1. DystopianApocolypse

    DystopianApocolypse Member

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    zombiessss...?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by DystopianApocolypse, May 29, 2016.

    Alright, so I want to do zombies. I said it. I find that the genre has become stale, much like vampires werewolves and whatnot had before we revamped them. Marvel did a very good very original zombie apocolypse, in which the super human characters retained their ability to talk and use powers, guns, etc. Normal human zombies did not, as they were the more traditional zombie. I HAVE NOT played RESIDENT EVIL. I have seen a couple of the movies, but have not even touched any of the games. I've heard they have some original ish zombie creatures, but not anything too advanced past the whole trying to kill you.

    So, are there any ways in which you have thought or would like to see the zombie genre change? I was thinking that in the story I am thinking on would involve the zombies already having won the whole "war" and have basically conquered the earth. there are still humans, but they are in hiding and basically the whole zombie survival genre thing, where they scavenge for supplies and fight off zombies.

    What I was thinking of including/introducing would be the zombies' "evolution" I was thinking of having the zombies be government experiments into creating super soldiers, but it failed and that caused the zombie outbreak.
     
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  2. Miller0700

    Miller0700 Contributor Contributor

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    Zombies in fantasy/medieval folklore. Think GoT.
     
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  3. Samuel Lighton

    Samuel Lighton Senior Member

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    I'd like to see one done from the zombie's point of view. As if the original person was just a back-seat driver watching it all, and becomes all blasé about their situation.
     
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  4. Mumble Bee

    Mumble Bee Keep writing. Contributor

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    I'm currently beating the undead horse a well. I can't give you my plot, but i'll throw a few ideas out there.

    Right now zombies movies are like Spider man, most of what we've seen on the subject is the origin story over and over. Please don't add to the pile.
    Want to know what would be a twist on the zombie apocalypse? What if they wern't our destroyers, but our saviors?
    Think about it, zombies take over, we think, "Oh no, its all ruined!" but what if the real apocalypse (maybe a meteor or some sort of volcano) happened like the next week
    What if the only way for humanity's biology to survive though this catastrophic event is through preserving it in zombies?
     
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  5. ToBeInspired

    ToBeInspired Senior Member

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    Ya, I'm a HUGE zombie fan. Like zombie marathons, parades, and other similar events. Not sure what I like so much about the walking undead, but it's a thing.

    With that said, you're example has too many plot holes.

    Zombies: Encounters With The Hungry Dead by John Skipp

    That book has a collection of 32 zombie themed short stories. Some are VERY different from your normal zombie story.

    "God Save The Queen" is an incredible story that pushes some pretty dark themes. There's quite a few other interesting ones.

    Read some zombie short stories for inspiration. If people just tell you a bunch of ideas you're basically having someone else write your story. I get you want to get the juices flowing, I do what you're doing all the time, but look into it a bit more first.

    I'm 100% always willing to go over any nuisances about zombie culture with you at any time. PM me any time, follow me, or post on my profile.

    I have a LOT of ideas. I have a series working that's pretty flexible with genre and theme. One of the book of the series is going to be called Necropolis and shall be delving into a world that has begun a new society based off the aftermaths of a zombie apocalypse. Let's just say a whole new zombie religion is formed -- it'll be creepy.

    I'll keep an eye on the thread. Trying to hold back, but if other people begin participating I might not be able to hold back the flood gates.
     
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  6. DystopianApocolypse

    DystopianApocolypse Member

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    Something you might like then is the marvel zombies series I think I mentioned in my first post. The whole marvel world gets screwed over big time, a zombie superman invades and kills off the avengers and a good deal of other super heroes right from the get go, turning them into zombies. Like the other guy said about not doing an origin story, all we really see is the zombie super man just showed up. That's the most in the actual thing for an origin, though I understand there's more to it than that in other comic issues, but the zombie avengers and super humans all retain speech functionality and their powers, though they're all out for blood... or brains in this case. it DOES get very bloody, like spiderman eating marry jane and aunt may bloody. I won't spoil anything else though.
     
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  7. DystopianApocolypse

    DystopianApocolypse Member

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    thank you. as far as zombies being saviors and everything, That's genuinely interesting to contemplate.

