From a Q & A with Hockensmith about Dawn of the Dreadfuls:
Your book is a prequel to a book that had already been written by another author. How did knowing the plot/theme/style of that book influence your writing style?Learn more about the book and author at Steve Hockensmith's website.
Not as much as you might think! When I first started talking to Jason Rekulak, the editor at Quirk Books who dreamed up the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies concept, it became clear pretty quick that he didn't want a pastiche -- a slavish attempt to copy someone else's style. Which was fine by me, because Iwouldn't have taken on a project like that. What was important, we agreed, was matching the tone, not the style. Meaning I had to be funny in more-or-less the same way as the first book, but I didn't have to sound like the first book. So that liberated me to write a novel with a more contemporary vibe and a new sensibility -- my own.
How did you develop your characters' personalities? Or did you have to work within a prescribed personality?
With the established characters, I had to stay true to the original PPZ while shifting things ever so slightly to accommodate the fact that (A) everyone's four years younger and (B) I had a more plot-driven, action-oriented plot to push along. I had more freedom with the new characters. I like to think I did an O.K. job bringing them to life because so many readers have mentioned them -- Capt. Cannon, in particular -- as something they really enjoyed about the book.
How did you make the decisions as to which original characters would live, and die, in the Bennett's world?
I knew a few would have to die at the hands of...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue