Interview with Patrick D'Orazio, author of Comes The Dark, the first book of The Dark Trilogy
Patrick D'Orazio
Bec: Welcome to my blog, please start out by sharing a little bit about yourself –
My name is Patrick D’Orazio, and while I have been writing for much of my adult life, I didn’t focus on getting published until the past few years. My trilogy of zombie novels is in the process of being released by The Library of the Living Dead Press, and I have about 20-25 short stories that will be published in anthologies from various small house presses over the next year or so. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, have a beautiful wife and two crazy kids, a girl and a boy, who inspire me daily.
Bec: What first got you interested in writing?
My mom always inspired my desire to read, and I think from that sprang the desire to write. I was the kid who created new games with my friends like turning my closet into a space ship that would send us across the galaxy. I loved jotting down short stories and creating new worlds. When I got certified as a full fledged geek and played Dungeons & Dragons in high school, I was typically the Dungeon Master, or the guy who had to come up with the adventures for everyone else. There were pre-written ones, but I really enjoyed creating the entire world, with all the different places, castles, dark swamps, etc, myself. I loved to improvise adventures for people off the cuff, and everyone always said I was really good at that. Being in that position means you have to be a storyteller, so it seemed like a natural progression when I started writing fantasy stories then and as I got older.
Bec: What are the worst struggles you think writers face, writing and marketing?
Often times I think it is finding an outlet for your writing, if you write something that isn’t “mainstream” or you aren’t established in a certain genre. And my guess, though I haven’t had this experience yet, is that if you jump genres and need to find a new publisher, you have to start the hunt all over again for people who might appreciate something completely different than what you have written before. Thankfully, it seems that the publishing world isn’t made up of only big houses that require agents and a single formula for a book to be a success. As a reader, reading independent stuff has been a real thrill for me over the past few years as I have discovered all these different smaller publishers who give new and unique authors a shot with their work. Of course, the tough part of being in that world is exposure is often limited and you really have to work hard to build an audience. A lot of guerilla marketing tactics on the internet through Facebook, twitter, blogs, and making sure you really connect out there with fans loyal to your genre. It can be tough sometimes, and you never really know what it is that will make your stuff click for an audience-sometimes you just have to cross your fingers and hope!
Bec: Tell us about your book/s –
My trilogy: Comes the Dark, Into the Dark, and Beyond the Dark are what I would call very traditional zombie apocalyptic novels. I did not make an effort to turn the genre on its ear with my story, I more or less wanted to create a character driven tale that gives the reader real human beings that have no real clue about survival or even coping with all the death and mayhem around them. They just find that they are people who have managed to make it past the end of the world for several weeks, and are just trying to stay alive for as long as they can. Of course, the trilogy is a story about the human beings dealing with one another along with the undead threat, and the fact that we tend to be more of a pain in the ass to each other than even flesh eating corpses can be moves things forward.
Bec: Why did you use a baseball bat for your main character's weapon?
The baseball was a natural choice because it is something that you could find around the house without to much justification. Also, I like a baseball bat as a weapon that is sort of a close companion-it doesn't need to be reloaded, it won't get stuck in something because of a sharp edge, and it takes no special knowledge to use or maintain. Just something someone could pick up and put to good use bashing zombie skulls in.
Bec: Did you find it hard to think up new ways to kill zombies?
As to thinking up ways to kill zombies, it was really just a matter of letting the ideas flow from the story rather than trying to come up with something new. The idea of the pit in the neighborhood was based on seeing something that was like that in a subdivision that was still being built up. My wife and I didn't want the house next to the ten foot drop off, but it gave me a few ideas, which morphed into the scene in the book. But overall, it mainly comes from how I would deal with a menace that was coming for me. Zombies are sort of like those crash test dummies-you can put them through a heck of a lot, and they keep coming back for more, so I do have to admit it is fun to think of an odd new way to kill them now and then.
Bec: Who was your favorited character in the book, and why?
My favorite character, in a lot of ways, is George. Jeff is the every man, and so is George, but he has a reason to keep going. In fact, he has more than one reason, with Jason under his protection as well, and while his main desire is to get back to his family, he cares for everyone he is surrounded by. He maintains a certain stance throughout the story, holding true to what he believes in regardless of what happens. I think I admire who he is, and I can also empathize with the pain he is suffering through after having been away from the people he loves for as long as he has.
Bec: Are you working on a sequel/s?
I have two more books in mind that would stand separately from the trilogy, but would involve those people who survive when that story is complete. The next book would take place several months on down the line. The trilogy actually takes place within a space of a few days, so it will be interesting to see how everyone has transformed since we’ve stepped away from them for so long. I have both books outlined, it is really a matter of getting writing on them. With the final book of the trilogy coming out very soon, I think a huge chunk of my writing focus will be on the next story in that same world over the next few months.
Bec: What other projects are you working on or involved with?
As I mentioned, I have a sizable amount of short stories that have been accepted and will hopefully see the light of day over the course of the next year or so. I also have a couple of other novels that I have written a few chapters of and have to decide which will be next beyond the fourth book from the world of my dark trilogy. One is a young adult adventure novel while the other would be something that has both zombies and vampires in it. I also have a zombie noir novel in mind that has really been tugging at me for the past few months, and it may end up pushing everything else out of the way so it gets written first.
Bec: What's your favorite color?
Blue has always been my favorite color. Oddly enough, I imagined as a kid that there was a war going on between red and blue, a never ending battle for supremacy. It may sound strange, but on some days, I still feel that way.
Bec: Do you like to listen to music while you write or have complete silence?
