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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 13, 2006 23:09:39 GMT -8
Welcome to my official journal of the creation of my first zombie novel, DEATHBREED. Here you can track the progress of my novel and what my thoughts were while I was writing it.
These are reposts taken from my blog (which was started around the time I began the novel), hence the discrepancy between the original entry dates and the dates posted here.
NOTE: Although work officially began on April 8, 2006, I did not post anything about it until I was sure I was going to finish it!
Got all that? Okay, here we go with my announcement that the novel was underway...
APRIL 19, 2006 I'm pleased to announce that substantial work has begun on my first horror novel, titled DEATHBREED. The story reveals how a colorful group of small town characters discover and confront an invasion of flesh-eating zombies. As society descends into chaos around them, they hole up in a convenience store and wait to be rescued. Outside, the horde of howling corpses decimate their friends and neighbors, swelling the ranks of the undead! When it becomes apparent that no rescue is coming, they must formulate a daring plan of escape. But the group fractures under the strain of conflicting egos and death stalks the survivors...
If I were to pitch it conceptually, I suppose I'd say it was CLERKS meets DAWN OF THE DEAD. Those of you familiar with my screenplay work for films like THE NECRO FILES know my sick sense of humor; while present in my novel, the humor extends naturally from the characters rather than the situation. The novel is loosely autobiographical; the last "real" job I held (prior to embarking on my filmmaking career) was working at a convenience store. I'm pounding out 5+ pages a day (with weekends off for bad behavior!), so it should be ready in a few months...
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 13, 2006 23:10:55 GMT -8
APRIL 27, 2006 Good news! After some substantial reworking of the inital chapters, I've reached the 25,000 word count in my first novel, DEATHBREED (my target goal is 90,000 words for the first draft). I'm nearly one-third of the way in.
The initial chapters introduce the colorful main characters in their "normal" day to day lives in and around the convenience store, which serves as the central location for the story. By chapter two, signs of trouble (in and outside the store) start to surface. In chapter three, all hell starts to break loose but still no one is sure what is going on... Everything is in confusion as conflicting media reports struggle to make sense of it all and the government steps in to contain the outbreak of "civil unrest." By chapter four, the threat of the zombie plague finally hits home, forcing the would-be survivors to band together and reinforce their position. The government declares martial law as anarchy and mass-murder come to dominate the streets, not just in the major metropolitan areas, but spreading to the outlying suburbs and rural areas as well. Later chapters will deal with interpersonal conflict and power struggles between the survivors as they try to cope with the chaos that surrounds them. Eventually, they must abandon their safe haven and confront the hordes of flesh-eating zombies outside...
These are characters you've never seen before in a zombie film, or any film, for that matter. I'm really enjoying writing about these unique characters and their reactions to what's going on in the world around them. I hope you'll enjoy reading DEATHBREED as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hang tight; it's going to be a wild ride! More novel updates to come in the weeks ahead.
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 13, 2006 23:11:51 GMT -8
MAY 7, 2006 By the way, I was up all night friday and saturday on a major push toward completing my zombie novel. I'm at the halfway mark: 45,000 words out of 90,000 projected for the first draft!
MAY 23, 2006 Howdy, Horror Fans! Just a quick note to let you know I'm still banging away at my zombie novel; I got sidetracked for a week doing research on another "secret" novel project (and a custom video for a client), but I'm back at the keyboard now: Full steam ahead!
The zombie book is currently (as of this post) hovering at the 53,000 word mark, up from 47,000 where I left off when I got sidetracked. I can safely say I'm over halfway done with the first draft. 90,000 words is my target, but I'm not averse to it going as high as 100,000 if the story demands it; besides, that gives me more room to start making cuts in the second draft... I'm just now setting up several of the secondary cast of characters (cannon fodder, LOL) and chain of events as the Zombie Plague threatens to overwhelm the city.
