Help!

[Roran]

I'm writing a short story and I need ideas. So far, all I have decided is that it will be about the zombie apocalypse and a boy's (me) survival (or eventual death) thereof.

 

[Jordan~]

Short story? Think about the dramatic arc. If you're gonna have a death, that'll need to be the central plot - establishing the situation (a crisis, presumably), rising tension while he's fighting/running/whatever, climax as he makes his last stand or hides in desperation, knowing he's going to be caught... Not so sure about falling tension, but I guess that's the resolution of the climax so that's when he's failing, denouement would be the death itself.
I think a better plot would be one that ends in a victory - he has to get supplies, five minutes before the zombies'll catch up to him or find him, gets as much as he can in a frantic hurry, something happens and he has to stay behind too long, they catch up, he fights or escapes them, gets to safety, denouement. More cathartic.

 

[ApostateAbe]

The story begins when, after the five year anniversary of the zombifying plague, the teenager finally gives up and submits to the zombie infection, believing that it will be preferable to a life of continuing terror and violence. He finds out, to his horror, that he is immune to the zombie infection, and the zombies do not prefer the taste of his flesh after the first bite. When he makes the mistake of telling fellow survivors, he is forcibly imprisoned and made the subject of cruel experiments so that others can discover the secret to his immunity. He escapes, and he faces a new terror. The zombies, who don't prefer his flesh upon smelling it, provide protection.

There is your story. Run with it.

 

[Roran]

Ok. Now.....zombies.....ragers or shamblers? Smart or dumb? Fast or slow? Too many choices.
Better Idea: Multiple types of zombies.

 

[Jordan~]

Slumdog Millionaire with zombies instead of the authorities. That's my pitch.

 

[Roran]

The story begins when, after the five year anniversary of the zombifying plague, the teenager finally gives up and submits to the zombie infection, believing that it will be preferable to a life of continuing terror and violence. He finds out, to his horror, that he is immune to the zombie infection, and the zombies do not prefer the taste of his flesh after the first bite. When he makes the mistake of telling fellow survivors, he is forcibly imprisoned and made the subject of cruel experiments so that others can discover the secret to his immunity. He escapes, and he faces a new terror. The zombies, who don't prefer his flesh upon smelling it, provide protection.

There is your story. Run with it.

Hmm. Somehow, running with the zombies doesn't feel right, though I applaud your originality.

It would be hard to work in slaughtering the zeds with wild abandon if the protagonist knows they don't want his flesh.

The story is basically an excuse for me to write about killing zombies and guns.

 

[ApostateAbe]

Hmm. Somehow, running with the zombies doesn't feel right, though I applaud your originality.

It would be hard to work in slaughtering the zeds with wild abandon if the protagonist knows they don't want his flesh.

The story is basically an excuse for me to write about killing zombies and guns.

It feels right to me, because I came up with it. Anything that is original will be better than the standard survivalist storyline, one way or the other, because the standard survivalist storyline and all of its variations have already been done a million times.

 

[ApostateAbe]

Continuing from my first idea, upon discovering his immunity, and the zombies do nothing to defend themselves, the kid becomes a sadist, almost but not quite a psychopath, and he is driven by a lust for vengeance after five years of terror. He takes pleasure in destroying the zombies in the most cruel ways imaginable.

 

[Roran]

There is that.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Anything that is original will be better than the standard survivalist storyline, one way or the other, because the standard survivalist storyline and all of its variations have already been done a million times.

Listen to this guy.^^^^
The survivalist story just kind of feels cliche and unoriginal. Wait 15-20 years until zombies go back out of style THEN do that story.

 

[Roran]

A problem is that i think my mo- I mean, the audience, might not like the sadism. I ,however, am totally ok with it.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Haha yeah sadism maybe not, but the first part is much better. Kind of like District 9 but with zombies.

 

[Roran]

Now, how to begin awesomely....

 

[Roran]

I'm thinking of doing some serious fourth wall breaking.

 

[Roran]

The story begins when, after the five year anniversary of the zombifying plague, the teenager finally gives up and submits to the zombie infection, believing that it will be preferable to a life of continuing terror and violence.

If I was gonna kill myself I think I would rather shoot myself than purposefully become infected.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Maybe he doesn't submit but is overwhelmed, still fighting for life.

 

[Roran]

CHAR Is Back
Prologue
Now
I crouched in the dark. I was bitten, I was infected. The door was barricaded. I had half of a mag left. Half a mag and a machete. The pounding on the door grew faster, the moans more frequent, the snarls louder. The barricades wouldn’t hold much longer. Somewhere out there my friends were waiting for me to call in, to tell them I was okay. I was bitten. I was infected. I stood up and faced the door. I had the pistol in my right hand and the machete in my left. I smiled the rictus grin of a man who knows he’s not making it. Let them come.

How's this for a prologue?

