Today we are talking to Seanan McGuire, author of the October Daye series. The second volume of this urban fantasy, entitled A Local Habitation, came out this March. Her Newsflesh zombie trilogy, written under the name of Mira Grant, debuts this summer:
IFP: Please introduce yourself to our readers in 140 characters or less. Ready? Set? Go!
SM: Old-school horror babe, Halloweentown Disney princess with a chainsaw, fairy-tale runaway, and wicked-girl-turned-writer.
IFP: So what was the path to getting the October Daye series published? Did you get an agent, first? Sent it to the publisher without an agent?
SM: I was very fortunate in that I managed to find the Perfect Agent ™ before I was quite ready to start shopping the series, and she was able to make the sale process awesomely smooth.
IFP: Where did the interest in faeries come from?
SM: I’ve always been fascinated by folklore and fairy tales; it’s just part of my makeup, I guess.
IFP: Your October Daye titles come from Shakespeare plays. What’s your favourite Shakespearian play?
SM: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I am sometimes predictable, I know.
IFP: You’ve also written a horror novel entitled “Feed”, which is the first in a trilogy. Can you tell us a bit about it?
SM: Feed is a science-fiction horror thriller set in a world twenty years after the zombie apocalypse. It’s about viruses and politics and bloggers and the truth, and how George Romero and the Internet accidentally saved the world.
IFP: Your pen name for Feed is “Mira Grant”. How did you choose that name and why is a pseudonym necessary?
SM: The pseudonym is necessary for the same reason that Disney opened Touchstone in the eighties – it creates a sort of division between the genres, so people don’t go into one expecting the other. I love the Newsflesh trilogy, I really do, but I don’t want you to judge it based on “This isn’t Toby.” I know it isn’t Toby. It isn’t supposed to be.
We actually made a list of possible pen names, and sent them to my publisher to pick. “Mira Grant” has the same initials as my normal last name, which makes signing things easier, and includes three hidden horror movie jokes.
IFP: Do you read a lot of zombie stories? Watch a lot of zombie movies? Or is this new territory for you?
SM: I am an old-school horror girl, and proud of it. My zombie love is pretty well-known amongst my circle of friends. I’ve been a zombie nut since I was a kid.
IFP: Who is your favourite horror movie heroine?
SM: Either Starla Grant (Slither), Samantha Belmont (Night of the Comet), or Alice Abernathy (Resident Evil).
IFP: Is there a moment when you’ve experienced writer’s block and what have you done to get back on track?
SM: I usually respond to writer’s block by starting a new book. It works disturbingly well – stress on the “disturbing”.
IFP: So, on top of writing two series in wildly-different genres, you are also a musician and draw comic strips. How do you find the time to juggle everything?
SM: I’m very-tightly-scheduled, and I tend to do more than one thing at a time. So, I’ll sit and ink while I watch horror movies; I’ll write songs while I’m doing edits…it’s a very full life, but it’s what I know, and I enjoy it.
IFP: Most people have the image of a writer as a solitary figure locked in an attic, typing away. Are you a reclusive Greta Garbo, or a social butterfly?
SM: I think I’d go crazy if I spent all my time in an attic. I have a pretty good social life. I stay in a lot during the week, just so I can get things done, but my weekends are packed months in advance.
IFP: Livejournal, Facebook, Twitter. Necessary for the modern writer? If you have not sold a novel yet, should you bother with social media?
SM: I think some social media is definitely a good idea, and that it’s good to get into the blogging habit before you’re just trying to sell something. Setting things up only to be a product is just going to turn people off, whereas being truly engaged will attract them to come, hang out, and get to know you well enough to want to read your stuff.
You can find more about Seanan McGuire at her website and blog.