    In a certain zombie thing, Trying not to spoil anything else for anyone, so message me if you want to know what I'm talking about, a scientist is studying the zombies trying to cure it, when he discovers that zombies are basically the ultra humans, never needing food, sustenance, can survive as long as they aren't injured, don't feel pain. it does not go well for his family as the scientist is so awestruck by it he infects his whole family. calling it basically "evolution."-
     
  8. DystopianApocolypse

    DystopianApocolypse Member

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    the closest thing I can think, and please don't hate me for this, would be warm bodies, a horrible example of the zombie genre, where they're less zombie and more so infected with a brain killing disease that they all recover from through the power of love.
     
  9. ToBeInspired

    ToBeInspired Senior Member

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    You're not spoiling anything, to me, like I said I'm a huge zombie fan. That's the only comic I can remember ever reading. One of my... well not friend, more like a friend of a friend I hung out with a few times sent me a download of it. He was just incredibly lazy, complained about everything, and I just didn't want to be around that negative atmosphere.

    I'm now at home. My zombie book is in front of me.

    I'll go over some themes involved.

    1) A zombie comes back to a community after dying in a war. It doesn't kill anyone or cause any harm, but instead has intimate knowledge of his communities dark secrets. "Timmy" use to be a very kind person, but after dying became vicious and vindictive. Instead of relating to physical harm, it caused emotional.

    2) Zombies have lost most of their easily accessible food sources. While not causing their extinction it related to a sense of despondency. They try to relate to their former humanity. They have zombie versions of nightclubs, music, etc. Long story short, it's a good story, the most intimate moment a zombie can achieve (replacing sexual intercourse) is consentual devouring of each other's flesh.

    3) A certain human boy is immune to the attacks of zombies. This story is... you should just read it. "God Save The Queen" by John Skipp & Mark Levinthal.

    4) Another story contains a town which has barricaded themselves against invading zombies, but has religious view points which doesn't permit them to "murder" any family members that have turned. They believe in the possibility that there may be a cure or that even it could just be a trial God has presented them. The sherriff kills a zombie that gets loose and is sent to trial. As punishment for his crimes the mayor sentences him to have both of his arms amputated and to be exiled. Turns out the mayor was an intelligent zombie and eats his arms. Honestly... the mayor is a great character. He may become a zombie overlord overtime (zombie "evolving").

    Okay... one a few things I find that don't make sense in most zombie stories (I still eat them up even with my gripes) are as follows:

    1) Human bodies decompose. Unless you explain how they can "persevere" in human form, they would still be humans at least in form. Extreme cold, pressure, or heat would affect their bodies. Zombies in Florida would decompose at a faster rate, zombies in Canada would potentially become stationary, and zombies that go too deep into the sea would simply be crushed.

    2) Why do zombies have to eat? If a zombie has no form of digestion they would have a limit to how much they can intake. Some stories have brought attenton to this with bones potruding from their stomaches or other such devices. If they're mindless predators with no limitations they'll eventually run out of a food supply. What happens then?

    3) Slow zombies. You die and you crawl after people. Long dramatic scenes, for sure, but it's unrealistic. A zombie would have the same capabilities as they did before previously changing. Bodily injury or rate of decomposition would affect how their body performs, but if an Olympic gold medalist started racing after you -- you're not going to get away.

    4) Their intelligence levels. This is hard to discuss simply because it depends on what form your zombies take. My main issue is that I dislike mainly seeing unintelligent zombies vrs not that bright humans all the time.

    5) How zombies use their senses. The brain is a major function in how we interpret our senses. Do they lose their sense of smell, sight, touch, etc.? Do they detake prey from sound? From scent? From sight? It's always an issue.

    Well, lot of things to go across. I've found stories where zombies regain certain memories and have to struggle against their predatoral insticts (ya, I know... vampires and blood) to me interesting. I've read a story where a virus inflicted a need to cannibilize human flesh. It didn't cause brain damage in any other way. They were normal humans except for an ever irrestible desire to devour fellow humans. It went over how a family man would get urges, bit by bit, to devour his children. It started during an argument and he reflected over it. It kept getting worse and worse, he started to drink himself to oblivion. He eventually ate two of his own fingers trying to resist devouring his daughter he doted on. Spoiler -- he ate all of them and killed himself. GREAT written story. Wish I could remember the name. Hell, might write my own short story version.
     
  10. Samuel Lighton

    Samuel Lighton Senior Member

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    I was thinking more along the lines of an actual shambler zombie, wandering around you know?

    Stumbling upon a corpse:

    Oh jesus, that guy did NOT die well. Christ, how long has he even been out here? I think as my zombie self edges towards their decomposing body.
    "Bwararrrrhhh......." No, come on man. Look, it's got bugs on it and everything. Oh for crying out loud.... As it turns out, pleading with myself not to eat this poor guy's brains is about as effective as the maggots were a deterrent to my 'new' tastes in fine road-side cuisine.
     
