Zombacolypse: Day 2 of the Infection

So, if you're just now joining me on this zombie hop, you can find my day one post here. Now, when thinking about what I wanted to do today, I decided to post my first ever author interview with the author of INFECTED, James Schannep. So, without further ado...

So, thanks so much James for stopping by for my first author interview.

Glad to be here. You're the first interviewer to initiate contact about INFECTED, so I guess that makes us even.

So, why don’t you tell us a little about your book?

INFECTED is the first in my new "Click Your Poison" series, a grown-up version of the gamebooks popular in the 1980s-90s (Choose Your Own Adventure, Give Yourself Goosebumps, etc). In INFECTED, you're invited to live, die, and rise again based solely on the merit of your own choices. Find out... Will YOU survive the zombie Apocalypse?

How did you get started writing?

Encouraged by my mother, I started writing at a young age; mostly fan fiction and a few fantasy and sci-fi stories. I never thought I'd make a living off of it, but the urge to write never went away as I grew up. When I found myself using my off-time to write after I'd joined the military, I knew it was a dream worth pursuing. As my dad once told me, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life."

Why did you chose to write a pick-your-own story instead of a standard novel?

I loved those books as a kid and I was shocked that there has yet to be a mainstream series for adults. I've written standard novels (unpublished), and plan to do so again in the future, but this series idea was too exciting to pass up.

Was it hard to write that instead of a standard novel? I mean, there are 50 possible endings, that’s got to make things more difficult.

To put it simply -- Yes. I encountered so many alternate universes within the book that I couldn't keep them straight in my head anymore. Luckily, I had the foresight to start a decision flowchart and that helped keep me on path, so to speak. Really, INFECTED is three books in one. The stories overlap at points, but if you make it all the way to the end, just know that you've only found one path to survival.

Now out of everything you could have picked to write about, you chose zombies. Why?

INFECTED actually started off as a screenplay back in 2008. It made some ripples in the pond, but Hollywood wasn't willing to take a big-budget chance on unknown material. It was good, I was told, but it needed to either be based on existing intellectual property or be a zombie musical rom-com. Not wanting to compromise my story, I shelved the project. Cut to four years later and the idea for the Click Your Poison series -- I knew right away that INFECTED needed to rise from the dead.

So, what are you working on right now? Got any releases planned, or still writing?

I'm currently working on the next Click Your Poison book, which will be a murder mystery that YOU have to solve.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and let me interrogate…I mean, question you. And thanks for being my first interviewee!

My pleasure! And thanks to your readers for their time as well.

Author photograph © Franze Photography 2011

James Schannep is an American novelist and screenwriter who has received numerous awards and placements for his work. His first screenplay was optioned in 2011 and the Click Your Poison series was launched September, 2012 with the flagship book INFECTED. A United States Air Force Academy graduate with a degree in English, Schannep left the service honorably to write full time. He has personally stopped three zombie uprisings without raising national attention.
 
Web: www.jamesschannep.com
Twitter: @jamesschannep
Facebook: facebook.com/cypbooks




 

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