Ask the Author: Bryan Way
Answered Questions (6)
Bryan Way
The wide release for
Life After: The Void
, the novel following
Life After: The Arising
in the
Life After
series.
Through the short stories Life After: The Cemetery Plot , Life After: The Basement , Life After: The Phoenix , and the anthology All Things Zombie: Chronology of the Apocalypse featuring Life After: Consequences , I examine the new challenges a Zombie apocalypse imposes on the personal and societal conflicts we've endured throughout history on a smaller scale. While these shorts are designed to enrich the world of Life After beyond the novels, the books will always be my first priority, and protagonist Jeff Grey will always be the eye of the hurricane.
Life After: The Void picks up two months after the conclusion of Life After: The Arising , with Grey and his newly anointed companions having fortified the school and gathered supplies to weather the apocalypse. They may live in relative safety and security, but the friendship they forged out of necessity is unraveling; Grey and Rich are getting under each other's skin, Anderson has become romantically involved with a controlling new arrival, Jake's teenage apathy manifests as defiance, and Melody's newly found pragmatism is becoming abrasive, but their personal strife is about to become the least of their problems. The true test of their mettle won't be surviving each other, it'll be staying alive once they're forced to confront the dangers of the outside world.
The first draft of Life After: The Arising was written from December 2003 to July 2004, at which point I realized three things:
1. My book might not be long or complete enough for publication.
2. I wasn't a good enough writer to publish anything yet.
3. I intended to continue the story, and I would consider myself a hack if I waited until after publishing the first book to start a second.
I allayed these concerns by starting Life After: The Void in January 2005, but didn't finish the first draft until September 2008 for a variety of reasons. It was only once I published Life After: The Arising in 2013 that I returned to edit its sequel, assuming that I had forged a manageable précis. Boy, was I wrong. I languished in editing this turgid adolescent fever dream for upwards of 20 months, trying to wring out all the awful characterizations and absurd digressions while staying true to aspects of my original vision. The limited edition release in October 2015 was partially to avoid disappointing what few dedicated fans I've earned and partially because I had no idea what to make of the finished product. Fortunately, their response has been largely positive, so I've spent the last five months fine tuning. The end is now in sight.
Through the short stories Life After: The Cemetery Plot , Life After: The Basement , Life After: The Phoenix , and the anthology All Things Zombie: Chronology of the Apocalypse featuring Life After: Consequences , I examine the new challenges a Zombie apocalypse imposes on the personal and societal conflicts we've endured throughout history on a smaller scale. While these shorts are designed to enrich the world of Life After beyond the novels, the books will always be my first priority, and protagonist Jeff Grey will always be the eye of the hurricane.
Life After: The Void picks up two months after the conclusion of Life After: The Arising , with Grey and his newly anointed companions having fortified the school and gathered supplies to weather the apocalypse. They may live in relative safety and security, but the friendship they forged out of necessity is unraveling; Grey and Rich are getting under each other's skin, Anderson has become romantically involved with a controlling new arrival, Jake's teenage apathy manifests as defiance, and Melody's newly found pragmatism is becoming abrasive, but their personal strife is about to become the least of their problems. The true test of their mettle won't be surviving each other, it'll be staying alive once they're forced to confront the dangers of the outside world.
The first draft of Life After: The Arising was written from December 2003 to July 2004, at which point I realized three things:
1. My book might not be long or complete enough for publication.
2. I wasn't a good enough writer to publish anything yet.
3. I intended to continue the story, and I would consider myself a hack if I waited until after publishing the first book to start a second.
I allayed these concerns by starting Life After: The Void in January 2005, but didn't finish the first draft until September 2008 for a variety of reasons. It was only once I published Life After: The Arising in 2013 that I returned to edit its sequel, assuming that I had forged a manageable précis. Boy, was I wrong. I languished in editing this turgid adolescent fever dream for upwards of 20 months, trying to wring out all the awful characterizations and absurd digressions while staying true to aspects of my original vision. The limited edition release in October 2015 was partially to avoid disappointing what few dedicated fans I've earned and partially because I had no idea what to make of the finished product. Fortunately, their response has been largely positive, so I've spent the last five months fine tuning. The end is now in sight.
Bryan Way
It's certainly not the pay!
I think being electrified by pure inspiration comes closest to being a 'best thing'. It's like having a perfectly benign drug injected directly into my brain, sending ideas hemorrhaging out faster than I can collect them. Writing them down while panicking that I might forget one is exhilarating enough to make me laugh out loud.
At that point, I usually realize that the inspiration was not a natural event. It's less like a geyser than it is realizing that I've been subconsciously building transmission towers, installing conductors, and blindly stringing the wires. All the while, the collective weight of these materials are weighing on a switch in my mind. Once everything is in place, the switch gets thrown and the neurons blast through the power lines, giving me pause to marvel at the connections I unwittingly drew, culminating when a story is born, leaping from my skull much as Athena was born of Zeus, daring me to do her justice as I give chase.
That and I like telling stories.
