Author Interview: Zachary Forbes
Zachary Forbes is part of a post-apocalyptic writing duo along with his brother Joshua.
Follow Zachary on social media:
Twitter: @ZachForbesBro
Instagram: @prozachdaily
I have had the immense privilege to interview indie author Zachary Forbes, co-author of SPSFC 3 contestant, Three Rivers Plague.
Tell me a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you write?
I’m a Portuguese-American from Massachusetts who recently graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville. My brother Joshua and I currently write a post-apocalyptic series called Continuum, based around a group of survivors in a world consumed by our own twist on the ‘zombie’ trope. I also occasionally break off and write science fiction.
What’s your favourite genre? Is it the same as the one you write in?
Sometimes I spread myself thin with all the genres in my TBR, but I’d have to say my two favourites are crime thrillers and science fantasy. It’s a bit of a weird dichotomy. I like the voices in more down-to-Earth mystery stories. When I read sci-fi, though, I like to just let loose. It doesn’t matter to me so much that everything makes sense, just that its creative and entertaining.
What do you do for inspiration?
I consume a lot of media. It’s not always easy to make time for it, especially nowadays as my mid-twenties slowly take hold of me, but there’s great creations out there by so many other people that often plant an idea in my own head. Not even just books, which I do read a lot of. My brother and I got a lot of our motivation from playing video games together during the lockdowns.
How do you approach building your worlds?
I got half of my degree at UF in history, so I have a strong appreciation for the lore of the real world, if that makes any sense. Continuum takes place in the 80s. So we looked at the Cold War, and not just what was really going on but also what many people believed to be going on. All the conspiracies and exaggerations.
It essentially boils down to two big blocks with a lot of infighting and a lot of political nuance. I think approaching a world with that in mind can make it feel very real. Then you can go and add the genre elements like creating different races and planets and such. Sometimes I pull those ideas from historical references too. Sometimes they just come to me.
What comes first? Characters or plot?
I had a recent review tell me Continuum: Three Rivers Plague felt more story-focused than character-focused. Not in a bad way, just an observation. I certainly don’t intend for that to be the case. I think compelling characters can drive a reader with less of a plot, but even a compelling plot will suffer without good character work.
The character is the vessel for the reader. With Continuum, we wanted a protagonist who was flawed and struggling, but deep down intended to do good. He’s faced with a world that really wants to tear him down. I think a lot of us can relate to that.
What was the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
There’s an episode in Three Rivers Plague called ‘The Wall’. It’s a climactic moment for our main character and it involves drugs.
Our character has made some poor decisions and gotten himself into a tight spot. He ends up in a position where he’s at gunpoint and both him and this antagonist become inebriated. I had to write this scene like the character was under the influence of strong psychadelics while also making it translate to literary form, so I ended up messing around with narrative and wordplay. It was quite an experience, but I think the end result is pretty fun.
What’s your favourite/least favourite thing about the writing process?
I love writing. Most people do, I think. I’m also odd because I like editing. Editing feels easy because I have this story in front of me and all I need to do is think about it. I need to give it a full read and really digest it until I find little things I want to change. It doesn’t necessarily feel as daunting as writing whole chapters, and I know my second draft will be something I’m proud of. Even if I revise again.
Are you able to share any short snippets from the cutting room floor?
There’s a detective character in Continuum named Kennedy. He’s like our ‘Han Solo’. Not the protagonist but still important and usually a fan favorite. He’s got a very distinct voice as well, and we’ve been juggling ideas of a prequel series set before the ‘apocalypse’ once three or four Continuum books are done. I drafted and scrapped a short story that bounced between the world before, when Kennedy was doing detective work, and the world post-1987, when the outbreaks began. This would’ve been the opening:
The year was 1970. The world was still spinning.
Two gruff men stood over a series of bodies. Two dead bodies lay ironically on the living room floor of an east end apartment. Two exit wounds tore through each of those bodies, revealing the contents of their character all over the scratchy patterned rug. But three lives were lost that day–three lives from the Massachusetts state treasurer’s bloodline. Only time would tell how many more were on the killer’s list.
The first gruff man was Johnny. His gray business suit covered his wide frame and tucked away a handful of ketchup stains on his white undershirt. He’d accumulated the stains over lunch, but it was clear he’d already lost his appetite.
The second man was Kennedy. A long tan coat hung over his tight back and wrapped around a black vest. The faded red tie around his neck had to be loosened at the sight of the poor young victim strung up from the ceiling by a noose. A sign of solidarity, if nothing else. The smoke of a cigarette reflected from the aviator glasses on his nose.
What is your absolute favourite piece of your own writing? Could be a short scene, a bit of dialogue, a character or even the tiniest piece of worldbuilding.
I’m proud of The Wall. I think that scene turned out to be pretty fun. A sequence I’ve grown more proud of as people have complimented it happens just before then. It’s a big reveal for our world, as something even more dangerous than our ‘zombies’ is set upon our characters. Our trinity, so to speak, is Thomas, Rachael, and Kennedy. They end up face-to-face with this thing and it’s really a defining moment in their relationship.
What are you promoting at the moment?
I’ve got another story locked and loaded in the chamber, but I’m in the query trenches with it right now. Continuum is self-published and I don’t plan to change that, but I had some dream agents in mind for an unrelated sci-fi story and figured I’d apply. I’ll be sure to let everyone know if those agents don’t pan out and I take it to the self-pub side of things.
So if I have anything to promote, It would be my website: zacharyforbes1.wixsite.com/forbes-brothers-book
We’ve got a newsletter and a gallery where we put up fan art. We’ll also have a blog there soon enough. We’re about done with 2 or 3 out of 8 episodes in Continuum 2, so it is happening and we’ll be posting all about it when it’s done.
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