Interview with Remy Porter

Remy Porter is a first time novelist. His first book, Dead Beat, is rapidly becoming a favorite amongst the undead community. Porter is an awesome guy with goals and potential to achieve them. Expect more from this fresh author as he continues to write stories fans will love. Enjoy the interview.

Lyle
Why zombies?

Remy
That’s an interesting question! As a kid I always used to love horror movies. I remember being around 9 or 10 years old and being invited over to a friend’s house and sneakily watching what I’m guessing was video nasty Zombie Flesh Eaters. I really enjoyed it and I suppose throughout my teens I saw a lot of horror films, including Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. I loved the tension in the set up of a group trapped in a house in that one, and that memorably bleak ending. So I suppose the love of zombie horror came from film rather than books, although in reading just about everything James Herbert ever wrote there were quite a few ‘apocalyptic’ storylines mixed in there.

Lyle
How long have you been writing?

Remy
I have just come back from a long break of not writing anything. I did regularly write short stories between the ages of 20 and 25. After that I joined the police, and shift work and family life kind of took over, so there was a 9-10 year gap of no writing. I always had it at the back of my mind I wanted to write a novel, and partly I think I turned to the zombie genre because I felt I had a good understanding of it and the story would create an (un)natural drama that would be easy to flow along with.

Lyle
Do you have any other published material?

Remy
That’s really a no, although I’m also a big fan of boxing and I’ve written non-fiction articles/interviews that have been published online and in magazines.

Lyle
Out of all reasons the dead walk the earth which is your favorite explanation?

Remy
I have a terribly unscientific mind, so I probably would have to think of somebody else’s idea. I think I like the pulp fiction fun of Gregory Solis’ Rise and Walk – A meteor did it!

Lyle
To you, what characteristics need to be present in order to be considered a zombie?

Remy
I know certain people, such as your good self, dislike the fast zombie. For my money Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later is a zombie story and did inject a lot of excitement into the genre. Fast or slow I don’t mind …I also prefer if I’m honest for them to be dead and rotting, not possessed by spirits or more than basically cognitive. I loved David Moody’s concept that they detect or sense living noise and it’s actually the sheer force of their numbers that can overwhelm defenses, even when you live underground.

Lyle
David Moody is an awesome guy. Have you had a chance to read Hater? What other zombie literature did you enjoy?

Remy
I have read Hater, and shortly plan to read Dog Blood. I am a big fan of zombie fiction, and probably started off with Len Barnhart’s novels 3 years ago. I particularly enjoyed Iain McKinnon’s, Domain of the Dead, which I discovered when he initially self-published the novel. We’ve become friends since, and he’s been no end of help with my writing. In fact on 24th July he plans to film a short film trailer for Dead Beat in Scotland, which should be very cool indeed!

Lyle
How do you feel now that your first novel has gotten some reviews?

Remy
I feel elated to be honest. I know I’m in a very privileged position of having what is my first novel accepted by a publisher, instead of having rejection after rejection, which often appears the norm for writers starting out. I’m lucky to have bypassed that, and the reviews so far have been very positive.

Lyle
What advise would you give someone trying to write a novel?

Remy
For me obviously choose a genre that you love, and then maybe make a rough plan plot-wise that fits on a page. Obviously it’s likely to change as you go along and get better ideas, but it’s a good idea to know where you’re heading. After that just aim to write 1000 words a day 5-7 days a week, and just work through it chapter by chapter. My novel’s rough draft was 70,000, which was cut back to 65,000 through a couple of drafts.

Lyle
In that time did you run into any writers block? How did you work through it?

Remy
I’ve heard of people getting blocks of course, but I personally didn’t experience any writing Dead Beat. Perhaps that was partly because I do spend some time planning ahead in dot point fashion, so I constantly have short term goals in the story, rather than worrying about the whole book.

Lyle
How long did it take you to write Dead Beat?

Remy
I think I started the first draft around July/August 2009. Dead Beat was finished in early 2010, so around 6 months.

Lyle
Do you have a sequel planned or maybe another novel in the works?

Remy
I’ve had the idea of a zombie anthology greenlit by my publisher, Wild Wolf Publishing. That has a lot of great zombie writers attached to it, and will hopefully be out in early 2011. In terms of novel writing, I do plan to write an Australian crime novel next, that has a working title of Outpost. However at some point next year I will probably do another zombie novel. It would be too much fun not to do it.

Lyle
Are you prepared for the impending zombie apocalypse?

Remy
I think if it happened where I live now in Australia I’d be fairly screwed. Fingers crossed!

Lyle
I’m sorry to hear that. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me Remy it has been fun. I look forward to reviewing more of your zombie material as it becomes available.

Remy
Breaking news I’ve just received is that Dead Beat is now available to pre-order through www.wildwolfpublishing.com Thanks very much for what is actually my first interview for Dead Beat! It should be out in early July.