Zombie fiction is the next big thing they said, it’s the new black, feel it on the Zeitgeist. Why on earth wouldn’t I try it? I want to write, I want to be read and I want to make it big. I’m going to write zombie fiction. Could you guess it wouldn't end up being quite so simple?
First of all, I’m not really a fan of anything gory. I’ve been known to feel faint at a splinter so I had to steel myself against the queasiness. The research was difficult and I had to get a feel for the genre before even attempting to write. A reader can tell if one simply tries to jump on the bandwagon, you know. I wanted authenticity.
Second was the decision as to plot or theme, or basically what should I write about. I thought as a new voice in zombie fiction I could try a new style, so if I made it big I would actually start off my own craze perhaps. Not for me zombies thuddering along arms out, chasing the last few survivors in a crazy world to eat their brains. Or strains of viruses that should protect but instead infect and zombify and kill.
I decided on zombie romance. There were vampires and werewolves in love, dragons and slayers with beautiful maidens, sci-fi inter-galactic relationships galore. I saw a gap in the market and I aimed to fill it with my unique stories of zombie life and love.
Then I hit my third and final consideration, shall we call it. Is zombie fiction about zombies or by zombies? I didn't see why it couldn't be a bit of both, which really would be authentic. I could tell stories of how I met my zombie husband, how my friends fared on the zombie dating scene and what happens with inter-tribal zombies fall in love.
Now if I could only work out how to type with these ragged stumps of arms where I got eaten that first time and how to concentrate without my guts spilling all over the page and how to push down the all-consuming need to hunt for brains so I could construct a semblance of a narrative, I’d be well on my way.
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