Shpoo's Domain
Dusk
FAQ
Q: What inspired you to write Dusk?
A: Seeing George Romero’s Dead trilogy I liked the world he
created and that the zombies were part of the setting and not always
the main threat. It seems like there are a lot of stories that
could be told in that kind of scenario. I tried to work a couple
of those factors in. As for the fortified city that seemed like
the next logical step from Dawn and Day’s setups. The
inside was pretty safe and I figured people would be used to the
zombies so I needed to find an excuse to force a group of survivors to
leave. I also liked the idea of showing a contrast between
characters who remember the world as we know it and the younger
characters who were born (or just children) when the dead started to
walk.
Dusk is really kind of a prototype for something I want to write later.
Q: What is the hardest part about writing an online novel?
A: Editing and time management. I don’t write nearly as
much as I should and I do all of the editing myself, so I miss a
lot. Every time I read through old chapters, I pick out typos
like shrapnel in a war wound. Another challenge is in the way
I’ve been posting Dusk (periodically posting chapters). It
basically lends itself to continuity errors and makes them harder to
fix if I’m not careful. One thing that fits into a couple
of these problems is Sam’s last name. It’s changed
throughout Dusk 1. I think I’ve caught most of it, but you
might see it here and there. (If you see any glaring errors, feel
free to inform me.)
Q: What about your writing has improved the most since you started writing Dusk?
A: I’m picking much better character names than I did when I
started. I used to pick names as thy popped into my head, but it
comes off as bland. Since then I’ve been using the internet
to find names and that in turn helps me to get a better picture of the
characters as I write them. Is someone going to be German,
English, Asian, Jewish, or so on? I know as I pick the name.
As a result I’ve gone from picking lazy and bland names like Jack
Smith to names like Sal McRee.
Q: Who is your favorite Dusk character?
A: Sal McRee, easily. He started out as just being an old codger
with an attitude problem, but his personality took over on paper.
He’s someone who would not be able to function properly or at
least stay out of trouble in our world, but he’s a hero in the
zombie infested alternate universe. In our world,
he’d probably be living in the mountains somewhere (he hates the
desert), possibly bouncing back and forth between militias, clashing
with a few. He’d be on an FBI watch list at least and had
he met with Sam in a world without zombies, I think there would have
been a shootout. When they do meet I think they’ll find
that they have a lot in common in spite of the different paths they
chose in life. I’ve though about writing a story about Sal
and his daughter that doesn’t take place in the zombie infested
world, but I don’t have anything yet.
Q: Will there be a Dusk 3?
A: It’ll happen if I have an idea that needs writing (like how I
saw more story as soon as I finished Dusk). It won’t pick
up right after Dusk 2 ends though. We’ve seen enough of the
summer of 2001. I’ll jump forward to a few years
later. There should be some loose ends and some ways I can tackle
them when Dusk 2 is completed so maybe.
Q: Why does Dusk take place over 20 years after the dead start to walk?
A: In part because I thought it would be a nice touch to use the year
Dawn of the Dead took place as a starting point, but I also liked the
unresearched image I saw of a world twenty-two years later. That
gave enough time to have characters who aren’t old enough to
remember what the world was like before the rules of death
changed. It was a neat way of tackling the generational gap and
showing the difference in world views between Jack and Sam. Jack
was born after the dead started to walk, and aside from seeing dead
bodies walking around, losing his father at a young age, and having to
put his mother down after she died of cancer he’s lead a
sheltered life. All of his problems relate to the undead and the
people in his life are benign (Zach would never actually hurt another
living human without a reason and he’s probably the most twisted
person in the compound) so he has a storybook image of the world before
and is quick to trust people. Sam on the other hand remembers the
worst on humanity and has a jaded view.
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