Interview with Seth Vorhees, author of Immune: Rise of the Inflicted

Written Dreams’ book of the week is currently Immune by Seth Vorhees, since it is a fantastic read that will be available soon. You can pre-order Immune here, and we expect to release the novel within the next few weeks. Seth answered a few questions about his novel for us below, so if you’re looking for your next sci-fi fix, check it out!

About Immune

After a deadly virus infects the global population, it throws all of the world’s inhabitants into two classes: the inflicted and the immune. Wyatt Tuck, a member of the immune, finds himself inside a nightmarish onslaught of deadly feuds and riots. Losing his home and family brings him into the paths of other immune—his niece Layla, Easton, and coworker Mitch Burkly—and the opposing inflicted, such as Helen Olsen.
At Camp Belt, an internment camp for the immune, Helen is promoted to Commander. She makes a shocking discovery about the two warring classes and must rise to action. Will she choose to battle the rising forces created from the charred ash of the world’s dead society? Or does she dare hope to unite a darkened world so it can rise again into the light?

About Seth Voorhees

Seth Voorhees lives in the majestic Black Hills of South Dakota. He studied at Black Hills State University, with an emphasis in sociology and physiology. He’s worked in the mental health field for ten years, specializing in adolescents with co-occurring disorders. Besides writing, he enjoys fishing, reading, and studying history.

The Interview

Q: What inspired you to write Immune?
A: The inspiration is actually a complicated answer, since I have never been an author that gets one idea and goes off of it. My stories are typically always a combination of several smaller ideas. In the story, those who are blood type A+ are immune from the virus (A+ is mine, by the way). Years ago, during the rise of the swine flu, fear gripped the country. I went for a walk, and during the walk, I had a thought: What if everyone in town perished from the swine flu but me, and the reason was my blood type? This thought spurred into other ideas and plots, all of which fell to the wayside and did not make it into the book.

Years later, I wanted to write a zombie novel. However, I wanted it to be different than the rest (there are already a hundred different zombie stories, so I wanted it to be original). This was when The Walking Dead was at its hype, and thus it became an inspiration. During the process of writing Immune, I remembered that thought all those years ago about immunity being based on blood type. It’s a combination of these two ideas that created Immune. The majority of my stories follow this process.

Q: Writers use a lot of different types of major events in post-apocalyptic fiction. Why did you choose a virus to destroy the world?
A: Immune started based on the premise of the two groups: those affected and those not. I focused more on segregation and discrimination, and so the destroying the world factor came later as I continued to write the story. I have never been an “outline” person. It’s never clear what’s going to happen next, because I just write and let the story create itself. I find it more enjoyable for me that way, and I don’t believe I’d enjoy writing if I looked at it as a science experiment.

Q: Which character do you relate to the most in Immune?
A: The character I most relate to is Wyatt, since Wyatt is loosely based on me. This is evident by his career in the mental health field, since I have done the same for years. The other similarities are being a recovering alcoholic and living a life on a spiritual plane—this conflict of attempting to live on a spiritual path while immersed in chaos is a common element.

Q: Which authors do you read in your free time?
A: I read every day, and I have dozens. However, there are only a few authors that I have read multiple stories from them because of their writing style. Those are Stephen King, Dan Simmons, Paul Tremblay, Dean Koontz, and Jennifer Mcmahon.

The Truth About Writing Your First Novel

Writing takes a lot of determination, patience, and hard work. A lot of people who aren’t in the publishing industry don’t realize this, so if you want to be a professional writer, realize it’s going to take a lot of time. To begin with, you need to spend a lot of time reading. Reading about the craft, reading novels in the genre you want to write in, reading books that are outside of your target genre. Read everything!

Next, you’ll want to write a short outline to give you a map of the beginning, middle, and end of your story. For some people, it’s difficult to write a 20 page outline. The type of outline I suggest for new writers are much simpler for writing a novel. Here’s an example:

Chapter 1: write 2 sentences about the main action to take place in Chapter 1 and 1 sentence about which character will be introduced.

Chapter 2: write 2 sentences about the main action to take place in Chapter 2 and 1 sentence about which character will be introduced.

And so on until you get to Chapter 20, or the end. Some simple outlines might have up to 60 chapters. Ultimately, that’s up to you and your editor.

Next, after you’ve written this very brief outline–your novel path, if you will–write one of the scenes. It doesn’t have to be the scene from chapter 1. Write whatever comes to mind. Figuring out where the scenes go can come later, if need be. The point is to write. Write when you’re in different moods–happy, sad, angry, overwhelmed. All of these emotions need to get out and onto the page. Don’t be afraid.

You’ll want to decide which point of view you feel most comfortable writing in–1st person, 3rd person, or another viewpoint. If you don’t understand viewpoints, read what other successful writers say about writing in the viewpoints of their choosing. Then, make a decision.

Write every day for at least 1 hour, if you can. Write 100 words, 1000 words, or 10, 000 words–whatever your schedule allows for. Be consistent–writing at the same time every day, six days a week. Take 1 day off to rest and brainstorm.

If you’re writing a fiction novel, you’ll need to write between 60,000 -90,000 words. Don’t get discouraged if it takes 1 year or more to write your first novel. Writing takes time to do.

And the most important thing to remember, don’t revise now. Just write your first draft until you get it done. You’ll have lots of time to review and revise, add new chapters, new characters, and different plot twists later.

Good luck and happy writing!

Interview with The Adventures of Peter Gray author, Nathan Hopp

This week’s featured Written Dreams’ novel is The Adventures of Peter Gray by Nathan Hopp, which we published last year. You can purchase it here in our store or here in our e-store.

