on writing (IV)

This evening I finished Part One (of Seven) in The Procyon Strain: Book Two. The book is running at just under 100 pages at the moment, and at this rate will come in around 450 pages. I've shortened the prologue, eliminating a lot of original material in order to launch the reader into the main story at a quicker pace. As the sequel to The Procyon Strain: Book One, Book 2 picks up where the first book left off: on the verge of the national (and global) zombie outbreak. Whereas Book One is predominantly character-driven, with bits of actions peppered into the narrative here-and-there, Book Two is predominantly story-driven and chocked full of action. It's a different breed of writing than its predecessor, but that's what I'm wanting: I would like each book in the series to be significantly different than all the others so that each is unique and memorable in its own right. 

Book Two encompasses the first three days of the zombie apocalypse. According to a handful of scientists and mathematicians, a zombie plague in the look and feel of Romero could demolish society's infrastructure within 72 hours; with that in the background, Book 2 follows the main character through those 72 hours, beginning with an outbreak in downtown Cincinnati and climaxing with the nation's infrastructure collapsing. The book itself is slated to be divided into seven "parts" (think of them as "Acts" or long-ass chapters). The entirety of Part One takes place downtown, between Fountain Square and Liberty Avenue, and it contains a lot of what zombie fanatics like: mayhem and pandemonium. The first twenty pages of Part One will be posted on here tomorrow; you can read it, you can skip it, you can love it, you can hate it. It doesn't matter to me. I write to have fun, not to make money; if that weren't the case, I would be the epitome of failure. A disclaimer is always a good thing to have to soften the blow to your pride.