I recently interviewed Author D. A. Roberts about his Ragnarok Rising Series.
(I personally loved the first novel and cannot wait to read whatever he has for his readers next.)
Candy in White and Author D. A. Roberts in Red
Tell me about your book.
How did you come up with that (story, angle, idea)?
Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening is
a zombie novel centered in the mid-west city of Springfield, MO. It focuses on
a group of survivors from the local sheriff’s office as they try to rescue
survivors and pick up the pieces during the initial days of the zombie
apocalypse. The main character is named Wylie Grant and he is torn between
doing his duty and protecting his family.
I am a Corrections Officer with
the Greene County Sheriff’s Office in Springfield, MO. The story evolved from a
conversation I had with other officers when the question was asked, “What would
we do if it happened here?” (Referring to a zombie attack) After we had the
conversation, I couldn’t look at my hometown in the same way, again. The story
formed over the next few days and I couldn’t wait to write it.
The sequel is called Ragnarok
Rising: The Reckoning. It picks up where “The Awakening” leaves off. We see
familiar faces and many new ones as the survivors shift from rescue mode to
trying to plan a long-term survival strategy. It’s during the second book that
they realize that, in some ways, other survivors are a bigger threat to their
survival than the zombies ever were.
How did you get interested in writing this particular genre?
I love horror. I always have. Even
as a kid, I loved watching scary movies (even the ones that scared the heck out
of me). As an adult, I rekindled my love
of zombies when the remake of “Dawn of the Dead” was released. That was my
first real taste of fast zombies. Suddenly, I was eight years old again. I
remember turning to my wife with a look of horror on my face and saying,
“Zombies aren’t supposed to be fast!”
That movie was a game changer.
Suddenly the zombies weren’t the slow, plodding, moaning undead of my youth.
They were fast, horrific and unstoppable. It was the catalyst that would fuel
Ragnarok Rising.
What kind of research did you do for this book?
Well, I watched a lot of zombie
movies and read a lot of zombie books. I
also served in the military and am currently a Corrections Officer. I wanted to
bring the realism of weapons, tactics and law enforcement procedures to the
genre. I’ve also spent a great deal of time on firing ranges. I’ve actually
fired most of the weapons featured in my books.
I think this gives me a distinct advantage with the fight scenes. I
wanted to bring tactics to the fight, not just firepower. The survivors would
use proven tactics, not just every man for themselves.
What's a typical working day
like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?
I work a rotating schedule at
work, 12 hour shifts. On days I work, I rarely get much done with my writing.
We rotate from days to nights and back on a 2 month rotation. I find I get more
writing done when I am on night shift. It’s easier to write at home when the
house is quiet and the kids are asleep. I like to write at my computer with
music on. I try to set a daily goal of 5000 words. 5K words is a good day. Some
days I only get a thousand. I’ve had days where I wrote nearly 15000 words.
Those are VERY good days. Some days, I find it hard to fit writing in at all. I
don’t like those days. I feel more productive when I’ve written something, even
if it’s only a few hundred words.
What is the hardest part of writing for you?
That’s an easy question to answer.
Editing! I really hate editing. Editing is more work than I ever thought was
possible. I had these naïve notions when I was a kid that I would write this
amazing book that required no editing whatsoever and would go instantly to the
top of the charts. I had no idea how much work was actually involved in the
entire process. From rough draft to publication, there is a lot of work
involved. I also discovered that I love doing it all. Even the editing, I
suppose. Well, maybe not the editing. I would love to be able to do this for my
entire livelihood. One day, I hope to be able to say that I am an author. Not a
Corrections Officer and an author, just an author. That will truly be a great
day.
What is the best thing about being an author?
I love talking to fans of my
writing. It’s an amazing feeling to talk to someone either in person or in an
e-mail or even in a chat window, and discover that they enjoyed something I
wrote. It’s what all authors aspire to do. When something I wrote makes someone
happy that I’ve never even met, well, that’s incredible. That, to me, is a
little piece of immortality. When your written word grows and reaches beyond
anything you ever imagined.
What are you working on now?