About The Adventures of Peter Gray

The cover of The Adventures of Peter Gray by Nathan Hopp.

The Adventures of Peter Gray follows a young orphaned wolf coming of age in the alleys of New York City. Peter’s mischievous, happy-go-lucky attitude gets him in trouble as he divides his time between running from bullies and annoying the local baker. When he meets James Lawton, a human boy, Peter discovers what true friendship can be. Together, Peter, James, and other Newsie friends venture on the city’s cobblestones. Soon Peter learns his Newsie friends are in a tough situation. As he watches how it unfolds for the Newsies, Peter realizes that something is missing in his life. He questions the happiness an adoptive family can bring him. Will he accept the circumstances placed in front of him, or will he keep running from the truth?

About Nathan

A Green Bay native, Nathan Hopp inherited his love for literature from his mother and for sci-fi/fantasy from his father. A graduate of Preble High School’s 2015 class, Nathan’s interest in books as a child grew into writing, eventually leading him to try his hand at short stories, vignettes, and longer pieces. Hopp is an English major at UW-Eau Claire and spends his free time running a book review blog, Reader’s Boulevard.

We had a chance to ask Nathan about his recent release. Enjoy!

The Interview

Q: The Adventures of Peter Gray’s protagonist, Peter, is an anthropomorphic wolf rather than just an ordinary human. What inspired this choice, or how did you get interested in creating characters like that?

A: Peter Gray did indeed start off as a regular human character at first, but I felt I wanted to give him more of a memorable appearance, and circumstances that made his story unique. I’d always been a fan of anthropomorphism in fiction due to the endless thematic possibilities, and when I pictured him as a wolf interacting with a human boy, I thought it sounded interesting to write out.

Q: Why is the theme of friendship so important to both you and the novel?

A: Growing up introverted, I often felt alone like Peter did during my school years, and took pride in the friendships I did manage to form. To me, you cannot function in this world without someone to talk to or speak to face-to-face, and in this divided, almost hostile world, I felt it was important to highlight that friendships can be so powerful, that they can transcend through prejudice.

Q: Why did you choose New York in the late 1800s as your setting? Were there any other settings you considered?

A: At first, I didn’t know what time period worked best to put Peter’s story in. I was tied between the 1880s and early 1900s, until I remembered the Disney movie “Newsies.” As I researched the event and the year it took place in, I couldn’t stop myself from seeing Peter Gray and Kid Blink working together during such a historic event.

Q: What has been your experience as a new young writer? What challenges have come your way?

A: As a young writer, there’s been amazement, but also quite a few trials, most of which involve marketing. I’ve learned that in order to become a successful writer, you have to push your work out and get readers engaged with what you’re writing. They won’t just magically find your books, so you need to get the word out!

Q: You’ve spoken before about your pride in being an author with autism. How has living with autism changed your experience as an author?

A: I’ve written a blog post about it, but the best way I can summarize it is that writing has helped me become a better conversationalist, and vice-versa. If I wanted to improve dialogue, storytelling and character, I needed to interact with people. And having autism has helped me acknowledge that entertainment is fluid, and everyone has different ways to express themselves.

Q: Do you like to write in a similar setting to this novel? Or else, what is your favorite setting to write in?

A: I have so many settings I’ve written in, some of which are Peter Gray’s fantasy settings, and other times they’re dystopian or futuristic space, but I can’t think of one specific setting that is my favorite. However, I can say that whenever I write a story set in the same universe of one of my works, it feels like returning to a familiar place and meeting old friends you haven’t talked to in a while. 

Q: What does your writing routine look like? Do classes impact this routine?

A: Due to my job and classes, I try to focus every chance I have on writing. Sometimes I cram it during breaks or between classes, but having a tight schedule can give me motivation to write. After all, I can edit it later. 

Q: Who are your favorite fictional characters?

A: That is a difficult choice. If I had to nitpick, I would have to choose Jay Gatsby from “The Great Gatsby”, Vito Corleone from “The Godfather”, and two comic book favorites: Batman and Deadpool. Explaining why would require paragraphs for each of them, so I won’t go into it now.

Interview with D.M. Herrmann, author of INNISFREE

The author of this week’s featured book, INNISFREE, is D.M. Herrmann. D.M. Herrmann is a retired soldier, having spent twenty years in the US Army. He has authored three fiction novels under the pseudonym Evan Michael Martin. He lives in Wisconsin.

We had a chance to ask him a few questions about INNISFREE this week–check it out, and remember that INNISFREE is now available for purchase at writtendreams.com! 🙂

Q: What motivated you to write INNISFREE?
A: I’ve always enjoyed post-apocalyptic and dystopian stories, and so I thought it would be fun to write one.

Q: Did you base John Henry off of anyone particular that you know?
A: No one in particular. Like many of my characters, he is a composite.

Q: How similar are John Henry’s military experiences to your own life experiences?
A: Pretty close. We both retired from the Army and moved back to WI. The location is near where I served as an Army recruiter, so the area and culture were a reflection of that.

Q: Have you ever visited a cabin in the woods, and if so, where did you go and what did you do?
A: My uncle owned one for many years in Northern Wisconsin, not far from where this story takes place. We went fishing and just enjoyed the fresh air. It was a rustic cabin in that it had no plumbing, and the cookstove was an old fashioned wood cook stove.

Thanks for sharing! We hope you enjoyed this mini-interview, and that you will also enjoy INNISFREE as well!