Hi, I'm Emily (ESHurricane), and today I'm joined by Derek Slaton (DerekSlatonAuthor), author of our Book of the Month, Midlife Crisis, and countless zombie novels under the Dead America series he's written. Let's dive in to what makes him tick!
Emily: Hi Derek! Tell us a bit about yourself!
Derek: My name is Derek Slaton, I'm older than I care to mention (haha), and I have a passion for storytelling. By day I'm a commercial architecture photographer, but when I'm not doing that I'm spending every free moment writing. My main focus is horror, however for anyone who has dated in their 30s can attest, it can be just as horrific as any zombie or slasher story.
Emily: Yeah I think we can all agree with that, haha! You said you spend every free moment writing, what drew you to that as your passion and how long have you been writing for?
Derek: I started writing when I was around 16 years old. I had rented Dawn of the Dead and watched it a few times, but it wasn't until I went to sleep that night and started thinking about "what would I do in that scenario?" that it really scared me. From that moment forward I started thinking up stories and situations, jotting them down and turning some into screenplays. It sort of grew from there and never really stopped.
My writing really took off last year when I decided to start self publishing. I loved having the freedom to tell the stories that I wanted to tell and having the potential to find an audience for them. Getting that first five star review and that first comment on my author page telling me how much they loved my work really motivated me to write more.
I've been focusing the majority of my attention on my zombie series (just released book 17), but I'm rapidly approaching the point where I can take a break and tell whatever other kind of story I want to. I'm really looking forward to telling new and exciting tales next year.
Emily: That's amazing that you've found success in self-publishing. It can be a rough road for some, but you seem to have the motivation to keep it going! 17 books is quite a zombie empire! You've got one from the series as a freebie here on Wattpad, tell us about it.
Derek: Ground Zero is a prequel to the Dead America series. It takes place in Austin just before the events of the four part Initial Outbreak series and shows the beginning of the chaos. Like the other books in the series, it's fast paced, action packed, and filled with lots of zombie horror.
My goal with this series is to create the largest zombie story ever told, and with 12-15 books planned in 2020 to join the 17 already in print, I feel like I'm well on my way!
Emily: No kidding, that's definitely an excellent start! So in the midst of all of your zombie stories, what inspired Midlife Crisis?
Derek: An actual midlife crisis. This book is WAY more autobiographical than I'd like to admit. When I was in my mid-30s I left my girlfriend and moved in with people who were a decade younger than me. In a way I was sort of rebooting my life, because I was starting fresh on all fronts with no clue where I was going to end up. Shortly after that I was introduced to the world of online dating, from which the majority of the stories in this book are taken from. Writing this was a cathartic way of dealing with the insanity my life had become, and a way to cope with the frustrations that were coming from it.
Emily: I guess with it being so autobiographical you shouldn't have favourite characters. Carla is definitely my fave. I love her trash-talk and the fact that she's super into nerds.
Derek: Yeah Carla was a lot of fun to write and she really ranks up there with my favorites. Most of the characters are based on real people, so I'm going to limit my answer to favorite to write as opposed to actual favorite as to not get myself into a sticky situation, haha.
Emily: Probably safer that way! So your adult protagonists throughout Midlife Crisis and even in your zombie series explore real world mature issues. What drew you to writing fiction geared towards adults as opposed to the ever-popular YA or NA?
Derek: I don't believe I actively set out to write for adults, it was just one of those things that kind of happened. My discussions in my day to day life are very adult oriented and chocked full of cursing and NSFW situations, and that just carried over into my writing. I don't really spend a lot of time around people with whom I need to censor myself, if that makes sense.
Emily: Definitely makes sense! Sounds like a good post-midlife-crisis life, haha! So you talked about new and exciting projects for next year. Anything you want to tease us with?
Derek: I've been doing some preliminary planning on some other story ideas and just waiting on something to really come together. The two most intriguing ideas at the moment are an alien invasion mini-series, and an alternate history series set in World War II that throws in some elements of sci-fi. But first things first, gotta get those zombies moving along!
Emily: Well, we'll let you get back to it. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us, and best of luck with your writing endeavours! We're looking forward to what's next in store for Dean on Tuesday.
Check out our review on Midlife Crisis here!