restricts the kinds of men that can appear because apparently the audience for male-led sci-fi is so fragile that they can’t even handle a flawed hero or they will explode into a thousand tiny pieces of testosterone. Nonetheless, I try to squeeze in some thoughtful elements that relate to social change, changing consciousness and personal transformation.
Rachel: Testosterone explosions sound like the least fun type of apocalypse. What inspired Deads Rise?
Shawn: It might have been seeing the film adaptation of The Girl With All The Gifts, to be honest. I saw it and thought “what if the zombies were the heroes in the zombie apocalypse story?” Originally it was conceived as a kind of YA TV series but getting anything past first base is easier at a Mormon summer camp than in the film/tv industry. So, it sat for a couple of years till I decided to make it a novel.
Rachel: Do you have a playlist for your book? Can you tell us why you picked a couple of the songs?
Shawn: Lots of Rage Against the Machine. Always. Maybe some Wet Leg and Gil Scott Heron —both the Revolution Will Not Be Televised and Whiteys On The Moon. Largely for the particular energy of the music for different plot points. Heron for a pivotal scene near the end of the book.
Rachel: Speaking of good taste, what book do you tell all your friends to read? Besides yours, of course!
Shawn: At the moment it’s Children of Time. I was blown away by how the writer handled an alien species’ consciousness, culture and history. And how they created a continuous character through multiple generations.
Rachel: And it’s another great example of making the “monster” the hero of the story. Do you have any suggestions to help people in our community become better writers?
Shawn: The most important thing to do is to write a lot and write to the end. Practice makes perfect. The more you work a muscle, the stronger it gets.
Then start writing another novel because you don’t want to be one of those writers who never finishes their books. Once you get past your first, it’s important to learn not to be precious about it. I’m not saying you need to crank out ten a year—and maybe your pace of writing and the spaces in your life only allow one every couple years. But don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good.
There’s no right way. I started reading John Truby’s Into the Story and I got so annoyed with him constantly emphasizing how brilliant he was and how all other methods were wrong that I stopped reading it. There are some rules to writing—rising action, conflict, etc. But there’s many ways to skin a novel.
I remember people used to say “writers are readers. You should read obsessively.” Yeah, well, I don’t. I have a job, two kids, a house to maintain. And I also want to read about what’s going on in the world and understand the source of conflicts or scientific advances or whatever. Sometimes I want to watch TV. There’s only so many hours in a day. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t read a book a week.
Rachel: What’s your next writing project?
Shawn: For my publisher, I’m ghostwriting a trashy, male harem fantasy story set in Hell. Gotta pay the bills! For myself, I’m torn to be honest. I just finished the second book in the No Signs of Life series. I’d like to take a break from that world and I’m tossing around a few different possibilities, all sci-fi. You know how it is; ideas are never wasted; they just come back as new story ideas down the road.
Rachel: We’re so looking forward to reading Deads Rise! Where can our community find you and your work?
Shawn: You can find me at my website, shawnwriteshere.com, or my Amazon author page. I can also be reached via email at shawn@shawnwriteshere.com. on Twitter I’m @shawnwriteshere. On FB I have a page called Shawn Whitney – author guy that absolutely nobody goes to.
