Shellsville Podcast

In the book "Shellsville" by Leah Mason, a family moves to the small town of Shellsville to escape city life. However, they soon discover that the town is plagued by the undead. The main character, Lucy, must save her son Colin from a dangerous ritual. The characters in the book were inspired by Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." The setting of the town adds to the unsettling mood, similar to the movie "The Evil Dead." The author faced challenges in incorporating the Pride and Prejudice theme, but ultimately found a way to make it work. The narrative is structured as chapters and episodes. The story remained consistent throughout the writing process, although more chapters were added to draw out the story. The author resonated with the character of Colin, who was inspired by the author's own brother and the movie "The Evil Dead." Welcome, one and all. Step right up, don't be shy. I've got a special treat for you today. This is Leah Mason here on Scare and Share, the author of Shellsville. To go brief on this journey of the undead, the story begins with a somewhat normal road trip. It's 2005 and our characters are introduced, but they have no idea what they're about to encounter in this small little town of Shellsville. A family wishes to flee from the old, worn-out city life and start fresh in this little town. But after our main character, Lucy Darcy, encounters a strange and unsettling vision, their world is turned completely upside down. Her son, Colin, mysteriously is missing. Strange things happen in the town and woods of their little cabin. Before they know it, they're in for their lives as the town goes from quiet Amish to the evil dead. Lucy and her family must fight their way through dead villagers, visions, and an old ritual tradition that they must save Colin from before it is too late. All while trying to find their inner spirits and love for each other in this rampage battlefront, Lucy finally realizes what the visions means and she sacrifices herself for the love of her family in the end. Her loving and brave memory remembered through her daughter's words. How did you develop the characters in your narrative? Were they inspired by real people or entirely fictional? The characters were inspired by Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice. Much of their appearance and names are the same. Elizabeth Bennett, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mr. Collins, and Jane Bennett. How did the setting contribute to the overall mood or theme of the narrative? The setting contributes to the mood of my collision with the 1981 horror film, The Evil Dead, creating a more unsettling and prideful conflict against my characters. Were there any challenges or obstacles that you faced while writing this narrative? How did you overcome them? I kept telling myself, how am I going to fit the Pride and Prejudice theme in my story? Then I realized that my theme was slightly altering my story altogether, and I loved it. I kept my original theme, but worked through my alteration between the prideful town and parts of Lizzie's own pride. How did you decide on the structure of your narrative? Did you consider other options before settling on the final structure? At first, I wanted to structure out my narrative like a play, but then I realized that I would just have too much talking, unless there are options. A play structure was not what I needed for my zombie look. So, I wrote them out as chapters and episodes. They were written as chapters, only each given a short episode of what is happening throughout the plot. How did your ideas for the narrative evolve during the writing process, if at all? Did the story change significantly from your initial concept to the final product? I kept much of the details and plot structure the same all throughout, beginning to end. Originally, I never intended on writing 10 chapters. I was going to stick with up to 5 or 6. But I knew that if my chapters weren't as long as a normal chapter book would be, I was going to add more chapters to draw out the story for my audience. What were some important or meaningful moments in the narrative that resonated with you personally? Why were these moments significant to you? To be honest, if I had to choose a favorite character, it would be Colin. His words and phrases have been inspired by my own brother, and even in parts of one of my favorite 90's films, The Evil Dead. I don't think I could have made such a horrible character without my little bro, and the American Supernatural horror film. I give a shout out to my little brother and Sam Rami, the director of The Evil Dead.