Draculas (50 page)

Horror Stories
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A Newbie's Guide to Publishing

Blake Crouch's Works Available on Kindle

Andrew Z. Thomas thrillers

Desert Places

Locked Doors

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Abandon

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Perfect Little Town
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Serial Uncut
with J.A. Konrath and Jack Kilborn

Bad Girl
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Four Live Rounds
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Shining Rock
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*69
(short story)

On the Good, Red Road
(short story)

Remaking
(short story)

This is an exclusive, spoiler-laden, behind-the-scenes look at the writing of DRACULAS. What follows is the chain of emails between Joe, Blake, Jeff, and Paul, from March 27, 2010 through October 2, 2010. This is our back-and-forth to one another as we worked on DRACULAS, detailing the entire writing process, who wrote what, things that were added, cut, switched, and editorial suggestions to each other. These emails were recreated exactly as they were written, so there are typos. This is essentially a window into our co-writing process. It will probably be boring for readers, but for writers interested in collaboration, it offers a peek behind the curtains of how we did it.

It begins with Joe emailing Jeff after confirming the project with Blake over the phone...

March 27, 2010

Jeff--

Our novella SUCKERS has made $$$ this month, and the month isn't over yet.

In June, Amazon is doubling the royalty rate. Which means we'll be making about $$$ per month, EACH, on Suckers.

We should do some other collaboration. Maybe a McGlade/Mayhem piece. Or perhaps an original Kindle novel.

I've got an idea that could be used for either.

Some scientists find Dracula's bones in Transylvania (they know it's Dracula because he's got a stake in the heart and fangs.) Pulling out the stake does nothing. So they take the bones back home, and accidentally clone him.

Title: DRACULAS.

The word "vampire" has been used to death. But "Dracula" has not. And with PREDATORS coming this summer, adding an "S" to a known monster name makes perfect sense.

We could go the serious route, as an action horror book. Could go comedy. Could go McGlade and Mayhem.

Interested?

Joe

* * *

Holy crap. That's a lot of frickin' money for a book with spaghetti sauce as the primary plot driver.

Let me get back to you on the collaboration. You're right--an original, "major" novel for the Kindle would make us a fortune, and if you had e-mailed me yesterday around noon I would've said "Absolutely!" And then I would have e-mailed you back rather sheepishly and said that I might not be able to commit, because my agent got an e-mail about a work-for-hire project that will be potentially huge and will very likely leave me with no free time until 2011.

Jeff

* * *

What if DRACULAS were split three ways? Blake Crouch is involved (he and I just sold movie rights to SERIAL, believe it or not.)

If each of us write 20k, we could do it fast, get it up in a month. That way there's no big time commitment, and you can still meet your deadlines.

I'm thinking this can be somewhat tongue and cheek, but not satire. Sort of like the first Evil Dead movie. Think 28 Days Later with vampires. And none of that supernatural BS. Crosses, garlic, daylight; none of that stops them. Only way to kill them is to cut off the head. And these aren't debonair, hypnotizing movie idols. No turning into bats or sleeping in coffins. These draculas are running, screeching, blood sucking dynamos.

We're talking a balls-to-the-wall screaming vampire invasion novel. Rabid, feral, crazy bloodsuckers, draining everything that moves; people, dogs, cattle, each other. Once gets cut, spills its own blood, the others pounce on him.

Maybe we confine the action to a hospital out in a rural area. One of the doctors there somehow gets Dracula's bones, does some experiments, suddenly there's a dracula outbreak. Heroes are a soon-to-be mom and dad in labor in the maternity ward, a lumberjack recovering from a work injury, a nurse at her first week on the job, and a paranoid redneck cop.

Think about it...

Joe

* * *

Ah...so it would have been something like BLOOD DEVIL by Eli Roth & JA Konrath .

