In total full disclosure naked honesty, I didn\u2019t \u00a0know much about it at first. I found out about it from some people who knew some people who knew some people. \u00a0They just told them that they needed someone for a Horror novel. I thought it would be a tie-in kind of job and seemed really fun, but it turned out to be an opportunity to actually write a series of original novels. When I first heard about the job, this was about two and a half years ago, the show hadn\u2019t come out, I had read maybe one issue of the comic. I thought it was very cool, but that was about all I knew.<\/p>\n
Walking Dead has been successful\u00a0 across many formats, from comic, to television, and even games. What do your books bring that is a special experience for the fans that you might not be able to have in the same way with other media?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think the books are an opportunity for fans to go deeper into the psychology. With the others you can\u2019t really get internal monologue, you can\u2019t really get thought and feeling. It\u2019s all visual. With a book \u00a0you get to look at where these people came from and see their trauma, their childhood, their loves, their losses, their grief, who they are. You can find out more about settings too. Woodbury is a real place, you can go visit it. The book gives you a deeper texture of the town and what\u2019s beyond the borders and the frames of the comic book. \u00a0It also can provide a more vivid, visceral gross out. I\u2019ve shocked Robert a few times! In prose gore has a strange kind of half life that lives in a different part of your brain.<\/p>\n How closely do you work with the people involved in the other projects when working on the books?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty much just go to town! The three mediums are completely independent of one another. Albeit exploring many of the same character arcs, rules, and time lines. That\u2019s one of the fascinating things about the whole Robert Kirkman empire. I get an outline from Robert and then we discuss it, it has basically the story arc, what he wants the novel to do, when and how people die, who survives, and locations. Sort of a road map. Then, he just leaves me alone. I never talk to people from the TV show, I never talk to people from the comic unless it\u2019s to do something like coordinate a convention appearance or talking with the producer of the show just about logistics. But the craft, the writing, I only answer to Robert, I only work for him. He handles the story arc and I handle the prose. \u00a0I don\u2019t want to sound like a one man Robert fan club, but he\u2019s really fantastic! \u00a0He\u2019s great about leaving me alone to do my thing and is totally upfront about not really doing the writing part for the books in his interviews.<\/p>\n What was the most interesting Walking Dead character to you\u2019ve gotten to explore?<\/strong><\/p>\n The obvious one would be the Governor. It was a surprise to work on. By that point I had read all the comics and fell in love with it, I became obsessed. When Rbert said we were going to learn about the Governor and where he came from and how he got to where he is I was mortified and excited in equal parts. But it was really cool! It was like being told you\u2019re going to write about Darth Vader. \u00a0But I think the most interesting character I think for the readers of the comic book is Lily of The Road to Woodbury, the second book. Because, without spoiling anything , she just pops up in the comic book from nowhere and does something huge and epochal to the story and you have no idea who she is and where she came from. No one really knew much about her at all so that was really fascinating to create her character. \u00a0And I\u2019ve said this before and I probably will probably should keep my mouth shut but, a lot of Lily is based on my fianc\u00e9 Jilly. Her personality and mannerisms are in her, I just couldn\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n What\u2019s a description from one of the books that you are particularly proud of?<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s a moment in Rise of the Governor, a twisted kind of love scene. Philip Wake the Governor is on a bridge in Georgia, and it\u2019s raining, and there\u2019s sparking and lightening overhead, and bellow through the glass are all these sort of errant zombies shambling around, and him and this woman make love in this glass breezeway. I\u2019m really proud of the description in that, I can\u2019t explain why.<\/p>\n
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