Interview with Marcy G. Dyer

It’s kind of a funny story. The news was on, and I guess it was a slow day, so they had a fluff piece with a biomedical engineer. They were asking him if the “zombie apocalypse” was possible in any way. He mentioned that the neurological deficits caused by the rabies virus could cause this type of behavior under certain circumstances.

That triggered my curiosity. I started researching the rabies virus and read that the United States and Russia have both developed a weaponized form of the virus. (Scary, huh?).

Uh, yeah! My mind is blown!

That made me think about how we as Christians would face it if someone released a weaponized virus that triggered the zombie apocalypse. Of course, not all of my characters are Christians. I tried to contrast their behavior and thoughts.

Wow, Marcy! Gotta love a writer’s brain and the curiosity that births a story. The apocalypse theme is one that seems to be increasing. How did you make sure yours did resemble others?

I’ve read a few apocalyptic books, and my husband likes dystopian future movies. In all of them, a theme of survival is prominent, but the ones that get into the survivors heads and show their internal struggles are the ones that draw me. I love the “what if” scenario. When you’re seeing people killing others in order to survive, I want to know how that affects them. Many times the characters on TV take it in stride, but I know police officers and soldiers who deal with the mental consequences of having to take a life. One of my friends said “they crawl into your brain and take up residence”. He said not a minute of a day goes by that he doesn’t think of the person he killed. This is reality in a dystopian future. 

I LOVE dystopian books and movies. Love, love, love! How did you weave a faith element to your story? Some would assume zombies and faith wouldn’t go hand-in-hand.

I’ve had people tell me that it can’t have a faith element if it has zombies. My question is, why not? I have characters who are angry with God. One in particular struggles with a good, loving God who allowed something like this to happen. It’s a question I’ve heard from non-Christians. “If God is good why did He allow my son to die?” I’ve struggled to answer my friends and my characters. I spent some time talking to my pastor about this. I can’t tell you how much his response to my questions helped. I’m trying to weave the faith element throughout all three books in the trilogy. 

It’s a very common question. I’m glad you’re attempting to answer this. You have three very different characters. There’s Randi, the female carpenter; Reginald the scientist responsible for their doom; and Joshua, the detective. Why three view points? How does this enrich the reader experience? 

Each of the three bring something different to the book. They give different sides of the tragedy. I had three very different characters in mind when I asked “what if”. They each react differently. I like think of them as real people, and I hope their actions are very real and that readers will love them. 

Yay! I love multiple-povs in books. There some of my favorite. How about some writing questions? If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Keep writing. Don’t allow anyone to squash your dreams. Those first manuscripts won’t be good. You have to write the bad ones to learn how to write the good ones. If you keep at it, work on learning the craft, and keep striving to improve.

Amen! What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?

Wow, this is a tough one. I’d say it’s a tie between the Scrivener writing software and Kathy Ide’s book, Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors. Both have been invaluable. I keep a copy of Kathy’s book with me. I have it in print and in Kindle format. I actually think her previous book, Polishing the PUGS: Punctuation, Usage, Grammar and Spelling has been extremely helpful also. It’s another I keep at my side when I’m writing. 

I have the Proofreading one. I’ll have to check out her other one. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Keep writing. Don’t stop. You’ll have those who will tell you that you’ll never get a book published. Don’t listen to them. Work to learn how to write. Join critique groups, read books, take lessons. The more you learn, the more you’ll improve, but most importantly, don’t let the naysayers discourage you. 

Yes! How many hours a day do you write?

This varies greatly. I have several chronic illnesses, so I may not write any one day, and the next I may write in five or ten minute spurts. On a really good day, I might crank out an hour or two of writing. 

Boo for chronic illnesses. So glad you’re able to write when you can. Praying for you!
How about some fun questions? What’s the first book you read that made you laugh out loud?

Goodness, I’ve read so many great books. This is a hard one. 
There have probably been some before, but Christy Barritt’s The Worst Detective Ever series always makes me chuckle.

Love the humor in her books. What do you drink while writing or reading?

I’m a coffee addict. We make half-caff because I drink too much. I also like Diet Pepsi. I know I should definitely drink more water.

Blech to both, lol. Eat?

When I’m writing, I rarely eat anything. I try not to snack between meals because I need to lose quite a bit of weight, so when I do eat, it’s a healthy snack, usually.

I admire your dedication! Books or movies?

I have many books I love, but there are a couple from when I was younger that have stuck with me all of these years. The Diary of Anne Frank is one my great-great aunt gave me when I was quite young. Aunt Hettie was a retired teacher, and expected everyone to love reading. Most of her nieces, nephews, and greats devoured books. She wanted us to challenge ourselves by reading above our age level. 

Another one I love is To Kill a Mockingbird. I was young when I read it also. It first opened my eyes to racism. I wasn’t raised in a racist family. My parents were the type who just loved people. The person’s race or ethnicity wasn’t a factor. After reading the book, I spent a lot of time questioning my parents on why people were racist. They didn’t have a good answer for me because there is no good reason for it. In my books, I almost always have diverse characters because my life has diverse people in it.

Love Anne Frank. I read it as a kid and it stayed in my mind forever. Before you leave, could you tell us what you’re working on next?

I’m currently working on the next book in the Dark Days series, but I’m torn on the next series to start. I have two light-hearted series that I’ve done some research on, and have developed the characters for. After writing Dark Days, I’ll need something more light-hearted, and both of these fit that description.

One is set in the Big Bend region of Texas. I love the rugged mountainous part of west Texas, and I have a character, Aimee Deveraux, who will be a cop in the small town of Creosote (a fictional town).

I also have another series with the character of Private Investigator, Luck Dawson. It’s set in a fictional, coastal town in Texas.

They both sound great! Praying God guides you.

Toni, thank you so much for interviewing me.