Micro Interview #3: Shawn Chesser

My third micro-interview is with the ever popular Indy author Shawn Chesser. As if you didn't already know, Chesser is the author of the extremely popular Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse series. His latest book, DRAWL: Duncan's Story, the tenth book in the saga, 
​is out now.

Without further ado, here's the interview.


Q1. How many books did it take until you felt like you came into your own as a writer?

SC: I still don't feel like I've come into my own. I guess I suffer from the imposter syndrome I've heard so many other writers speak of. However, that being said, around the time my third book went live and I was getting into my fourth, I began seeing real big sales and came to realize people were really enjoying my yarns.

2. Can you share with us a few lines or a catchy phrase from a WIP or a recent release?


There's a little one in this teaser from my upcoming novel 'District: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse':

One grocery store’s car-choked parking lot still held the remnants of what looked to be hundreds of cardboard boxes. Having been exposed to the elements for some time, the once three dimensional objects had been reduced to a morass of tan sludge pounded flat by the scores of zombies still patrolling the lot. Old habits die hard, crossed Cade’s mind as the areas of commerce gave way to to a neighborhood he imagined once stood proud with stately Colonial style homes, churches, and schools. Not so much now. He could look straight down into many of them lost to a conflagration that had claimed what he estimated to be hundreds of structures once rising up from the twenty or so square blocks encompassing his view south to north.


The dead were everywhere. They were milling about side streets in small knots. They traipsed across scorched walks and drives bordering squares of blackened lawn. The cement foundations left standing were no deterrent to the creatures who, following life-long conditioning or acting on some snippet of buried memory, stood rooted in what used to be family rooms or kitchens or dens, their pasty white faces standing out starkly against the light-stealing sea of black as they gaped expectantly skyward at the passing stealth helicopter.

Q3. What's a writing tip you'd give an aspiring writer that you had to learn on your own the hard way that nobody had told you about early on but you wish they would have?

Don't rush. Don't expect immediate results. Always remember that what we do should be treated as a marathon, not a sprint. Lastly, I've learned that book sales/success is commensurate with not only the amount of effort put into the story, but also how well I have followed the 'golden rule' when interacting with readers and fans both in person and on social media.

Thanks Shawn!

You can find more about Shawn Chesser and his works on his official website:

http://www.shawnchesser.com/

Additionally, you can find all his works on his Amazon author page by clicking HERE.

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Be sure to check out my previous interviews too with authors Tonia Brown and the estimable Jonathan Maberry.

Micro Interview #1
Tonia Brown 

Micro Interview #2
​Jonathan Maberry