MAY 26, 2006 I'm at just over 57,000 words in my zombie novel, up 4,000 from last time. Yeah, yeah... I thought I would have been farther along, too, considering the two monster marathon writing sessions I put in since my last update. Lemme tell ya, I've really been surprised how writing "crunchy bits" (zombie pseudo-science/mythology) has blunted my blitzkrieg word count momentum. It's like suddenly switching gears and being forced to write in a completely different style versus the more colorful, character-driven narrative that dominates the book. I've made good headway, however, and am pleased to report that the majority of these obligatory "talking heads" news reports are not only behind me, but that I'm extremely proud of them and the amount of research and thought that went into crafting them. Through them (but without necessarily providing a concrete origin and rationale for their existence which, as everyone knows, is a no-no) I've successfully managed to put some fresh new twists on flesh-eating zombies while still giving diehard George Romero "Dead" fans (like me) what they want.
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 13, 2006 23:16:38 GMT -8
MAY 30, 2006 I'm back on the attack now, loaded up on aspirin (for my aching neck) and caffeine (to kickstart my brain). I'm up to 60,000 words, which is two-thirds of the way to my target goal of 90,000... Gonna get back to writing now while I'm still wired on Diet Rockstar, LOL. Wish me luck!
JUNE 2, 2006 After my last major push, I'm up to 65,000 words in my Zombie Novel. Holy Smokes! You might be asking yourself, what does 65,000 words look like? It all depends on the font, line breaks and type size. In "manuscript" form (12 pt. Courier, double-spaced) it equals 260 pages (that figure would be significantly cut down in final publication form). But remember, I'm not done yet. I would guess the finished product will be around 250-300 pages, especially if I end up going over my 90,000 word target number.
There are times when the novel writes itself and times where I stare at the page and get little to nothing done. If I can't get anything done on the novel directly, I like to spend the time affecting it indirectly by doing research. Brushing up on Strunk & White's ELEMENTS OF STYLE (available free online), or consulting wikis on subjects such as plague, riots, and martial law. I also like to keep abreast of what the competition is up to (both past and present) so I know what works and what doesn't in a zombie novel. After having read what I consider to be the major fictional works on zombies, I can breathe a sigh of relief and say that what I am doing is not what they are doing. Not that there aren't similarities dictated by the origins and nature of the genre, or shared influences and inspirations. In particular, I don't want to cast aspersions on what anyone else is doing, because I was most definitely entertained by reading their works. But as a first-time novelist, I want to tell a unique story and tell it in my own voice. I don't want to make a carbon copy of anything that has gone before.
How many different ways are there to tell the story of the Zombie Apocalypse? Aside from variations in the nature of the zombies themselves or the cause of the plague that created them, and how society responds to that threat, I would say that the single most important way to make your story unique is through your characters and how they react to the end of the world. If you look back on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968 or 1990) and DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), what made them work? Why do they stick with us for the rest of our lives and continue to draw new fans, decades later? It's not the gore, not the zombies... it's the characters.
Zombies are unlike most other monsters. They don't talk, don't plan, don't do anything except try to catch you, eat you, and make you one of them. This isn't Count Dracula or Freddy Krueger we're talking about. There is no complicated strategy, clever one-liners or anything else you'd attribute to a standard villain. It's like being attacked by a school of hungry piranha. If you know zombies are present and take reasonable precautions, you should survive. It's only when you get overconfident or freak out that you run into trouble. Unfortunately, you can only stay "sharp" so long, and everybody flips out sooner or later under the right conditions. The more people in your group, or the less well you get along or know each other, the faster bad things will happen. Are you running a democracy or a dictatorship? You probably don't have a lot of time to sit around and discuss a rapidly deteriorating situation, not if you want to live... Great, so now you have a plan! How much can you really trust anyone not to screw it up or fuck you over? Especially people you just met who are operating under impossible stress and in "do or die" circumstances? Can you count on your group to be reasonable, to follow orders? No.
