Prep For Doom

[Jane]

This was voted as our main July 2015 book. Please read and comment :)

[Jane]

I just got a message from the editor, E.R. Arroyo. She is willing to come have a Q & A or chat with our members later this month. Yay!! Thank you, E.R.!

[Katy]

Yay! This was a great anthology. I just posted my review.

[Katy]

E.R. also wrote the final story in the anthology. :)

[Deirdre]

I'm currently reading this awesome anthology! Lots of great authors!

[Jane]

Finished last night - loved it!

I thought it was going to be more of an anthology, with different stories, and was surprised that it's one story, written in 20 chapters by 20 authors. For the most part it seemed pretty seamless, and I like that it was so tied together.

Anyone else finish this? What did you think of the style?

[E.R.]

Hello everybody, I'm around for questions whenever you're ready for me! Glad you all enjoyed the book :D

[AK]

I have heard so many fabulous things about this book (not that I'd expect anything less coming from BOD authors) and am anxiously looking forward to reading it.
I was wondering what it was like getting all the authors together and having to edit a book that was written by 20 different people, as opposed to your typical one or two authors?

[Jane]

I was also wondering - I know you were instrumental in the general story line, along with a couple of other authors. What info was each author given, and how did it actually come together?

It seems pretty seamless, I'm just amazed that 20 different people's stories fit together so well.

Also, any further plans for BOD collaborations?

[John]

Hi. I have a story in prep for doom (dangerella and Old Earl).
as to how it worked, authors were only given a partial overview of the overall arc, we proposed rough ideas on what our contribution could be like, and then the authors competed. I don't know how many attempted, but once accepted, we were given advice, clues, and suggestions on how to adjust our story to fit better into the whole. Some of us were asked to or allowed to collaborate, but the extent of the collaboration varied from author to author. It was lots of fun and masterfully handled by ER Arroyo and Sara Benedict.

[E.R.]

Thanks John!! Gotta love Old Earl!

Yes, as John said, there were varying levels of collaboration. Two authors very tightly integrated their stories from the get-go (Casey Hays and Kate Corcino). Some of the collaborations we orchestrated after we began seeing the submissions and knew what we felt might be missing from the overall. The longer people waited to write their story, the better idea we had of what we still needed so we could guide them with their submission. It was literally collaborative from the very beginning of the process and all the way to the end.

Jane, The parameters we gave the writers to work within included the symptoms and name of the virus, a chart with the exact progression of symptoms based on how many hours from infection from zero to 24 hours. We gave them info regarding PrepForDoom.com as well as Peter Franklin Donalds. We told them about the "incident" that started it (date and location too). We told them about the safe zone and the bunker. (trying not to include spoilers). We also hinted at several possible conspiracies and a few different possible angles on it all. They could choose to use whatever facts they wanted to.

From there, the writers posed ideas and such, brainstormed with each other and with me. Lots of them ran their ideas by me in advance to get a green light before starting. Some didn't. Just depended on the individual. The stories that involved "key" parts of the overall story were edited a lot more aggressively content-wise, because there was so much to keep "right." And I had a lot of help from Sara Benedict with some of the content editing, which was great because I love working with her. :)

Ashley, working with twenty-authors was... well it was really exhausting, but because of just how much there was. This is a really large collection. The personalities were unique, all of them different, but we honestly had a VERY great group of authors. I'm not sure we could replicate the experience so gracefully.

Jane, as for plans for more collaborations - not at the moment. My family and I are still recovering from PFD. I can't even tell you how many hours of work it was. But what a payoff!!

If we do another, BOD will be the first place to know about it!

Did I answer your questions?

[Jane]

Yes, you did ER - thank you!

One more - when you started, did you know you would want to fund the project via Kickstarter? As you said - much work was involved, and I'm sure everyone wanted to be sure it would end up being published.

I had a lot of fun participating in the Kickstarter, even for a small amount. I loved getting the letters letting me know what was happening with the project.

[E.R.]

Jane, we actually had not planned to do Kickstarter originally. As we neared the release and began to really see the budget come together, we knew something had to happen for it to all work out. So we starting selling t-shirts to get a little startup money, and then I came across another book's Kickstarter campaign and it all went from there. We were thrilled and blown away by the response. What a great experience!

[E.R.]

Thanks for reading everybody!

[Jane]

Thanks for being here and answering our questions, E.R.!