As we discussed the issue with zombie stories, I thought about the predicament that befell Dr. Richard Gatling. He was an inventer and had some pacifist leanings. He saw far too many soldiers in the field die from disease and their wounds, so he set out to invent a mechanism to use fewer soldiers, thus minimizing the suffering. You know his invention as "the gatling gun." And it changed the way wars were fought, and contrary to his beliefs, it brought more carnage than he could have imagined. Same with us. We have a certain level of contempt for zombie stories. As writers we are a "clean sheet of paper." We'd find a differing plot line, we'd develop characters who are out of the box. I would inject some bizarre humor. In other words, our collaboration would be the truly creative zombie story and distinguish the genre from the usual 'trend.' In spite of ourselves, we might become the go-to-guys, thus becoming famous for zombies.
Nothing wrong with trying to get a new take on zombies or any other genre. Didn't voodoo doctors have some concoction that made people a zombie? Bokor or black voodoo sorcerer created zombies. Supposedly Papa Doc Duvallier had an army of zombies.
Oh, you're absolutely right. The flood of zombies stories is simply a distinction without a difference. The zombies themselves don't even lumber around differently in the movies. "Chapter 1,193." My three times back Grandmother gets a turn on penning the undead. Now in paperback. To tell the truth, a non-moldering army of elite spec-ops zombies fighting for good/evil is the first creative thing I've heard on zombies. But remember, that stemmed from our insomniac members here trying to be funny late at night. Perhaps those five or six gals and guys are key to our future in "aggressive brain consumption."
Well the key to a good zombie story is how do you keep them going as the flesh rots. Some chemical that replaces blood and restricts it to muscles and limit brain function. Just enough for motor functions. And of course hunger for brains. In a modern version you could do nanotechnology. It gives something a general could use to control the zombies.
Perhaps the current way in which people live their lives gets so extreme that all of the junk food turns them into zombies, but that would kinda take away the science/supernatural angle and make it a bit lame. I like the idea that the grim reaper doesn't do his job properly as Ettina mentioned. Perhaps instead of using the god device, you could link it back to greek gods of the underworld or some kind of old religion. Maybe the Egyptian one? Anubis, I think? I really don't have any solid ideas unless you go with something similar to 28 Days later or Resident Evil, but that might be so overdone that it comes to the point of being cliche.
Perhaps that's the angle. Some mad scientist has a serum/radiotherapy/spray-on-tan that retards the moldering. The evil villain has only a limited amount of time before the flesh begins to rot off and the zombies return to their normal pursuit of staggering about dumbfounded and becoming a literative cliché. Both the hero and the villain have stop-watches or huge clocks in their lairs. The ticking clock and the spray-on-tans are wearing down. Will the hero achieve world domination for his own twisted goals, will the villain get the girl and actually save the planet in a bizarre twist? Will the reader toss the book down after the first chapter? Superpsycho, I'm actually getting stoked here. Maybe we should write this rag.
