The Monsters the Guidelines Forgot: Zombies

In this series of posts, I’m going to talk about writing and selling stories featuring classic monsters. You know, the ones you often find in publisher guidelines after the words “absolutely no”. It’s usually the big three—vampires, werewolves, and zombies—that make the do not send list, but other well-worn beasties show up as well. I’m not here to tell you not to write about these classic critters. On the contrary, I’ve had success selling stories featuring the big three, and I thought I’d share my thoughts on how I was able to do that.

Before we get started, a word of advice. If you do see a no vampires, zombies, werewolves, or [insert overused monster here] in a publisher’s submissions guidelines, don’t send them a story featuring the forbidden critter. It’s bad form and a guaranteed rejection. What I want to share in these posts are tips to win over the skeptical editor rather than try and change the mind of the decided one.

Finally, all this is only my (somewhat informed) opinion and what’s worked for me. My approach might not work for you, and that’s okay. There are certainly other ways to write new twists on classic monster stories than how I’ve done it.

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Let’s kick off this series with everyone’s favorite animated corpses. Zombies might be the most maligned of the big three, which has much to do with the glut of zombie-related shows and movies. But how do you sell a zombie story? I’m here to tell you it is possible, and what follows are four ways tips that might make it possible to do so.

1) Original Origins. One of the easiest ways to keep a zombie story fresh is to come up with a novel origin for them. You can keep it in the natural world and change the biological mechanism that creates zombies, get more metaphysical with it and have the dead rise because of a supernatural event, or, hell, go sci-fi and make zombies the result of advanced technology. What’s great is that changing the origin of your zombies suggests other changes that’ll make the dead more unique. A great example of idea in action is the game/show The Last of Us. The cordyceps fungal infection introduced in The Last of Us not only offers a new origin for zombies, but it also changes just about everything about them: their appearance, how they hunt, and how the survivors must fight them. That’s the kind of thing that sells zombie stories.

2) Apocalyptic Adaptation. Generally, I don’t like to set my zombie stories during the apocalypse. In fact, I much prefer a partial apocalypse that’s been contained so I can explore how society might change in the wake of such an event. One of my favorite angles to take in that scenario is to think about how certain industries and professions would take advantage of a zombie outbreak. For example, how would the funeral industry adapt now that the dead walk? What services might they offer to help grieving families deal not just with a loved one that’s passed on, but a loved one that’s passed on and will become a flesh-eating monster? How about police work? If a murder victim can literally get up and shamble away, it could be hard to make a case. The self-defense industry? You could see a whole host of anti-zombie products hitting the market, from bite-proof clothing to, I don’t know, anti-zombie spray. The options are practically limitless and offer opportunities to introduce new protagonists, narrative styles, and conflicts into your zombie tale.

3) What Are Your Doing Here? You could call this a trope unto itself, but putting classic monsters in unexpected situations and environments is an easy way put a fresh spin on an old tale. This approach, of course, works for zombies, too. You could go historical with it. How would the Romans deal with a zombie plague? Vikings? Prehistoric humans? How would the mythology around zombies change in these historical settings? Location is another dial you can turn to add something unique to your zombie tale. Enclosed spaces like hospitals, prisons, and ships at sea that cut off any chance of escape create interesting avenues for story telling. New environments, too, can make for an interesting change, especially in how they might affect the zombies themselves. What happens to zombies in the arctic? Do they freeze solid? What about the jungle? Do they rot faster? As soon as you start asking the questions, the stories almost write themselves.

4) A New Challenger. Often in zombie media, the folks facing down the walking dead are drawn from what I like to think of as the usual suspects: active and former military, law enforcement, doctors, scientists, and, in general, people who already possess skills useful in battling and surviving the undead. But that’s just a tiny fraction of the people who would end up facing down a horde of walking corpses in a zombie apocalypse. People from every walk of life, and every size, shape, age, and disposition would also be affected. Those folks have stories, too, and you can alter the tone and direction of a story for the good just by choosing a protagonist that’s not usually featured in zombie narratives. As the POV changes, so do the challenges a character faces when dealing with the walking dead. That’s a recipe for a unique and compelling tale.

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Of course, all the above suggestions don’t mean much without some evidence they can actually sell a story, right? So here are some of the zombie stories I’ve sold that use one or more of the narrative devices I listed. The first three are free to read online.

• Original Origins: “Where the Bodies Are Buried” 
• Apocalyptic Adaptation: “Grave Concerns” 
• What Are You Doing Here? “Far Shores and Ancient Graves.” 
• A New Challenger: “Caroline” 

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To sum up, though zombie stories are a well trodden (shambled?) road, there are always paths you might take to craft something fresh . . . or at least a little less decayed. 🙂

Thoughts on writing and selling zombie stories? Tell me about it in the comments.