Life may imitate art. For a Naperville high school teacher, life parallels art.
What started as a personal journey to write a zombie novel grew into lessons on book publishing where the teacher learned just as much as his students.
Four years ago, Brian South, an English teacher at Naperville North, participated in an open microphone night hosted by the school’s creative writing club. As the club adviser, South, who lives in Naperville with his wife and three sons, said he felt compelled to share a bit from the book he was writing about a zombie sheriff set in the Wild West.
“The kids loved it at first,” he said.
After the initial recitation, South said students would come up one or two at a time and offer more of a critique. The criticism focused on a secondary character, Wilson, who many said should have a more prominent role in his book.
He took their advice and ran with it.
Just as Wilson became a sidekick in South’s novel, Naperville North students became South’s partner along the way.
With “The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story” complete, South said the next step was publishing. Because of the changing face of book publishing and being a new author, South realized self-publishing was his best route.
That’s when he turned to students at Naperville North’s literary magazine, another group he advises.
South said he saw it as an opportunity walk students through the self-publishing process. “It’s been great to use a personal passion to promote authentic learning,” South said.
It also was a chance to bounce ideas, like the book cover, off a focus group.
After soliciting cover designs from graphic designers, South brought in all the sketches to get the students’ opinions. South said he had a favorite and was shocked his students didn’t agree.
“He was totally wrong,” said freshman Marissa Burch. “It was more fit for a comic book or graphic novel.”
Senior Alethia Oster said her teacher’s cover choice was geared more to a younger demographic, whereas was the novel would be marketed to adults as well.
Once again, South accepted the critique and opted for the students’ pick because they understood an aspect of the novel that he’d overlooked.
“They really pulled me out of the tunnel vision,” South said. “”They were the teachers in this case.”
Junior Kaitlin Murphy can’t wait to read the novel, now that she’s been a part of the process.
The novel will be released Feb. 20 in digital and print forms on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and other retailers. South describes his book as “an absurd, tongue-through-cheek tale of reanimated cowboys, undying love, and the lengths to which one zombie will go for justice. And for brains.”
Marissa is excited to read a book that spotlights the Wild West, zombies, cowboys and romance. “It’s really great for a teacher to write a book. He already has an audience just from school,” she said.
South’s talks about book publishing now are inspiring his students to do the same.
Marissa said she thought publishing was such a huge and daunting process. After watching South, she said she realizes “it’s now not that far out of reach.”
For freshman Morgan Minor, the graphics aspects of book publishing is more attractive, and she can see herself creating book covers or illustrating.
Alethia said she’s always wanted to see a book of her poetry in print. “I just recently decided this should happen,” she said. “It’s good to see Mr. South pursue his own dreams. It’s very encouraging and inspiring.”
subaker@tribpub.com