I've got an April 30 deadline for WOLF HUNT, so I won't be able to work on anything else until that one's finished. I know that they'd want me to get started on another project fairly soon after that, and right now I don't know if it's going to be a brutal deadline or a generous, leisurely one. So I'll keep you posted. If you and Blake want to rush forward with DRACULAS, we'll come up with another idea when my schedule is clear!

Jeff

* * *

Blake and I just spoke. He's gung ho for going forward. We talked about some of the plotting and divvying up the workload. Basically, we'd each take a character in the hospital and follow them through the vampire outbreak. Maybe 20k words each separately, then bring the characters together for the finale. Structure it like AFRAID: character scene ending in a cliffhanger, go to the next character ending in a cliffhanger, go to the next...

This needs to be three people. I'm crazy busy as well, but I'm lucky to not have a day job.

I'd really prefer working with you before looking for another third partner...

Joe

* * *

I don't know the timeframe on the new gig. It could very well be a case of "Can you deliver the manuscript in the next 12 months?" Or it could be "We need this by August and here's a 350-page bible of rules that you need to follow to the letter, while still delivering a creative story with emotional depth and engaging characters, which must not contradict anything in the upcoming unfinished game." But I can say for certain that until May 1st, there'll be no DRACULAS work for me.

Jeff

* * *

Oh, poop.

Okay, now I gotta ask others. I'll start with F. Paul Wilson. But when this gets made into a Wes Craven movie, remember I asked you first.

Joe

* * *

Heh heh. This is the only time in my life that somebody will come to me before F. Paul Wilson. Rest assured that this is a genuine recognition of the impossibility of cramming another 20,000 words into April and not a "Sorry, too busy!" style brush-off of the type I saw (Big Name Horror Author) give an editor at WHC, leading to the editor being red-faced, quiet, and mildly ashamed for the rest of the party.

Jeff

* * *

Has (Big Name Horror Author) published anything since (Well Known Book)?

Joe

* * *

Lots, you illiterate!

Jeff

* * *

I thought he was dead.

Joe

* * *

Well, that's what happens when you turn 40--the memory and awareness of the world around you starts to fade, big-time.

(This will be only be funny for the next 7 1/2 months.)

Jeff

* * *

Who are you, again?

Joe

* * *

That guy you owe $50,000 for ghost-writing WHISKEY SOUR.

Jeff

* * *

I didn't like that book. Mixing humor and horror is stupid.

Joe

* * *

Hi Paul--

Taking a complete shot in the dark here, but how's your writing schedule? Got any free time?

Blake Crouch and I have this insane idea for a vampire novel that would be a cinch to write, and we're looking for a third collaborator. Everyone does 20k words, split the rights 3 ways.

I know you've done vamps before, but this is really a different take on it, and the workload would be light for all involved, and also a lot of fun. Sort of like what you did with ARTIFACT, except more linear, and more commercial. And more violent.

The title: DRACULAS.

It's a lot like 28 Days Later with fangs. Capitalizes on both the vampire and the zombie popularity currently fueling genre fiction, but with some big twists. Think Night of the Living Dead in a hospital setting.

As I said, this is a shot in the dark. I know you're busy and in demand. I've got four book contracts right now (!), and I'm buried in work, but this idea won't let me be. Problem is, I just don't have time to write it alone.

Joe

March 29, 2010

Getting my head sorted out after WHC.

This sounds like fun as long as you don't have too tight a deadline.

Paul

* * *

Jeff said he really can't do it, so I asked F. Paul Wilson if he wants to join with us.

Here's some preliminary thoughts:

Prologue, three newspaper clippings from a cheesy tabloid. Headlines:

"DRACULA'S SKULL UNEARTHED IN TRANSYLVANIA! A Romanian farmer uncovered a skull with unique properties while plowing his field near the town of Brasov. The relic, which appears to be ancient and human, has thirty two razor-sharp teeth where normal flat teeth would be."

