GUEST POST: "Annihilation Day" by Alex Flynn

While The Misshapes: The Coming Storm, and The Misshapes: Annihilation Day, may be part one and two of a three-part trilogy, the writing process between the two books couldn't have been more different. The Coming Storm had a long process to wrestle with the divine flash of inspiration, the initial charge of realizing that you can create a whole weird world from scratch, the wonderful feeling that you can make jokes and have thrills even when you're playing around with the idea of "What if you're not the chosen one?"

Annihilation Day, on the other hand, had a different road. We were able to write it with the knowledge that it would get published, which was a big comfort. However, in the time we had to write it, we had a series of unfortunate events in our lives: moving, a broken leg, a death in the family. We had to carve out the space to write and focus on The Misshapes during this epoch of our lives. If the first book had the luxury of time, of writing and discussing and rewriting, this book needed discipline. Before we ever put a word on the page, we laid out the whole book. There was brainstorming, giant notepads, outlines, and chapter sketches. The process behind this book felt more akin to being in a writing room for a TV show as opposed to what may be a normal novel-writing process.

The most exciting part about writing Annihilation Day was the fact that we had already set up the world of Sarah and The Misshapes. We're committed to writing an anti-chosen one story, and we had laid out a difficult task in the first book: telling the reader about the protagonist's world, even though, thanks to various twists, this world was lived-in and normal for Sarah. In book two, we had a different path. Doolittle Falls was already built. It had Heroes, Supervillains, Misshapes, and (the much ignored) "Normals" (you know, the powerless). PeriGenomics was twisting its mustache, and we got write about a universe that was far less simple. No more black and white, good and evil; now it was time for shades of grey, for moral choices.

In the history of trilogies, the second book is where the author (singular or, um, plural, in this case) gets a chance to dive deeper into the world, and to go darker. Much of the time, the second book is the villain's book. It's a chance to explore the motives behind the antagonist and a chance to see our heroes not as "the chosen one," but more so as people who are choosing to act in a heroic fashion. Perhaps the ne plus ultra of the second in a series is The Empire Strikes Back, our favorite Star Wars movie. Evil wins in that film. Darkness falls over the empire. The heroes (or Misshapes, in this case) are losing.

For The Misshapes, Annihilation Day means that there's some growing up ahead. Alliances change. Struggles emerge. And our central character, Sarah Robertson, explores the mystery that's shaped much of her life: is her mother -- a former Hero turned Supervillain -- really a force of evil? Is the narrative around Lady Oblivion the truth, or is it a cover-up? 

If The Coming Storm was about a young girl learning about her power, no matter how silly or useless it seems to be, then Annihilation Day is about an older, wiser Sarah using that power to become a superhero. Her path may be knottier and weirder than the average touched-by-powers teen, but the result is funny and heartbreaking in equal measures. It's as if the resulting book echoed our strange process of writing it.

But one thing we can guarantee from Annihilation Day is this: there's weirder weather ahead, including the debut of the fire tornado.

Alex Flynn is the pseudonym for the writing team of Stuart Sherman and Elisabeth Donnelly. They met at a clandestine book club in Boston, where they broke into a fortified tower in order to discuss literature. They like garrulous Irish writers, Pushing Daisies, and anything involving The Tick, from the comic book to the short-lived series with Patrick Warburton. Their secret lair is currently in a hollowed out volcano in Brooklyn.

Click here to see them face the 7 Questions.

Click here to read my review of The Misshapes

7 Questions For: Editor Jason Pinter

Jason Pinter is the founder and publisher of Polis Books, a new independent publishing company for the digital age focusing on commercial fiction. He is also the bestselling author of five thrillers: THE DARKNESS, THE FURY, THE STOLEN, THE GUILTY and THE MARK, which was optioned to be a major motion picture, as well as the Middle Grade novel ZEKE BARTHOLOMEW: SUPERSPY. He has been nominated for the Strand Critics Award, the Barry Award, the Shamus Award and the Thriller Award, and his books have nearly 1.5 million copies in print in over a dozen languages. Prior to founding Polis Books, Pinter worked at Warner Books, Crown Publishing, St. Martin’s Press, Grove/Atlantic and the Mysterious Press. He lives in New York City. Follow him on Twitter at @jasonpinter.