I actually have several projects
going at the same time. I am working the third installment of the Ragnarok
Rising Saga, tentatively titled Ragnarok Rising: The Crossing. I am also
working on a werewolf story that is independent of my zombie series. At this
time, I plan for it to be a stand alone novel, but who knows. We’ll see where
it takes me. I am also working on a collaborative project with a good friend
and fellow author by the name of Jaime Ramos. I don’t want to give too much
away on that one, but it will most-likely be released as an anthology. Then
there are a half-dozen other projects that I have going in the back of my head.
Stories I started long ago, but never finished for whatever reason. A few of
them are well worth going back to. I have 300 pages written of a fantasy novel
that I shelved and an entire notebook full of notes for a Serial Killer story. Yeah,
I have a few items on my plate. I hope I can get them all done, too.
What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Well, I’d tell them to do their
research. Your readers can see right through you when you don’t really know
your subject matter. Also, never give up. We all get rejection letters and
negative comments. It has never been truer than in the literary word, but you
can’t please everybody. So don’t try. Write what makes you happy. Know your
subject and write what’s in your heart. If you do that, you can’t go wrong.
Learn your craft from reading others works and keep writing. Writing is a skill
that gets better with practice. If you are fortunate enough to know a published
author in person, or are friends on facebook, don’t be afraid to ask questions
and advice. You’ll find that most authors will take the time to answer you,
assuming you actually have their contact information and not just a “fan page.”
Writing isn’t a competition, it’s a journey. You will never go wrong with
helping someone else along the way. I’ve never met an avid reader who only
owned one book or one series. There’s room on the shelves for all of us. Share
the journey.
Do you have any favorite authors or favorite books?
Now that answer might take a book,
in and of itself. I love books. There are so many authors whose work I admire
and love to read. I’ll try to keep the list short. Well, short-ish. There’s
J.R.R. Tolkien, Ernest Hemmingway, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Jack Higgins,
John Steinbeck, Michael Crichton, Tony Hillerman, Clive Cussler, Dean Koontz,
Jim Butcher, Ben Reeder, J.L. Bourne, Z.A. Recht, David Forsyth, Bram Stoker, Margaret
Weiss and Tracy Hickman, R.A. Salvatore, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Ray Bradbury,
F. Paul Wilson, Frederick Forsyth, Edgar Allen Poe, J.K. Rowling, Frank Miller,
Dayton Ward, John M. Ford, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Sir Thomas
Malory, hmm…I could go on. And on and on. I really love books.
Who
influenced you the most?
I would have to say that was my
mother. She’s the one who instilled in me my love of reading and of the written
word. My mother was a poet and songwriter. She always dreamed of publishing her
work, but she never achieved it. I was only 12 years old when my mother passed
away. It was that love of reading that kept me going. When my father passed
away, years later, I inherited a locked box full of my mothers writing. From
time to time, I take it out and read some of it. It’s at times like that I feel
she’s there with me. Now that I am a published author, I hope she knows that
part of it was for her.
If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?
There and back again, A….hang
on…that one’s been taken. Hmm….Lord of the….hang on...that one’s taken, too.
The Once and Future….ah, heck…that one’s taken.
Seriously, though, I’d probably
call it something like, “Chase your dreams.” I’ve chased this one all of my
life. Just being published and recognized as an author is a dream come true.
The icing on the cake would be to be able to do it for a living. That would
truly be “Chasing my dream.”
(Fun Questions)
What is your favorite color?
Hmm….black. I like black clothing, black jackets, black
hats, black coffee. I’d never paint a house black, though. I’d never find it
with the lights out.
Do you like Cats, Dogs, or both?
I’m a dog person. I love my
dog(s). We currently only have one, an English Mastiff named Xander. He’s a big
baby and we spoil him rotten. We had a Bullmastiff named Koda, but lost him to
bone cancer. I still miss him.
Where in the world would you like to travel to
and why?
I’d love to travel to Scotland and
Ireland. Those places have always held a mystic reverence in my mind. I’d love
to see where my ancestors came from and to walk in the Highlands. I want to
smell the heather and see the ruins of castles of ages long gone. I want to
whisper a prayer at Culloden and drink a pint of bitter in a Scottish Pub. I
long to hear the seabirds calling as the waves crash into the rocks of the
Hebrides and search for King Arthur on the Isle of Skye. I want to be called
home by the lonely sound of a piper on the hill. I’d love to walk in the
Highlands wearing a kilt and a claymore.
