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Friday, July 22, 2011

What Type of Zombie Are You? The Six Categories of Zombie

My awesome friend Amie Kaufman had a write-in at her house last week, and since I've been out of writer mode lately and more in work and study mode, I knew it was going to be difficult.

So we didn't ACTUALLY write anything new, but we discussed our books and plotting problems and writers blockages. The last couple of years I haven't really been one to believe in writers block, but after realising that yeah - I've been stuck in the same scene for at least a month, I now concede that sometimes writers block DOES exist. 

Anyway, we were talking about my zombie book, and the TYPE of zombie I choose to make them will influence the events in the book.

Type of Zombie, you ask? Well you can't just say "zombie" and everyone knows what you're talking about.

TYPES OF ZOMBIES

1. SLOW ZOMBIES
Slow zombies shuffle and moan and aren't really that big a threat unless they're up close, don't you think?
Slow zombies can be found in the traditional George Romero Dawn of the Dead movies (or so I hear because I am appallingly uninitiated in 70s zombie chic), as well as Shaun of the Dead, The Walking Dead and Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands & Teeth books.

28 Days Later Zombies

2. FAST ZOMBIES 
Fast Zombies are super-scary because they'll be on you, ripping out and chowing down on your intestines in an instant.
28 Days Later and the newer Dead movies (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead etc) are full of fast zombies that chase you down until they get you. Charlie Higson's The Enemy also has fast zombies, and in Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands & Teeth there are fast zombies called Breakers.


Shaun and co. attempting to blend in with
mindless zombies
3. MINDLESS ZOMBIES
There's nothing going on in this type of zombie's head, except that they want to kill and eat you.
Shaun of the Dead, The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, Zombieland. They're empty-headed eating machines.

4. INTELLIGENT ZOMBIES
In my short story eBook I, Zombie, my zombie is alert and thinking and functioning, he's planning things. In The Enemy, some of the zombies use weapons and hunt the kids down in packs. In the Dylan Dog movie and graphic novels (I assume), zombies are just like humans but a bit decayed with bits falling off. Maybe intelligent is the wrong word to use here...
Positively DEAD Zombies

5. DEAD ZOMBIES
Dead people brought back to undeadly life. The Walking Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Forest of Hands & Teeth all have dead people walking around hungry for braaaaaaaiiiiinnsss.

6. ALIVE ZOMBIES
Humans that are ALIVE but have some sort of disease that makes them rabid for human flesh and the desire to kill.
In 28 Days Later the zombies are alive, but infected with the incurable Rage Virus, Quarantine some sort of biological weapon has been released with zombieriffic consequences and I THINK The Enemy (are the grown ups dead or just sick? I can't remember.) is swarming with sick adults intent on killing and eating the children as well.


CONCLUSION
Deciding on which category(s) of zombie you wish to write about will have a big impact on the way your story unfolds. If they're mindless - they're unlikely to set traps for your characters, if they're slow, they'll be easier to avoid if you have good cardio fitness going on, but your characters may underestimate them.

Underestimated Slow Zombies

I have been making decisions in regard to MY zombies and its really helping to shape my book. I love writing!

Ciao for now,

Sairz

Saturday, July 9, 2011

C-c-c-coooold

Hello lovelies, what's new?


Me, I am in hibernation, staying inside where it is warm. Mind you I had a shower last night and steam rose from my skin so it's not as warm in here as I'm pretending. But it's warmer than out there. And there are blankets in here.
I seem to have completely forgotten how much colder it was in Leeds, London, Scotland and New York a year and a half ago. But the buildings in those places were better insulated. Except for the haunted castle in the Scottish High Country. Now THAT was cold.


I have two weeks left of my semester break from University, therefore am finishing up work on my Certificate IV in Small Business Management (which I snuck in, during the break). I  passed all my assessments, just have to finish my Business Plan now.
I've been working on my website which I think is coming along well and will be unveiled within a couple of weeks and as soon as I post this blog I'm changing the background to match the forthcoming website so that's all rather exciting.
I've been doing some copy editing of sales and marketing documents which has been an interesting experience - interesting in a good way because I've been learning new things as I edit! Coolies.
And I'm currently doing a manuscript appraisal of a novel and am happy to say I'm really enjoying it. It makes the job a lot easier.
Plus I've formatted a few books for eBook distribution lately and I love seeing them up and being purchased and reviewed. I feel like their success is partly my success - even though I only had a small hand in it. I'm proud of them. 


Oh! And the video shop has NOT been robbed for a third time yet, so that's nice.


I'm currently reading The Carrie Diaries: Summer in the City and am getting a kick out of meeting Samantha and Miranda when they were younger. Looking forward to seeing what Charlotte was like as a teenager. Will soon know!
I also just downloaded the sample of a new indie eBook, Restless Spirits by Jean Marie Bauhaus today.



"A paranormal investigator becomes the subject of her own investigation after stumbling into the crosshairs of a malevolent spirit. Finding herself a ghost and imprisoned in a house that's haunted by the spirit's other victims from across the ages, Veronica "Ron" Wilson discovers an afterlife that's full of surprises, the biggest of which is that ghosts can still fall in love. "

I have a secret passion for paranormal investigator TV shows so this sounds right up my alley. It's half-price on Smashwords at the moment so go check it out!




I just watched Lemonade Mouth, and have a new favourite Disney Channel movie and soundtrack. How funny is Wen? Great character. Disney Channel movies are not necessarily Acadamy Award worthy, but they're always fun and I love them all. 

My zombie novel is coming along slowly - very slowly - but it's coming along. Writing's taking a bit of a backburner at the moment. I'm grossing my out trying to find just the right, evocative words to describe a decaying corpse. Yeah. I'll be doing a writing class next semester so hopefully that will help get me back into the habit.

There you go, that's me lately. Not much to report really. :)

Hope you're all well!





Love Sairz