Draculas (62 page)

Blake

* * *

Just FYI, I have Adam emerging onto the pad and seeing Randall, Jenny, and the kids at the other end, standing at the edge and waving down toward a sea of flashing lights, yelling and trying to get someone's attention. Since we're all writing scenes that occur in the same place and time, we should probably keep apprised of what everyone else is doing.

Blake

* * *

How do we barricade the door to the helipad...any ideas? Big metal dumpster by the door? Some large piece of equipment they can use to briefly block the door?

Blake

September 18, 2010

With some swift kicks, the chainsaw, and some pushing and pulling, they could detach a few of the air conditioning units on the roof and stack those against the doors.

Joe

* * *

I'm adding to the end of this Clay section to make it consistent with the opening of Blake's Adam 8.0 (to which I added one word from Clay: "Incoming!")

Paul

September 19, 2010

Here's how I see Clay's roof scene. He's got the kids and the baby. The TV copter is landing. The pilot sees a couple of draculas (attacking Adam maybe?) and suddenly decides landing is not such a good idea but Clay is there with the MM-1 and makes it very clear that the copter either lands or it flies off with a dead pilot at the stick. He puts the kids on board and Adam comes up to say good-bye to his daughter. We can switch to Adam's POV here.

As for destroying the hospital, the army could drop a huge shaped charge onto the roof that will blast a plasma jet down through the floors (just like an antitank missile goes through layers of steel), frying everything within. Obviously, Clay won't survive that.

Paul

* * *

Paul, this sounds great, and as always, your knowledge of ordnance, firearms, etc. is terrifying. Check out my Adam and Stacie scene first though, just to get a sense of what's happening on the roof. The way it's worked out, Adam will have his daughter in his arms when the draculas break through, get bitten, but then Randall saves him. At that point, Adam will walk over to Clayton and hand his baby over, knowing he's been infected. It made sense for Adam, Stacie (and baby) to be together when she dies.

Blake

* * *

Adam and Stacie final scenes are up...Please check them out before you write your final scenes...I think it'll make it easier to keep the timeline straight.

Blake

* * *

I'm putting Draculas 4.0 together...Joe thought it would help with figuring out where new scenes go, so I'm putting my new ones in, along with Paul's and Jeff's setting up what happens on the roof. We are super close, guys.

Blake

* * *

Hey, I see that you've got "The Sound of Blunder" listed as a bonus DRACULAS story. Make sure you double-check your contract--I think you're a year away from being able to reprint it!

Jeff

* * *

Reprint? It's an ebook. We're not printing anything.

Joe

* * *

You're gonna get in troooooooouble...

Jeff

* * *

Also, as one of the bonus extras, we're including forty-six Harlan Ellison stories.

Joe

September 20, 2010

Thanks, Blake! You are owed an infinite number of chocolate chip cookies.

Jeff

* * *

Nice work, Blake!

I talked to the other guys. You did such a terrific job, we're letting you finish all of our scenes too.

Hurry up. I'd like this done by Thursday.

Joe

* * *

Stacie's death scene - very moving, Blake. I got a little verklempt.

Paul

September 21, 2010

Blake--I wound up with Adam's last words. He's your guy, so if there's anything you want to change there, please feel free. If you think quoting Dickens is out of character, really, change whatever you want.

Paul

* * *

Finished the two big Jenny scenes. Get your hankies out.

They're in the JOE folder. Blake, you can splice them into 4.2 when we're sure no one else is editing it.

Joe

* * *

I thought you did a great job with him, and I liked that he wasn't thinking bible-verses but rather Dickens at the end. He's a minister, sure, but he's not a tee-totaler, not a holier than thou type of guy, and I think that showed that. It was a very nice scene, Paul, so I'm happy to let that be the end of him.

Blake

* * *

but he's not a tee-totaler, not a holier than thou type of guy

I'd gathered that from earlier passages and so I went with it. I think it's refreshing (even for this devout agnostic) to see a Christian minister portrayed as a straight arrow rather than a hypocrite. I'm really sick of books with lech preachers.

Paul

* * *

Me too, I wound up liking the guy quite a bit...brave as hell in the face of fear despite nothing for the entire book (until the end) with which to defend himself.

Blake

* * *

Clay on the roof...is loaded. Very short, very Clay.

Paul

* * *

Just to keep you guys looped in on what's happening marketing-wise, I emailed a big list of bloggers/media people I know and who Joe knows, forwarding the press release and a letter. Response has been solid so far, with about 25% requesting the manuscript to review. We also put out the word on Joe's blog and offered people the chance to have a free review copy of Draculas on Oct. 1, if they promised to review it on their blogs, Facebook, Amazon, and tweet it. Joe also has a lot of Goodreads friends, like 1200 of them. I've given a friend of mine access and she's emailing them one by one (it's the only way) to solicit additional reviews and coverage since many of them have blogs.

Already, we have over 120 people promising reviews, all to launch on 10/18, the day before it releases, and then all those review go up on Amazon on the release date. We're also adding an annex to my website which will be a dedicated draculas web page. I'll shoot you all the link when that goes live. Plus, we've got some interview requests which I'll share shortly, we're doing Diabolical Radio 10/6, and hopefully Joe's going to write a column in the HuffPo around the release date. If you're interested, the email that's been going out to the "troops" is at the end of this email. Jeff, Paul, if either of you have any big ideas, please share. Otherwise, I think we're in excellent shape.

from J.A. Konrath: DRACULAS -- Advance Reading Copies!

Dear_____:

If you haven't been on my blog for the last few days, I've got a new ebook experiment going on.

Earlier this year, I asked three fellow writers if they wanted to collaborate on a horror novel. I've worked with each of them before (F. Paul Wilson, Jeff Strand, and Blake Crouch) and they're all consummate professionals.

The result of our efforts,
DRACULAS - A Novel of Terror
, will be released on Kindle, October 19.

Now we're attempting to generate some buzz prior to the launch, by treating this like a traditional release rather than an indie release. That means we're looking for a few good reviewers.

Do you want a free advance reading copy of DRACULAS?

Here's what you do...

Send an email to
[email protected]
and confirm that:

1. You will post a review of DRACULAS by October 18 on Good Reads, your blog or website (if you have one), along with a link to Amazon's pre-order page (which will be provided to you along with the book and press release.)

2. You will post that same review to Amazon's DRACULAS page when the book is officially launched on October 19.

3. Make sure to include your name and the web-address of your website or blog (if any), which may be linked to from my blog when the book goes live in the Kindle store.

Your email address will of course be kept confidential, and anyone who writes a review, good or bad, will be thanked in the acknowledgments of a future edition of DRACULAS.

We anticipate having a final manuscript of the book ready to email on or before October 1.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BLOG OR WEBSITE...

No problem. We're going to have a dedicated DRACULAS website page. Write a review, email it to
[email protected]
, and we'll post it there. Then you can link to your review via Twitter and Facebook, if you use them.

Thanks in advance for helping us spread the word! And please make sure to email
[email protected]
, under the heading GOOD READS REQUEST. DO NOT EMAIL ME DIRECTLY - we want to make sure your email is read, not lost in my huge stack of unanswered emails.

Thanks in advance for helping us to spread the word!"

Blake

* * *

Great scenes. Paul, Joe, I've incorporated yours into Draculas 4.1. Joe, I tweaked yours just to sync up the helicopter leaving (it's already flying away by the time Jenny reaches Randall). Here's what's left before we write the last two scenes (Shanna and Moorecook). I'm waiting to start those until I see what Paul does with Clayton, and I'd like us all to have input into the end.

[JEFF WRITES:
Randall's transformation. Draculas break through, and as a full blooded dracula, with a chainsaw, he kills a few dozen.]

[JOE WRITES:
Second to last scene with Jenny. Randall dead. She's all alone. Draculas are running up the stairs again, will be there soon. A helicopter is coming. Jenny thinks the TV helicopter has returned, looks up, but it's an Army helicopter. BUT DON'T EXPLAIN WHAT THE CHOPPER IS DOING YET.

[JOE WRITES:
She feels the building shake, hears Adam's detonation. She looks up, sees the soldiers lug something out of the chopper, and it lands with a big thud on the helipad and cracks the cement and then the chopper pulls quickly away. - but no explosion yet.

[JOE WRITES:
Super short, like two or three sentence scene where Jenny approaches the huge shaped charge that has landed on the helipad.]

[PAUL WRITES
: After Adam's detonation, Clayton Theel goes back down for his Tauras, instead of running out to safety when he could've made it) and big, big boom.]

Joe and I talked just now, and here's what we're thinking in terms of finishing, because the deadline for getting this book to reviewers is fast-approaching:

Wednesday, 9/22: Paul, Jeff, Joe write and finish above scenes

Thursday, 9/23: All complete the last two scenes and finish novel

Friday, 9/24: Finalize all bonus content, and off to Jeff for his final review.

Saturday, 9/25: Jeff goes through book, incorporating any changes

Sunday, 9/26: Jeff goes through book, incorporating any changes

Monday, 9/27: Paul goes through book, incorporating any changes

Tuesday, 9/28: Paul goes through book, incorporating any changes

Wednesday, 9/29: Joe goes through book, incorporating any changes

Thursday, 9/30: Blake goes through book, incorporating any changes

Friday, 10/1: Blake goes through book, incorporating any changes

Saturday, 10/2: Joe formats book first thing...off to my proofreader

Sunday, 10/3: Return of proofed book (hopefully not too late), update any bonus content, make absolute last changes, etc.

Monday, 10/4: Joe sends the book to Rob Siders for Kindle formatting, I send the book in 3 formats in an email blast to the troops.

Sound okay? In particular, let me know if the proposed 2-day review periods for you, Jeff and Paul, will work with your schedules.

Blake

September 22, 2010

That timeline works for me.

Jeff

* * *

Strand Has No Shame. "Part of the clown. He tasted funny."

Paul

* * *

Heh heh. And if you look through all of my prior novels, most of which are horror/comedies, you will almost NEVER find that kind of joke. But it's very much a Joe Konrath type of joke, so I figured, what the hell? :)

Jeff

* * *

Clay and Alice is up.

As for my comb-through of the ms, I can do any days but Monday and Tuesday. So please switch me with someone. I can do the weekend before or Wed-Thur after.

Paul

* * *

Don't blame me for that one, Strand. It was all you. And I, for one, hang my head in sorrow at the depths you'll plumb for a cheap laugh. Shame on you, Mr. Strand. Shame shame shame.

Joe

* * *

Are you STILL practicing medicine, Paul? Isn't the board supposed to take your license away when you turn 90?

I kid because I love.

I can switch days with Paul.

Joe

* * *

I'm devastated. This was a serious, character-driven meditation on the horrors of modern medicine, until that unforgivable attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator of readers.

Blake

* * *

You guys DID notice that Joe added a "Talk about a half-assed injury!" joke to Paul's first section, right? :)

Jeff

* * *

I thought that was another one of your jokes.

Joe

* * *

Jeff - can you switch your manuscript review days with Paul? We only gave Joe 1 day to review. That would mean Paul reviews Sat./Sun, you review Monday/Tuesday.