Concerning Zombies

[cymberlyn]

I wasn't sure whether to put it on this board or on the Questions & Suggestions..

So I know that zombies are fictional, and you can make them have whatever characteristics you choose. I haven't played all the games and watched too many movies (except Zombieland) with them, however, so I was wondering if there were some basic 'rules' when writing a zombie story.

For example, do animals turn into zombies? Does something turn into a zombie only if bitten by one? What if something bites the zombie?


Cym

[jonasp]

You can pretty much do whatever you want. If you think it would be cool to have animals turn into zombies, go for it! If you think that it would be confusing and you don't really feel like writing about animal-zombies, just don't even mention it.

[Endovia]

Here's fine.

Since it's your story, I say you write the rules. You can do something like Stephenie Meyer did, make vampires sparkle instead of burn. Or you can be more traditional. Like werewolves, some books keep it strictly to changing on the full moon others say the moon doesn't have much of an effect, they just have to change once a month. Depending on your story, you may want different rules. I think as long as you have some foundation and stick to it, readers will go along with it.

[sapphire]

Honestly, I'd say the less you know about "traditional" zombies, the better. That means you can create your own rules without all those preconceptions.
As Endovia said, it's important to have your rules and stick to them. As long as you do that, it doesn't matter if your zombies match all the other zombies out there (which vary quite widely anyway, from what I've seen).

[Deleted]

I know this may be a bit late, but I'd have to agree for the most part with everyone else. Zombies aren't uniform, every writer adds their own twist. Feel free to write your own set of rules for them. However, I think in any zombie story, you need to make sure the zombies are an actual threat, as well, rather than play down the characters' instincts and reaction times. The traditional slow-moving zombies wouldn't be much of a real threat, as they move too slowly to pose any true danger as one can easily out-maneuver them, the authors simply write to where the characters just choose not to. Keep actions and reactions believable and the zombies a threat, but as for the specifics - they're all up to you.