The problem is that people are not, by nature, reasonable. They are selfish, greedy, stupid and self-destructive. Society imposes a certain level of reasonableness upon us via a system of legal consequences. Strip that threat away and you have chaos, anarchy. Might makes right, only the strong survive, etc. What would you do when confronted by the complete freedom to do whatever you wanted? Money is worthless, so you must steal to get what you need to survive. You probably don't give that a second thought. Your former friends, neighbors and loved ones are trying to eat you, so you start killing them. At first, you find it horrible, but you quickly get used to it if you want to live. Then let's say somebody in your group gets bitten, infected. Do you really want to keep them around? What if they die when nobody's looking and suddenly reanimate in your shelter? Do you kill them or leave them to die? Do you take the risk of keeping them with you?
Now let's say there's a total bastard (example: "Harry Cooper" from NOTLD) in your group. He constantly antagonizes you, hoards stuff you need for himself and selfishly puts the group in danger. He refuses, or only pretends to, listen to reason. What do you do? Do you throw him out, knowing it's a probable death sentence? What if he doesn't get eaten but comes back, maybe with more bastards like him, to kill you or burn down your shelter as revenge? Or maybe he becomes a zombie and by instinct, leads more zombies back to your shelter? Do you kill him outright? Remember, you can do anything now. There is no law except "Do What Thou Wilt." You have to think of your own survival and of those you care about. The old rules don't apply, and if you try to make them, some very bad things can happen to you in short order. Are you even willing or able to live in a world like that? Seeing how different people react to a rapidly devolving, crisis situation is at the heart of any good, apocalyptic story.
We should not rule out the zombie menace altogether; it's what brought our characters together. After all, what do zombies represent? Fear of our own mortality, of conformity, germs, and crowds; loss of identity, control, of everything that makes you "you." To quote Barbara (Patricia Tallman) in the 1990 remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, "We're them and they're us." That makes zombies a powerful symbol. I think that's why there are so many social commentaries "hidden" inside zombie movies. Some are deliberately inserted, while the most effective simply creep in all by themselves without the author even realizing it, as was the case with the 1968 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (contrary to revisionist historians).
With all this in mind, I can get back to work on my novel. I think it's going to be a good one!
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 13, 2006 23:17:38 GMT -8
JUNE 4, 2006 Woohoo! 70,000 words and counting... I just wrote not only another super-scary zombie scene, but the hottest, wettest, dirtiest, most desperate "end of the world" sex scene ever! Maybe I should write a romance novel next, LOL. Okay, probably not, but this was some seriously steamy stuff that'd make any housewife blush. Damn it, that was hot! I gotta go take a cold shower... ;-)
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 13, 2006 23:18:17 GMT -8
JUNE 6, 2006 Another major push forward on my Zombie Novel tonight, to the 80,000 word mark! I was up all night, furiously pounding away at the keyboard. I now realize the "epic" first draft is going to be more like 100-125,000 words than 90k. Well, dem's da breaks, as they say in showbiz. But this is a good thing, despite the extra time it's going to take to complete it. Anything worth doing is worth doing right...
It's always better, in my opinion, to overwrite than underwrite; I'd hate to have to go back in and try to pad it out with crap if I couldn't meet my 90k target, but happily, it seems that won't be the case with my first novel.
Ha! Padding... Reminds me of some jerks trying to pad out their movies run time with 10 minutes worth of credits, LOL. Not that I haven't been guilty of that myself, mind you, but I always hate doing it. Unfortunately, the industry (and audiences) have certain expectations of how long a film should be (85-90 minutes minimum).
The great artiste in me says a film (or a book) should be not one frame (or word) longer than it needs to be in order to tell its story effectively.
The businessman in me realizes the reality that something too short won't sell--either at all, or not nearly in the same numbers. So, certain compromises must be made.
On the other hand, 9 times out of 10, you don't want your masterpiece to be too long, either. In most cases, there's no reason for it to be, except to be pretentious and to justify charging extra. Really, what many of these spawling "sagas" need is a good editor to start chopping them down to a more manageable size (but not anymore than is needed for them to be "perfect")... unless they are one of the truly great ones that demand the extra run time or pages (Dawn of the Dead, A Game of Thrones, etc.). Something so freakin' spectacular you never want it to end!
I think I've got something pretty special in my first novel, but I'm not gonna kid myself and say everything I write is golden, just like when I direct a film I'm never happy with every shot. It's all in the editing... Speaking of editing, I'm gonna need an impartial pair of eyes (in other words, an editor) for my novel, LOL. I suspect the first draft will be done in just a few more weeks.
