I had the pleasure to interview Kevin David Anderson, here is what he had to say
When did you first start writing and when did you finish your
first book?
I started writing in high
school, usually taking a bland English class assignment and turning it into
something creative. Depending on the teacher I was either scolded or praised. I
finish my first manuscript about age 35. I would have to write two more before
making that first novel sale.
Can you tell us about your upcoming book? And how you came up
with the idea?
My most recent book Night of
the ZomBEEs (the Walking Dead in Bee costumes) is a middle grade tween horror
comedy and the idea came from a joke I didn’t immediately get. While attending
a Zombie Convention after the release of Night of the Living Trekkies, a friend
of mine said she was going to attend dressed as a bee, all bloodied, looking
dead. Why in the world would you do that? I said. ZomBEE, get it. I didn’t get it but when I
went to the convention and saw people dressed as zombified bees, I finally got
it. Brilliant I thought, and this could be a story. I mean could BEE a story.
When writing about something you don’t know very much about
where does your information come from?
I try to stick to things I
know, and know well, I think most writers do, but when I have to venture out
beyond my own scope of knowledge, I like the feel of a real library to do my
research. Google is fast and efficient and sometimes even correct, but for me a
big dusty medical book that hasn’t been opened in a few years on the back shelf
in a little used research section of the public library can not only give me
the information, but solace and atmosphere. Things I need to write.
What is the easiest and the hardest part to write?
I sometimes think the
easiest part to write is the work itself. Beginning, middle, end. What they
don’t tell you in writing class is that no one may ever read your work until
you master what is called a query letter. These are the notes or one line
pitches you sent to editors and agents. Your entire novel, maybe a year of your
life, rests on your ability to boil it down to one or two lines that intrigues
an agent and stands out amongst the other thousand query letters they get. If
new writers truly understood how daunting it is, most would never type the
words “chapter one.”
Do you ever experience writers block? If so how do you find
best to cure it?
All the time. For me there
is only one cure. Read, read, read. When a writer reads he or she is often
refilling the tank of inspiration, and once full the block soon fades away.
Is there anything you would like to say to your readers?
Always know where your towel is at.
Is anything in your book based on real life events or is it
all imagination?
No real life events. I write
horror, zombies, surreal fantasy kind of stuff and my life is as dull and
un-speculative as it gets.
What inspired you to write your first/last novel?
I had just finished reading
a zombie novel by Brian Keene called The Rising, and I really liked how he
twisted the genre and did something new. Latter I was watching a documentary
called Trekkies which chronicles the detailed, interesting lives of Star Trek
fans. And then it hit me, what would happen if there was a zombie outbreak at a
Star Trek convention. In an instant I had my first novel idea that a publisher
would buy: Night of the Living Trekkies.
What is you biggest accomplishment, writing wise?
Any would-be writer that
finishes a novel manuscript, good or bad, should be proud. Any writer that
sells that manuscript should be very proud. Any writer that manages to impress
their fourteen-year old in this day and age by becoming a published novelist
has performed a miracle. That is my biggest accomplishment.
What sort of starbucks/costa coffee would your character
order? A simple coffee or the complicated soy-non-fat-extra-espresso-half-caff-nightmare?
Coffee, straight, black, no
sweetener, or creamer, no mint flavour whip cream or anything that comes from a
candy shop. Coffee isn’t supposed to taste good, or like it’s been filtered
through a Snickers bar. It’s suppose to be a mean drink that wakes you the hell
up with a bitter dark slap and screams, “Now get in that seat, start writing,
and for the love of all creativity be brilliant!”
