For weeks I have been – not so subtly – hinting about a new writing project. I shouldn’t have started a new story when I have 3 uncompleted WIP’s. But I couldn’t contain the idea. Not to mention the amazing opportunity that came with it.

Most of you know that I went to YAllapollooza back in February and had the chance to meet some of my favorite authors and discover new ones that I absolutely love now. During YAllapollooza there were different panels where authors spoke about their work, inspiration, and writing tips for us aspiring writers.

It was in one of these panels that an author began a writing group with the measly number of six aspiring writers. Let’s just say that I was the oldest member. The author – who’s name shall be kept in confidence – gave us all the same premise once we decided on one:

Your character finds a weird/old/magical/interesting book in the library and then something happens because they found the book.

We were also given a guideline that I believe are helpful writing tips for any writer.

• Think about the CHARACTER you want to find that book, who they are, what they like, etc. (They probably have some things in common with you: age, gender, likes/dislikes.)

• Think about the GOAL your character wants to achieve after finding the book. It should be something tangible (easily seen/defined) and achievable for your character, even if it’s really hard.

• Think about your character’s MOTIVATION for achieving that goal. Why do they want the goal, what is driving them to achieve it so that when things get tough they keep going after it.

• Think about the CONFLICT that is keeping your character from achieving their goal. This could be one big thing or a series of things. It could be people or things or animals or nature or even something about themselves that makes it really hard to get what they want.

With those concepts in mind I began to brainstorm during that first meeting. I played with the idea where my female protagonist finds a book of love spells. Why did the thought of having someone fall in love with her cross her mind? There were two reasons: her parents neglect her and her best friend is always with her boyfriend.

But then I started to think about zombies. A zombie apocalypse.

I was really excited and afraid to delve into this topic as I have never written a single piece of horror fiction. I like fantasy and romance. Even a little bit contemporary. But horror? I honestly didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I knew that I really liked the idea of it.

Thus, the Walking Dead was born.

All photos used belong to their respected owners. No copyright infringement intended.

I can’t fully express how much I love this mock cover that my friend Anna – over at The Writer Diaries – made me! It’s absolutely perfect and fits well with the story. There are scenes that involve a cemetery and Skye running away from the dead that she accidentally awakened. She only intended to bring back one person, but the spell went haywire. With the help of Alec, Skye must right what was done and send the lost souls back to their graves. The question is: Can she do it, all the while protecting what’s left of her heart?

And that is my mediocre job at writing a synopsis. I briefly talked about Skye in my Meet Skye post a few days ago. I found my journal where my thoughts of Skye began to form and realize now that Skye developed into a different person than I originally planned.

The story also kind of took on a life of it’s own. My first thought was a love spell, and how Skye (whose name wasn’t Skye yet) wanted to make a guy to love her because she didn’t want to be lonely anymore. That turned into her casting the spell at a graveyard, which would bring back a dead guy from the grave. But he couldn’t love because he had no soul.

In my sociology class I was feigning boredom – which happens often – and I began to just scribble nonsense. Those scribblings turned into the who and why Skye wanted to bring back from the dead and explained her motivation due to her background history.

Lastly, there’s a great opportunity that came with writing this particular short story. It may be featured at the Vegas Valley Book Festival in November. Our collaborate short stories will be in an anthology! Last I checked in, the author told me that only two people had been contacting her of the six we started with. So the anthology might not happen, but I won’t be too bummed about it. Writing the Walking Dead was a great experience and I hope to share the story soon with you all after I heavily edit and add a scene or two!

It also gave me the extra push I needed toward the direction of my WIP’s. I’m hoping that this summer I will have the chance to continue with those stories and give them an ending they so rightfully deserve.

xx

Emma