Konrath, J.A. - DRACULAS (A Novel of Terror)

A note on how this will work: we all need to turn in pages as we write them. That was, we can cross into each other’s stories. One thing we envisioned was the cop had arrested the lumberjack in the past, and when they meet up, they are hostile to one another. They would even begin to fight. This would freak out the cop’s girlfriend (the historian) because if either of them spill even a tiny drop of blood—a cut lip, a busted knuckle—the draculas will be able to smell it from another floor and they’ll swarm on them.

I’ve got two books to write by July 6. But I will have time in June to start cranking on this. Worst case scenario, I’ll bat clean-up, and weave my story into the three that you guys do.

Blake is taking the lead on this one. When we’ve got a rough draft, we’ll all have a chance to streamline and edit and expand.

Joe

• • •

(Virtual rubbing of hands) This is going to be FUUUUUUUUN!

Paul

• • •

Paul - what’s your gun toter’s name?

Blake

• • •

Joe - give a call when you gave a moment. I have a question about our mythology (and also an idea).

Blake

• • •

I didn’t have the historian/forensic anthropologist get into the mythology of dracula in the opening chapter because I think it slow things down too much…there will time for her to wax eloquent about the myth and what exactly she’s doing for Mortimer in a breather between terrifying scenes in the hospital.

Blake

• • •

Nicely done! Great start. I’m going to make it a tad bit more serious (An edge of black humor is good, but I don’t want anyone to think this is parody or comedy), then do Shanna’s section.

Can you sign in to Dropbox.com, make a DRACULAS folder, then send invites to me, Paul, and Jeff and explain to them how it works? Then I’ll drop the file in.

Make four Word Doc templates titled BLAKE, JOE, JEFF, PAUL and put those in the folder. That way we can all work on our sections at the same time.

Joe

• • •

LOL, I just created a Draculas folder. Did you create one as well?

Did the second chapter. Third chapter is mine, in the hospice nurse’s POV. She’ll be the ex wife of the lumberjack.

This is gonna rock.

Joe

• • •

Great edits to my opening, btw.

Blake

• • •

Thanks. Jenny is going to go into the ER, and call Randall, her lumberjack ex-husband who is recovering from a chainsaw injury. During the call, Moorecook will escape the gurney and bite several people to death before being restrained.

Then everyone will do their character intro chapters. Then we do the morgue scene where the draculas come to life. Then we’re off…

Joe

May 9, 2010

How does Clayton Theel sound?

Paul

• • •

So you’ll write the Moorecook losing his shit scene from Jenny’s POV in the ER? Cool. I’ll write the morgue scene.

Blake

• • •

All - so Paul’s cop character is Clayton Theel (great name)…I think we called the lumberjack Randall for now, unless Jeff wants to change him to something else. Clayton’s girlfriend is Shanna, the historian/anthropologist. Jenny, hospice nurse, is the lumberjack’s ex.

Jeff and Paul, all we need to complete the setup is a brief description of your character who comes into the ER and gets themselves bitten by Mortimer Moorecook. Maybe mention what ailment brought them to the ER. This will be your Dracula you get to reek havoc with, so go nuts.

Blake

• • •

Howzabout I use the ER doc Kurt Lanz, MD (“No, not ‘Kurt’ — Doctor Lanz.”) on duty who thinks he’s hot shit and too good for this lame community hospital and all these hicks he’s got to deal with? When he first changes he’s sure he can control the blood thirst because he’s a superior being, but he’s so wrong. And then he gets into it.

I’d also like to add to Shanna’s POV in 2 that she’s going to break it off with Clay before the gun show - she can’t take another gun show.

Paul

• • •

I love it, Paul. I don’t know if I can do this in my Moorecook dracula POV (because he’s higher-functioning than the people he infects) but I dig the idea of showing, through a dracula POV, the mental crumbling as these intelligent adults begin to lose their high cognitive functioning abilities.

Blake

• • •

That works for me, Paul.

We need to figure out if draculas die like zombies, then mutate into monsters, or if they only mutate when they get bitten and survive.

Joe

• • •

I have an answer to my own question.

If someone is bitten and lives, they become a dracula. Not as drastically as Moorecook did (he was bitten by the source, which is more virulent), but they mutate over the course of half an hour, losing their mental facilities as they change.

Those who are killed by draculas also come back to life if there is enough of them still intact and they still have enough blood left. Maybe an hour time frame to reanimate the dead tissue.

This way, we can follow certain characters becoming draculas, and also have a surprise morgue scene where the dead also become draculas, adding to the outbreak.

Joe

• • •

Just read your additions, Paul. Expertly done, you tying together four main characters, and amusing as well.

This is gonna kick ass.

Joe

• • •

Randall sounds good for my lumberjack (and I’ll make him responsible for calling them “draculas” instead of “vampires.”)

My dracula is Benny, a children’s performer clown whose magic show was poorly received by the birthday boy. Randall and Benny bond over the embarrassing nature of their injuries.

Since Joe is mean and impatient, I’ll say upfront that I won’t be able to start writing until the 17th, but I’ll launch right into it like a maniac after that!

Jeff

• • •

Dracula clown. Awesome. I’ll put Benny and Dr. Kurt in the massacre scene. I should be able to knock that out in a day or two.

I won’t be able to go full-force on this until June. So if Blake and Paul want to get going, go for it. Just keep me and Jeff in the loop.

Joe

• • •

Ditto…super-cool, Paul. Can’t wait to see what toys Clay brings to the party.

Blake

• • •

Joe’s also a selfish lover, let’s not forget that.

A dracula clown? I’m scared of normal clowns. That’s awesome!

Blake

• • •

Joe - when you get the ER massacre done, I’ll work on the morgue and maybe we can have the setup done in a few days…I’m working on a couple other projects, but I should be able to get a little of this in every day. Helps that it’s a blast to write.

Blake

• • •

Jeff, please use my favorite line about clowns. The birthday boy said, “That’s not a clown! That’s just some guy dressed up like a clown!”

Paul

• • •

That may very well be the best line of all time…

Jeff

May 10, 2010

I think my characters will be Adam and Stacie Murray. Stacie’s in the hospital to be induced for her first pregnancy - twins. They’re sort of a young, gentle, bright-eyed couple. Around 30. Stacie is a high-school English teacher on maternity leave and Adam is a Lutheran minister. He’s been in Durango about 5 years, and recently took over a church. Sometimes he serves as the hospital chaplain. He knows Randall and Clayton. Maybe he’s even tried to help Randall in the past when he’s gone on a drunken tear. I do like the idea a lot that this is a small town, and all these characters not only know each other, but have history.