And now Jason Pinter faces the 7 Questions:


Question Seven: What are your top three favorite books?

REDWALL by Brian Jacques – I must have read this book a dozen times, and then devoured the entire Redwall series. A couple years ago I bought the repackaged books because they just felt like they belonged on my shelf as an adult.

THE SWORD OF SHANNARA by Terry Brooks – I actually read this series ‘before’ I read THE LORD OF THE RINGS, so I didn’t realize just how much Brooks owed to J.R.R. Tolkien, while also magazine to create a whole world on his own. I still remember literally waiting outside the bookstore every time a new Shannara book was released so I could finish it on the first day.

THE HARDY BOYS/ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN – This is probably where my love of crime fiction came from. I love the sleuthing, the detective stories, and trying to figure out the cases along with the characters.

Question Six: What are your top three favorite movies and television shows?

The “Indiana Jones” series of course. I must have dressed up as Indy for something like five straight Halloweens.

“Wall-E” - Perhaps the greatest animated movie of all time. I honestly got misty the first time I saw it, and probably couldn’t watch it around other people because the same thing would probably happen again.

“Ghostbusters” - because of course. But is it weird that my favorite character was always Slimer?

Question Five: What are the qualities of your ideal writer?

Someone who is just a born storyteller. Some people get caught up in the language and prose—which is hugely important—but I always look for a writer who knows how a story begins, progresses and ends, with writing that keeps the paging turning. A writer who has read enough to know what works and what doesn’t, and that a bad book can teach you as much as a good book. A writer who is also a professional and hits their deadlines, understands that the editorial process is for their own good, but is confident enough in their abilities that they’re willing to fight me on something if they think I’m wrong.

Question Four: What sort of project(s) would you most like to receive a query for?

I still have a soft spot for epic fantasy, along the lines of THE SWORD OF SHANNARA or the ERAGON series. I’d also love to see mysteries and thrillers for younger readers. But I’m also a big fan of funny adventures, which is part of the reason I wrote my own middle grade novel ZEKE BARTHOLOMEW: SUPERSPY! In my mind there should be humor in just about every young novel, because who would want to live in a world without humor?

Question Three: What is your favorite thing about being an editor? What is your least favorite thing? 

I am and have always been a reader first, so I love the thrill of reading a submission that turns out to be good and sucks me in. The wonderful feeling when I’m lucky enough to acquire a book I really want to work on, and it’s even sweeter when the author turns out to be fun to work with. My least favorite thing is authors who don’t really get involved in the publication process, don’t really offer feedback on much and are happy to write and then stay out of it. I’d much rather work with an author who wants input into the whole process: editorial, design, marketing, everything. If an author truly cares how their book is published, it will help us and invigorate us.

Question Two: What one bit of wisdom would you impart to an aspiring writer? (feel free to include as many other bits of wisdom as you like)

Never stop reading. Read everything you can get your hands on, even books that you don’t think are your ‘taste’. You might learn something new from a book you wouldn’t ordinarily read, and sometimes leaving your comfort zone allows you to experiment and stretch your own abilities. If you’re writing in a certain genre, know the genre well. Know what works and what doesn’t work. You can follow tried and true formulas, but always put your own spin on it. A book, in many ways, should be a reflection of your own personality.

Question One: If you could have lunch with any writer, living or dead, who would it be? Why?

Stephen King. He’s been my idol since I was a teenager. Only I’d make sure it wasn’t just lunch, but dinner, breakfast, lunch the next day, maybe a few movies (on second thought, I might get arrested if I keep him that long).

www.polisbooks.com

www.jasonpinter.com