Where are you from?
I was born in the small town of
Lebanon, Missouri. We moved to Clayton, New Mexico when I was five. My mother
wanted to move there, so we did. She loved New Mexico. When mom died, dad
wanted to return to our Missouri home. We returned to Lebanon when I was 13. I
graduated high school in Lebanon and joined the Army. From there, I returned to
Lebanon before moving to Springfield, where I met my wife. I’ve lived there,
ever since.
When did you first consider
yourself a writer?
Someone once told me, “When you
wake up in the morning, what you want to be most…that’s what you are.” I never
forgot that. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, so I guess I’ve always been a
writer. Although I’ve worn many hats, over the years, a writer is what I always
dreamed of being. If you want to be something bad enough, that is what you are
inside. Your dreams are who you are. You just have to work to get there.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I suppose that I was inspired to
write my first published book was the conversation I had with other officers
about zombies in my home town. The desire to be a writer is what carried that
through to the end. Not to mention a healthy dose of my wife telling me to not
give up.
Do you have a specific writing style?
I write the Ragnarok Rising Saga
in first person perspective, from Wylie Grant’s point of view. I don’t plan on
doing that in everything I write. I’m not sure if I have a “style” other than
that.
How did you come up with the title?
In Norse Cosmology, Ragnarok is
the end of the world. It’s the Viking Armageddon. In it, Loki will lead an army
of the dead out of Hel against the world of men. That sounds like a Zombie
Apocalypse to me.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
If anything, it’s that heroes
don’t fit a mold. Anyone can be the hero.
How much of the book is realistic?
Well, it’s a zombie apocalypse
story, so it probably won’t happen. Probably. Other than that, I think it’s
very realistic. They use real tactics and weapons. No one is a super hero,
capable of things no normal human could ever do. These are very real people
doing the best they can to save lives in a situation that their training never
prepared them for. I think that makes it very realistic.
Are experiences based on someone
you know, or events in your own life?
I would like to say that my
characters are inspired by the men and women that I have served with as a
Corrections Officer. It is their courage, integrity, dedication and even sense
of humor that I have tried to capture.
What books have most influenced your life most?
The Lord of the Rings and the
Hobbit really changed my perception of reality. I read them for the first time
in sixth grade. They challenged everything I had previously thought about
reading. As I grew, other writers caused similar paradigm shifts. Kurt
Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, Ernest Hemmingway…they all shaped the way I looked at
the world. They took me from a kid who read cowboy stories and wanted to work
on a ranch and showed me how much bigger the world could be. Philosophy, art
and literature. Without them, it’s all just shadows and dust.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
If I had to choose just one, I’d
probably go with J.R.R. Tolkien. It was his writing that first showed me that
you could create your own worlds to tell stories in, not just limit yourself to
the world we see everyday.
What book are you reading now?
I just finished re-reading Jack
Higgins’ novel, “A Prayer For the Dying.” What an amazing book! If you haven’t
read it, I highly recommend it. I’ve probably read it a dozen times.
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Jim Butcher and Ben Reeder both got
my attention with a new genre that has really caught my interest. I suppose the
J.K. Rowling “Harry Potter” novels might fit this category, as well. It’s
called Urban Fantasy. Butcher’s “Dresden Files” and Reeder’s “Demon’s
Apprentice Series” took that same feeling from Tolkien and merged it with the
modern world. It’s very intriguing and I find it appealing. It’s fun to read
and it makes you question your surroundings, at times.
What are your current projects?
Well, let’s see. There’s the third
installment of the Ragnarok Rising Saga, “Ragnarok Rising: The Crossing.” I’m
also working on a werewolf story and a shared universe anthology. It keeps me
busy.
Name one entity that you feel supported
you outside of family members.
That would be hard to nail down to
just one person. I’ve had so much support from family, friends and fans that I
can’t really give credit to just one person. The officers I work with have been
fantastic about encouraging me and being excited about my writing. My friends
have all been great about sharing ideas and support. It’s been an amazing
journey that I hope to continue on for many years to come.