Instrumental stuff is okay, but I end up wanting to sing along with most songs. Mood music can be quite inspiring though-epic battle hymns and grim dirges can really pull some majestic stuff out of you.
Bec: What genres do you most like to read/write?
Well horror, and the zombie sub-genre as well, are great for both reading and writing. But I love science fiction and fantasy equally and would love to have more of a chance to write in those genres. In some ways the massive tomes that many authors in those genres put out make the prospect of tackling them with something beyond short stories a bit daunting for me. But I do believe I have a 500,000 epic in me, it is just a matter of pulling it out, kicking and screaming, if necessary. It is something I do plan on going after. But regardless of how that goes, reading scifi and fantasy will always be a staple of my existence.
Bec: Do you find writing a lonely profession?
In many ways, no. Becoming a writer has opened up new relationships with people I would have never known otherwise. While the actual writing is something you do on your own, your objective is to share it with others, so a huge part of the process is getting involved with other people. I think I do well with that aspect of the process, since I have spent my career in sales and understand the value of networking. I think it can be very lonely if you find it hard to open up and let others give you honest feedback. If you are willing to promote your work this profession is one that introduces you to a lot of other great people.
Bec: What would you share with a beginning writer?
Don’t convince yourself that you have to do this on your own. You need to be able to embrace the fact that your first draft is the last time your story is yours alone. After that, you need honest, brutally forthright readers who aren’t just friends and family who will tell you how great your stuff is no matter what. You need to broker relationships with other writers, with fans of the genre you are involved with, and naturally, publishers; people who will offer encouragement and more importantly, constructive criticism. If you tend to get defensive about your writing, you will find it hard to end up with an audience willing to embrace you. As you make connections with other folks out there, you will find more and more avenues to get your stuff published once it is ready to go, and those same people will be able to give you advice on how to successfully market your writing. There is plenty of other advice for new writers, but I think embracing a wider world of other people who love what you love is a key step to becoming a published writer.
Bec: What do you wish someone would have told you when you first started your writing journey?
Not to over analyze ever single word that I had written. I overwrote my stuff, running in tangents, and kept editing every passage as I wrote them. A friend of mine has written the first chapter of his great American novel about 50 times, trashing it each time because he wasn’t happy with it. Write the first chapter, set it aside and don’t look at it, and then write the second and the third and the fourth. Before you know it, you have a manuscript. You have plenty of chances to edit then, but the concept of finishing something and not allowing it to take years and years because you were stuck on the perfect turn of phrase is priceless. Writers beat themselves up, and every one of them I know find it hard to let go. Every story, every book they ever wrote could be revised again and again. Sometimes you just have to accept that it is done, for better or for worse, and move on to something different.
Bec: Do you think having other writers as friend is a good thing for your growth as a writer?
Absolutely. It is a support network of people who believe in you-not because they will glamorize every written word you ever produce, but because they know you have the capability to write something great, and you need to be constantly critiqued and offered guidance to do just that. I love reading other folks stuff and offering up honest criticism. Being a friend with other people who are all struggling on a daily basis to do the same thing you are struggling to do is a great motivator. Knowing that you can be honest with them and they can be honest with you is terrific-it makes you feel like you are accomplishing something and there are people out there who will encourage you to keep on trying to accomplish even more.
Bec: What's your favorite book? Why?
The Stand, hands down. I guess it shaped my perspective on the apocalypse, which is something my twisted mind loves to think about and write about all the time. I loved each new edition he put out in the eighties and early nineties, where piece parts of the book that had been shelved were revealed in a new version. Each new piece added extra dimensions to these characters I had grown to love and hate, and I don’t think I have ever been so immersed in a piece of horror fiction before or since. I also love Asimov and Tolkien, along with plenty of other author’s written worlds, but The Stand really resonated for me on so many different levels it is hard to beat.
Bec: Who's your favorite author? Why?
After my last answer, it would be hard to deny that King is my favorite author, but mainly his older stuff. The Dark Tower is incredible, as is The Stand, The Shining, Pet Cemetery, ‘Salems Lot…and all his short story compendiums. But when you are a compulsive reader, picking one author almost seems unfair. Better to pick one author in each genre, but even that seems unfair. I love Steinbeck, Twain, and Bradbury, and their bodies of work blow me away. Greg Bear, Asimov, Tolkien, Howard, Lovecraft, Poe…the list goes on and on. So a top ten or even a top one hundred list for this particular question would probably be a better answer. A list that is constantly evolving as I discover new authors.
Bec: Is there anything you would like to share that I haven't asked you about?
With the release of Beyond the Dark, my publisher and I will be releasing the entire Dark trilogy on one Kindle download. It will include another full book of short stories about the characters that inhabit the world I created, so it will actually be about 250,000 words in total. So keep your eyes peeled for The Dark Trilogy on the Kindle and on smashwords, within the next month.
Bec: Thank you for stopping by and sharing! Best of luck with your book and future project!
Thanks! I enjoyed it!
Buy a copy of, "Comes The Dark," on Amazon by clicking on the cover!
Read my review of, "Comes The Dark," by clicking on the RB Reviews banner!
Copyrights owned by Rebecca Besser and Patrick D'Orazio, 2011. All rights reserved.
Posted by Becca at 7/6/2011 3:21 PM 
Categories: Author Interviews
Tags: Patrick DOrazio books book interview zombies trilogy horror Comes The Dark reviews RB Reviews The Library of the Living Dead Press
Categories: Author Interviews
Tags: Patrick DOrazio books book interview zombies trilogy horror Comes The Dark reviews RB Reviews The Library of the Living Dead Press
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