In the beginning, I didn't take the first story in the Snatchers series too seriously and underestimated how many people would download the book. Looking back on the series, I do have a few regrets. Jack Slade (books 1-4) was going to be my anti-hero: A normal man, a cowardly man, having to cope and kill in order to survive, but also losing the plot due to losing his son and being in an apocalyptic world. In book four I killed him off, and I wish I hadn't. So, I introduced Paul Dickson in book five, a character similar to Jack and has similar problems; a coward, trying to protect his son, and also trying to keep it together, mentally.
Since appearing for the first time in book five, Paul Dickson was a background character and a bit of a wimp, but I have enjoyed writing about Paul Dickson in this book, and his mental decline, more than any other character. This includes Vince and his awkward one liners. I believe that Paul is a main character now, alongside Pickle, Karen and Vince.
Okay, so in the blurb for Snatchers 9 I said that the tenth would be the final one. Trust me, it was supposed to be, but it got to the point that if I ended it on this book then it would feel rushed, but I didn't want to do that with this series. There's still a lot of people in Colwyn Place that we don't really know like Old Tom, The Dansons, The Fergusons and others. There's also a small matter of what's going to happen with this biker mob and meeting the Drake character, if we ever do. Also, why doesn't Stephen Rowley like being called 'Steve', what's in Terry's cellar, and will Paul ever get on with the majority of the Colwyn residents?
Personally, I think this book could be the weakest in the series, but is purposely written the way it was because it's a build up to what's going to happen in the eleventh instalment.
I'll finish the story on 11 and tie up all the loose ends. I'm not saying that I'm not going to do any more, ever, but if I do they won't be as frequent, and I'll make sure there're no cliffhangers in future books, giving me the option of ending it completely. Cliffhangers mean that another book needs to be written to resolve them, and there's nothing worse having to write a book that you don't want to write. That can sometimes show in the book itself.
In Chapter 28, the riders called the dead "DCs." To save confusion, this is something that will be explained in a Snatchers spin-off novella next year, called, The Girl with the Flying Saucer Eyes.
The Snatchers momentum is definitely waning now, with me, personally. In the beginning, I managed to put out three Snatcher books a year, (this is the tenth one in three years) but other things are interesting me. Even if they don't become as popular as this series, it's still something I'd like to do.
In the next six months I would like to finish another Z book under a pseudonym (first draft already done), write the final book in the Monsterland trilogy, finish off a Snatchers spin off novella called The Girl with the Flying Saucer Eyes, (as previously mentioned) then finally get to work on the (kind of) final book in the Snatcher series, Snatchers 11: The Dead Don't Knock. Wish me luck. It's going to be a busy old year.
Finally, thanks for your support to all you E-mailers, Twitter and Facebook followers (and the rest that don't do social media, of course, who have bought the books in the series). Without you lot, the other books, Snatchers 2; The Dead Don't Sleep to this one, would not exist, and I'm grateful that you have downloaded the series and have spread the word that, although the zombie genre is swamped with so many books, this series can be seen as a decent addition to the genre.
Very Kind Regards,
Shaun
Snatchers (Book 10): The Dead Don't Care Page 25