 

[ApostateAbe]

CHAR Is Back
Prologue
Now
I crouched in the dark. I was bitten, I was infected. The door was barricaded. I had half of a mag left. Half a mag and a machete. The pounding on the door grew faster, the moans more frequent, the snarls louder. The barricades wouldn’t hold much longer. Somewhere out there my friends were waiting for me to call in, to tell them I was okay. I was bitten. I was infected. I stood up and faced the door. I had the pistol in my right hand and the machete in my left. I smiled the rictus grin of a man who knows he’s not making it. Let them come.

How's this for a prologue?

I think it is pretty sweet.

 

[Jesse]

I have an idea

After 5 years of surviving horribly the guy finally cracks. He decides to end it and take out as many as possible so for the first time ever he attacks. So he loads up and starts attacking them and goes to their base or hive or whatever where all off them are. Once there the zombies start doing things they have never done, like retreating and talking to each other. At this point his mind is at breaking point and he starts to have flashbacks (to the start of the zombie apocalypse) and his mind starts playing tricks on him like finding a radio where other survivors (he has been along for 5 years so the idea of others scares and amazes him) are asking his help and such. Throughout the rest of story he gets attacked frequently by the zombies to the point he starts running low on ammo. Of course he decides to help the other survivors but what they are telling him makes no sense. Things like kill the queen or find us out a spot that doesn't exist anymore. After risking his life trying to help him something happens like the floor collapses and he gets injured, enough to know his dying. He loses the radio but the voices keep happening. He struggles on and starts to lose his grip on reality. At this point hallways start to change around him, he starts chasing a child and he gets really hungry but knows deep down there is no food left anywhere. His final flashback is a memory not of his but of subject zero who was experimented on. Knowing he is going to die soon he tries to ignore all of it and make out to watch the sunset. Door's start appearing in front of him and he starts running through them. He makes it out of the hive to find sunlight where it ends.

 

[Roran]

Dude..... you just wrote a whole story

 

[jameslikespie]

CHAR Is Back
Prologue
Now
I crouched in the dark. I was bitten, I was infected. The door was barricaded. I had half of a mag left. Half a mag and a machete. The pounding on the door grew faster, the moans more frequent, the snarls louder. The barricades wouldn’t hold much longer. Somewhere out there my friends were waiting for me to call in, to tell them I was okay. I was bitten. I was infected. I stood up and faced the door. I had the pistol in my right hand and the machete in my left. I smiled the rictus grin of a man who knows he’s not making it. Let them come.

How's this for a prologue?

That's pretty good dude.

 

[Roran]

And finally I actually start writing this story, after agonizing hours on tvtropes, troping out my non-existant characters....

 

[Myself]

It should be from the point of view of a zombie.

Chapter 1: BRains.
Chapter 2: BRAAAA
Chapter 3: AAAAAINS.

Nah...

I would figure out what it is that most, if not all, zombie stories miss... and then inject some of that.

Like...

What about a zombie apocalypse... in the wild west? Written from the pov of Billy the Kid.

Or a zombie apocalypse from the point of view of a doctor trying to find a cure. Not about guns but about test tubes.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

Or a zombie apocalypse from the point of view of a doctor trying to find a cure.

I Am Legend?

 

[ZombieAtomico]

How about a story where a sociopathic protagonist joins forces with the zombies to survive, without becoming one. You could have the character sabotage the defenses of the shelters occupied by other survivors, then herd zombies using slabs of human flesh to the weakend shelters. Zombies go in and kill the survivors, the character herds the zombies away, then takes the left-over resources from the dead people in order to survive. This would allow you to have several sub-plots where the character interacts and tricks pockets of survivors into trusting him or her, or the abduction and slaughter of survivors to use as zombie herding bait.

I think this would be a novel twist on the whole thing without deviating too far from the core survivor storyline that people seem to love.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

No, sadly you are not.

 

[Roran]

He's talking about the movie

 

[BigApplePi]

I never met a zombie I didn't like, so I don't know what you'd get.

Sequel: Zombie boy meets Vampira. At first they have a good time but eventually Zombie boy thinks Vampira sucks while she finds him a deadbeat. Do you need a publisher?

 

[Roran]

All I have currently is like ONE PARAGRAPH

(and it sucks)

 

[Jesse]

You went to tv tropes and came back?

Honestly that site has kept me up way to long, it's strangely addictive.

 

[Roran]

The shortest amount of time I can stay on there is two hours.

 

[Meer]

Zombies happen, and everyone freaks out. But then, an outwardly fearless person goes out into the desert to grow a beard and tell the zombies about socialism. He returns and the zombies do all the physical labour on earth, letting the rest of humanity enjoy rotting themselves on videogames for the rest of their lives. Eventually, the zombies decay and stop working, then all the fat people have a big gunfight.

If that sounds intriguing, you might like the story I'm currently working on. It's about taking apart a pellet gun and not being able to put it back together.

 

[travelnjones]

I have considered a roleplaying game with the biblical apocalypse falling in a solar system spanning hard scifi setting. Zombies should be able to be worked in there. Its you but your in a slow moving spaceship on the way to Titan.