I think being electrified by pure inspiration comes closest to being a 'best thing'. It's like having a perfectly benign drug injected directly into my brain, sending ideas hemorrhaging out faster than I can collect them. Writing them down while panicking that I might forget one is exhilarating enough to make me laugh out loud.
At that point, I usually realize that the inspiration was not a natural event. It's less like a geyser than it is realizing that I've been subconsciously building transmission towers, installing conductors, and blindly stringing the wires. All the while, the collective weight of these materials are weighing on a switch in my mind. Once everything is in place, the switch gets thrown and the neurons blast through the power lines, giving me pause to marvel at the connections I unwittingly drew, culminating when a story is born, leaping from my skull much as Athena was born of Zeus, daring me to do her justice as I give chase.
That and I like telling stories.
Bryan Way
Life After: The Arising was born in 2003. I was on winter break after my first semester at Temple University when my friend mentioned he had nowhere to go during his winter furlough from basic training. I invited him to stay with my family, and for some reason, he ended up reading all the zombie fiction I had submitted to HomepageOfTheDead.com up to that point. He suggested that he and I should work on a story together.
I admit that I was puzzled by the suggestion; would we trade drafts? Compose sentences in tandem? I cogitated. I was in college with the support of my parents, and he was in the military having been unceremoniously kicked out of his home after high school, so wouldn't it be interesting to see the same story through these two character's eyes, provided they have some time apart for their own diverging stories?
Early on, I perceived an opportunity to challenge myself by doing what most zombie fiction refuses: acknowledge the history of zombie fiction, have the story open at ground zero, have the events unfold in a linear fashion rather than use ellipses, and make most of the characters teenagers. This was the first step toward creating a firmament for a series.
I admit that I was puzzled by the suggestion; would we trade drafts? Compose sentences in tandem? I cogitated. I was in college with the support of my parents, and he was in the military having been unceremoniously kicked out of his home after high school, so wouldn't it be interesting to see the same story through these two character's eyes, provided they have some time apart for their own diverging stories?
Early on, I perceived an opportunity to challenge myself by doing what most zombie fiction refuses: acknowledge the history of zombie fiction, have the story open at ground zero, have the events unfold in a linear fashion rather than use ellipses, and make most of the characters teenagers. This was the first step toward creating a firmament for a series.
Bryan Way
Inspiration is pervasive. Sometimes desultory conversation, seeing the aftermath of a car accident, the smell of an open vista, the look of a vehicle in a parking lot, or the flicker of tungsten streetlights can be a catalyst. It helps to step back and take a grander view of even the most banal circumstances, investigating minute details engaged by your senses and observing something meaningful, distressing, joyous, or bizarre that you might have otherwise overlooked.
A lot of great writing comes from conversation alone. The concept that writing does not flourish in a vacuum is a pregnant one, as you cannot rely on your own perception of people, events, and situations. The more you try to understand about people, the closer you get to the engine that drives them.
On the other hand, a great story often seems to write itself with the proper complement of situational intrigue and great characters, but don't fool yourself when it comes to inspiration; when inspiration strikes suddenly, some writers describe themselves as a conduit through which writing flows, as though it were informed by a higher power. This discredits the power of curiosity and invention inherent in our psychology, and though this inspiration inevitably draws on some source, the channel through which it flows is you and you alone.
A lot of great writing comes from conversation alone. The concept that writing does not flourish in a vacuum is a pregnant one, as you cannot rely on your own perception of people, events, and situations. The more you try to understand about people, the closer you get to the engine that drives them.
On the other hand, a great story often seems to write itself with the proper complement of situational intrigue and great characters, but don't fool yourself when it comes to inspiration; when inspiration strikes suddenly, some writers describe themselves as a conduit through which writing flows, as though it were informed by a higher power. This discredits the power of curiosity and invention inherent in our psychology, and though this inspiration inevitably draws on some source, the channel through which it flows is you and you alone.
Bryan Way
Every writer tells you the same thing because it's the truth: keep writing. You don't have to plan to tackle the next 'War and Peace', but persistence pays off. Chip away at a novel, write an essay or article on a subject about which you are passionate, keep a journal... it doesn't matter what you write, as long as you don't stop.
If you've taken the next step by completing a manuscript of any sort, my best advice is to find good beta readers, because the last thing you need at that stage is ten or twelve friends stroking your ego. Before you even think about editing services, find a friend who majored in English at college, a relative who reads three books a week, someone who works as a copy editor, really anyone who has advanced analytical abilities. The tougher they are, the better. Your manuscript can only benefit.
If you've taken the next step by completing a manuscript of any sort, my best advice is to find good beta readers, because the last thing you need at that stage is ten or twelve friends stroking your ego. Before you even think about editing services, find a friend who majored in English at college, a relative who reads three books a week, someone who works as a copy editor, really anyone who has advanced analytical abilities. The tougher they are, the better. Your manuscript can only benefit.
Bryan Way
Never stop writing. It sounds counterintuitive, but if you come to an impasse, you can start writing something else. Doesn't matter if it's a novel, short story, poem, article, essay, journal entry, ideas, or even if you edit something you've written before. The other work will be waiting for you when you're ready.
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