I don’t want to give anything away to our readers, BUT… not everyone makes it through the book. And I won’t lie — a few of the deaths really shocked me. As the author, how do you decide who lives and who dies? All that god-like power…
I never write with the explicit intention of shocking the reader — that’s a blind alley, a stupid thing for a writer to do, and kind of insulting to the reader. If there are shocks, they happen almost by accident, which is the best way.
I don’t want to sound wanky and say ‘the characters write themselves!’ coz obviously that’s untrue and I always sniff derisively when I read an author saying that. But I know what they mean, and I’ve found with each of the books that there comes a point where it feels like the events of the story are carrying me along with them and I’m just holding on for grim death, transcribing them. Obviously I’m controlling the story, but it feels like I’m not. It’s odd, hard to describe without seeming to be completely up myself, and it’s a great feeling.
What I tend to do is plot the book as it would happen if all the heroes’ plans worked, then I have the plans go horribly wrong and as the characters improvise to compensate, so do I.
So to answer your question — I really had no fixed idea who would live and who would die. Right up until a character actually breathes their last there’s every chance they might make it out alive. In the end, those characters who die were just in the wrong chapter at the wrong time, and paid the price.
Also, I firmly believe that a character’s death should be surprising and should hurt the reader. I remember how devastated I was when Tara died on Buffy, or Wash bought it in Serenity, or Penny died in… hang on… WHEDON!! (shakes fist)
So if a character’s death surprises me — and they always kind of do, actually, even as I write them — then hopefully they’ll surprise a reader too. And I like the idea that the deaths of my characters knock the reader back. That’s satisfying, ‘cause it means the characters worked and connected.
Children’s Crusade reads like the Afterblight’s All-Star Game — with substantial appearances from characters developed by Paul Kane and touching on villains and themes first introduced by Simon Spurrier. We touched on this before, but what’s it like working in a world this cooperative? Does Mr Kane mind you killing off a Ranger or two?
Paul picked out the two Rangers who have lead roles in the book and handed them off to me for development. But he did rein me in on their use of firearms and their rule that they should fight to wound, not kill, wherever possible. Also he was kind enough to say that I nailed Robert’s character — then gave me a whole slew of notes on what I’d got wrong about the scene where he met Lee :-) So I did rejig things to keep him happy. (Cause, you know, he scares me!)
I always intended to tie book three very closely in with The Culled. As time passed and The Culled started to seem less immediate I questioned whether it was still wise, but I eventually decided that it added texture and rewarded long-time readers. There’s even a very small reference to one of the character from that book in the long flashback in the middle of this one — see if you can spot it.
I should stress, though, that you don’t have to have read the other books to enjoy mine, just that it’s an added layer if you have.
As the last in the trilogy, Children’s Crusade might not be the best book for Afterblight virgins. What would you suggest to our readers that want to get into the series?
There’s a chronology at the back of Children’s Crusade. I’d recommend reading them in chronological order, which just co-incidentally means starting with School’s Out. How about that :-)
Ok. Zombies attack. You can have one weapon, one sidekick and one song for your zombie-slaying soundtrack. Go…
Flamethrower; Felicia Day; Zippity Doo Dah.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SCOTT ANDREWS has written episode guides, magazine articles, film and book reviews, comics, audio plays for Big Finish, far too many blogs, some poems you will never read, and two previous novels for Abaddon.
He lives in a secret base hidden within the grounds of an elite public school which serves as a front for his nefarious schemes to take over the world. His wife and two children indulge him, patiently.
You can contact him at www.eclectica.info, where you’ll find all sorts of nonsense.
The Afterblight Chronicles Series
The Culled
by Simon Spurrier
Kill Or Cure
by Rebecca Levene
Dawn Over Doomsday
by Jasper Bark
Death Got No Mercy
by Al Ewing
Blood Ocean
by Weston Ochse
The Afterblight Chronicles: America
An Omnibus of Post-Apocalyptic Novels
Arrowhead
Broken Arrow
Arrowland
by Paul Kane
School’s Out
Operation Motherland
Children’s Crusade
by Scott K. Andrews
‘The Culled’ by Simon Spurrier
The Blight arose from nowhere. It swept across the bickering nations like the End of Times and spared only those with a single fortuitous blood type.
Hot-headed religion and territorial savagery rule the cities now. Somewhere amidst the chaos a damaged man receives a signal, and with it the tiniest flicker of hope. The chance to rediscover the humanity he lost, long ago, in the blood and filth and horror of The Cull.
The Afterblight Chronicles is an exciting series of high-action post-apocalypse fiction set in a world ruled by crazed gangs and strange cults.
‘Kill or Cure’ by Rebecca Levene
Jasmine has spent five years underground, locked in a secret government bunker. Outside, the world has gone to hell, a mysterious virus killing all but 1 in 20 of the world’s population.