[Five things learned writing about the apocalypse?! Crap! No one told me it the apocalypse was here!! Ahhhh!--PJW]
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Jack Wallen
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[I met the
incomparable Jack Wallen at IMAGINARIUM 2014 in Louisville Kentucky. We sat on
a few panels together discussing things zomboid and apocalyptic. He is a very
cool character with a lot to say relevant to the real world and the fictional
world within the genre he so much enjoys delving and writing. Without further
adieu… --PJW]
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I’ve been
writing apocalyptic fiction for some time now, enough to have eight books in
one particular series. What does that mean…outside of spending a lot of time
playing around in a rather bleak landscape? It means I’ve learned a thing or
twelve about and from my genre of course—and the apocalypse that drives it. So
I thought I’d share some words with fellow zpoc [Zpoc = zombie apocalypse—PJW]
author Peter Welmerink.
Enough with
the intro. Let’s make with the sexy!
1. The zombie
is the perfect metaphor for modern day life.
Whether your
mind has been made mush by your job in corporate America, by the never ending
commercial push by companies wanting to SELL SELL SELL, or the never-ending
monotony that can be the day-in-day-out of life: the plight of the zombie
apocalypse—and the horde of monsters driving it – aligns perfect with that
level of misery. The opening of “Shaun of the Dead” hits home this point to
perfection. Oddly enough, people crave this validation—that their lives
have been made forfeit by business, suits, and meetings. When you write
something that connects to readers on that level, a very special transaction
has taken place.
2. You’ve got
to break up the horror with a taste of humor.
One of the
built-in issues with the genre is you’re not only dealing with forcing a
struggle upon the human condition, you’re also creating end of the world
scenarios. For a reader to dive into a long series of apocalyptic fiction there’s
a need for a bit of humor to survive the ride. That doesn’t mean you have to
channel your inner stand-up comedian, but you do need to break up the horror
with bits and pieces of humor. If you hammer the reader over the head with a
barrage of suffering, angst, and terror; it’ll exhaust them. With that in mind,
I tend to inject humor when it feels like I’m about to reach the point of too
much AHHHHH!!! Not only does it give the reader a break, it also switches up
the rhythm of the prose. For me, rhythm is very important.
3. We’d never
survive the apocalypse.
This especially
goes for Americans. We’re a very soft people. When the temperature rises about
80 or drops below 40, we’re uncomfortable. The mantra of our young is FWP--First
World Problems. That is what we suffer. When/if the apocalypse actually
happens, the majority of Americans will still be too concerned with taking
selfies to notice the ashes and rubble around them. There are, of course, US
citizens who will have an easier time with survival—those prepared to survive.
This of course is not to say we’re weak. What we may lack in survivability, we
make up for in drive, passion, and invention.
But the more
I write apocalyptic fiction, the more I realize just how challenging survival
will actually be. No phones, no lights, no motor cars … oh wait, wrong
metaphor.
4. Women have
been shafted in the genre.
One of the
reasons I chose to have a female protagonist (from the second book in my series
onward) is because women are not given a fair shake in the genre. You can turn
to The Walking Dead to see a perfect example of this. In that world, women are
relegated to relationship or mental fodder. Any time a strong woman appears,
they are sent packing.
I read a lot
of apocalyptic fiction before I started writing it and found woman were
horribly represented. So I decided to change that with Bethany Nitshimi. Women
play man crucial roles in the makeup of the human race—as many as (if not more
than) men. Imagine the human race
surviving without women. Not gonna happen.
5. Readers
want more and more and more.
When I first
wrote I Zombie I, it was going to be
a one-off story. When it was all said and done, I realized I had a lot more
story to tell. So I decided to make it a trilogy. After I published the third
book (Die Zombie Die), I found
people (and myself) desperately wanting the story to continue. So I pulled all
references to “trilogy” and picked the story up where it left off.
Fans of the
apocalyptic genre want more and more. They don’t want one-off stories, they
don’t want short-lived stories. What they want is something to latch onto and
have it take them for a very long ride.
For any
author considering dipping their toes into the zpoc genre, take these two
things into consideration:
- Be passionate about the genre, or
be gone
- Be prepared for the long haul
My I Zombie series currently has eight
entries. Two of those entries are spin-off novellas, both of which will be
series. I have found my readers want to see the story from every possible angle
and get to know the world as deeply as possible. To that end, I have decided
the story will inform me when it’s over. When it does conclude, I already have
another series ready—one that is based on the current series.
It’s all
about depth, breadth, and longevity.
[I can’t
agree more with Mr. Wallen on his sentiments in those last couple paragraphs. I
cannot see NOT writing within a genre you love, because if you don’t absolutely
love it, how will a reader love what you write or the story you have to tell.
Also, I swear (a bit too much sometimes) the more I write in my current zpoc-themed fictional world, the
more interesting characters and scenarios scream at me to write down their
story. The world is our oyster, though a black, sooty, burned up one.
LOL—PJW]
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Links to Jack Wallen's work and other wanderings:
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