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  11. ToBeInspired

    ToBeInspired Senior Member

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    Has anyone else ever noticed the largest discrepency in almost all works of zombie fiction?

    Smell.

    The characters will round a corner and suddenly be face-to-face with zombies. Zombies i.e. decomposing rotting corpses. Plural, not singular, which multiplies the effect.

    Now here's another thing, how many people are not going to have a negative reaction to being that close to something so putrid? A zombie that's waterlogged for instance is going to be HORRIFIC. You're more likely to fall over retching than being able to run away.

    Even hardened criminal investigators hit the gag reflex when encountering bodies under certain levels of decomposition. Normal Joe? Good luck.
     
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  12. DeadMoon

    DeadMoon The light side of the dark side Contributor

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    I never thought of zombies that way. It sounds like a horror/comedy in the making.
     
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  13. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    I'd love to read about zombies that knew they were zombies. I imagine being a zombie a lot like being in a dream. In a dream, you think you're acting normally, but then you wake up with a what the hell was that thought? Well it's because the logical center of the brain is largely shut off while you sleep, so things are really weird, but you don't recognize it as such, you think it's perfectly normal while you are dreaming. But, you can lucid dream. Every once in a while, I come to and realize that my surroundings can not be real. Through practice, I used to be able to do that several times a week, I wonder if it's possible for a zombie to become suddenly lucid. Imagine most zombies walking around in a semiconscious state, but a handful of them retain enough of their personality to deduce what's happened to them.
     
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  14. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Warm Bodies I think did the self aware zombie thing. Guy slowly turns human again after falling in love with a living chick. (Sorry to be the debbie downer). :p

    Personally their really are a very limited amount of options left to the genre, short of letting it fade out for about 20-30 years until it becomes 'new' again. It is literally one that engrosses across all the media mediums and frankly has been well beaten to death (bad pun with standing). So I think the only things left to go with the whole zombie thing is to have them live in a new society and work either with the living, or come up with a much more complex means of creating more to their numbers. Though this might break all the conventional mythos of the archetype because they are seen (and most often portrayed) as the mindless lumbering bodies that crave either flesh or brain matter depending on the will of the creator. Though you could twist the brain craving zombies into a higher state of intelligence, when they consume gray and white matter. The only time I have seen where the effort was really put int to give them any sort of scientifically plausibility, was in the Last Of Us. Where the fungus that commonly affects ants, has mutated to infect humans. And in the process changed the parasitic relationship from just simply having the host find a location to continue to spread, to actively forcing the host to spread it through controlling them through the nervous system. Then having the host seek out new hosts as a result of the parasitic fungus's need to thrive and multiply. And those in later stages of the infection with the fungus, had fungal growth on them as the fungus would consume the host body. But keeping the basic motor functions and nervous system in tact to continue to perpetuate itself. No malice or forethought on the part of the fungus, just nature taking its course.

    IDK, I guess I have lost the fun that comes with the whole Zombie thing. I blame the over saturation in the media mediums, too much of a good thing tends to double back on itself.
     
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  15. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Zombies get old really quickly I think. There is only so much running and fighting that you can watch before it gets boring. To me (and apparently watchers of AMC) find interesting, is what happens to the living humans after the outbreak. The collapse of civilization and the actions of other people are far scarier than the undead. In The Walking Dead, most dead characters were killed by other humans, not zombies.
     
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  16. Auger

    Auger Member

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    I want to see a reversed zombie invasion story in which zombies are disfigured immortals who retain their intelligence and are unable to reproduce by means other than infection, and they have to fight against a growing group of human survivors.
     
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  17. AlcoholicWolf

    AlcoholicWolf Senior Member

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    Do whatever you like, just don't call them zombies.
     
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  18. Romana

    Romana Member

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    have you read Elantris by any chance? Not exactly the same idea, but...
     
  19. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    Hey, the movie is good... I think. I haven't actually seen it. But it looks good.
     
  20. ToBeInspired

    ToBeInspired Senior Member

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    Zombies are nowhere near played out. They're just stuck in their stereotypes.

    Zombies are slow, stupid, and cannibals... but don't eat each other. For some reason the whole world falls apart, governments are toppled, but somehow a mom and her two kids are still kickin' it.

    I want to see more specialized weaponry, more self-awareness, more intelligence, predator-style pack hunting, and all the gooey darkness that comes with it.

    How about a story where there's a kid, for one reason or another, that's is ignored by zombies? What if basing the story off how fellow humans use him for their own advantage. A group of raiders who abuse him and send him out as a scout. Maybe they have his sister or mother as a hostage.

    How about some zombies mutate intelligence and begin forming a society? What if they form a religion based off their cannibalistic beliefs?

    What if all zombies were self aware, but they couldn't resist the urge for too long.

    I get zombies are just horror stories adapted into entertainment, but some of it just unrealistic.

    How does a zombie, just a turned human, devour a whole human being until almost nothing is left. Our teeth aren't meant for ripping large chunks out of someone's body. It's why we have knives. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd think it'd be hard for a zombie to tear into a person. I'd struggle to eat someone, in more that one way.

    Another thing to mention is that zombies are suppose to be cannibalistic humans. However, you would have to consider them human for that. Primates, which we evolved from, are mainly herbivores. We developed canine teeth for the small amounts of meat we'd eat. Humans are omnivores, but biologically we're mainly herbivores due to pasteurization. Primates would eat other primates. They form packs, protect their territory, another primate crosses into it and is beaten to death and eaten.

    Why aren't zombies cannibalistic to other zombies? The rotten flesh? A newly formed zombie should still be "fresh." Is is the lack of warmth? It'll be hot enough if the zombie is in Florida. There's a lot of other factors, but just as many ways to explain why it doesn't make complete sense.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2016
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  21. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    Hehehehe.:twisted::twisted::twisted: (Puts on nerd cap) You see, the human being (homo sapiens sapiens) actually possesses omnivorous dentition (teeth). We have herbivorous molars (grinding teeth) and we have carnivorous incisors and canines (piercing and ripping teeth). This is because as we evolved from arboreal(tree dwelling) primates, we required a source of nutrients for our developing brains. So we began to eat the meat of large animals. Now insects do not contain much of the brain fuel nutrients we required, and they are small. Our teeth could handle insects because our dentition was already somewhat omnivorous. But in order to feed off scavenged zebra carcasses and such, we require teeth like our relatives the carnivora (felines and canines) and so our meat-eating teeth became more numerous and developed. Ta-da! :supergrin::supergrin:
     
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  22. ToBeInspired

    ToBeInspired Senior Member

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    Someone in real life I was discussing zombies with (just now) beat you to it. Was editing my post while you posted this, hah.
     
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  23. Samuel Lighton

    Samuel Lighton Senior Member

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    How about two old zombies reminiscing about their younger, zombified, years. Oh! What time's we had.
     
  24. Samuel Lighton

    Samuel Lighton Senior Member

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    Actually, in relation to the original question - firstly, our incisors - the two middle front teeth - are specifically there to tear chunks off of things (thus the name incisor). More importantly, the required strength to bite through raw meat/skin is roughly the same jaw strength as it takes to bite through an apple. It's only the psychological inhibition that would limit you from your ability to do so. I mean who wants to bite a human being, we're filthy.

    But yes, we developed tools as we usually do to better do the job. That's not to say we can't without them, unless we're toothless. After a while a zombie would likely loose their teeth from misuse, poor hygiene and various deficiencies, not to mention that in some stories zombies constantly decompose no matter what you do. At which point, I would say the ultimate zombie would be one with teeth courtesy of the dentist. A titanium rod reinforced, ceramic coated, gnashing nightmare.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2016
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  25. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    Which does have the potential to put the Survival Horror back into what has become an Action/Adventure genre: the classic melee-uses-no-ammo wouldn't work against more than 3-4 zombies at a time simply because the stench would give a larger crowd a chance to disorient you, meaning that your only choices are 1) run away or 2) use finite ammo. Also, running away wouldn't work either.

    Humanity took over the world for one reason: running endurance. Several animals are almost as intelligent as we are (cephalopods, dolphins, other primates), but they didn't get as far as we did because we are better at hunting than they are.

    Most animals can sprint better than we can, but we are the kings and queens of the long distance and can hunt simply by running our prey to exhaustion, scaring them and scaring them with fire and loud noises until they are too exhausted for either fight or flight. No matter how far an animal runs for it's life, no matter how long it manages to keep it's distance, we will always be able to catch up when they can't defend themselves anymore. Cheetahs are better at sprinting better than humans are at sprinting, but humans being better hunters overall means that we are better at long distance than they are at sprinting.

    Armies of the undead? We're not the champions of endurance anymore. Zombies are literally better at being human than we are.
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2016
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