Zombie Feature: Interview with Isaac Marion
1. I'm a huge Zombie fan, I absolutely love when an author takes the idea of Zombies and makes it their own. I highly enjoyed the movie and the book. What inspired you to write Warm Bodies?
I was dealing with depression and a sense of disconnection from my life and I decided zombies would be an interesting way to write about that. R's struggle to "come back to life" was similar to mine.
2. I'm really curious, did you love how they took your story and put it on the big screen? Is there anything you would have changed?
I love Analeigh Tipton and I think she did a great job with her version of the character, but...Nora is black—half-Ethiopian to be specific—and I wish they would have taken that identity more seriously in the casting. I also would have liked to see more of the Boneys' sinister intelligence and the twisted state of mind that drives them since without that, their violent reaction to "change" doesn't really have a motive. That said, I fucking love that movie. It has a different feel from my book, it's lighter and funnier and more...young? But I've seen it dozens of times and I still get a little choked up sometimes. It's a sweet and beautiful little film.
3. Do you see a little piece of yourself in R?
Many large pieces. See question #1.
4. Your last release was Burning World number 2 in the Warm Bodies series, are you working on anything currently?
I'm working on getting number 3 (3.5 really) published! It's basically finished but it's caught up in publishing politics right now. While I wait, I've started on a new novel that I'm not ready to talk about yet other than that it involves ghosts. Yes, dead people again...but very different!
5. Why do you think that we have a fascination with Zombies? I love the idea of them but I would be terrified if they were real.
I think there people have different reasons. Some just like the idea of faceless non-people that can be massacred without remorse. I don't like that. To me zombies are interesting because they ARE people, but they're trapped in a very dark, primitive state of existence. To me its rich with emotional and philosophical implications. I gather that's not what interests most zombie fans, but I'm kind of an odd one in this scene.
6. If you were suddenly in a Zombie Apocalypse, What's the first thing you would do?
Armor plate my RV.
7. What is your favorite Zombie Film?
God, it would be tough to pick a single favorite. Night of the Living Dead holds a special place for being completely original and I also appreciate the elegant simplicity of its setup and execution. It's a perfect "locked room" drama. On the lighter side, Shaun of the Dead used the classic tropes to all kinds of brilliant effects.
8. Do you do anything fun for Halloween?
Sometimes I get inside a 10-foot-tall inflatable deer suit that I call Megabuck and rampage through Seattle.
9. What do you find to be the most challenging and rewarding thing about being a writer?
I'd say the most challenging thing is carving out the time and mental space to write. The rest of my life is always pressing in around me trying to smother whatever creative spark I'm trying to get burning and it can be really hard to draw hard lines for myself, especially when the writing feels hard and my friends want to go out drinking and my brain is just screaming for distraction. But the rewarding part is pretty damn rewarding. When the work is going well it's a really euphoric feeling. When I write something that I know is good, I walk away feeling blissed out and invincible, like I just had the best sex of my life.
10. What is one thing that you absolutely love to do, when you aren't writing?
Drink. I don't get to drink at all when I'm writing—can't work with even a faint trace of a hangover—so when I've put it a solid week of work and I feel like I've earned a break, that first whiskey is like a vacation in a glass.
GRAB A COPY!
WARM BODIES (WARM BODIES #1)
THE HUNGER (WARM BODIES NOVELLA)
THE BURNING WORLD (WARM BODIES #2)
ABOUT ISAAC
Isaac Marion grew up in the mossy depths of the Pacific Northwest, where he worked as a heating installer, a security guard, and a visitation supervisor for foster children before publishing his debut novel in 2010. Warm Bodies became a New York Times bestseller and inspired a major film adaptation. It has been translated into twenty-five languages. Isaac lives in Seattle with his cat, Watson, writing fiction and music and taking pictures of everything.
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