Stephen Glover
asked
Jonathan Janz:
Hi Jonathan, I thought Savage Species was one of the best horror novels I have read. I was wondering how you went about developing some of the characters for this series? Was it it difficult to 'kill off' some of them or do you find it is an integral part of the story in order to inspire fear and threat levels?
Jonathan Janz
Hey, thank you, Stephen! I really appreciate the kind words about Savage Species!
As far as developing the characters...they're always a combination of imagination, the books I've read, the movies I've watched, and the people I've known. Jesse and Emma, for example, were partially an homage to Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone in Zombieland, but they weren't carbon copies of those characters. Jesse also had something of my twenty-something insecurity, the Richard Laymon novels I've read, and a bit more than came from my imagination. Emma was the same way.
Your second question is an incisive one, and honestly, it's one I've grappled with ever since I wrote Savage Species. I always go where my stories take me and allow the characters to take the wheel, so to speak, but the fact that so many of the main characters in that book die (nearly all of them, actually) has always troubled me. See, I loved many of those characters, and a few of the deaths still haunt me. I can tell you that one of the characters who "died" has been calling to me since I finished the book, and I'm pretty sure I have a way to bring that character back without cheating the reader.
Which reminds me. I've only said this in one other place, but there will be an eventual sequel to both Savage Species and Children of the Dark (Children of the Dark is my new one and a prequel to Savage Species...and also my most successful book so far). In that sequel, we'll have the surviving casts from the first two books, plus a whole new set of characters. It's a book I'm itching to write, though there are currently about six books in the queue ahead of it.
That's more than you asked for, but there you go. Have a great day, Stephen, and thanks for your excellent questions! :-)
As far as developing the characters...they're always a combination of imagination, the books I've read, the movies I've watched, and the people I've known. Jesse and Emma, for example, were partially an homage to Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone in Zombieland, but they weren't carbon copies of those characters. Jesse also had something of my twenty-something insecurity, the Richard Laymon novels I've read, and a bit more than came from my imagination. Emma was the same way.
Your second question is an incisive one, and honestly, it's one I've grappled with ever since I wrote Savage Species. I always go where my stories take me and allow the characters to take the wheel, so to speak, but the fact that so many of the main characters in that book die (nearly all of them, actually) has always troubled me. See, I loved many of those characters, and a few of the deaths still haunt me. I can tell you that one of the characters who "died" has been calling to me since I finished the book, and I'm pretty sure I have a way to bring that character back without cheating the reader.
Which reminds me. I've only said this in one other place, but there will be an eventual sequel to both Savage Species and Children of the Dark (Children of the Dark is my new one and a prequel to Savage Species...and also my most successful book so far). In that sequel, we'll have the surviving casts from the first two books, plus a whole new set of characters. It's a book I'm itching to write, though there are currently about six books in the queue ahead of it.
That's more than you asked for, but there you go. Have a great day, Stephen, and thanks for your excellent questions! :-)
More Answered Questions
Peter
asked
Jonathan Janz:
Hi Jonathan, Is there a chance that there could be a Children of the Dark 2? Peter
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