Do you see writing as a career?
Oh, absolutely. I want to continue
writing as long as I possibly can. It’s my passion.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest
book?
I don’t think any author can look
back at a work that they “finished” and not think “now that it’s in print, I
wish I’d done this differently.” We are our own worst critics, at times. The
smallest error will drive us nuts, even when no one else even noticed it was
there. So, yeah…there are things I’d change. That’s the nature of the beast,
I’m afraid.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
My mom read to me when I was
young. She also encouraged me to write. She was a writer who never got to see
her work published. I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
I’d like to, but I’m not sure what
to share. The unpublished stuff is still in the rough draft phase and the
published stuff is available. You can read a sample of book one, the first
three chapters, on my website.
http://ragnarokrising.weebly.com
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
The pacing of the story gets me
sometimes. I tend to get ahead of myself and have to go back and fix things. My
wife is my first line of defense against that. She’s my head beta-reader and
editor. She’s good at it, too. She’s also not afraid to tell me when it needs
to be completely rewritten.
Who is your favorite author and
what is it that really strikes you about their work?
It’s hard to nail down to just one
favorite author. It really is. I’ve been touched and amazed by so many talented
authors. One, in particular, inspired and amazed me. I read “A day in the life
of Ivan Denisovich” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn was an amazingly
talented writer. During the Soviet Regime, he was considered a dissident
because his writing spoke out against the Regime. For this, he was sent to a
labor camp in Siberia. “A Day in the Life…” was a story about a single day in
the life of a prisoner in a Soviet Siberian Gulag. It was horrifying. I was
literally moved to tears by what I read. It made me grateful that I never had
to suffer like he did for his writing.
Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
I’ve traveled a bit, for
interviews and appearances. I am hoping that my writing will reach the point
that I have to do a lot more of it. My
wife wants to see a day when we travel the US in a motor home doing appearances
and book signings. That would be a lot of fun.
Who designed the covers?
The covers of my books were
designed by the very talented Jo-Ann Byers-Mierzwicki. She’s an amazing lady
who has helped me a great deal. She’s awesome. She also did the interior layout
and all of the promotional graphics.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Rewriting entire sections that I
worked hard on was rough for me. I had to take out entire sections and I really
liked, but didn’t really fit into the flow of the story. The Awakening, when
finished, was over 500 pages in manuscript form. If I hadn’t edited it down, it
probably would have been over 600. Deciding which parts to cut and how much to
cut was heart-breaking.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
I learned a lot in publishing my
first novel. It was a definite learning experience. I learned about editing,
rewriting, rejection letters, more rewriting, more rejection letters and the
joys of being offered a contract. All the work on editing and rewriting taught
me a lot about the process. It made the second book much better, for it.
Do you have any advice for other
writers?
Stick with it. It might take time,
but you will get there. In the world of self-publishing and e-books, it’s
easier than ever to get your work out there. You don’t have to go the
traditional publishing route, if you don’t want to. The sky is the limit. Even
people who self-pub can generate tremendous sales and grow huge followings. The
big publishing houses are learning this and it is changing the way the industry
works. Keep writing, rewriting and polishing your craft. You will get there,
one day. It may not be all that far off, either.
Do you have anything specific that
you want to say to your readers?
Yes, definitely. I would like to
thank each and every one of you who have read, quoted, reviewed, commented on
or e-mailed me about my work. I’ve answered some fantastic questions and met
some amazing people. The fans are why we write and an author that forgets that
is in trouble. You all made this journey possible for me. Your praise,
critiques, questions, and comments have helped to shape my writing along the
way. You all inspire me to write, to dream and to reach for the stars. It is
you, the readers that this journey is for. Thank you all, so much, for
everything. I appreciate each and every one of you who have been with me on
this journey. Writing is a journey, not a contest. We can all take that journey
together. We see ourselves reflected in the characters we come to love and
admire. It’s that reflection of ourselves that ignites that spark of
imagination. As you read more, that spark becomes a flame that warms your soul.
Thank you for that spark of imagination. I hope that I have contributed to your
flame, in some small way. Keep reading. Keep imagining. Take that journey into
new worlds, in your mind’s eye. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of that.
