Writing retreats and why zombies can't run

I was recently checking out the links for writers on the Writer's Beware blog and stumbled upon this very informative blog. If you check back through the posts to last week you will find some entries about writing retreats. This put me in mind of the where's and how's of my own writing retreats. I don't know about the formal retreats for writers where you have to fill out long application forms and they hold discussion groups and workshops, but I do know about the kind you organise yourself. All you need for your DIY writing retreat is

1. A guide to self catering accommodation/hotels in your country of choice. In Ireland you can purchase a booklet of Bord Failte approved self catering houses or search the Internet for similar information for free.

2. A list of search requests. These will probably include location - you might want somewhere scenic and remote, like the picture above, to help the creative juices flow or you may find the bustle of a city more conducive to writing. Price, it needs to be affordable. Facilities - unless you really want to immerse yourself in the time period of your historical romance and shun indoor plumbing, you can assume that bathrooms come as standard. However, you might like your house to have an open fire or labour saving devices like dish washers. You also have to consider whether your house is close to beaches or mountain walks, or if it allows dogs if you want to take your pet. I know you are there to write, but taking daily exercise while on your retreat will help prepare you for the work ahead and you can plan your writing while you walk.

3. A long weekend or week free to actually go on your writing retreat.

4. A manuscript or novel idea to work on.

5. Pen and paper or laptop to compose your opus magnus with.

The benefits of a writing retreat are manifold. By getting away from the normal drudge and distractions of everyday life you have more time to devote exclusively to your novel. You won't get a book written in the time you are away, but you will be able to deal with a difficult passage or write a sizable chunk that will keep you inspired when it comes time to return home. Many famous writers went on retreat to write their novels, including Agatha Christie and Ian Flemming.

The problem with writing about writing retreats is that it makes me think it is time I went on another one. I am currently planning out a new novel and a change of scene would really help me start it. I'll just have to dream about it for the moment.

Check out Simon Pegg's in depth review of E-4's zombie tv series 'Dead Set'. There is more to this boy than just a pretty face. He explains exactly why shambling zombies are more 'correct' than this modern craze for the running variety, and verbalises everything I've ever wanted to say on the subject but couldn't. I will remember his argument the next time someone tells me slow zombies 'just aren't scary'.

Book Review: Monster Planet by David Wellington

I was eager to see how the series ended after reading Monster Nation, and stuck straight into Monster Planet, however I was punished for my greediness. I found this book disappointing, irritating and quite dull. Wellington seems to have fallen in love with his own new breed of zombies, which I soon grew tired of as they are all the same and are not as interesting, or scary, as the shambling undead. I also found it hard to have any sympathy or empathy for the characters. Not one of them objected to being zombified and the general impression I got from the series that it is better to be undead than dead, as at least you can still walk around. I can't imagine anything more horrible than being trapped in your body and watching it decay and it would have been nice to see at least ONE character think that way. Also, despite indications in the first book of a spiritual nature, and other occurrances suggesting a spiritual world, Wellington has either changed his mind or chickened out and abolished an after life in his fictional creation. All the characters, without exception, seem to feel it is better to stay death with becoming a zombie rather than enter a void. I find it hard to believe that people who have fought zombies for over a decade, facing death every day, would be so afraid of dying they would rather be an undead corpse. Real life shows that people who are in contact with death all the time are more willing to die when it comes to it and I think the normal human response would be revulsion at the thought of being a zombie. I also found the end of this book very bad. A disappointing final for a series I enjoyed in the first two installments. I can't help but feel this book has soured the other two for me. I want to give it a 2/10 but out of fairness for what has gone before I give it 5/10.

Book Review: Monster Island by David Wellington

This book was recommended to me by Amazon as I bought my copy of World War Z by Max Brooks. It is the first in a trilogy of zombie novels, starting with Monster Island, then continuing with Monster Nation and ending with Monster Planet. The reviews for the book were very positive so I thought I would give it a go. To be fair to David Wellington, he has handled the zombies well in this book. The story, as you might expect, is the end of civilisation brought about by the dead rising again and devouring anything living they can find. The western world, soft and unprepared, is practically destroyed while Africa manages to carve out some sort of existence. A group of female teenage soldiers travel to New York by boat on a mission for their leader, only to be thwarted by the millions of undead residents swarming the city. Wellington's research isn't as meticulous as Brook's and there were times where I felt it weakened the plot slightly. The boat trip from Somalia to New York, wisely, is not mentioned, but the lack of detail seemed to apply an ease which I doubt such a journey could be accomplished with given the circumstances. His writing style and framing devices for the novel did at times clunk along and he failed to explore some of the interesting ideas presented in his tale to my satisfaction. Saying that, there are elements of this novel that still creep me out thinking about them and I applaud him for taking a more spiritual rather than scientific approach to the epidemic. A good read for fans of zombie horror, but be prepared to get nightmares after reading this before bed. 7/10

Book Review: World War Z by Max Brooks

After reading 'The Zombie Survival Guide' I had to get Max Brook's follow up, 'World War Z'. I was not disappointed. If anything, it far exceeds the first book. On the front cover there is a quote from Simon Pegg, zombie enthusiast. He proclaims this book 'An absolute must have', a thought I echo.

'World War Z' is set in an undisclosed future time - I'm not talking hundreds of years here, maybe a decade at most, but the technological advances mentioned in the book show that we have a few years to wait before the zombie Apocalypse. Sometime in the near future an outbreak of the solanum virus in China gets the dead back on their feet and looking for fresh meat. The plague spreads across the entire globe, destroying lives, countries and bringing civilisation to its knees. The book is a collection of interviews with the survivors, relating their first hand experiences of the war against the undead. It spans continents, cultures and includes the perspective of both the military and the civilian side of the war. It is also broken down into sections - the beginning of the outbreak, during the war, and the aftermath.

Max Brooks has certainly done his homework with this book. He writes with such ease and authority about situations - both real and imagined - that you begin to believe there really has been a zombie war and you are missing something. There is no hyperbole in this book. It is a really study in human behaviour and what would REALLY happen if the undead began to walk the earth. Every possibility has been looked into. He also gave himself the difficult task of writing with a dozen or more different voices. He captures each of the different people superbly, so well in fact that you have to remind yourself that it is actually fiction and these aren't real people. The stories range from frightening, disturbing, annoying to heartfelt.

I found this book hard to put down. It is not like a horror book - it isn't gory or sensational, but I liked it all the more because it felt real and made me think. More than ever I am planning my strategy for when the zombie's come. This is a must read. I rate it 10/10.