"VAMPIRE SKULL A HOAX?" Discovered by a farmer while sowing soybeans, the humanoid skull with sharp teeth is considered by many to be fake. Fueling this speculation is the farmer's refusals to let scientists analyze the discovery, claiming it is embodies an ancient curse."

"MILLIONAIRE BUY'S DRACULAS HEAD!" Eccentric recluse Mortimer Moorecook of Durango, Colorado, has apparently purchased the so-called Dracula skull from the Transylvanian farmer who unearthed it a week ago, for an undisclosed sum. It isn't known what Moorecook, who made his fortune on Wall Street during the late 80s, plans to do with the skull, though many are hoping it will be turned over to scientists for study. Moorecook was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, and couldn't be reached for comment."

Chapter 1

Moorecook gets the skull shipped to him. He's a collector of vampire memorabilia, and on hand is an historian who had studied vampire legends. When the box arrives, Moorecock cradles the head in his sickly hands--then bites himself in the neck with the fangs. He immediately goes into convulsions. The historian calls the paramedics, who take him to the secluded Miskatonic Hospital a few miles away.

Chapter 2

New nurse first week. Cancer ward. Hates seeing all the dying, but likes the job and needs the money for her sick mother, who's a patient there.

Chapter 3

Husband and expectant mother hurry to hospital while she's in labor. Twins. Could be a long labor and complications.

Chapter 4

Lumberjack hurt in accident, recovering from chainsaw injury. Twenty five stitches. He's so tough he drove himself to the hospital, so his truck--filled with axes and chainsaws--is parked in the lot.

Chapter 5

A gung-ho good ole boy gun-crazy cop (think Kevin Kostner from Silverado) is the boyfriend of the historian. Meets her at the hospital (To propose? Has ring on him?)

Alternate POVs (including draculas), chapters end in cliffhangers. No way to get out of the hospital because they spread too fast and knew enough to shred the tires on all the vehicles outside. Vamps also destroyed phone system. Hospital has a "no cell phone" rule and blocks the use of cells with a jammer.

Dracula rules:

All of their teeth (not just canines) grow long and sharp, so big they shred through their lips and cheeks.

Claws grow. Able to see in dark. Can smell blood like sharks.

Must drink blood every hour, or they die. Any blood: animal, human, blood banks. If one of them is cut and bleeds, the others turn on him and devour him. Lick up every drop off the floor and walls. Fight over bones to get the marrow.

Without blood, they autocannibalize themselves, sucking their own blood.

An hour to mutate. No cure.

No vampire gimmicks. Crosses, sunlight, garlic, stakes--nothing kills them but fire and beheading. No turning into bats or mesmerizing victims.

These are rabid dogs with bigger teeth. They exist only to drink blood. Rudimentary, childlike thoughts, and some problem solving abilities, but no speech (can't with teeth so big) and no humanity or sense of their former selves.

Joe

* * *

More possible scenes:

Millionaire being rescued at the end because they think he's normal: reverse NOTLD.

Lumberjack ripping a stitch. All the draculas nearby start sniffing the air and screaming.

Lumberjack and cop in a fist fight. Deadly, because if either of them spills blood, they'll be stampeded.

Birth scene, woman in labor, fighting off draculas who smell it happening.

Joe

* * *

Did Paul write back and say "Dude, the occasional short stories are okay, but please don't forget that I created...REPAIRMAN JACK!!!"

Jeff

* * *

Paul's in.

Joe

* * *

Wow. Congrats!

If the project gets stalled and you find yourselves on May 1st still ready to get going, let me know!

Jeff

* * *

May 1 might be doable for a start date if you can commit. Me, you, Blake, and Paul. Blake and I are working on an outline.

Joe

* * *

Okay, I can commit to a May 1st start date! I'm in!

Jeff

April 1, 2010

Jeff Strand says he's in, as long as we don't get started until May 1.

So we have our team. :)

Joe

May 7, 2010

Hey guys--

Here are the preliminary rules for DRACULAS. We have four authors: JA Konrath, F. Paul Wilson, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand.