Alright, so I've been working on this plot for a while now and I really need just a few more details before I feel like its good enough to continue onto the next step. The detail I need help with a pretty huge one for the plot, I need it to be believable for the most part. As it goes so far, the plot is basically about this small island that contains two towns. A larger one and a very small one. But a zombie infection takes part in the larger of the towns (which is a fishing town and tourist stop). This is where I need the help though, making the zombies come into the story and create a huge panic. Right now, I have it that a boat crashes into the towns harbour because the crew became zombies, and it unfolds into utter chaos as the zombies stream out of this boat and start attacking the people in the harbour. I'm not sure if people will accept this well though. I want something believable, but I don't want to explain where the zombies came from, that's a detail I want the reader to wonder about. At the same time though I want there to be a climax at this start of the story to grab the readers attention at the beginning, so I was hoping for something larger. All in all, I was hoping someone might have another idea I could use for this huge portion of the plot that I feel I'm lagging upon? Thanks
Hey Some ideas could be from an experiment, or else a new drug trying to cure something (perhaps a new drug to prolong life in terminal patients? this would lend well to the afterlife properties of a zombie lol) or perhaps an old curse or spell? (this one of course is hard to pull off) or even an infected animal biting someone.
If you wanted to, you could make your zombies unable to infect others through biting. This would give you far more options on making things seem more realistic, since having the "bite to infect" pretty much means you're stuck with the virus option. Example: A strange storm turns the sky green, blocking out the sun and casting to town in an eerie glow over the town. A single bolt of lightning cuts through the sky, followed by the loud roar of thunder. Everyone caught outside during the storm collapses. As those unaffected by the strange storm rush forward to help their neighbours, the moans begin. Followed by the screams. And there you have the blueprints for a story. And that's just an example, the possibilities are endless. Don't restrict your own creativity for some other writers interpretation of an idea. Be it with zombies, or any other aspect of story-writing.
Thanks! That actually helps, and I think your right. I don't think I should focus on making it incredibly realistic, because no matter what, I'm sure people will have problems with that. So if I make it something creative that's intriguing, it would work just as well.
Firstly, have it be a huge boat that crashes dramatically on the island during a storm. Then have the zombies start infecting people, and everyone running about screaming. Ideas for infection: Eating food/drinking liquids the zombies have consumed The ol' bitey bitey! You have to be killed by a zombie and have it feed on you. You will then rise as a zombie. Simply contact will do the trick. Which means you all have to walk around in suits. The zombies must touch/gouge/feed on/bite/whatever a certain body part. I suggest the eyes. They're the most horrifying. Or the heart. That sounds nice.
Well, what makes the biting thing more legitimate is that biting in real life can lead to all sorts of nasty infections. Viruses are a logical extreme, but there's also bacteria which is much less complex than a virus and can spread faster and in more areas that the immune system can't reach. That's why biting and scratching are so prevalent in zombie fiction, because frankly it's a realistic, down to earth way to pass an infection to someone. The other extreme of course is that zombification is a pratice that basically involves drugging someone to the point where they are basically braindead. Make them open to suggestion and remove their discretionary thinking and you have a walking killer that will essentially do all your dirty work for you.
Deadly strain of what appears to be rabies, which shuts down stomach function, essentially stopping people from feeling hungry as their stomach fills, but they don't take in any nutrients. They begin to take on extremely sallow, pale appearances, and water tastes absolutely horrible to them, making them avoid hydrating themselves. After a day or two, their skin begins to rot. Being that rabies (as the base for this) directly hits the central nervous system, obviously there'll be the frothing and the decreased brain function. Reason to attack humans? Possibly heightened chemical production resulting in an extremely acute, violent form of paranoia. Or something like that.
How about not so much biting but the ripping open of wounds? So their fingers/mouths upon your bloodstream or insides do the damage? Not just being bitten, but their fluids getting inside open wounds etc. Maybe they have green spit/froth at the mouth? Something like that anyway. A variation on that might work, their disease getting into the bloodstream is the main gist of it. Obviously biting does that but it could be the clawing open of flesh etc that does it.
Oh jeez, I am going to have to read through this whole thread because this is a topic I've struggled on for over a year. My best friend told me to give up on zombies because it was too cliche. Why does everyone have to love scary things?! Ugh good idea crucifiction :] when I was constructing a story line I think I was going for something like a sickness that didn't kill you but slowed your heart rate down so much you had basically no pulse. So you brain would basically start decaying from lack of oxygen after a few days and they would be declared dead by doctors. They're buried (or still in the morgue) when suddenly the heart starts pumping again and they wake up. Fried brain, disease ridden, and hungryyy! :]
I'm a big zombie apocalypse fan (come on zombies are the best) so I tend to watch a lot of zombie movies. The reasons a zombie infection can start can be as many as there are stars in the sky. In one Irish movie I watched, it started because a mother brought her son back from the dead using a ritual from a Vodoo book. In another movie there was a strange sickness going through the town that looked like a severe case of the flu, when suddenly people just died and turned zombie. In yet another movie, it was a military experiment gone wrong. Currently, I'm in a zombie RP. We have yet to know the reason for the outbreak itself (the creator won't give that much away just yet) but he was kind enough to give us how the infection spreads. 1. The good old bite 2. Being scratched by a zombie (apparently even if you don't get wounded it's possible for you to change because of the fact of there being pores all over your body that absorbs stuff) 3. If any of the zombie blood gets digested/infused with your own blood (meaning it gets in wounds, open areas of your body etc. etc.) 4. Contaminated foods/drinks (any open foods that has been touched/stained with zombies) 5. Eventually the water gets contaminated, meaning if you drink it you become a zombie 6. Animals can be turned too, so if they bite/scratch/etc etc you get turned. Those are just some of the things to spread the infection. I don't know what the creator is planning for the reason of the outbreak, but it's still a lot of fun seeing if you can create a character strong enough to survive a zombie apocalypse.