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 13, 2006 23:19:16 GMT -8
JUNE 11, 2006 Holy frickin' frijoles! It seems like yesterday when I started on my zombie novel (although I think it was actually April 13, if my backdated calendar is to be believed). I'd thought then that the first draft would need to be 90,000 words in length (approximately 350 pages in its final, printed form). I remember thinking, "I'll never make it." Yet I did and am still not done, although I've just now entered the final act. Another 30,000 words to go and it should be done... The first draft, anyway! Then it's time to go over it again and again, as many times as it takes to get to the final polish--that moment of moments when I can lean back and say, "Goddamn! This shit kicks ass and it can't kick no more!"
I know first novels are supposed to suck, LOL, but I got my fingers crossed anyway. I'm betting my prior experience as a screenwriter and author of short fiction/non-fiction will mitigate the mistakes a lot of new authors make. I didn't exactly fall off the turnip truck, you know! Maybe first novels are only supposed to suck in comparison to your later novels, when you've perfected your voice and honed your craft to a fine, razor's edge.
I know for a fact there's a ton of good stuff in my novel; the trick is in the editing to make sure everything shines through. I can live with a few mistakes, but I won't let the novel out of my hands until it's as perfect as I can make it. I recognize perfection as being an impossible goal, but am not naive enough to think that all my prose comes out golden on the first try, hence the phrase "as perfect as I can make it." Kind of like shooting a movie. Rarely do you get what you want on the first take! So too it is with a first draft. But I'm in the homestretch now, racing toward the finish line, full speed ahead... What a glorious ride it is!
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 13, 2006 23:20:50 GMT -8
JUNE 11, 2006 After a brief nap and watching reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my underwear, I got back to work and started wondering...
So, horror fans--How should my novel end?
A) Everyone gets eaten! (like in Burial Ground)
B) Everyone cool lives, but just barely, ala Day of the Dead.
C) At least one person survives, but faces an uncertain fate, ala the original Dawn of the Dead.
D) Most people survive and face an uncertain fate, setting the book up for an obvious sequel and pissing everyone who reads it off because there's no resolution...
E) It was all a dream! (like in Nightmare City)
If you do vote, I'd appreciate knowing why you picked the ending you did. It will definitely help me in my decision. Thanks!
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Post by zombieflesheater on Jun 14, 2006 20:12:58 GMT -8
I vote for C, cuz it's endings like that make me think. At the end of the first Dawn of the Dead when Peter and Fran take off in the helicopter, he asks her, 'How much fuel we got?" and she answers, "Not much." He just goes, "All right." And they fly off... Do they die or what? You really gotta wonder. But they probably die! LOL
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infected
Priest of Todd
"Get Down With The Sickness!"
Posts: 36
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Post by infected on Jun 14, 2006 21:33:20 GMT -8
A - everyone get eaten! It's scarier that way.
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 15, 2006 17:30:00 GMT -8
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 16, 2006 6:31:40 GMT -8
June 16, 2006Got the first draft up to the 95,000 word mark... Still toying with several ideas about how the last act will play out. Decisions, decisions...
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 21, 2006 21:55:15 GMT -8
97,000 words now... Big action scene started; it heralds the beginning of the end for our desperate band of survivors!
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 23, 2006 4:08:30 GMT -8
Deathbreed: A Zombie Novel has now gone beyond the 100,000 word mark!!! No; it's still not done, but it is getting close. 100k is about 350 pages when published. It's taken me 41 days to get this far--not bad considering all the days (weeks) I took off, either to work on other projects or to recharge my creative batteries...
Looking back, I got around 25,000 words done in the mid-late April, then I was up to 57,000 words by the end of May, then in June, I went from 65,000 words on June 2nd to almost 102,000 as I write this, June 23rd. To think I was worried about ever reaching 90,000 words when I started!
Woohoo! We're in the home stretch to completing the first draft now, gang! Just a little longer...
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 29, 2006 17:49:04 GMT -8
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